A tremendous ‘feel-good’ movie that highlights the acting talents of Sandra Bullock. Bullock plays a wealthy white Christian housewife ( Leigh Ann Tuohy) who takes on the onerous task of raising a homeless black kid- Michael Oher.

She helps him to overcome his learning deficiencies and encourages him to participate in sports. He eventually becomes a football star that ends up being heavily recruited by college coaches and later on to the NFL.

There are twists and turns along the way but Mrs. Tuohy and her family are up to the task and make a home for a young man who has never really had one. The process also seems to be good for the Tuohy family and gives them purpose and actually ends up drawing the whole family closer together.

There were also several interesting scenes where Leigh Ann had it out with some of her ‘socialite’ lunch friends who questioned the advisability of giving a home to a big black kid from the wrong side of town.

I was actually taken back by Sandra Bullock’s performance. I’m used to seeing her in comedy roles and in this movie I actually forgot that she was ‘Sandra Bullock’. She really excels In her role as Leigh Ann Tuohy and should be up for some awards, though the Hollywood crowd who vote on that stuff are usually not up for redeeming ‘feel-good’ roles and movies.

This is not only a touching movie but also a true one to boot. For once a Christian family is not typecast as a bunch of hayseed bigots like Hollywood usually tends to do nor are the Tuohys presented as some kind of idealized family like many Christian films seem to be guilty of. These are real people and the film presents them as such warts and all but also their natural goodness.

The title of the film was really apropos because I ended up being ‘blind-sided’ by the movie. It was far better on many different levels than I ever expected it to be even though I had read a number of lovely reviews on the film. It stands as a movie not to be missed—either in the theaters or later on DVD.          *Top

We catch up to Rocky Balboa years later and find him grieving at the grave of his wife Adrian and taking in all the memorable sights from their life together.  Roc seems to be stuck in the past with little to live for in the present.

He sends his days hoping to hear from his son Rocky Jr. who is trying to get out from under the shadow of his famous father.  At night, he dutifully goes to his restaurant -”Adrian’s” and greets his customers and reminisces with them about his old fighting days.

During one his nostalgic trips to an old bar that they use to frequent, he meets up with Marie who was a young girl from his past and it seems to help him break through to the present.  He takes a liking to Marie and her son Steps and decides to help them out.  They definitely become part of his life, working for him at the restaurant.  Though the relationship is never clearly defined, they seem to become part of his family along with Paulie and Rocky Jr.

Rocky finally decides that he is not done with life and would like to do the one thing that he was always good at and gave him purpose–fighting.  Nothing major of course, maybe just a few ‘local’ fights.  At the same time, a TV sports show features a simulated fight between the two-time champion of the past- Rocky Balboa and the present heavy weight champion- Mason Dixon.  Rocky wins of course, and it starts all sorts of speculation about what a real fight between the two might have been like if Rocky was still in his prime.

The managers of Dixon approach Rocky and talk him into fighting an exhibition fight with the present champ.  Everyone tries to talk Roc out of it and bring him to his senses.  However, Rocky finds hope and life itself in the old process of training.  The training scenes and the fight itself are pure nostalgia and a throw back to Rocky I.

At the fight, none of the sports experts give Rocky much of a chance of even surviving the first round.  You hope that the ‘old man’ doesn’t get hurt and comes away with his respect intact.  Mean while, they have also shown you some scenes from the life of the young champion Mason Dixon and you hope that he ends up respecting the ‘old man’ in the end without being totally humiliated.  As the fight progresses, you find yourself yelling and cheering for Rocky along with the crowd.  You know how it’s basically going to end, but it’s a trip down memory lane and you are happy to be there once more.

Religious content:

The need for purpose in life is an underlying theme in this movie.  The loss of the love of his life-Adrian, has caused Rocky to put his life on hold.  As he reaches out to other people like Marie and her son, he finds his faith and finds reasons for living once more.  He is seen praying and reading the Bible before the fight, it seems natural and uncontrived.  Zechariah 4:6 seems to be appropriate for an old washed up fighter- he is definitely going to need some help: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”   Later, Marie shouts out a scripture to encourage Roc during a low point in the fight.  The movie ends with Rocky praying and talking to Adrian at her grave site once more.  But this time there is a new spring in Rocky’s step.  He seems to be ready to take on life once more.

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