DOUBLE OSCAR BAIT MOVIE REVIEWS: THE BUTLER & BLUE JASMINE
Oscar season has kicked off with the arrival of "Gravity," so what better time to reflect on the buzzed around movies that have already been released this year? "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (directed by Lee Daniels, who would've known) and Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" both saw a lot of potential, while being vastly different in subject matter. I give my abbreviated reviews of both in this double Oscar bait movie review!
LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER:
"The Butler" features a "Where's Waldo?" cast of celebrity cameos that range from John Cusack (Nixon) to Alan Rickman (as Reagan no less) that greatly distract from the emotional impact Lee Daniels' "Lee Daniels' The Butler" attempts to portray. The first mistake "The Butler" makes is having Mariah Carey as our protagonist's slave mother in the opening sequence. I think Daniels has a suppressed craving to try to make pretty celebrities like Carey get...uh....humbled in the makeup department. Like in "Precious," where he slapped Carey with a social worker makeover, he not only drastically reduces Carey's glamour but...gives her no words to say? That's right. In a 30 second role of a two hour film Mariah Carey appears to brood emotionally and scream as a white man carries her off into the shed. Can you see why I have a problem with this film's casting department?
This aside, Forest Whitaker is Academy Award friendly in this quasi-moving biopic of a White House butler's life and times. His wife, played with dynamic, southern-fried sass by Oprah (I think she took the job because she needed the money) two sons going in radically different paths, and friends all shape Cecil Gaines' (Whitaker) life, building up to Gaines witnessing the election of our nation's first black president. There's some emotional schlock to it, but Whitaker's earnest, likable performance wipes clear most of this movie's sins.
BLUE JASMINE:
On the totally different opposite spectrum of a story of working class African Americans is a tale about a pampered, delusional white socialite. Allen's latest original and bitingly fun creation is "Blue Jasmine," a return to form after last year's bloated "To Rome with Love." Told in nonlinear fashion, "Jasmine" focuses on another Oscar-worthy lead performance by Cate Blanchett, nailing the American accent and assumed pretentiousness of someone of this nature. Alec Baldwin is her sleek, but really greasy Madoff-like husband, Sally Hawkins (with an equally perfect States accent, but more New York) as her more low-class sister Ginger with a sketchy but ultimately kind boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale). Jasmine moves in with Ginger and Chili only to succumb more and more to her growing desperation.
"Jasmine" is typical Allen "first world problems" character study, and wow, does it excel. Even Andrew Dice Clay is perfect as Ginger's ex-husband, who plays a pivotal role in the end of the film to Jasmine's destruction. Being my comedic hero, I have to mention Louis C.K.'s tiny part (though longer than Carey's) in the film, as Ginger's one-time fling. C.K., who on the Daily Show said Allen thought he was too nice to play Clay's role, goes against type as the genuine nice guy who may have more strings attached than Ginger thought. Even though, like "Midnight in Paris" before it, this is a 1%'ers tale, Allen brings out the human story in all of these characters, and that having cash never, ever equals happiness.
Ratings:
Butler: 2.5/4 stars
Jasmine: 3/4 stars
LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER:
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| Carey in the mute performance of a lifetime |
This aside, Forest Whitaker is Academy Award friendly in this quasi-moving biopic of a White House butler's life and times. His wife, played with dynamic, southern-fried sass by Oprah (I think she took the job because she needed the money) two sons going in radically different paths, and friends all shape Cecil Gaines' (Whitaker) life, building up to Gaines witnessing the election of our nation's first black president. There's some emotional schlock to it, but Whitaker's earnest, likable performance wipes clear most of this movie's sins.
BLUE JASMINE:
On the totally different opposite spectrum of a story of working class African Americans is a tale about a pampered, delusional white socialite. Allen's latest original and bitingly fun creation is "Blue Jasmine," a return to form after last year's bloated "To Rome with Love." Told in nonlinear fashion, "Jasmine" focuses on another Oscar-worthy lead performance by Cate Blanchett, nailing the American accent and assumed pretentiousness of someone of this nature. Alec Baldwin is her sleek, but really greasy Madoff-like husband, Sally Hawkins (with an equally perfect States accent, but more New York) as her more low-class sister Ginger with a sketchy but ultimately kind boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale). Jasmine moves in with Ginger and Chili only to succumb more and more to her growing desperation.
"Jasmine" is typical Allen "first world problems" character study, and wow, does it excel. Even Andrew Dice Clay is perfect as Ginger's ex-husband, who plays a pivotal role in the end of the film to Jasmine's destruction. Being my comedic hero, I have to mention Louis C.K.'s tiny part (though longer than Carey's) in the film, as Ginger's one-time fling. C.K., who on the Daily Show said Allen thought he was too nice to play Clay's role, goes against type as the genuine nice guy who may have more strings attached than Ginger thought. Even though, like "Midnight in Paris" before it, this is a 1%'ers tale, Allen brings out the human story in all of these characters, and that having cash never, ever equals happiness.Ratings:
Butler: 2.5/4 stars
Jasmine: 3/4 stars
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