Major Backlash Against Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader

It was predictable in a lot of ways, but the level of outrage is so high that there's apparently a mass suicide event scheduled for July 2014 on Facebook (hopefully as a joke). That, plus the angry tweets, comments, facebook posts, and blog entries (I guess myself included), not to mention petitions, including one that petitions the White House to have Ben Affleck removed from the film (not kidding), and maybe it's enough to start asking ourselves...might we be overreacting just a bit?

Believe me, I understand the gut reaction (see my previous post on the topic), and there's nothing more annoying to me than reading the oft-repeated claim that "the same complaints were made about Heath Ledger and Michael Keaton" back in the day, but this kind of outcry seems to be approaching nothing less than mass hysteria. I'll admit, it's kind of funny to watch, although I guess I feel a teeny bit sorry for Ben Affleck at this point (I mean, really, how humiliating), but all this attention on him is sure to take the focus off the Superman character (who happens to be my favorite superhero), to the point where he may as well not even be in the film! Henry Cavill's the one getting the shaft here, as WB clearly has no real interest in making any more solo Superman movies. So much for that franchise.

But come on folks...mass suicide? Let's lighten up and look at it another way. If this movie turns out to be this generation's Batman & Robin, at least that's one of the most hilariously awful movies ever made- and that in itself possesses a certain kind of entertainment value like nothing else. I didn't really like anything about Man of Steel, but the idea of watching Ben Affleck prancing around in the Batsuit is almost too funny to resist. I think if anything this puts me on board with the casting of Matt Damon as Robin- just go all out with it!

Theater in Kentucky Won't Show The Butler

According to the Hollywood Reporter, a local theater owner in Elizabethtown, KY is refusing to show Lee Daniels' The Butler because of Jane Fonda's political views 40 years ago. Apparently this guy holds quite a grudge. He trained pilots in the Vietnam War and is himself a Korean War vet, and accuses her of treason, refusing to show anything with her in it. He said, "I trained hundreds of pilots to fly, many of whom Ms. Fonda clapped and cheered as they were shot down."

This whole thing is completely ridiculous of course, and obviously doing something like this draws attention to the guy, but that is quite a level of hatred to hold towards a celebrity for 4 decades, don't you think? And how is this fair to the people who, you know, want to see the movie (a movie that she's barely in, by the way).

I mean, he has every right to protest, but he's probably losing money in the process, and it doesn't seem right to inflict his own bias on the people who might want to see the movie. And seriously dude, she has maybe 1 minute of screen time. Seems awfully petty.

TRAILER: "Blue is the Warmest Color"

The Palme D'Or winner finally has an English-subtitled trailer out. This film immediately became most famous for a twenty-minute graphic sex scene between the leads, played by Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, although it was criticized by some for being a straight man's fantasy of lesbian sex from director Abdellatif Kechiche. It has of course, been slapped with the NC-17 rating in the U.S., which limits the amount of theaters that will play it. This also won't be France's Oscar submission, but they are still pushing for a Lead Actress nomination.

Ben Affleck is the New Batman

Variety has the scoop. WB has announced that recent Oscar winner Ben Affleck will be replacing Christian Bale as Batman in the upcoming Batman/Superman team up movie, directed by Zack Snyder. What do you think? Can you see him as Bruce Wayne? I'm kinda stunned, to be honest. I guess I'm just baffled as to why he would even do this, as his follow-up to winning Best Picture last year. I mean, what's the point? Is he trying to completely destroy the hard work he's put in to regain respectability in Hollywood? (I think this movie's going to be a disaster, by the way). It's a really mind-boggling move, if you ask me. Really, really weird. Or, maybe he's a hardcore Batman fan and has always desperately wanted to be the character (but you'd think he'd get a handle on those desires after what happened with Daredevil in 2003). Also, the release date has been announced for July 17, 2015.

TRAILER #2: "Inside Llewyn Davis"

A new one for the Coens' latest. One of my own most anticipated movies of the year, sure to be an Oscar contender based on the rave reactions out of Cannes.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Shane" (1953)

This week Shane is out on Blu, and sadly, this one doesn't have the greatest cover art, so check out an original poster for it instead. Shane is one of the greatest westerns ever made, and director George Steven's "masterpiece" according to Woody Allen. For me, I can't say that it tops A Place in the Sun (1951), but it is pretty darn good. Also notable for being Jean Arthur's last film in her 30 year career (she's one of my favorite squeaky high voices in the movies), and Alan Ladd is mesmerizing as a very different kind of western hero.

The original trailer from 1953:

FIRST LOOK: Best Actor Steve Carell?

EW has the first look at Steve Carell as the real life murderer John DuPont, who killed Olympic wrestler David Schultz in 1996. The movie about this event is Foxcatcher, directed by Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball), and was just the other day announced for a release date of Dec 20th. It may be along shot to think of him as an Oscar contender, but everyone involved seems to think it's possible. Check out him rocking the prosthetic nose, Nicole Kidman-style.

POSTER: "The Zero Theorem"

The always polarizing Terry Gilliam has a new movie coming out this fall (supposedly in December) and set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the end of the month. Starring Christoph Waltz and Matt Damon, it's about a hacker who's trying to find the meaning of life.

I don't always love his style, but my personal favorite Gilliam movies are 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Christoph Waltz however, seems like a good fit for his wacky universes.

