Now that The Butler has taken the box office for the second week in a row, on fewer screens than its competition, the speculative conversation is upon us. In a private email chat with Kris Tapley and Anne Thompson, they said they were certain that Oprah single-handedly opened the film. And that its box-office strength is being driven by her popularity. No doubt Oprah’s name is helping sell tickets, but I think that only tells part of the story. Expand your range of vision beyond the easy answers and you begin to see what other forces might be at play.
It’s simply too easy to say the box office is being driven by Oprah’s rare performance, even with its attendant media buzz.
1) The film’s swan dive into civil rights. Watch Driving Miss Daisy if you want to see how Hollywood has continually marginalized stories about Civil Rights, particularly in regard to African-American involvement. Take Spike Lee’s filmmaking, for instance. It was deemed “too confrontational” and Lee too “angry” at the time. Driving Miss Daisy, and later, The Blind Side and The Help have been more to Hollywood’s liking, at least that’s what the box-office numbers tell us. But, for once, The Butler tells a story about black and white history from the black perspective. It isn’t a story aimed squarely at black audiences; it is a story with crossover appeal. America elected the presidents under whom this butler (Eugene Allen, upon which the Butler is loosely based) served. He witnessed pivotal moments in our history. Movies about those presidents have been made and their stories are the ones we learn in school. But unlike Driving Miss Daisy and The Help, The Butler is history as seen through the lens of black characters. That makes it unique, important and absolutely worth seeing.
2) The undeniable pull of good storytelling. While some critics are lured by simpler screen treatments, efficiently engineered with unadorned form like reinforced concrete and absorbed like the cinematic equivalent of sedatives, more ornate movies with rich fulfilling stories will always draw ticket-buyers, no matter how sprawling and complex. How do potential ticket-buyers know a good story awaits? Some of the more trustworthy critics tell them so (AO Scott). All the same, others like Kenneth Turan have given The Butler less than stellar reviews, and some fall back with faint praise like “it’s worth your time even with its flaws.” But Oprah’s own seal of approval has been a trustworthy sign of good taste for decades now, particularly in her promotion of fine literature. Perhaps Jonathan Franzen had trouble abiding the branding she gave his book, although even he had to eventually acknowledge how much Oprah has enriched popular culture. So yeah, in that way, her word is good enough for many.
3) As antidote to the homogenized fare offered up by studios. A major story this season is how audiences have been reliably turning out for art house fare and unique stories aimed at adults. The usual blockbuster crap we adults ordinarily endure has mostly disappointed. The bigger-and-louder razzle-dazzle has lost its appeal. Many teens would now rather Snapchat each other all night than waste a couple of hours watching formulaic films play out. I could be wrong, but that’s how things are looking summer 2013.
4) Respecting neglected audiences. Serving up meatier subjects is a big reason for this film’s success right now. The same way Lincoln drew in crowds who wanted to witness how history played out and were willing to drive to the multiplex and shell out cold, hard cash — there are people who would never go out to the movies now who are eager to pay to see this film. Not just because of Oprah. But for many Americans, black and white alike, The Butler is the kind of movie mainstream Hollywood just doesn’t make anymore, and frankly, hardly ever has. Spike Lee went there with Do The Right Thing and with Malcolm X but Hollywood never really embraced this perspective, assuming that white audiences couldn’t relate (we know Oscar voters couldn’t). Tapping into black audiences and white audiences is the key here, in my opinion.
5) Timely subject matter. This falls, perhaps, under the Civil Rights category, but there’s no denying The Butler has landed square in the middle of a significant moment. Obama’s presidency drawing out the racists, the Voting Rights Act being stripped by our Supreme Court, blatant voter suppression, a country divided along racial lines. Lee Daniels has said that many young people today really have no idea what went on in this country a half century ago, setting fire to the hateful fuse that burned through so much tragic abuse the past half-century and played out most recently with the Trayvon Martin case. Poor education has many an asshole on Twitter scratching their heads and saying stupid shit like “there’s no racist problem in this country.” The Butler, despite what critics vaguely refer to as flaws, educates. So people don’t want to be educated by a movie? That’s fine. Go see Some Piece of Shit 3 instead. I’m sure you will be more than entertained and by that Happy Meal.
