The Screaming Viking

The new karate kid hits theaters June 11….not a movie I figured needed a remake, but I expect the cheese from the original to still be there in the new one.

I caught this flick a few weeks ago.  I had heard that it was pretty good and critics raved about Sandra Bullock, but I wasn’t sold.  I’ve seen her in several movies and I think she is a talented actress, but I really didn’t think she had the presence to control the screen and carry the show.  Looking over her movie credits on the imdb, the only movie on there I would classify as “must see” is “A time to kill”.  If you haven’t had a chance, see it.  It is a very good movie.  Anyhow, I didn’t have anything going on one evening after the kid went to bed and the wife was out…so I flipped it on.

The movie is based on a part of the book by the same name.  The part they focused on was the story of Michael Oher who is currently playing for the Baltimore Ravens.  The story was about Oher being a homeless teenager who the Tuohey’s (Bullock and Tim McGraw) took in.  Initially it started as a place to stay for the evening but it evolved into giving this guy a family.  I’m not going to go into the story any more than that…if you’re interested you can read up on it at the wiki.

I was really drawn into this movie from the beginning.  There was something about the kid being poor and trying to cope with life on his own at such a young age that grabbed a hold of me.  For whatever reason his struggle really came across the screen to me and I felt something for the character.  Bullock was O.K. and I didn’t even notice it was Tim McGraw playing her husband…I figured it was just some semi-unknown actor, but it was really the acting of Quinton Aaron (Oher) that made the movie.  I can’t really put in to words how the movie made a connection with me…for some reason it just did.

I wouldn’t call this a football movie, it was more a movie about the journey of this kid and how football helped bring him up from nothing.  The movie gave the impression that the Tuohey’s (who were/are quite rich) would have helped this boy even without his football prowess, in fact the flick indicated that they didn’t know he could/would play football.  The movie made it seem like he knew nothing about football prior to moving in with these folks.  I’m sure that was by design…Oher (the real one) has said the only part of the movie he disagreed with was how they made it seem like he’d never played football.  He has said he already had played a bit and knew how to play.  The reason I think this is a key point of the movie and it’s portrayal of the Tuohey’s is because of the NCAA investigation that came along with Oher’s college choice.

Oher chose to go to the University of Mississippi.  This is the alma mater of the Tuohey’s and they are “boosters” as far as the NCAA is concerned.  There was an investigation by the NCAA to see if the Tuohey’s violated any rules regarding Oher’s choice of college.  I had read all this before watching the movie.  The opinion I formed at that time was that it wasn’t that big of a deal and I didn’t think they really tampered with him at all.  After watching the movie, I’ve changed my mind a little bit simple because of the great lengths the flick went to make it seem like they didn’t do anything.  I think they probably did “tamper” with the situation…but in the end does it really matter?  They gave this boy the ability to go to college and make something out of a life that might not have turned in to anything…in the grand scheme of things if he went to the college they directed him towards I don’t have a problem with it.

Michael Oher’s story is full of inspiration and feel good emotions.  It’s “fun” to watch/read about a guy that comes from a situation like that and becomes successful/rich/better.  The movie is worth watching…but don’t get in to it expecting a great sports action flick.  It’s an emotional “tug at the heart” kind of movie.

The Canadian women’s hockey team was apparently celebrating just a little too much when they came back out on the ice after their victory over the US to win Olympic gold.  Some people are taking issue with them skating around sucking on beer, champagne and cigars…so the IOC is investigating.

Personally, I don’t much care…the only issue I have with it is there was an underage girl on the team that was carrying around a beer (I assume she was drinking it but the article didn’t say explicitly).  The drinking age in Alberta is 18, but in BC it’s 19.  I do think a little something should come from that.  Agree with the age restriction or not, the law is the law.  I’m not sure what the rules are governing alcohol and smoking in Olympic venues and/or if they broke any laws by doing what they did.  They probably violated how people think an Olympic champion should act, but I personally have no problem with the celebration itself.

Naturally people that are against this will use the battle cry “for the children”, but sometimes it’s nice for adults to be adults and enjoy the rights and privileges that come with that.  Ta hell with “the children”.

I’m not sure what I think about this entirely.  I believe that training kids is martial arts is valuable, but actually putting them in the ring against each other I’m not sure about.  Maybe something with a points system and not the same as the adults…dunno.

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