The Blind Side (2009)

The love and care that a family has to give should never be questioned and more than that, never be used against you.

The Blind Side follows the true story of Michael "Big Mike" Oher (Quinton Aaron), a traumatised african-american teenager with the height and strength to rival professional bodybuilders. Whilst looking for a warm place to stay for the night, Michael is spotted by the Tuohy family (Tim McGraw, Jae Head, Lily Collins), lead by the ever-determined yet loving Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) who insists Michael stay with them. By the motherly orders of Leigh Anne, Michael is then brought into the family, bought clothes and given a real bed and finally, he feels loved. The Tuohys even become Michael's legal family, forcing Leigh Anne to confront Michael's real mother, who faces constant problems with addiction. Through Michael we also see the damage thrown on young men like himself simply by living in "the wrong part of town". The key story element here however is American Football, in which Michael trains as an "Offensive Tackle" and finds connections to protecting his family, a purpose for his life and an opportunity to escape the void of drugs and violence he was raised in. However, out of this success comes the interest of an NCAA investigator (Sharon Conley) who believes Michael's adoption is a tactical move by the Tuohy family to further the success of their favourite university's football team. 

The Blind Side displays, above all, honest emotion. It puts on display the ingrained care that a mother will have for a defenceless child, even if it is not her own. Even without the added twist of the NCAA investigator, the story of Leigh Anne taking in Michael and treating him like a son is one that still deserved telling. Scenes like the conversation Leigh Anne has with her "friends" over salad about defending Michael as a person and stripping down all the assumptions, stereotypes and racial remarks that are being made by the people around her, a particularly shocking assumption made about the fact that both Michael and Leigh Anne's daughter Collins (Lily Collins) are teenagers and that he may be tempted to "try something" puts on display the hollow way that a larger than decent percentage of the world currently thinks about african americans, young males, those coming from a dangerous upbringing and even simply men or boys who are larger than average, thus immediately becoming a threat in the eyes of the highly judgemental.

It will come of no surprise to any of you that have seen The Blind Side to know that Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for her performance and I can't see a single reason why she wouldn't. She carries the film forward with her brilliant portrayal of Leigh Anne who's complete confidence and solidarity within herself means that she is both the unstoppable force and the immovable object, easily rivalling actresses like Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep in her ability to instil fear in the hearts of anyone but it is the balance she achieves, the incredible juggling act of having that fear but blending it with the love and care of a mother who devotes anything and everything to her children. The switch between these two halves of the character come in nano seconds and for the most happen, they are present at the same time.

As well as this comes the exposure of lots of side characters that all influenced Michael's trajectory as a person, people like his high school teachers who took the time to teach him one-on-one as it was easier for him, the coach (Ray McKinnon) who saw that Michael had the physical excellence for american football but still needed the mental and psychological training involved and probably most importantly, the rest of the Tuohy family and Miss Sue (Kathy Bates) who individually helped Michael out of his defensive shell, express his passions and properly develop as a person instead of a damaged product of his rough neighbourhood upbringing.

The Blind Side utilises something overlooked in a lot of dramatic cinema, especially of that involving family; that family comes from the care of each other and not from blood relation, it is the appreciation we show and receive that proves who our family really is, no matter where they come from or what they look like.

4/5 - Family comes first, then football.

Molly's Game (2017)

You don't notice your breath until you hold it for too long, this can be caused by feeling tension in something you're watching. This story will have you suffocating with immersion.

Molly's Game follows the true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a once olympic level skier who ran some of the most famous underground poker games in the world but fell into trouble with the Russian Mafia and in turn, the FBI.

In all honesty, Aaron Sorkin is one of my favourite writers and overall creators to have existed. His mastery of dialogue, pacing and control of information is always astounding. I found Molly's Game to be another perfect example of this as it approaches the subject of determination, unwavering pride and potential in the form of Molly Bloom and how it can build great athletes and people in general but there is always sacrifice, be it in a financial capacity, physical damage or in emotional distance from family and friends, all of which happen to Molly but truthfully, this a specially crafted work of fiction made to force the audience to think, it was true to they begin to think about it naturally, what making that sacrifice means and how to weigh it against our own personal goals and successes. Molly Bloom reaches out of this film, takes the audience by the scruff of the neck and interrogates them, demanding their excuse as to why they're not doing their hardest and sacrificing all for the goals they complain about every day. In this current climate of broken economies, markets, politics combined with the newer generations attempting to make a career out of their hobbies and more creative sides, the missions and success of Molly Bloom become all the more relevant and real as you can achieve all those things and it's going to be incredibly hard but the reality is, nobody cares about your complaining and doing it isn't going to get you any further.