One of the the factors that makes The Butler a force to be reckoned with is Oprah, to be sure, but there’s much more to it than that. This is a situation where the critics matter less than the buzz. This is a natural mutation of the way things evolve, when way too many critics form a kind of “cool kids club” contributes to a Twitter effect that backfires to shut down diverse storytelling in Hollywood. The way to pull out of such a rut is for studios to skip over critics, for audiences to skip over the critics, and eventually the Oscars will skip over critics too. People mostly know a good story when they see one. The box office reflects that.
Hey. I just read that THE BUTLER won it’s third weekend beating the pants off of One Direction. 😀
I saw it Saturday. I thought it was really good. I actually thought everyone did a great job. I thought Marsden nailed JFK’s voice. So many people have tried and failed at that. I went in knowing the Presidents were supposed to be crappy but having seen it I didn’t think that at all. I thought they did a fine job. If you can get the kind of movie this is, then the whole thing works admirably. Lee Daniels did a fantastic job winding it all together at a good pace. I was never bored. It was moving as well so I definitely think this will make the big dance and should do well.
Congrats to all involved.
I saw The Butler the other night. While it certainly will make the Top 10 for BP, I don’t see it winning the top prize. (Spoiler Alerts ahead if you want to skip). I found it’s main fault to be the very weak performances of all the White House occupants. I found Jane Fonda to really be the only one who really nailed her performance (even though she’s onscene for about 45 seconds.) Everyone else was bad. John Cusack as President John Cusack (Dan Ackyord did a better job). Marsden wasn’t anything like JFK. There was a perfect RFK in Edgar…should’ve used him. The Jackie Kennedy actress had no ‘Jackie-ness.’ Was it really necessary to show LBJohnson on on toilet? Robin Williams as Ike? Ah…should we be laughing? I wasn’t sold on Reagan guy…mostly because it seemed like political backstabbing to have an 80s ‘villian’ Alan Rickman portray RR,
Although I like the life’s journey of the main character (Cecil)…I don’t know his history & I’m sure that lots of stuff about his oldest son werre fictionalized to portray the turbulence of the 60s…but, the son’s story kind’ve steered me off-course where I felt like I was watching Forrest Gump. I highly doubted that he was involved in every civil rights milestone that occured through history (okay, maybe he was at the Woolworth’s counter…but, his Freedom Bus is also firebombed, he’s shot at outside a black church, he’s in the same hotel room was MLK and now he’s in the Black Panthers?…)
As for the ‘electrifying’ Oprah Winfrey…well, #1 – she is no way a Lead role. It’s Cecil’s story…then his son’s. Personally, I think that Lee Daniels should’ve cast Mo’nique in this role. It almost seems like she could’ve displayed a complete 180 from her previous astonishment. With Oprah…I’ll have to let enough time pass to reevaluate her performance, but I think that the shadow of OPRAH overshadowed actress Oprah Winfrey. Since she’s been absent from our view for some time…of course, we’re shocked to see her smoke, slap her son, get boozy and flirty. But it’s like watching OPRAH do crazy things…not an actress who didn’t leave the role hollow. (I think her celebrity overshadowed her presence near the end where there show the Obama 2008 celebratory speech from Chicago’s Grant Park. The world knows that OPRAH was in that audience, sobbing and clutching onto some Mister Man. I almost expected this movie to show her. Even when Gloria slaps her son about his hatred for Sidney Poitier…everybody knows that OPRAH loves SP, so the scene had less effect because it’s O mad at a SP slam. I guess I wanted to see OWinfrey show more emotion instead of sad faces at all the situations. When she gets the news from Vietnam…I wanted an Elizabeth Taylor WAOVWoolf breakdown from getting ‘the telegram.’ Thus…she had a warm, motherly presence…but, I didn’t buy her as a lush, an adultress…or even a cook. She has come along way from TCPurple. But, because of the story’s civil rights storyline that most people don’t want to bother with…she was the correct selection for the role (because audiences will watch it & absorb it), but I can’t say that she was the correct choice for the role. Her final scene, when she was an old-timer…that’s when I found her most ‘alive,’…but, her passing…her character didn’t grab me and it just felt hollow.
Mediocre movie .. Oprah drank, smoked, looked out into space… Oscar??? Hopefully not… Whittaker was excellent
I just got back from seeing it, what a fabulous movie. Oprah killed it, David was amazing, and Alan Rickman as Reagan! It made me cry it made me laugh, I loved it.
