Lee Daniels’ The Butler

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327773/

Forrest Whitaker is one of those special actors who can totally immerse himself in a role with enough pathos and unfulfilled longing that you feel his pain, even when his character’s actions aren’t particularly noble. Turns out, Oprah Winfrey eventually achieves the same result. They’re just two of the great performances that blanket The Butler like a field of ripe cotton.

In terms of awards, there are not enough Oscars for the cast of Lee Daniels’ The Butler. I guess this speaks best for the script and there is an award for that. Terrance Howard, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz fill out the amazing cast along with all the celebs gathered to play the presidents and first ladies The Butler served.

For a person my age, it’s gut-wrenching to experience again the racial inequalities and desperate battle to overcome them that marked the post-WWII period peculiar to our nation's history. It’s likely necessary so people born after 1980 can see why there’s so much bitterness in current events such as the OJ Simpson trial or the Trayvon Martin tragedy.

As with Forrest Gump (but not as hokey), the historical contrivances get to be tiresome toward the end of the film, but are a necessary evil, I guess, to advance the story,

Even amid the daily indignity of the Jim Crow era, attitudes not entirely confined to the south, many blacks of the era were able to eke out a decent middle class living, as long as they were willing to withstand a constant barrage of indignities -- separate facilities for eating and going to the restroom or being treated like an animals -- by whites.

 Lee Daniels' The Butler

The frustrating part of race relations in our country is that a sizable portion of the nation doesn't really know what racism is. It’s not using certain words, acting with rudeness and malice nor even committing senseless acts of violence. These are just symptoms. Racism is a stain on the human heart. The afflicted always view the object of their dread and distrust with a jaundiced eye while unable to perceive the hatred tearing their souls apart. I don’t know if it’s curable, but films like this can’t hurt.

This is the kind of movie you’d want to take your children to see so they can comprehend not only our mixed history on race but understand that there’s a struggle that continues for the essential human dignity of our fellow Americans. It’s likely to be the most discussed major film of the year and for that I’m giving it three and a half Wilders, taking half off for the Forrest Gump exigencies.

   

This week’s Overlooked Film of Significance:  Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire. I’m guessing that a good chunk of the country that made The Butler the top grossing film two weeks in a row may have missed this earlier film by the same director. I resisted for a while. Who wants to see a movie set in a ghetto?. But I was blown away by how good it is, defying stereotypes and making a heroine from a youth struggling against great hardship.

A Good Day to Die Hard      

         

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606378/

For fans of Bruce Willis and the Die Hard series, this is a movie you’ll love. All your favorite bits are there, the hilarious one-liners, the incredible action sequences,  the slow motion death of the bad guy  in a painful way. There’s even the de rigueur ‘Yippee-ki-yay motherfucker’ (if a little half-hearted). So run out and rent it and thanks for reading…

Are they gone?

Okay, if you’re still reading you’re either A) someone who doesn't especially like Willis/Die Hard or B) know what de rigueur means; or both A and B.

Essentially, this movie blows. Willis phones in his performance having been down this road so many times he could do it in his sleep. Actually, I think he was nodding off during many scenes. I’m sure he got his 20 million payday, or maybe 50 million, but the real ‘hero’ of this film is the writer(s) who had to come up with a new way to insert a New York policeman into a plot by the nasty-de-jour  without coming up with something so embarrassing he wouldn't want to attend his upcoming 10^th frat reunion at UCLA.

 A Good Day to Die Hard

What he comes up with is bad enough. Policeman John McClane can’t find his son so he goes looking for him in…  (wait for it) … Moscow.  Really! The Russian one. After driving around a few hours he finds the boy who just happens to be in the middle of a deep –cover CIA operation to spirit a guilt-ridden nuclear arms dealer out of the country.  Hey, I’m couldn’t make this up. McClane, wanting to have a heart-to-heart at the first opportunity, promptly screws up the entire operation forcing father and son to move about Russia as if they were taking part in a weekend golf scramble.

Their journey through Russia eventually takes them to that goldmine of B-movie plots, the  sealed nuclear power plant at Chernobyl. Let’s not get into the fact that our heroes as well as the bad guys would need to cross an international border to get there which happens to be in Ukraine, not Russia, and hasn’t been part of the Soviet Union for some 20 years. Of course, a knowledge of international affairs has never been a prerequisite for enjoying this cinema genre and we’ll just sweep all that under the carpet, sorta like the soviets did at Chernobyl.

In the end, McClane, pere et fils, make things right, save the day and make it back to the good ole U.S.A. for a hero’s welcome. Cue Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Prior to one particularly harrowing stunt, McClane quips, “The things we do for our kids.” It might have been more appropriate if he’d said, “The things we do for our fans.” That is if Bruce Willis even has an iota of integrity left, which is about as likely as John McClane getting a broken rib or concussion. This is the kind of movie you’ll come across while channel surfing late one night and wonder whether this was the last one or the one where he goes looking for alien terrorists in the jungles of Peru. Bad movie, no Wilders!

This week’s Overlooked Film of Significance:  If you've never seen it, try to find a copy of Local Hero. It’s a rare movie about somewhat real people, including a visitor from Russia who isn't bent on destruction or robbery, or look like an ignorant fool.