Best picture nominee? You have GOT to be kidding!!

Rating: 2/10 (20 May 2014)

I know I'm late to the party but I simply can't resist writing a review even at this late date. I have to get if off my chest and, maybe, I can push some other latecomer off the tracks and out of the way of this runaway train of a movie (must be my "protective instincts" <- in joke for those who've seen the flick).
I honestly don't think I've ever been more mystified about why a movie received so much praise; and a 'Best Picture' nomination, to boot! "Mystified" isn't even right the word. More like 'astounded', 'flabbergasted', 'dumbfounded', or whatever the right synonym is for the combination of puzzlement and outrage I have after watching it. I mean this movie is BAD! ROTTEN to the core! LOUSY in every way! What absolute and utter dreck! WHO could have possibly thought this travesty of a movie was one of the ten best of the year? Did they think they were nominating for the Razzies?
What's that you say? What about Sandra Bullock? Exactly! WHAT about Sandra Bullock!? That she can take on a role requiring the most meagre of ranges and stay with it for two hours of screen time? Heck, if this had been a play and not a movie, then instead of an Oscar she could have gotten a Tony - a one schtick Tony!
If Sandra Bullock's performance is the apex of one-dimensional acting (I guess that would give her at least one 'point' in her favor - ha ha!), the script must be the highest (and never before climbed) peak in the range of movies that have used back to back to back and back again clichés. As I watched it, I found myself repeatedly saying, "Oh no, there not going really use that trope, are they?" But, oh yes, they sure did! And then another. And another . . . Still, I suppose the screenwriters did show some restraint in this respect. I mean they did, after all, manage to resist using the old trick of showing newspaper headlines to announce Michael's initial successes to the audience. Yup, I didn't see one spinning 50-point font headline screaming, "Big MIke does it again!!". Not even an "Oher leads to team to championship!". But, please note that I said I "didn't SEE" anything like that. Full disclosure - it may have happened while I had my eyes closed in an effort to stem another wave of nausea.
And don't even let me get me started on its race, prejudice, and sensitivity 'aspects'. Like I said, this is a movie where each scene is a cliché about to unfold, dissolving into a cliché, and fading out to, guess what. Oh yeah.
Looking for the bottom line? Okay. Remember Battlefield Earth? (I hope not). Well, Battlefield Earth is to The Blind SIde as Citizen Kane is to Manos: The Hands of Fate (and Torgo was no Orson Welles!)