Gosh, it took me way too long to realize that “Tespecting” was supposed to be “Respecting”. (Is Tespecting some sort of newfangled term about test-marketing?) That and “by” in stead of “buy” and whatnot makes me want to turn into a gray-bunned librarian and start lecturing about proper proof-reading, people, before posting!! 😉
I just got back from seeing The Butler and I have to say I thought it was awful. The endless parade of stars playing bit parts (Jane Fonda, Robin Williams, John Cusack, James Marsden, etc) was distracting enough but did every scene have to touch on a monumental moment in history? It was too Forrest Gump for me and left me cold. I wanted to like it but was sorely disappointed.
“Almost every group has been victims at some point in world history. Italian-Americans were lynched in Louisiana. During WWII, my grandmother, who hadn’t naturalized like my grandfather did, was hauled in for questioning.”
Jeez Louise. Whenever there’s a film dealing with oppression of minority groups, someone ALWAYS insists on starting a victim-off.
Bigotry aimed at one minority group doesn’t negate bigotry aimed at a different group.
But if you want to go that way, tell me about the 200 years of legalized enslavement and over half a century of of Jim Crow laws suffered by ethnic whites in the U.S.
Lest the previous post date me as a total fossil, I will turn 49 in September.
It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I saw the movie, and the next time will be on home video, so I’m a little sketchy on the following: Didn’t Cecil, in voiceover, make a comparison between the killing of blacks and the Holocaust? If my recollection is correct, I’m surprised that the ADL hasn’t bristled. (Both are horrible, though the death count was higher in the Holocaust.)
Almost every group has been victims at some point in world history. Italian-Americans were lynched in Louisiana. During WWII, my grandmother, who hadn’t naturalized like my grandfather did, was hauled in for questioning. They backed off, when they realized that she had one son in the Pacific (my dad) and one in the army. (Meanwhile, my mother was ducking bombs in the Sicilian countryside near Augusta.)
De facto frontrunner. I think will end up getting BP, Whitaker, and Winfrey. Maybe even a SAG ensemble nom.
Bon jour toute le monde! Je suis a Montreal pour Le Festival des Films du Monde, but meanwhile, back in Toronto!
Since this topic is Harvey and how well he’s handled “The Butler” and also “Fruitvale Station” this season, I wanted to report something VERY strange about the showing of “August:Osage County” at TIFF. Harvey has opened his two past Oscar winners “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist” right off the bat. The first screening on the first day of screenings and certainly on the first weekend which he did spectacularly well, with “Silver Linings Playbook” last year winning the Audience Award.
But for AOC? It’s not playing til MONDAY, when many critics, myself included will have left town already, and even those that are still in TO. have to wait for the Press & Industry Screening IMMEDIATELY pre-ceding the Gala Presentation, THAT AFTERNOON. Harvey always makes everyone get up at the crack of dawn. Famous for 8:45AM screenings. NOT THIS YEAR. This is very strange indeed. It’s like he’s hiding it til the very last minute, and then he won’t be showing it until Thanksgiving around its’ release date. This isn’t likeTWC. Uh-oh. Some journos myself included can’t change their travel dates at this late, er, date. What is going on here? But he’s done right with the “Butler” and “Fruitavle” What’s he up to here? Managing expectations, as Sasha called it in another thread? If you’re not in that first weekend, you’re just not considered in or hot or whatnot. Now everybody has to change their plans.Not an easy thing to do at TIFF, FYI.
Bonjour Stephen! Thx for the info it pretty much confirms my fears since I saw the trailer: August: Sausage County could be a lame duck and Harvey will have to throw all his might behind The Butler, unless it’s a trick to downplay expectations and take us by surprise, or he’s just trying out a new strategy, or maybe since the movie won’t be released until Christmas, he doesn’t want critics/bloggers to speak abt it too soon and then forget abt it, I guess it’s better for business and awards campaigning to get people to talk abt the film during the thick of the season.
Many potential reasons, only Harvey knows…
For me, the appeal of the film lies not in its “Eff you” to the racist whites, but in the the sight of ordinary people doing heroic things for a righteous cause.
Also, Jesse Williams makes one of the most crushable film ministers of all time.
Agreed. It’s a good – and important – story well told. The audience clapped at the end of the Thursday small-town screening I attended.
@chris. i see your point but thats not always true! think like a man was #1 at the box office last year, two weeks in a row and made about $90 million. i believe though the fact that it was a popular book helped its marketing and movie success.
I thought Ryan or Sasha might want to know that Kanye West used a still from Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” as a backdrop for his MTV VMA performance of “Blood on the Leaves”. Curious bit of cross-promotion there.
