The Butler

To shorten the time until midnight this New Year's Eve a friend and I decided to go watch a film, the options were limited, as a lot of theaters weren't open, but The Butler was one film I was interested anyway and it played right into our time frame.

The entirety of black history in the US happens to the family of Cecil Gaines. Cecil himself grows up picking cotton and witnesses the murder of his father that has no consequences to his owner, of course. His older son joins every black movement he finds, from the Freedom Buses to Martin Luther King to Malcolm X to the Black Panthers and finally to politics. The younger son dies in Vietnam. And his wife Gloria is an alcoholic for half of their live together to boot. 

But the actually interesting part is Cecil's work in the White House and his brush with the other side of history happening from the one his older son is on. He started serving in the Eisenhower administration and left under Reagan. He appeared to not be much of a fan of Nixon and took issue (or appeared to be) with Reagan's stance against a boycott of South Africa and his invitation to an event as a guest, seated on President Reagan's table. During the dinner he felt like he was there just for show.

The most memorable president of the lot for me, or rather the portrayal, was President Johnson. The scene with Johnson sitting on the toilet with some advisers and Cecil standing just outside the open door - Cecil handing the president prune juice. 

Cecil himself seemed to appreciate Johnson and Kennedy the most. He is shown wearing a tie that used to be Kennedy's and a tie clip given to him by LBJ when invited back to the White House to meet with Barack Obama.

So yeah, it's overloaded and sentimental. But this is an interesting slice of history.

7/10

Love Actually

'Tis the time of year to watch Christmas themed movies. Before seeing my traditional Scrooged I re-watched the lovely Love Actually.

The film is made up of different relationship stories playing out in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Billy Mack, an aging rock star, tries to make a comeback by making a shitty single, hoping to make the coveted Christmas no. 1. The song is a cover of Love Is All Around, in which the word 'love' is simply replaced by 'Christmas', no matter the difference in syllables. His promise is to strip on national TV if the buyers get his song to the no. 1 spot. It works. He ends up spending Christmas with his long time manager, realizing that he is the closest person to him in the world.

Writer Jamie, finding his girlfriend cheating on him with his brother, goes on a trip to France to work on a book. There, he is introduced to Aurelia, a Portuguese cleaning lady. She does not speak English, he does not speak Portuguese, which leads to cute conversations. Back in England he learns her language and goes back to propose to her, with her father, her sister and her entire neighborhood watching.

Daniel has recently lost his wife and is left to help his step son Sam with his conundrum. Sam is in love with a girl he believes does not know him. She sings and to get his attention he learns the drums and performs in her band during a Christmas show. But the world works against him. His beloved - Joanna - is about to leave for the US. Daniel and Sam rush to the airport so that Sam can profess his love.

Daniel's sister, Karen, has troubles of her own. She finds a gold heart on a chain in her husband Harry's pocket and believes this to be her Christmas present. On Christmas Eve, however, she gets to open a package of similar proportions to find a Joni Mitchell CD. The heart went to Daniel's new assistant Mia, who is basically offering herself up to him on a platter.

Harry's employee Sarah, who is in love with her colleague Karl, and everybody knows it. But when the two finally get together, Sarah gets sidetracked by a phone call from her brother Michael. Michael is in a mental institution and calls his sister a lot and she will always, always, always take the call. There seems to be no hope for Sarah and Karl.

Young Colin has everything figured out. He buys a ticket to the US because he is convinced that hot women just hang around in bars waiting for someone with a British accent. So upon landing in Milwaukee he walks into the first bar he chances upon. And he was right about everything. The women in the joint fall over themselves to get him to come home with them. They offer him a place to sleep, but only have one bed between four women and he will have to squeeze in with them. The poor girls are so poor they cannot afford pajamas and have to sleep naked....

Body doubles John and Judy meet while working on a film together. They act out different scenes in different stages of undress despite being rather shy and taking their sweet time before finally going out together.

Then there is the triangle of Mark, Peter and Juliet. Peter just married Juliet, who Mark is hopelessly in love with. As a self defense mechanism he barely speaks with Juliet who thinks that he cannot stand her.

And then there is the new prime minister to Britain, brother to Karen and Daniel, who on his first day in office falls in love with Natalie, who works at Downing Street 10 until his discomfort with the situation makes him request she be moved elsewhere. After receiving a Christmas card from Natalie, he goes off in search for her. Knowing only the name of the street where she lives, he knows on every door until he finds her, leaving people confused. He even has to sing carols for a trio of little girls.

One of those films I can watch over and over again. So sweet and so funny.

7/10

Gambit

Gambit is the remake of the 1966 film of the same name (starring Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine). Without having seen the original I dare say that the newer version is only very losely based on the older one.

Colin Firth is employed by art loving asshole Alan Rickman and - with the help of Texan cowgirl Cameron Diaz - tries to con him into buying a forgery of a painting Rickman is searching for. Firth is rather hapless (or is he?) and things go off the rails almost immediately.

In the end, the small employee gets his revenge - in a different way than  expected.

Firth is his usual charming and handsome self, Alan Rickman is Alan Rickman and Cameron Diaz is, yet again, dress up in another of the mediocre comedies she appears to be stuck in.

Nothing to write home about.

3/10

Bottle Shock

A light hearted comedy about the early days of Californian wine making, based on true events.

It evolves around an event that is now referred to as "Judgement of Paris". Apparently, the story of Steve Spurrier's travels to Napa Valley to bring American wines to France for a tasting (competing against French wines, of course) is only a very loose interpretation of what actually happened. This according to Mr. Spurrier himself.

Whatever the case, the film itself - true or not - is charming and has a pretty interesting cast. Spurrier is played by the always wonderful Alan Rickman. Besides him it features Bill Pullman, Chris Pine, Freddy Rodriguez and a very brief appearance by Bradley Whitford (brownie points!).

Chris Pine looks pretty awful as a young surfer dude (but, unsurprisingly, gets the girl). Other than that, the stellar cast makes this worth a watch - possibly more so than the story itself, which is more or less reduced to classic US patriotism.

We showed them French people!

4/10