The Blind Side: Oscar quality? Really?

Mulling over the Oscar nominations announced this week I am most troubled by one entry: The Blind Side, a formulaic film some have compared to a Lifetime Movie.

I'll just say it wasn't very good.

The Blind Side has been a surprise box office hit with midwestern and southern audiences. Houston Nutt makes a cameo appearance.

The film was one of the 10 best picture nominees. Star Sandra Bullock is up for best actress.

The movie is about a upper-middle class white family in Memphis who befriend and adopt a hulking, mute black teenager. Based on a true story, the movie follows him from homelessness to the NFL, but in the end we know almost nothing about the kid, Michael Oher, because the movie is really about the fiesty Bullock character. Actor Quenton Aaron as Oher has a total of maybe 50 lines in the whole movie.

The film, especially it's contrasts with Precious, has sparked some very heated debate about race, politics and more. See here, here, and here.

Any black folks out there seen Blind Side? How many whites saw Precious?

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Otherwise, no major Oscar surprises. District 9's nomination for best picture makes me reconsider whether it should have been on my list of the best for '09.

It looks like Hurt Locker has a real chance at best picture, and director Kathryn Bigelow for best director. That's good.

Should be an interesting Oscar show next month with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin co-hosting.