Is no one troubled by the fact that the films about the black experience in America that have the most appeal to white audiences, that are commercially successful and embraced by white audiences and Academy voters, are those in which the black characters are
butlers, maids, chauffeurs and slaves?
The Butler, The Help, Driving Miss Daisy, The Color Purple, 12 Years a Slave…are you saying they’re not worthy of white folks attention? I almost know the point you’re getting at but consider how well made and important those films are. That’s probably why they are popular and getting awards/nominations. Last I checked Precious, Fruitvale Station and Beasts of the Southern Wild were also very popular and none featured a main character playing a butler or a maid.
Thank you, Sasha, for such a spot-on essay as this. My wife and I, who are both African-Americans, saw “The Butler” over the weekend, and we were both blown away. For me, this movie brought back vivid memories like the President Kennedy and Dr. King assassinations, which made me weep, not only for what I lived through as a child and teenager back then, but for what our country has become today, in spite of civil rights. In short, I found “The Butler” to be riveting, heartbreaking, and ultimately, triumphant.
Between Blanchett in Blue Jasmine, Streep in August Osage, and Oprah in The Butler, it’s going to be a full on war of classy woman playing drunkard/pill poppers this year! Can’t wait!
Off topic: Saw “Crash” again on DVD, and it was such an engaging movie, well written, and VERY relevant to what’s still happening in this country. Very almost “true” to what we read about. Great acting, esp. Sandra Bullock and Thandie Newton.
I swear that damn movie made this country racist again.
Box office gross is not, and will never be, a sign of a story’s worth. Audiences paid billions of dollars to see a shitty PIrates 4 movie when you market it enough.
I don’t think The Butler is a particularly good film, but it does have some good moments, and it has a tone I really enjoy. It’s an unapologetic tone of “fuck you, racist whites, you have done terrible things” to be an exciting contrast to the vast corpus of American films about racism, which are always a bit too self-congratulatory about how “we” (and we are always, oddly, pink-skinned in these settings) are better than those nasty backwards rednecks. “Don’t worry white audiences, now that Obama’s elected, racism is over!” But that doesn’t make it a better work of drama, just a potent message picture. And who the hell goes out to the movies because they want a real stern message picture? Nobody you’d want to talk to at a cocktail party, that’s for sure.
But if the past 80 years have taught us anything, is that a film doesn’t need to be great to win it all. It doesn’t hurt, but not a prerequisite or anything. Never doubt the power of patting yourself on the back. Hollywood loves doing it. Hell, we just saw it last year with Argo. It is why Sean Penn and George Clooney always get good free meals. If Oprah wants an Oscar, by God, give Oprah an Oscar! Maybe next year, Mrs. Streep.
oh and i personally didnt think the main focus of the movie was about civil rights at all?? yes it was during that era but i got the impression it was about a man who had experienced something early during his childhood that made him live the life that he did and thus he had a strained relationship with his wife and son later in his life. dont wanna spoil what happened to him as a child but yeah..that to me was why he chose the life of servitude becuse he saw what could happen if you go against the grain and he also saw what happens if you “serve”. dunno the relationships in the movie for me seemed to be the central focus, with the civil rights era being the background-which again made it unique and appealing. plus i too am in a repititive job where i feel like im “serving” so it makes me question when is enough, enough? and where do you finally draw that line. it so hit home for me just on that level alone. god this movie was great<3
in what world do you all live in where you think it deserves an “Oprah Nom” and not a best actor nomination? i dont give a damn how “crowded” you -think- the category may be. Forest Whitaker played the hell out of that role and deserves and -WILL- get nominated. period. im not going to sugarcoat and say “oprah nom” when in reality i thought she was just OK. i would love to see it nominated for Best Pic as well as it deserves that too… but it should be a definite best actor, no ifs ands or buts about it.:)
Ack, so tired of race lines!
Race lines. Thirty-eight thousand dollars. I know you want it. Can you afford it? Race lines.
I am never ever ever gonna watch Tyler Perry. I am never ever ever gonna watch Tyler Perry. You can tout Lee Daniels, tout Steve McQueen, tout Spike Lee. But, I am never ever ever ever gonna watch Tyler Perry. Like ever.
🙂
Would it have killed them to have Cecil in the presence of the presidents when they were talking about the moon landing or Roe or the Berlin Wall?
Would it have killed them to have Cecil in the presence of the presidents when they were talking about the moon landing or Roe or the Berlin War?
Luckily Kennedy got shot, so we were able to enjoy a few scenes of White House variety.