The performance of Jessica Chastain is brilliant, her confidence and slightly terrifying sense of calm in the background of all the poker scenes and scenes of competition really drive the force of the character of Molly, I could only compare it to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada; the power she exudes by simply knowing she's more powerful and never wavering in this knowledge. Just as strong is Kevin Costner and his callous portrayal of Larry Bloom, Molly's father who is depicted as more of a coach than a father at most times and because of this he becomes somewhat of an antagonistic force that pushes Molly to succeed beyond his realm of achievement and the standards set by her two brothers, this all comes to an incredible emotional climax as Larry meets his daughter after an FBI meeting, he then proceeds to unleash his professional psychology skills on her in order to force a realisation that everything she's achieved out of anger after her accident trying to enter the olympics was because she tripped over a stick, something so insignificant that the punishment she's been throwing on herself and others became way more than a coping mechanism, it became an addiction. Idris Elba is another brilliant addition as Molly's lawyer, Charlie Jaffey. Admittedly, I believed it to be an unusual casting decision given Sorkin's style and Elba's filmography but he took it on fantastically, executing the high speed back and forth conversations with ease and unleashing a brilliant monologue praising Molly to two FBI agents that easily became my favourite moment in the film.

This film, in the same vein as the rest of Aaron Sorkin's work, demands focus, attention and the capacity to take in information at elevated speeds. Aaron Sorkin knows he may not bring in as much money as a fantasy franchise and he may not have a following of superhero cosplays in the millions but the one thing he does know is that his dialogue is music for the intelligent, a rhythm is established of learning and informative exposition that, if followed by someone with an eidetic memory, would form them into a genius simply by watching his collected works. What I'm trying to say is if you dare to watch this film with your phone on, go and watch The Emoji Movie or some other garbage that only requires two brain cells because you don't deserve to even attempt to understand this symphony of information.

4.5/5 - Ace's high.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of GrindelWald (2018)

There are moments in a film where you must sacrifice time for exposition and set-up but I've never seen an entire film just given up for it.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald once again follows Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he is employed by Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to thwart the plans of a magical fanatic known as Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). However, Newt is also crossing seas to rescue his friend Tina (Katherine Waterston) who has mysteriously disappeared.

With the announcement that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was going to formed into a 5 film franchise, everyone knew of the danger that The Hobbit brought; stretching one film over multiple films isn't a good idea as pacing, key evdnts and character arcs will be damaged due to this decision. The end result of this is having an entire film as set-up for another 3 films that are all now in danger of never existing due to this one falling so flat.

A character like Tina, who was the moving force of progression for the first film is now reduced to an objective marker for Newt and Jacob (Dan Fogler) in a nonsense sub-plot based on a potential romance that isn't resolved an only used to get Newt to a location closer to Grindelwald. An equally disappointing situation occurs with Newt's brother, Theseus (Callum Turner), who is brought in to provide an opposite side of the Scamander family, the literal fear of Newt revealed to us during the film as Theseus works for the Ministry of Magic; a bureaucratic organisation that has opposed Newt's missions at every opportunity. The character is once again wasted on the franchise's need to stretch the plot. Theseus is introduced right at the start of the film as the reverse side of Newt's coin and looks to be a potentially interesting new character, then BOOM! Side-lined to the role of a Ministry grunt for the rest of the film as the majority of the original cast trudge through a plot that is barely held together by brand new, constantly repeated exposition that's focused on either Credence (Ezra Miller) and his constantly changing origins, Leta Lestrange's (Zoë Kravitz) shoe-horned involvement in that backstory or the apparent "prophecy" that is never actually said in full or without a thick French accent so good luck getting any clarity from that.

One main selling point of the first Fantastic Beasts film was that it wasn't just about wizards, it was a zoological adventure nearing Steve Irwin levels of fun as Newt recklessly endangers his life in hilarious ways as he tries to rescue and protect the creatures he loves so much. This combination of comedy with the scary tones of the Credence/Mr Graves (Colin Farrell) storyline made the first film so successful as it formed the same basis of "magic" that made the first few Harry Potter films so captivating but now these beautiful and charming creatures are reduced to being tools for Newt to throw out on a whim when he needs them, like some sort of warped Pokémon style strategy. We get glimpses of a bunch of new creatures and habitats in Newt's home near the beginning of the film and then the only one actually integrated into the story from that point is the Zouwu, a giant cat-like creature that Newt frees from a travelling circus and tames, only then use as a repeat scapegoat for the rest of the film as he opens his suitcase to unleash it in a manner that would suit him screaming "LOOK AT ME! I HAVE A CAT-DRAGON!".

In summary, I really wanted the Fantastic Beasts franchise to continue as 5 powerful films that explore more and more aspects of the magical world; more creatures, more places, more magic, maybe even more wizarding schools but instead we have magical Steve Irwin VS magical Hitler, all brought about because a bearded teacher with a funny glove said so.

1.5/5 - Magic just lost it's magic.