I haven't blogged in a while. I've been lazy. I do this often. I won't apologize. I'm not that sorry. ha.
Before I review The Help do know that I've seen a number of movies since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. Here's a rundown of the movies I've seen: Captain America, Cowboys & Aliens, and Crazy Stupid Love. The best of these by far was Crazy Stupid Love. Cowboys and Aliens is the most disappointing movie I've seen all summer. It ruined my whole Saturday. No lie.
Second on the agenda is to welcome a number of new people to the Madhouse. Thanks to everyone who has started following my blog. It's appreciated. Maybe this influx of new followers will motivate me to blog on a more consistent basis, but don't base your life on it. That's one of my charms. You never know what to expect. Here's a few things I can guarantee:
I. I will not blog consistently. This is why my blog will never see as many followers as George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, John Scalzi, or Patrick Rothfuss. Those are four blogs I follow regularly and in my dreams I aspire for the Madhouse to be as cool as their home on the net. You should check those guys out. You won't be sorry.
II. When I do blog it will not be a waste of your time. I don't want you to come here and waste your time. I've been working on a story called Thronebreaker. It's taken a lot of time away from the Madhouse. When I have planned to update the site I've been working on this story instead. Sorry but my personal writing time is more important than updating the Madhouse. This story is pretty important to the mythos of the universe my stories will be taking place. Earth is included in this universe and so are other planets. One named Nardanth. This is the planet Thronebreaker takes place on. All the planets are connected by a realm called the Otherverse. I'm going to stop talking there. A good writer is like a good magician. He doesn't give up all his secrets. In the next few weeks you can expect a single, or maybe a few, blogs on the topic of Writing Goals. I've been thinking about this topic a lot lately. When it's fully percolated in my brain it'll make it's way on here.
Now, on to the movie review . . .
A few weeks ago my wife and I decided to have a weekend get away. We try to get away from Tulsa as often as we can. The last time we did so it was for a vacation to Hawaii. That was how we celebrated our 2 year anniversary. That was back in May. Almost three months have passed since then, and we figured it was time for a pause from our life in Tulsa.
My wife was able to get us a king size room, in a grade A hotel, in OKC for $46. We jumped on the opportunity to get out of town. The icing and cherry on top for my wife is that a new outlet mall has just opened and I'll be spending my day there tomorrow while my wife spends my hard earned cash.
We're hanging out in the hotel now catching up on the latest episode of True Blood. We got into town about 3pm, checked into our badass room, and got ready for a night out on the town. Our night out on the town consisted of dinner and a movie. Unfortunately our dinner choice wasn't the best, and we'll have to redeem ourselves for lunch tomorrow. The movie choice was much better.
From the very first trailers I knew I wanted to see The Help. I'm no discriminators when it comes to movies. If it looks like I'm going to get the bang for my buck I'll go. The Help looked like one of those movies that would give me my money's worth.
The Help is set during the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement. It focuses on three main characters: Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. Skeeter is a recent grad of Ole Miss and has aspirations of being a big time journalist. Aibileen and Minny both work as help for well off white families. Minny works for Hilly Holbrook the bitchtastic queen of the socialites, and Aibileen works for Elizabeth Leefolt who wants to be Hilly.
I didn't find out that The Help was based on a novel until a few weeks ago. This intrigued me even more. From the opening frames the movie was enjoyable. The help go to their jobs. They work in the white people's homes cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children. The help are looked down upon. They do not eat with their bosses. They prepare their meals, and if they do eat the meal they prepared they do not eat at the dining room tables. They eat in the kitchen. Alone. Some are not even allowed to use the bathrooms in the houses.
Skeeter is different from the other white people. She enjoys the help. She had a close relationship with a woman who helped her family for years. She raised Skeeter until she went off to Ole Miss. When she comes home from school she finds this woman is no longer working for the family. Skeeter is told that she has woman has moved to live with her family in Chicago.
Soon after arriving in town Skeeter gets a job at the local newspaper writing an advice column on housekeeping. Skeeter knows little about keeping a house so she gets Aibileen to help her. The causes a relationship to bud between the two. As Skeeter grows closer to Aibileen she conceives the idea for a book written from the perspective of the help.
This is where the movie takes off. Some of the stories included in the help you see unfold on screen. Other stories you get to enjoy the telling of from different women. There is one particular scene that takes place that is one of the funniest moments I've ever seen in a movie. I'm not going to tell you anything about it. You'll need to see it for yourself.
The movie is extremely well written. I was taken in from the moment is started. Emma Stone is one of the best actresses coming up in Hollywood. I've enjoyed her since I first saw her in Zombieland. Before finding out much about the upcoming Spider-man I decided I'd see it because she was starring as Gwen Stacey. This is the first movie I've seen her in where she was the flagship actor. I believe one day she could go down as a Julia Roberts. She's a pretty all American girl who's charming, and is a fine actress.
The rest of the cast is fantastic. On many occasions Octavia Spencer (Minny) steals the show. I don't recall seeing her in much, but she is one funny lady. The said scene that is one of the funniest moments ever is one of Octavia's focal scenes. Man, I'm laughing just thinking about it. Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays the part of Hilly, also has many defining moments in the movie. She is one mean lady. Also, who knew Ron Howard could produce such a pretty daughter. There were times, though, when I hated her character regardless of how pretty she is.
My favorite character of the movie was Aibileen played by Viola Davis. She is the hero of the movie. You grow close to the character and you sympathize for her throughout the movie. She's not a weak character. She begins the movie as a timid woman but as she sets out on the trying path of helping Skeeter writer her book she becomes a strong woman. Like Minny, Aibileen has a character defining moment of the movie. It was much different than Minny's but just as satisfying.
My only complaint was the movie's ending. It's a minor complaint. I can't say why I want to complain. It was just bitter sweet, and I expected things to end on more of a high note. This by no means ruins the movie. For myself it was just meh.
All in all I give the movie an A+. It's one of my favorite movies I've seen all summer.
The summer movie season is coming to an end. I've done a pretty good job of reviewing the movies I've seen. There's only two movies I haven't seen that I planned on: Green Lantern and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I don't think I missed out on anything as far as GL goes. I'm sorry that I haven't got to check out Apes yet. I've heard great things. Next week I plan on seeing Conan the Barbarian. It'll be the last movie I see this summer. I'm exited about seeing this movie. Jason Momoa was awesome as Khal Drogo and I think he'll do a great job as one of the most recognized characters of fantasy literature. Personally, I hope he overshadows Arnold's legacy. His movies were good but I don't think they were true to what Robert E. Howard envisioned. We shall see.