I’m glad you’re smiling Tony. I hope you know I am too.
I see your point. Would it have killed them to have Lawrence of Arabia talk about the Mayans or rugby or the Titanic? Arabia, Arabia, Arabia, it’s like the dude couldn’t think about anything except friggen Arabia.
I just think it would have added more texture, well-roundedness. These other things really did happen and surely were discussed a lot in the WH in the butler’s presence. Couldn’t Cecil have been shown as being there as a witness to *something* even once in awhile not related to civil rights?
It’s not a big deal. I liked the movie. I really did. I didn’t love it, though.
“Luckily Kennedy got shot, so we were able to enjoy a few scenes of White House variety.”
You do know that it wasn’t Oswald, right? It was Mimi Alford, and she was aiming for his p****.
(Kidding)
Tony, this isn’t big deal to me, but I do think it’s very odd criticism to say “The Butler leaves one with the impression that — with the exception of the Vietnam War — black people cared only about civil rights”
ALL movies are written to focus on specific issues or themes, are they not? I love to pick on The King’s Speech but I could just as easily have said that Zero Dark Thirty leaves one with the impression that the CIA only cared about Bin Laden and Nothing Else!
Because these friggen movies are ABOUT civil rights and stuttering and Bin Laden.
But setting aside the broader point — are you serious? What movie did you see?
Did it really seem to you that Oprah’s character was only concerned about Civil Rights? She didn’t care about her son? Or her marriage? She had no concerns about fidelity to her husband, or flirtations from Terrence Howard? And how about Terrence Howard. You watched The Butler and all you came away with was, “Wow, it sure seems like the only thing that guy cared about was Civil Rights. Well, Civil Rights and getting laid.”
Because to me it felt like Almost None of the black people in The Butler ever uttered the term “Civil Rights” and the subject rarely even came up in casual conversation. They were all just loving each other and living their lives and facing a multitude of regular everyday human family issues.
For the first half hour of The Butler, Cecil Gaines cared more about learning how to serve a fancy tray of tea and cookies to white people far more than he cared about Civil Rights. For the entirety of the film it seemed to that Cecil Gaines primary concern was simply to provide a secure comfortable home for his family. He was concerned with getting a good job and concerned with doing everything necessary to be great at his job so he could keep that job.
He became interested in Civil Rights when his son became a Freedom Rider, but the only time we ever see Cecil Gaines involved in the Civil Rights movement himself was One Single Scene near the end when he attends a rally — a rally where his son was speaking.
Oprah’s character talks more about Sidney Poitier than she talks about Civil Rights. Who are these characters you imagine you saw in The Buter who could only think about Civil Rights to the exclusion of everything else? The student activists? Americans are familiar the concept of being “students” in “college” and we know what it takes to get into college and save money and date other students, so I don’t think we needed to have The Butler go into great detail about how kids “prepare for college” and “attend classes” and all that, do we? We just sort of assume that the students are concerned about getting an education, right? Is it this concern with getting an education that you need to see depicted more exhaustively on screen? Or did the movie leave with the impression that all the black students went to college to study Civil Rights?
What other concerns would you like to have seen The Butler explore? Please name 2 or 3 of these concerns. Then tell me how much screen time you think those other concerns should have occupied. (Bear in mind that we already got to see at least 30 minutes of Cecil Gaines being concerned about learning the proper way to serve at table).
Would you prefer to see another hour of the movie that depicted different concerns? Do you want to add that hour onto the existing movie so that it runs 3 hours? Or do you want to subtract an hour of the annoying obsession with Civil Rights so that we can see more of Oprah’s character being concerned about her children or household chores? That way we reduce the amount of talk talk talk endless talk about Civil Rights that seems to bug you so much.
You want a movie where the black characters think less frequently about Civil Rights? Allow me to introduce you to Tyler Perry.
Oh, Ryan, you really knocked this one out of the ballpark. Ouch!
“The usual blockbuster crap we adults ordinarily endure has mostly disappointed. The bigger-and-louder razzle-dazzle has lost its appeal.”
I don’t know about that, but ever since “The Avengers,” just about every other mainstream popcorn flick has felt puny.
The Butler has the box office but not the reviews to secure a Best Picture nomination. It will need 2013 to be a weak year just like 2011 was, when most of the big contenders failed and The Help prevailed despite a just good critics response. In a year like 2010 or 2012 it would never get close to a nomination there. And also in comparison to The Help it has one more problem… Even if the year is not good in how many categories can it score a nomination outside of Picture, Oprah and make up? Forrest Whitaker is going to need even more candidates to fail than the film… It has The Weinstein Company but will likely be a second pony there… Osage County is clearly their number one since Harvey himself produced the play and now the film.
