Review of The Help

Watched The Help finally, last night. Not what I expected. Haven't read the book, just seen the mixed reviews. And from the mixed reviews, I was under the impression that it would be more like the film The Blind Side, with the nice rich white people helping the poor disenfranchised black people, which I find incredibly disturbing and a bit of a lie. Or worse, the film "Gone with the Wind". It's a specific film trope in Hollywood cinema dating back to silent movies. The Help, suffice it to say is not that story at all. If anything it comments on that film trope. While tempting to state that it is ostensibly a story about people in power abusing their power at the sake of others, it's not really that tale at all. This is a story told from the perspective of black women about their lives as maids and nannies and cooks to rich white matrons in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The rich white women do not come out well at all. Those in power are shown to be abusing their power and clutching at it, for dear life.

( Review of The Help, mild spoilers )

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1. Finished watching Justified - Harlan Roulette which was violent and hilarious. Great dialogue in that series. Snappy. Sticks with you. There's also a really good scene - that demonstrates why Elmore Leonard is at the top of the modern western/crime genre.
( spoilers )

That's just one example. It's well set up, we're shown everything, there's no preaching, the violence is commented on and forwards the plot, and characters. And the characters react to it, it hurts.

Plus? Added bonus, we actually like the lead. He's not an irredeemable asshole - which is my problem with this particular trope. They usually are. If you prefer the irredeemable asshole trope - here's a list of American Television series that you can currently rent on DVD: Sopranoes,
Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, The Shield (although he may actually be redeemable, not sure - this was the first of the trope so the least nasty), Deadwood, Rescue Me. You can entertain yourselves for years. The Sopranoes alone will take that long. There's also The Wire, but that has redeemable assholes. And now, Luck is added to the trope. Quite popular right now with male critics. So expect to see more of them.

2. Half-watching Alcatraz - which I found to be incredibly dull. It's sort of an old school sci-fi anthology series. And in the sci-fi anthology series category? Person of Interest is a whole lot better, better acted and better scripted. Also with a more believable and far more interesting premise. (I say that...even though I happen to adore Sam Neill.) Neither are really my cup of tea, but if I were to recommend one, I'd go with Person of Interest - it held my interest longer and had more interesting twists and turns, and was less cliche.

3)The Popster is reading House of Lies - the book that the Showtime original series is based on, which I'll have to rent, because I am not subscribing to Showtime. Still debating HBO.

Me: Did you know there's a book about how management consultants are the root of all evil?
Momster (bursts out laughing): Your kidding.
Me: Nope. But I think it's a satire, although it was in the business section at Barnes and Noble, and a Showtime series is based on it.
Momster: (Still laughing. Popster was a management consultant for 28 years, hence the laughter)
Which firm?( Read more... )

Review of the film Miss Potter.

Apparently the paper was right in their prediction that the Giants would win the super-bowl because they have fairy dust. Doesn't matter who the better team is, the underdog has the fairy dust.

I didn't watch it. Being single and without a man about, I treated myself to a movie...Miss Potter. As you may have guessed? I'm not a fan of bio-pics. Reason I've avoided Iron Lady and J. Edgar...the trope I find rather dull. But this film, which came out several years ago..is quite good. Not your run of the mill bio-pic at all, and much like Finding Neverland...provides insight into an artistic perspective. But it also shows how difficult it was for a woman back then, things men take for granted, simple freedoms, Beatrix had to fight for. To be taken seriously, and to set off on her own. It's subtle, that power-play, women must marry, have a man. And is similar to both Bridesmaids and The Help in its subtle push. Three different time periods...1)1960s, 2)1800s, and 3) 21st Century..and there's still that feeling that you are not quite complete without. Yet, in both Miss Potter and in The Help...the women succeed despite it. Their are powerful in their own right, men lurk in the background.

Miss Potter is a romance though. Very much so. And it is humorous in places. With touches of animation. And the cinematography is beautiful - much of it is filmed in The Lake Country of Northern England (I think it's Northern, I've been there, I have pictures to prove it but not digitized - but I was there in 1987. That's a long time ago. I think 22 years ago? Don't tell me if its more.). The Lake Country of England reminds me a great deal of the Hudson River Valley of Upstate New York...same rural and pastoral setting, with tall mountains, lakes, and rolling hills without the drama of Colorado or Wyoming's rockies. New England isn't called New England for nothing, it looks a lot like England. As does much of New York and Pennsylvania. This may be why I love this area of the US.

But back to the film. I think I prefer bio-pics about artists...you can enfold their stories into the film. Here...we see the characters from her books hop about at times, or twitch upon the page. We see the process of turning art into a book, the old printing presses, and the struggle to get published. We see her come up with her stories and what inspires them. We watch how paints and fixes them upon the page.
( Read more... )