I’ll admit that when I sat down to watch “The Blind Side” last week, I really didn’t expect much.  I thought it would be a Lifetime movie of the week except on the big screen.  But even though I walked in ready to dismiss the film, I’m forced to say “The Blind Side” was a lot better than I expected and I enjoyed the way it mixed a few different genres together.  What you need to know is, “The Blind Side” is both a football movie and a family values film.  It’s also a bit of a comedy.  When films try and mix genres like this, you almost always end in disaster.  So I have to give credit to director John Lee Hancock (”The Rookie”) for crafting a film that should appeal to both football fans and families.  He even made me feel something for Sandra Bullock.  Trust me, that’s not easy.  Anyway, to help promote the film, we’ve been provided with seven clips and you can watch them after the jump.

For those unfamiliar with the book it’s based on, the film is based on the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home who is taken in by the Touhys (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw), a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

2009 has been a tough year for standard-issue romantic comedies.  “The Proposal,” which in any other year would have been a decent entry in a tired genre, really looked simple next to genre-benders “500 Days of Summer” and “Paper Heart.”  The film is decent, for what it is.  People who like the “Sweet Home Alabama”s and “Maid in Manhattan”s of the world will feel right at home with this one.  But those select few should’ve caught the film in theaters; there’s no real reason to buy the DVD.  More after the jump.

The summer movie season is at an end and, as usual, it is going out with a whimper instead of a bang.  Despite the fact that the studios gave audiences three fresh choices at the multiplex, the film that eked out the best numbers as of Sunday continued to be last weekend’s 3D horror-hit “The Final Destination”… sick of hearing me talk about those “higher ticket prices” yet?  Though only five thousand dollars separated “Destination” and “All About Steve” on Friday, the fact that the Sandra Bullock/Bradley Cooper comedy received some of the worst reviews of the summer (a feat in itself) helped that gap widen as the weekend progressed.  Neither of our other newcomers, “Gamer” and “Extract”, built any real momentum which left “Steve” looking a bit like a hit… standards are a lot lower on Labor Day.

Warner Bros. has released a preview of their upcoming 2009 movies. In the preview, they’ve got updated synopsis’ along with new images from “Whiteout”, “Ninja Assassin”, “The Invention of Lying”, “The Informant!” and a few others. So if you’d like to see the new images and read what’s coming later this year (it’s a lot of great stuff), it’s all after the jump:

“The Proposal” is a nice reminder that not all romantic comedies have to crush our souls into a fine powder.  If you have talented leads working from a script with sharp dialogue, then you can make for a fine date night flick.  While it needs a slightly longer set-up, goes too mawkish in its third act, and relies too heavily on Betty White in the “wacky-granny” role, watching Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds snipe at each other is absolutely delightful and worth the price of admission.

Opening June 19^th is director Anne Fletcher’s “The Proposal”. The film is the latest offering in the romantic comedy genre and this one stars Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.

While I’m forced to see a lot of romantic comedies, I have to say, this one was a lot better than I expected. If you’ve got a girlfriend/wife/significant other that loves this genre and they’re always asking you to go with them, this is the one to bite the bullet on as Ryan Reynolds is very funny.

Anyway, we’ve been provided with six clips from the film and they’re all after the jump - along with a full synopsis. Take a look. If you’ve got some thoughts abou to clips, please leave some comments.