But it could have the same thing that was behind The Help: even if its not in a bad year, looking at the other films in contention it is clear for me that it could be the highest grossing, the one with more than 100 million dollars. Unlike 2012, there really doesnt look like we will have many films crossing the 100 million mark.
One thing is for sure: Fruitvale Station is in trouble… It is probably TWC third pony this year and we all know that they have never put more than two films in the Best Picture lineup. And unlike the Sundance player from last year, BOTSW, I feel Fruitvale’s buzz is evaporating quickly.
Just caught up with a lot of stuff this weekend and feel the need to unnecessarily share:
PRINCE AVALANCHE ★★★★½ (near-perfect little movie. As if I could wait to hear about JOE any longer. It’s the kind of movie that should rule the Spirit Awards, maybe even indier than this one, but it’d be a right step towards redemption for such a discredited and maligned show. Aren’t they likelier to nominate Weinstein shit like AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY?)
THE WOLD’S END ★★★★½ (Yup, delivered as expected 🙂 )
SHORT TERM 12 ★★★★ (What a lead performance! She might end up being the Ann Dowd of the year -in my final considerations- and rightfully so, but we’ll see –there’s more stuff to see! I loved that this film didn’t take itself so serious to the point of being humorless. There’s plenty little beautifully comical moments.)
YOU’RE NEXT ★★★★ (Best horror film of the year period)
ELYSIUM ★½ (The year’s biggest disappointment, which translates to the worst movie of the year for me. There’s more to come but so far this is taking the place SKYFALL took last year. A slap on my face. That very ending almost had me taking to the streets screaming. Insulting material indeed. p.s. Only redeeming element? Jodie Foster –just brilliant)
Stuff I Seen Before But Think Didn’t Share
BLUE JASMINE ★★★★ (That guy from BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is so pretty with facial hair! Gosh)
THE SPECTACULAR NOW ★★★★★
V/H/S/2 ★★★½ (Mixed bag as expected, won’t try to ruin you experience by rating each short, but the best director of the bunch presents the best short)
Still Have To See: AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, STORIES WE TELL
Bryce,
I’m with you on Blue Jasmine, Spectacular Now and The World’s End (although you’re more rhapsodic about the latter two than I am).
I try very hard not to see crappy movies, so I skipped Elysium. I don’t get scared at horror movies, so when I do go, I go only to admire the craftsmanship. Critics and audiences seemed to favor The Conjuring over You’re Next.
Because the next few weeks look loaded with crap, perhaps I will check out Prince Avalanche.
RE: THE CONJURING. Yes, the craft well beyond YA horror fare as of late, especially in regards to the look of the movie. Also, I respect the movie’s ambitions to scare us the old ways, and the fine performance by Ms. Farmiga, but in the end it didn’t work as a horror movie for me and felt bland. I don’t go for the scares so much anymore -like you- but the laughs, also horror are the sort of movies I’m still able to drag my friends to the theater for.
Since you’re into well-crafted horror I recommend you check out L’ARCANO INCANTATORE if you can get a hold of it. You might have to descent into darkness to obtain it. 1996 Italian title, rarely available nowadays, but it’s immaculately executed, and most importantly works as horror/fantasy!!
It’s a good film, but far from a masterpiece or even great. Worth seeing for sure and not surprised it’s hitting with moviegoers and am glad it is.
It will likely get Best Pic and Oprah noms but really not sure about anything else.
I must disagree on a few issues.
— Oprah’s presence helps *some*, but I wasn’t exactly sitting in a crowded theater years ago when I saw “Beloved.”
— People shouldn’t be resorting to movies to get educated. Education happens in schools, reading/watching news, etc. (At most, movies may “educate” you about a particular character, about people’s feelings.)
— “The Butler” leaves one with the impression that — with the exception of the Vietnam War — black people cared only about civil rights. Sure, that was Issue #1 for them, but many other important things took place at home and abroad during the past 50+ years.
— A small number of people oppose Obama due to race. Republicans dislike liberal policies. POTUS’ color? It could be purple; who cares? (Aside: When will Obama speak about the murder of the visting Australian? the murder of the WWII vet in Washington?)
POTUS’ color? It could be purple; who cares? (Aside: When will Obama speak about the murder of the visting Australian? the murder of the WWII vet in Washington?)
