Lee Daniels' The Butler- Page 3

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 9:07am

"Robin Williams has some of the worst make up since Armie Hammer in J. Edgar."

Oh my God, poor Robin. Armie's was atrocious. The worst since Caan and Midler as octogenarian Martian turtle pod people in For the Boys.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 9:12am

I saw it yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. It certainly has its shortcomings, but it tugs on heartstrings and I was very moved throughout. Oprah is incredible, and Whitaker's performance is beautiful. Much of the acting, save Cusack (who is incredibly miscast), is wonderful. The script has wonderful moments and weak ones.

Some star cameos seemed a bit too brief for me, but some were quite lovely.

Oprah is certainly a contender for an Oscar, and I would be surprised if she lost - even this early in the season.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 9:19am

The worst since Caan and Midler as octogenarian Martian turtle pod people in For the Boys.

LOL

Maybe we can assume a makeup nomination is a long shot.

Updated On: 8/17/13 at 09:19 AM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 9:32am

I understand that Faye Dunaway has been dying to one up Glenn Close and play a man. She could star in "Butler Dearest" a movie loosely based on Sebastian Cabot's experiences playing Mr. French.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 10:29am

Since the ranting continues in the industry, I've been reading more about the title dispute, and it really does make Warner Bros. look like a jerk.

The 1916 short film "The Butler" doesn't even exist anymore. It was destroyed in a warehouse fire, roughly around 1919, after the Lubin Manufacturing Company, who made the film, went bankrupt and sold their studio to Vitagraph.

Warner Bros. acquired Vitagraph a couple of years later (after the fire had already destroyed the film). So they never actually owned or distributed this short film. It was destroyed even before Warner Bros. was formed and became a company. They just "owned" the title, because it came with their merger with Vitagraph in the 1920s.

Talk about petty.

Still, a rule is a rule, and Weinstein's MPAA fines sure aren't petty.

EDIT:

By the way, let me use this "anal" opportunity to point out a pet peeve of mine:

It's always "Warner Bros." (abbreviated), never the spelled-out "Warner Brothers," unless you're talking about the four guys and not the company they formed. The trade papers and newspapers (mostly) know this. It's usually bloggers and other non-industry folk who spell it out. But the company is branded as "Warner Bros.," and they aren't too fond of seeing it spelled out. Once in a while, in our age of slacking journalistic fact-checkers, I see it spelled out in a major publication. A big forehead slap for me.

Yeah, I know, it's anal. But for those of you here who care about such things, you can feel my pain.

Updated On: 8/17/13 at 10:29 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 12:08pm

I feel your pain besty.

Now on that note is it 20th Century Fox or 20th Century-Fox?

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 12:16pm

According to Wiki, they dropped the hyphen in 1985.
Wiki page

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 3:37pm

There was a brief discussion when I was working heavily on Fox DVDs that they would change their name to 21st Century Fox, but once they ran the numbers and saw how expensive it would be, plus the fact that it would make their older movies look even more dated, they decided to keep the name firmly planted in the last century ... for now at least.

I still think within the next decade, they'll make a name change.

Most of the studios did change their home entertainment divisions while I was there, and we had to scramble around several times to accommodate them.

Fox Home Video and Warner Home Video became Fox Home Entertainment and Warner Home Entertainment.

Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video switched their name first, dropping the "video" when the studio rebranded as "Sony." They became Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE). After they adopted the "home entertainment" as part of their brand name, the other studios followed suit within a couple of years.

We did cash in a bit on the changeover. My graphics team designed the CBS Home Entertainment animated logo, and I did the audio design for it myself. So every time I watch the Blu-ray Discs for "Scrooge" (1970) or "Star Trek" (original series), I see my own handiwork. Fun stuff. (Actually, we did a lot more on Star Trek, but our logo is on all CBS DVDs and BDs ever since they rebranded.)

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:18pm

That's so cool, besty!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:29pm

I saw the film earlier today and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oprah was outstanding, as I expected her to be as well as everyone else. I do think it will hold up come awards season, even with it's now stupid title.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:31pm

I predict it will be this year's "The Help." Probably getting several nominations, and perhaps winning one or two.

Maybe even Oprah. Who knows?

Updated On: 8/17/13 at 04:31 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:34pm

I'd agree with that.

I would hope they also give Jane Fonda another Oscar for her 2 lines of dialogue. She delivered them flawlessly.

