The Butler

What a stupid movie it was, all historical, celebrating how blacks have made it in this world.  How do i relate; i'm white, i come from a middle class family.  Only the last scene moved me.  The butler character walks himself to the president's quarters stating, "i know where it is".

The Butler lasts through 3 or 4 presidencies.  He comes from a family of indentured servants.  His mom gets raped and his dad dies.  after that, he works as a house boy and learns the trade that eventually gets him into the White House.  He performs all the tasks he's to do without entering into conversations with the presidents.  His face is the only thing that betrays him.  If you can say anything about Forrest Whitaker, it's that he can grimace.

In the mean time, one son of his, the elder one, begins work with the civil rights movements; first, MLK, then Black Panthers.  His other son goes off to the military to fight vietnam.  There is a great row at the dinner table regarding what's right and what's wrong.

All that said, i didn't enjoy this movie very much.  It mostly bored me.  Most of the audience were old black folks.  If you're independent or some CG built sci fi flick, i can stand a pg-13 rating.  But for historical dramas, i get bored unless it's visceral.  And that, this is not.  Just like i can't expect anyone to get anything out of this if i am boring.

2 out of 5 stars.

Blue Jasmine

If you are looking for a dismal movie, look no further than this.  The audience laughed and applauded a few times but no more than that.  And by the end of the movie, no one was laughing.

This story follows two adopted sisters in their late thirties.  Jasmine had a rich husband who ended up killing himself in a prison cell.  The government acquires all of their wealth leaving the older sibling with only her sister in San Francisco for help.  She's used to having everything handed to her and screws her sister over in some flashback scenes.  The other sister, Ginger, on the other hand, is very meek and feels that she got the bad genes in the family which is why she dates the guys she dates and lives the way she lives.  Jasmine does little to make her feel like the guys she dates aren't total losers.  She doesn't see that the man in front of her face is the man for her--this after a fling with a married guy played by C.K. Louis.  She does love her boyfriend.  In the end, it is the two of them playing cutesy together on the couch while her sister takes a shower and heads for the street.  She sits on a park bench and mumbles to herself with her hair still wet.  The woman next to her leaves, perturbed.  It seems probable she'll end up in a hospital.

We're never actually rooting for Jasmine  She's too devious.  She's obviously abandoned by her sister.  We still hope she gets better.  We pray she doesn't get worse, that she recovers.  But she's been through so much hell.  How destructive losing a cheating husband who kills himself and having the government take everything you owned.  She got more beat up than a boxer.  But it's bruises on the insides.  And she's down for the count.

Kick Ass 2

Kick Ass 2 just came out.  We saw it with 5 or six other couples at the Esquire in St. Louis.  Not a big showing for its first week, but i kind of like it that way.

Kick Ass 2 stars the same two characters as the first one.  This time, one named red mist is out to seek revenge on Kick Ass for the death of his father in the first Kick Ass.  He's changed his name to Motherfucker after killing his mom in a tanning bed.  Later, in a scene at a prison, Motherfucker confronts his mafioso uncle who slits his guardian's throat over the phone.  That is enough to transform red mist into the motherfucker supervillain

Meanwhile, Hit Girl is getting phased out of her superhero status by her guardian to try and be a normal girl with other normal girls.  This doesn't work out well for her.  The cool kids pick on her and she suffers for it.  Still, she can't seem to betray her guardian and try to live a normal life.  She's a special girl.  Her father, the original super hero, trained her to be a walking, hitting machine.  So she feels like she's been betraying her father.  Plus, kick ass can't get her to rejoin the fighting ranks.

This movie is fairly gory.  Throats slit, glass jabbing, shark attack.  The final scenes of this movie make it all worth watching.  Also, there are a couple of good sized tits in one scene.  This movie, making it a rated R was a really good choice.  Had it not for all the boobies and violence, i probably would have just passed it.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.