For a guy who doesn’t care about color, why would you want the President to talk about these two murders in particular?
When will our leaders speak about the thousands of white people who murder other white people every year? Heck, not even counting the ones who shoot each other by accident.
(Aside from all the white guys who murder kids in schools and movie theaters every year. Not purple shooters. White ones).
Is there any indication that the murderers who shot the tourist and the WWII vet might get to home with a stern scolding the way Zimmerman got to go home with no charges filed the night he murdered Trayvon?
If not, maybe that’s the reason why there’s no need to address the nation about those cases. Those killers will face the penalty they deserve.
Education happens in schools.
That would be awesome. Ask around and see how many high school kids know who the Freedom Riders were.
Yeah I was gonna say it’d be nice if education happened in schools but it doesn’t.
“The Butler” leaves one with the impression that — with the exception of the Vietnam War — black people cared only about civil rights
Sort of the way The King’s Speech left us with the impression that the King of England only cared about his stammering? Not just the King. Everybody in the entire movie was focused exclusively on fixing that pesky stammer.
I might have liked to hear more about the King’s concerns about helping the Queen achieve orgasm, but the screenwriter had a different direction in mind for his crummy theme.
Nobody in most movies is even shown wondering what to have for dinner. Are we to assume movie characters don’t care what they eat? Silly movies and their silly omissions of a million concerns.
🙂
.
Ryan —
Kids SHOULD get their education in schools, rather than in movie theaters. You’re right that too many schools are crappy.
I don’t think TKS argument is quite fair. It’s a British film, and Brits aren’t strangers to George. I don’t fault it for focusing on something that was kept largely under wraps. By contrast, nobody knew anything about the butler and his family. Now, we know their concerns about civil rights and almost nothing else. I don’t think that this makes “The Butler” a bad movie, just not as good as it could have been.
Zimmerman initially got to go home, because he made a plausible claim of self-defense. That’s not on the table with the young Aussie or the old vet. Obama inserted himself into a local issue last year with the Zimmerman case. If he continues to keep quiet on the current cases, one could conclude that HE picks and chooses based on color. The case of the young Aussie has made international news; the deputy PM in Australia is warning his countrymen about traveling to America. Even if Obama had not said a word about the Zimmerman case, he still should about THIS one.
The case of the young Aussie has made international news; the deputy PM in Australia is warning his countrymen about traveling to America.
Great. Good. I’m sure glad somebody with a microphone is talking about it. Otherwise how would we ever know it’s become a brand new stick up the ass of people like Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter and O’Reilly.
It’s a damned good lucky thing that no tourist has ever been killed in America until last week. But now that it’s finally happened I’m relieved that foreign travelers are being made aware that half the US population carry guns. The secret is out.
Since the Thai Prime Minister is such a jerk, it’s left up to me to notify every American that they’re in grave danger at Bangkok karoke clubs.
WARNING WARNING! Epidemic of Karoke Murderers Running Rampage in Bangkok! Sing the lyrics to “Don’t Stop Believin'” at your own risk outside the safety of US borders!
When will President Obama speak of this? I think we all know the reason. It’s because the Thai murderer isn’t white. Obama only gets involved if a white guy kills somebody.
@Tony — why would the Pres single out the Aussie murder and not the white Vet who was killed, or some other white person killed by a black kid. IF he speaks out about the Aussie Murder, it should be in context with the gun violence and culture of America, as the Aussie PM did. We should be ashamed of ourselves in this country, for our love of violence and guns, and how guns are now in the hands of our mindless youth.
Go get him, Ryan!
Seriously, why would the President take time to discuss some (awful) random murders? That’s just ridiculous considering everything else that’s going on in our country. Violence will be a major problem until guns are less pervasive.
The comment “A small number of people oppose Obama due to race. Republicans dislike liberal policies. POTUS’ color? It could be purple; who cares?” Who cares, hmm? You are cross-eyed if you don’t notice the racism within the Republican Party. The adults in your party need to look after the children, much like those thug teens’ parents need to be held socially accountable for their lack of parenting.
I just don’t get the appeal of the GOP. I truly think it’s akin to sports for most of the people on that side (and many on the Left, too): Once you started rooting for your team, there was no going back. You are not one to jump on the “bandwagon”! The imaginary policies held dear to your heart are nothing more than trick plays designed to fake out the fans more than the opposing team.