[Jungle Red]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 4:39pm

Cue the outrage. An Oscar for two lines of dialogue?! Can you imagine?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 5:06pm

Thanks for the information besty. I love stuff like that.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 5:14pm

For those who are interested, History vs. Hollywood deconstructs Lee Daniels' The Butler, though I don't know why they have it listed under "War Movies."

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-butler.php

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 6:10pm

Saw it this afternoon and I liked it enough. I was entertained throughout, and sure it's manipulative in wringing emotions from the audience, but Forest Whitaker's flawless performance is so good that it really didn't bother me all that much. The script is wildly uneven; direction is pretty strong. Oprah is good, but she doesn't deserve all of the Oscar buzz she's been getting. The parade of celebrities is, unfortunately, what I had expected: a major distraction and nothing more. There is just no reason for it; all it did was distract me from the storytelling at hand and take away from the film, at least in my opinion.

Regardless of all of that, I was ultimately moved by it (it's hard not to be) and very impressed with Whitaker's performance, maybe because it's the exact opposite of everyone else in the film: quietly intense, pensive, and more reserved. I also appreciated that the story was more than just a rundown of American history, as seen through Gaines' eyes. There's a really nice father/son story to be told here and the script does an admirable job of handling it. It should be interesting to see how the movie's buzz holds through to the Oscars. I do have to say whatever they did to make Winfrey and Whitaker age (was it just makeup??) was pretty damn impressive and very realistic.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 7:44pm

Those reviews with "black dialect" and cliches are horribly racist and the authors should be ashamed of themselves. And when you all rush to tell me they were black reviewers all that means is that they have no excuse.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 9:12pm

I don't know, Wesley Morris has a Pulitzer Prize and Odie Henderson is exceptional in his expression through words on movies regarding race. Check out his reviews of Sirk's An Imitation of Life or Coming to America to really get a sense of where he comes from as a reviewer. Not my place to wag my finger at both of their sense of language on the page. Then again, I was not at all uncomfortable with it possibly due to the fact I have been a long-time reader of theirs.

Point being Lee Daniels is one of the least subtle filmmakers going and I enjoyed those reviews for actually acknowledging his past filmography and why it is a big deal he, of all filmmakers, is doing a movie like this.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/17/13 at 10:27pm

I think it is all of our place to call out racist and ignorant crap like that no matter how many many awards the spewer has o his mantle.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 9:38pm

This will come as some surprise given Lee Daniel's history of over-the-top moviemaking, but I kind of wish The Butler had let loose a little more often. The grand set-pieces were masterful, and thrilling, but the repetitiveness in the script left me bored by the last third-- counting on my fingers the number of Presidents left to go before Obama's inevitable finale. I wish there had been more chaos and crazy instead of the measured, measured pace of the piece.

As everyone else has said, Oprah is terrific-- alive and spontaneous and allowed to look ugly at times-- and is easily worth the price of admission. Forest Whitaker did everything right, but for me he faded from the screen compared to the brilliant Terence Howard and even the surprisingly swell Cuba Gooding Jr.

The less said about the Presidential impersonators the better for me, except for James Marden's superb JFK and yes, Jane Fonda's humane Nancy Reagan. It's clear Robin Williams would have been perfection as Harry Truman-- a shame the story started with Ike instead.

I knew Lee personally a few years back (worked with him on the first film he directed). He would make you hate him and love him in equal measure, but was always always interested in getting the best movie made despite the craziness he'd surround us with. He deserves all the success this movie brings him.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/19/13 at 9:31pm

How was Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/19/13 at 9:32pm

He was quite amazing, actually.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/19/13 at 9:47pm

Saw it today & have to say it was extremely well done. Both Whittaker & Winfrey will get nods. Williams did look like Harry Truman. Cusack looked nothing like Nixon. Liev did a credible LBJ with his dogs. Rickman was amazing as Reagan.

The movie was masterful story telling & the use of news clips integrated with recreations was very well done.

This will definitely be nominated @ Oscar time with Picture & acting nods an almost certainty

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/19/13 at 9:48pm

I saw a picture of Alan as Ronald and it is so scary of how much he looked like the real man.

[canmark]

Posted: 8/21/13 at 5:31pm

I was expecting (and hoping) for some of that pot-boiling, over-the-top Lee Daniels stuff that we get in The Paperboy or Precious. Instead it was more of a movie-of-the-week history lesson. An important one, mind you, and I won't say I didn't shed a few tears watching the film.

But in the end he delivered all that the studios could want. The film was epic in scope, yet made on a modest budget. And it was number one at the box office, with broad demographic appeal. Good for you, Lee Daniels.