Lee Daniels' The Butler Review

3.0 Stars

Lee Daniels' The Butler stars Forest Whitaker as White House Butler Cecil Gaines. Gaines grew up in the 1920's as a sharecropper and is offered a position as butler in the White House in the 1950's.  A model of professionalism and discretion, Gaines' career spanned several decades allowing him to serve under several Presidents, witness the effects of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and other significant events in the history of the United States.  While America struggles with these issues, Cecil struggles at home with family issues.  His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) battles her addictions and his son Louis (David Oyelowo) defiantly strives to find justice in the world. 

The Butler was a bit of a let down.  I know it was based on a true story, but I felt the way the story was told was very unbalanced.  There were so many times when they were focused on Cecil's work in the White House that I was wondering how this would affect his family and there were just as many times when the focus switched to his family life that I found myself longing to see him more in the White House.  Though Forest Whitaker gave an amazing performance, quite possibly Oscar-nominating worthy, I felt the film dragged. 

The Butler featured a veritable who's who of Hollywood's A-list actors that really didn't get publicized in previews.  One of the ways I knew this was moving slowly was that I was more intrigued by the "game" of who is going to make a guest appearance next.  Like JFK, the Oceans Trilogy and The Departed, every actor shy of Kevin Bacon seemed to get in on the action of this movie.  Mariah Carey and Oprah Winfrey starred as Gaines' family.  Vanessa Redgrave as slave owner Annabeth Westfall.  Terrence Howard lived next door and Gaines worked with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Lenny Kravitz in the White House.  James Marsden and Minka Kelly played John and Jackie Kennedy, Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda appeared as Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Liev Shreiber was Lyndon B. Johnson, John Cusack played Richard Nixon and Robin Williams portrayed Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

This movie had all the potential in the world to be an Oscar contender for Best Film.  I'm not sure what went wrong with all the star power they had working for them, but for me, it was not all it could or should have been.  It was an original concept, but poorly executed.  I gave The Butler 3 stars as I did enjoy it, but this will not be making it to my DVD collection.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Lee Daniels' The Butler Preview

Lee Daniels' The Butler stars Forest Whitaker as White House Butler Cecil Gaines. Gaines grew up in the 1920's as a sharecropper and is offered a position as butler in the White House in the 1950's.  A model of professionalism and discretion, Gaines' career spanned several decades allowing him to serve under several Presidents, witness the effects of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and other significant events in the history of the United States.  While America struggles with these issues, Cecil struggles at home with family issues.  His wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) battles her addictions and his son Louis (David Oyelowo) defiantly strives to find justice in the world.  

The Butler is a look at some hard but formative years in the shaping of the United States from the 1950's to the 1980's. Running at over two hours long, not a lot of action seems to drive this movie, but rather it's a look at American history through the eyes of this humble butler.  When done right, these are the types of movies that become Oscar Nominated films.  When done wrong, these movies drag on and on and the viewer is begging for the end credits to roll.  Oscar-winning movies Argo and Lincoln are two such movies.  Both are a look into a specific time in history and both were gripping stories which brilliant character portrayals and superb dialogue that didn't need explosive action to keep the film moving.  And if anyone can pull off the demands of a movie like this, it would be Oscar-Winner (The Last King of Scotland, 2007) Forest Whitaker.  

I predict The Butler will be a moving and epic story of America's History as told by White House butler Gaines.  I predict tears and cheers with solid and Oscar-worthy performances from the cast.  Look for this movie to not only rake it in at the box office, but to at least be nominated for several Academy Awards.  I predict a 4.0 rating, well worth the money and likely to make my DVD collection.  Am I right?  We shall see.

Oscars Results

Well, the Oscars Awards Ceremony is over and the trophies have been given.  So how did I do in my predictions?  Below are all the nominees.  My predictions are in Bold and Underlined.  The actual winners are colored red.

BEST PICTURE:

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Amour – Michael Haneke
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin
• Life of Pi – Ang Lee
• Lincoln – Stephen Spielberg
• Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
• Denzel Washington – Flight

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
• Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts – The Impossible

 BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Alan Arkin – Argo
• Robert DeNiro – Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Amy Adams – The Master
• Sally Field – Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt – The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

WRITING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• Amour
• Django Unchained
• Flight
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

WRITING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

Not too bad, six out of eight correct.  As my friends will attest, though I believed Lincoln to deserve Best Picture and Director awards, I told them not to count Argo out of the race, especially after taking home first place at nearly every other awards ceremony that exists for motion pictures.  Many have felt that Director Ben Affleck was actually snubbed by the Academy for not being nominated for Best Director.  That could be one of the downfalls of expanding the Best Picture category to nine nominees and keeping the Director category at only five. In fact, over the last 25 years, only 5 times has the Best Picture not guaranteed the Best Director awards.  2013 marks the 6th historic time this has occurred, and it certainly won't be the last.  

Oscar Predictions

The 2013 Oscar Awards will be presented tonight.  I am going to make my predictions based on the movies I've seen.

BEST PICTURE:

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Amour – Michael Haneke
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin
• Life of Pi – Ang Lee
• Lincoln – Stephen Spielberg
• Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
• Denzel Washington – Flight

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
• Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts – The Impossible

 BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Alan Arkin – Argo
• Robert DeNiro – Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Amy Adams – The Master
• Sally Field – Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt – The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

WRITING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• Amour
• Django Unchained
• Flight
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

WRITING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

Flight Review

2.5 Stars

Flight is the story of commuter airline pilot Whip Whitfield (Denzel Washington).  He's good at his job, and a fateful trip from Orlando to Atlanta would prove just how good he is.  Shortly after takeoff, he maneuvers the plane through some extremely rough turbulence.  They think they're in the clear, but an apparent plane malfunction sends them into a nosedive.  Whip has no choice but to flip the plane and crash land in the closest field he can find.  He wakes in the hospital and finds that though 8 people on the plane have perished, he is solely responsible for saving the lives of everyone else with a move that no other pilot could duplicate.  However, after a routine blood test for this situation, it seems there was alcohol in his system and an investigation is underway to determine the actual cause of the crash.  Flight is the story of Whitfield fighting for his life both personally and professionally.