I’m just hoping the GOP’s losing streak continues into the next election so that management has to overhaul the aging roster.
I’ll wait to see The Butler when it arrives OnDemand because it looks a bit formulaic to me. Plus, Robin Williams bugs the shit out of me.
its a mediocre film… i’m right in-line with the “66” on metacritic…. it will probably get a best pic nom but that’s more of an indictment of the academy than praise of the film… its a solid story but its not great art or great film style.
It’s a very good movie and should get a BP (and maybe BD) nomination. Also, I love understated performances, and think the Best Actor category should more frequently have “level” characters (rather than crazy/nonfiction/mega-intense-emotional) than they normally do. Hence rooting for Whitaker for an inclusion.
But I don’t think this movie is awfully challenging when it comes to Civil Rights. Yes, it’s told from the perspective of black characters (unlike DMD and The Help), and that makes a big difference. But there is certainly a compromise of the father’s and the son’s values that leave out some of the more philosophically challenging aspects of the Civil Rights era. There’s pretty much a rejection of Black Panther values (see the dinner showdown), which is necessary for a consensus American viewership; as well as an embrace of Obama, obviously more symbolic than political, but that nonetheless portrays the present as a moment of success rather than persistent inequality, segregation, racism. So the father-son dialectic, with its optimistic resolution, in this sense goes nowhere near the truthfulness of Spike Lee at his best–the King-MalcolmX dialectic of Do the Right Thing is memorable for its unresolved difficulty. That’s just to say that this movie has moved the bars over, and that’s an accomplishment, but is still very much palatable to the average (non-Right-wing) moviegoer.
*last straw
I know I wrote “last straw”, but the internet ate the “last”
[fixed]
If there’s one thing I’ve learn about you in all these years, it’s that you really hate Happy Meals.
I haven’t seen it yet and I admit I skipped over it to see Blue Jasmine which I was desperate for but I no longer have the funds or physical prowess to go to movies like I used to. So I’m going to start looking for movies online. That’s how I’ll probably watch this because I’m not going to wait to catch up with the redbox. I spent too long waiting for smaller films last year and couldn’t give my chides and praise at the right times.
Although I might be an asshole on twitter, I don’t actually think there isn’t a racist problem. I think there was a little problem a couple years back but as you said, our President’s presidency has woken up the sleeping rednecks. People are much more racist than they were a little while ago but I think that turn started a while back and a black president was just the last straw for iffy racists. I actually think one of my local officials might be a Nazi. Could you imagine? In super blue southern Massachusetts. I never thought I’d see it.
The problem is too many people are standing down. I was prepared for the riots when the Travon Martin verdit came in and then nuthin’. ‘WTF?’ I thought. I assume everyone was too busy watching videos about Beyonce’s Illuminati baby. It is my opinion that SOMETHING should have happened. But there’s just been a lot of chitchat on MSNBC and people saying someone else should do something. People are either comfortable or afraid or clueless. I think that’s the most likely option. They don’t know what to do about it. Maybe they figure if they tweet it or click on a poll about it, then that’s enough. It ain’t.
But as I said I haven’t seen it yet. Is it something that will incite people to action or just a normal story through history?
I’ve yet to see the movie, but it’s high on my list – I do want to see it for Oprah to see if she really disappears into the role as I’ve read. I’m also interested because of the controversy surrounding Jane Fonda’s involvment. There are some vets who would like to see her burned at the stake and even moreso now that she is playing Nancy Reagan….I hope it does well, because from what I’ve heard and read it’s definitely worth watching….
Oprahs really good but if you really want to see some females dissapear into their role this year check out Kristin Scott Thomas in Only God Forgives and Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine.
I strongly agree with #3.
“The usual blockbuster crap we adults ordinarily endure has mostly disappointed.”
In the showing that I went too, the crowd was mostly 60+ females. They do not a wide variety of movies to choose from and are not using Twitter.
Oprah may have opened the film, but no one person has ever been primarily accountable for such lasting box office strength. Films don’t hold on this well because of one person.
The Butler is now set for a final gross significantly north of $100 million domestically. Its Oscar chances are now well and truly certifiable.
“Many teens would now rather Snapchat each other all night than waste a couple of hours watching formulaic films play out.”
You are SO RIGHT here, Sasha. I fell asleep watching Percy Jackson in theaters last week. I’m more entertained by my friends on social media than I was by Man of Steel, even though Man of Steel was enjoyable. Films are supposed to suck you in and throw you out changed in some way instead of leaving you emptier.