TRAILER: "Parkland"

The new JFK assassination drama coming to Toronto. It may seem like this is well-covered ground, but there could always be new angles on such a dramatic event. Good ensemble cast, anyway.

REVIEW: Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey. Dir. Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels' The Butler (that title the result of a copyright dispute) is an ambitious historical epic that wants to take you through the span of an entire life and the history of the civil rights movement in America, from the 1950's through the 1980's. While those ambitions can be easily worn down by the sheer scope of encompassing all of these events, the small and intimate life of Cecil Gaines as the White House butler, with the performance of Forest Whitaker in the title role, keeps the movie on level ground. You never lose sight of him as this character, and his innate dignity shines at every turn.

The story of Cecil Gaines was inspired by the life of White House butler Eugene Allen, who served through seven administrations, and the movie version of The Butler wants to use that life to document the mass change in race relations that took place in the country during Cecil's quiet tenure, through term after term. It's a fascinating look at the White House through fresh eyes, as we've seen many movies about these presidencies, but have never been given this enlightened look at the power of the highest office in the land through the eyes of the help. Cecil is born on a cotton farm, and as a young boy when his mother is raped and his father shot right before his eyes, the old woman in charge of the house (Vanessa Redgrave) feels guilty enough to take him in and train him as a house servant. She gives him the piece of advice he will live by for the rest of his professional life: "The room should feel empty when you're in it."

When Cecil leaves the farm, he trains as a butler under a mentor (Clarence Williams II), learns how to perfect his craft in a white man's world, and how to have "two faces," one his own, and the one that "they" want to see. His excels at his job in a fancy hotel in D.C. and is one day picked out by a man who happens to be in charge of the household staff at the White House, for his restraint and refusal to offer a political opinion that would be displeasing to the white men discussing the integration of schools. Cecil is then employed at the White House during the Eisenhower years and goes on to watch as history unfolds around and outside him. There is a contrast drawn between Cecil's dutiful submissiveness and his own son Louis's burgeoning activism, and it is Louis (David Oyelowo) who goes off to take part in nearly every significant event of the civil rights movement, including sit-ins, the Freedom Riders, the Black Panthers, to even being in the room when Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. The transitions between these historical events is the weakest part of the film, bogging down the middle sections and edging at times close to a pop-up book version of history- but the acting is so strong that it tends to carry the film through any structural awkwardness.

Oprah Winfrey is Cecil's wife Gloria, and it's her who provides the humor of the film, as she spends a lot of time in a drunken haze, but never veers toward campiness, and there's a great emotional subtlety in the lifelong connection between Cecil and Gloria, despite her falling into a tryst with a boozy neighbor played by Terence Howard. Even Oyelowo manages to make his character feel real- in spite of essentially being written as a symbol for 60's activism and civil rights workers, he projects a sincere authority and a strong screen presence. The presidential cameos, which seem silly at first glance (my theater chuckled at Robin Williams' first appearance as Eisenhower), actually worked overall, as none of them are on screen long enough to make a heavy impression on the story and simply serve as our way of seeing how events are changing the policies (if not the personal attitudes) of each successive administration, while Cecil stands silently by in the background, hearing and seeing it happen. My favorites were John Cusack, who gives us a surprisingly shrewd and subtle Nixon, and James Marsden as Kennedy, who's normally very easy to caricature, played here with genuine, angst-ridden sensitivity.

But the movie belongs to Whitaker, who infuses every scene with an internal dignity that's just impossible to put out, and he makes a character who would at first seem hard to particularize, due to his innate conservative nature, into an overwhelmingly moving and sympathetic figure whose life we want to immerse ourselves in. Indeed, the film works best when it's exploring the quiet, specific interactions between Cecil and Gloria, or Cecil and the various other butlers, offering us the example of his life as the generation prior to the civil rights movement, whose worldview persisted in the face of massive social upheaval. Eventually, his own heart is changed many years after the civil rights protests, in a heartbreaking scene when he realizes the courage his son has displayed to move the nation in the right direction.

I'm not sure what the Oscar prospects are for this (it's early yet), but as of this moment I would expect nominations for Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey at least, and depending on the public's reaction to the film at the box office, perhaps a Best Picture nomination as well. One of the things that is unreservedly praiseworthy and fresh about it is that it's a story about race relations and civil rights told from black, rather than white character's perspectives, the latter of which is something that has affected movies, even good ones, for so many years that this point of view sticks out like a sore thumb. And this approach, along with the acting, is worthy enough to overcome any awkward plodding through the history of the twentieth century to make The Butler into an incredibly moving and satisfying film that is well worth seeing by audiences everywhere. Especially now, in our wonderful and flawed country, as we continue to play this history out with every passing decade, every messy setback and every progression, it's worth taking a moment to remember the generations that got us here in the first place.

* * 1/2

TRAILER #3: "The Counselor"

This new international trailer is by far the best one for this movie, giving us a much clearer vision of the plot. And funny note, in Ridley Scott's native Britain it's apparently spelled "counsellor."

TRAILER + POSTER: "The Grandmaster"

The Weinstein Co. acquired this film out of the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was received tremendously well. Written and directed by Wong Kar Wai, one of the great Chinese filmmakers (Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love), and starring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi, it tells the story of the legendary martial artist Ip Man, who trained Bruce Lee and others. Looks pretty awesome. Comes out in limited release this Friday.