Lee Daniels' The Butler

[baileydash]

It's got the never disappointing Forrest Whitaker; the polarizing Queen of All Media, Lady O; the talented and prolific David Oyelowo; a career-rehabing Cuba Gooding Jr. and Mariah Carey in a mammy scarf picking cotten.

Thank god the wait is over.

The critical consensus is mixed positive at best. It may be borderline campy. I don't care. I'm thrilled to finally see a Civil Rights movie told from the black point of view.

[chonies]

I'm really excited to see this. I remember reading the original news story when it was published, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it unfolds on screen.

[GirlyGhoul]

I was looking over the cast to see who is playing various Presidents and... what about Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford? Was he not employed during their presidencies?

I must admit that I probably won't see this (My tastes in movie going tend to much lower brow faire) But just the previews are screaming 'Oscar! Oscar! OSCAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!' Here's hoping Forrest and the gang have extra space on their mantle pieces.

[Mierin]

I was lucky enough to attend an early screening of this (my friend sometimes gets passes) and it was an excellent movie. Everyone in it did such a great job.

[Deleted]

Haven't seen it but I think it was a mistake to show the presidents onscreen. It would have been more interesting to literally have them be background characters, to put them in the position the butlers historically have been in. It would also have freed the producers from the near impossible (and apparently ludicrous) position of making actors resemble presidents that they really don't (JFK and Eisenhower are the most insane).

[Witchie]

We're seeing it tomorrow. Hopefully. I've seen the play, so I'm fully prepared to love it.

[GoldenFleece]

To be cynical, I'd say having actors as POTUS/First Ladies boosts the number of white stars in the cast considerably, which will probably help the box office take. I also think Lee Daniels wanted to have fun trolling the world with stunts like "Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan"! His last movie, all I heard about it was Kidman peeing on Zac Efron. So bizarre real-person casting seems mundane almost in comparison.

[chitowngirl]

Slightly OT-What is the bruhaha with the name having to be Lee Daniels' The Butler? I thought titles could not be copywrited. After all, there are 2 movies called The Avengers and no one seems to be having a cow about it.

[GoldenFleece]

Aug 16, 2013 22:00:55 GMT -4 chitowngirl said:

Slightly OT-What is the bruhaha with the name having to be Lee Daniels' The Butler? I thought titles could not be copywrited. After all, there are 2 movies called The Avengers and no one seems to be having a cow about it.

The MPAA has some sort of agreement with all the major studios about movie titles and there are often behind-the-scenes trades of rights/properties between the studios when a studio wants to re-use a title, but it's all settled way ahead of time and never blows up into a big media brouhaha. That apparently didn't happen with The Butler, so WB, which had the rights to a short film from the silent era also called The Butler, raised a stink and the arbitrator ruled in their favor, so The Weinstein Co. had to tack on Lee Daniels' name to the title or risk millions in fines.

[Neurochick]

Aug 16, 2013 23:42:20 GMT -4 GoldenFleece said:

Aug 16, 2013 22:00:55 GMT -4 chitowngirl said:

Slightly OT-What is the bruhaha with the name having to be Lee Daniels' The Butler? I thought titles could not be copywrited. After all, there are 2 movies called The Avengers and no one seems to be having a cow about it.

The MPAA has some sort of agreement with all the major studios about movie titles and there are often behind-the-scenes trades of rights/properties between the studios when a studio wants to re-use a title, but it's all settled way ahead of time and never blows up into a big media brouhaha. That apparently didn't happen with The Butler, so WB, which had the rights to a short film from the silent era also called The Butler, raised a stink and the arbitrator ruled in their favor, so The Weinstein Co. had to tack on Lee Daniels' name to the title or risk millions in fines.

Shit, now that just sounds petty. A silent film? I bet nobody's even alive who saw that film. I don't believe it's a classic, like, Intolerance. It's most likely sitting in the bottom of someone's file drawer or birdcage.