After
a long, LONG dry spell of not seeing any recent releases in the cinema due to
personal restraints I have now committed myself to getting out of the hovel
more often on the weekends and trying to enjoying what the city has to offer. I mean – what’s the point of living in one of
the largest cities in the US if you don’t partake in the museums, fairs,
festivals, etc?
Anyhoo
– a few weeks ago I got to see the much heralded movie THE HELP. The critics had been raving about it – saying
it was a definite Oscar contender, and that Viola Davis’ acting will make her a
possible candidate for an award. With
this in mind I went in to my nearby cinema in the city (600 N Michigan – it’s
the closest and easiest to get to) with much expectations and was…..a little
underwhelmed.
The
plot surround the ambitions of a young college graduate (Emma Stone as
‘Skeeter’) who returns to her home in Mississippi in the 1960s. After getting a job writing a weekly column
in the local newspaper, she turns her attention to idea she had for a book -
compiling the stories of the local domestic help who were all blacks, and the
struggles they faced with civil rights and the fight for equality in their
daily lives. She approaches her friend’s
maid Aibileen (Viola Davis) with her idea, but received a firm “no” to any
participation. After much resistance,
the domestics eventually share their stories and Lord! You are faced with the harsh truth how Jim
Crow laws enforced in the south kept black Americans a low rung above slavery
in the terms of civil liberties and personal freedoms. Although powerful and very moving for the
first two-thirds of the film, the movie began to falter slightly in the last
third – trying to decide if it was a comedy based on the antics of Minny
(played by the vivacious Octavia Spencer), or if the film should end as a drama
portraying the hardships of being black in America in the 1960s.
All-in-all
THE HELP is a good film and really does justice in it’s accurate portrayal of
life in the 60s. I give it 7 stars out
of 10.
I
ventured into the city again last night to watch the much acclaimed film 50/50.
Based on a true story the film surrounds a 27 year old NPR editor Adam (Joseph
Gordon-Levitt) who learns he has a rare form of cancer, and how his boisterous
best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), his girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) and
mother (Anjelica Houston) deals with his battle against the disease. While receiving treatment and chemotherapy
for his cancer he undergoes therapy with a young, inexperienced but
enthusiastic psychiatric intern Katherine (Anna Kendrick) who finds it
difficult to reach through to her patient.
Thoughtful, funny but serious, this movie is an original change from this
year’s releases that delivers on its promise of a good experience. (Note:
if you go to see this excellent film don’t forget to bring a hankie or
small rag to stifle the sobs when the emotional parts hit.)
8.5
stars out of 10.
Meanwhile
I have been watching other past releases on DVD such as the romantic comedy
BRIDESMAIDS which totally lived up to its hilarious expectations of a story of
a down-on-her-luck maid of honor and her struggle with the preparations of her
best friend’s wedding (a must see); THOR – which although did not reach the
critical levels set by other superhero films such as IRONMAN or BATMAN redeemed
itself with the 90-second shot of leading man Chris Hemsworth walking around
shirtless (I literally stopped breathing for a few minutes during that scene);
PAUL – about the smart-mouth alien hitch-hiker who enlists the help of two
British vacationers touring sites of famous UFO sightings to get him to his
meeting point to return to his home planet; GREEN LANTERN – 114 minutes of my
life totally wasted on a mish-mash of (not-so) special effects all done in a
noxious green hue; I AM NUMBER FOUR – an alien-on-earth romantic adventure copy
of the Twilight movies; Disney’s TANGLED – the animated re-telling of the
Rapunzel fairytale which is totally delightful (I even got a little ferklempt
at the end); and Disney’s PROM – a sweet with a written-for-TV-feeling movie
about the one night in high school that seems to have scarred millions of
American teenagers.
More
to come later……
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