 Well, I certainly didn't see that coming.  The preview basically shows the first twenty minutes of the movie in which pilot Whip Whitfield (Washington) heroically saves the lives of most of the passengers on his flight.  The rest of the movie is about his full-blown alcoholism and drug addiction.  The FAA hires an attorney who agrees that the cause of the crash was a mechanical issue and that Whitfield is indeed the hero, and no one else could have done what he did.  All he has to do is stay clean and sober during the investigation and everything will be fine.  But he is such an addict that he can't and his personal and professional lives are ruined in the process.  I didn't get that from the preview and it was two hours of drinking and drugs.  It was often slow and borderline boring, completely different that the heart-pounding adventure the preview leads me to believe this movie would be.  Denzel's performance earned him an Oscar Nomination for best leading actor, but I didn't think it was that stellar.  He is always great, so maybe I have higher standards and expectations for him to warrant an Oscar nod.  And Denzel is up against Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables, Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook and Joaquin Phoenix in The Master.  I'm sorry, but there is no way his performance should be in this category with these other performances.  The preview for Flight was misleading and ultimately made the movie a disappointment.  It will definitely not be making it to my personal collection.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Flight Preview

Flight is the story of commuter airline pilot Whip Whitfield (Denzel Washington).  He's good at his job, and a fateful trip from Orlando to Atlanta would prove just how good he is.  Shortly after takeoff, he maneuvers the plane through some extremely rough turbulence.  They think they're in the clear, but an apparent plane malfunction sends them into a nosedive.  Whip has no choice but to flip the plane and crash land in the closest field he can find.  He wakes in the hospital and finds that though 8 people on the plane have perished, he is solely responsible for saving the lives of everyone else with a move that no other pilot could duplicate.  However, after a routine blood test for this situation, it seems there was alcohol in his system and an investigation is underway to determine the actual cause of the crash.  Flight is the story of Whitfield fighting for his life both personally and professionally.

The preview shows a dramatic, spectacular crash landing in which pilot Whip Whitfield inverts a commuter airplane in order to save the passengers on board.  Whitfield awakes in the hospital and is informed that an investigation into the crash has been initiated and alcohol was found in his blood.  Whitfield's friend Harling Mays (John Goodman) is there to visit him and assure him that he's a hero.  I'm not 100% sure what to expect from this movie.  The tragic plane ride is the majority of the preview, so one would assume that most of the movie would be centered around the flight and what made it crash.  And the clips of that flight look absolutely amazing.  And it's Denzel Washington and John Goodman.  How can you go wrong with those two heavy hitters in the lineup?  I loved them in their last co-starring picture Fallen.  My concern is that the movie is over two hours long.  How much of that can really be watching one flight come crashing down?  How much of that is investigating the crash?  How much of that is about pilot Whitfield?  I'm hoping it's a gripping mystery that keeps me on the edge of my seat.  So I'm predicting a hesitant but hopeful 4 stars for this movie.  Am I right?  We shall see.

Zero Dark Thirty Review

4 Stars

On September 11, 2001, a terrorist group known as Al Qaeda carried out the worst attack by a foreign country on US soil.  In the decade that followed, several covert and overt operations have been carried out in retaliation against those responsible for the attack and in efforts to track down their elusive leader, Osama Bin Laden.  Zero Dark Thirty is the story of the success of a small military group knows as Navy SEAL Team Six in accomplishing this goal.  Maya (Jessica Chastain) is a new CIA operative and she has the uncomfortable job of overseeing the interrogation of prisoners after the Al Qaeda attacks.  Although she is reluctant to be a part of it, Maya truly believes this is the only way to get any viable information as to the location of Osama Bin Laden. After a decade of pursuit, Maya is sure she has discovered Bin Laden's whereabouts, and SEAL Team Six is sent to capture or kill the terrorist mastermind, but she is the only one confident in her findings.

As I stated in my preview, I said this looks to be an emotionally charged, gut-wrenchingly uncomfortable, frustrating movie.  Director Kathryn Bigelow did a marvelous job.  I'm not sure why there was so much hype over the torture scenes.  Like it or not, they happened.  This movie doesn't glorify or demonize them.  It was a part of the war.  They way she handled it was flawless.  Showed enough to understand what was going on, but torturing captives wasn't the point of the movie.  The point was the hunt for Bin Laden.  She addressed the topic, presented it and moved on.  Very well done.  

Another concern I had was that movies like this tend to do three things: point out how inept and inefficient our government is, demonize an entire race of people because of a small faction of radicals, and glorify the actions of those following orders as brave heroes. Again, Bigelow is to be commended for sticking to her story, Maya's hunt for Bin Laden.  It wasn't filled with gratuitous anti-American government sentiments.  It wasn't filled with anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani rhetoric.  It didn't glorify torture.  And the final chapter of the movie with SEAL Team Six going into the compound and doing their job was breath-taking. 

All-in-all I was very impressed and gave Zero Dark Thirty a solid 4 stars.  I would definitely see it again and there's a good chance I'll see this in my personal collection some day.  Well done.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.