Authored by Phil Dotree in Movies and Television
Published on 11-04-2009
Sandra Bullock tends to be underrated as an actress. Some of this comes from her sex symbol status. She’s also got a penchant for choosing bad sequel roles, which doesn’t help her reputation. Nevertheless, she’s a very solid actress in many spectacular films. Here’s a look at a few of Sandra Bullock’s greatest movies and what she brought to each one.
Crash – Sandra Bullock plays a racist housewife in this thrilling epic. Crash gained a lot of critical praise for its frank and honest depiction of American racism. Much of the praise was directed at Sandra Bullock, who proved that she could take complex and difficult roles. She’s unnerving and hideously prejudiced, then relate-able. Her character’s turn is one of the most interesting parts of the movie. She puts a face on the American upper-white class, and she avoids stereotypes to deliver a three dimensional character.
Demolition Man – Demolition Man is not the type of film you can describe without sounding like an idiot. I’ll give it a go anyways. Basically, Sylvester Stallone wakes up (after being cryogenically frozen) in a pacifist future. In this future, Wesley Snipes (also frozen) is rampaging, overpowering police who don’t really understand what violence is. Stallone must help Sandra Bullock, who plays a future cop, bring Snipes down. Really, all that you’ll remember after seeing Demolition Man is the fighting. There’s lots of it. You’ll also remember the beautiful Bullock portraying a strong, street smart lieutenant. She adds some acting credentials to the action-heavy movie. You could even argue that Demolition Man would have simply been too silly if she hadn’t been involved.
Miss Congeniality –Bullock gained a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of FBI agent Gracie Hart in this comedy. Her character is a bumbling, tragically un-hip agent who enters a beauty pageant to catch a killer. It’s a strained premise, but Bullock makes it work wonderfully. She’s smart, sexy, and funny enough to pull the movie up. She handles physical comedy quite well, too, which surprised many critics. Miss Congeniality is the kind of disposable movie that’s still an amazing amount of fun. It would be insufferable with anyone other than Bullock at the helm.
Speed – Countless jokes have been made about this 1994 action movie. It’s really one of the best movies in the genre, though. Sandra Bullock plays one of the main protagonists, Annie Porter, who’s a pawn in a terrorist’s deadly game. That tag line sounds ridiculous — it is. The whole movie’s a bunch of ridiculous, near-insane fun delivered at a break neck pace. The numerous plot twists and heavy action highlight Bullock’s tremendous performance. She’s smart, funny, and sexy, and Annie Porter is a character that the viewer really ends up identifying with. Speed may be one of the most underrated films of the 90’s. Speed 2: Cruise Control, however, didn’t live up to the original in any way. Part of that might have been that it was on a boat — and completely free of the original’s energy.
What are your favorite Sandra Bullock movies? Did they make the list? Post in our comments section below the article.
