Movie Monday 8/29/2011

Yes, I know it is 2030 on a Monday...but it is still Monday; so, here goes:

The Help is a good adaptation of the book with the same name by Kathryn Stockett.  There were things that were left out of the movie that, had there been enough time, or if the space-time continuum could have been manipulated, would have been nice to include.  Leaving out these elements did not seem to hamper the story much.  Many good actors starred in this film - and it was well cast:  Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney, Cicely Tyson, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spence and a host of others.  The movie is set in the south in the 1960s.  Skeeter (Stone) just graduated from college and wants to be a writer.  She starts writing about what it's like to be a maid in that day and time from the maid's point of view.  I loved the book and I really liked the movie.  See it.

Cairo Time, though a little slow, is beautifully shot and very well acted. Patricia Clarkson, an actress I have long admired, stars as Juliette, the wife of a UN member who is working in Gaza. Juliette, whose children are grown and gone, comes to Cairo for a three week stay, hoping that her husband Mark can join her for a little R&R. When he is detained, his former aide Tareq (played by the equally wonderful Alexander Siddig) is left with showing Juliette around. The two fall in love. The film is a wonderful relationship study.  I loved it.

Capitalism: A Love Story is another Michael Moore documentary.  It examines our country's debt-ridden economy and its role in the foreclosures and savings depletions of its citizens.  Although it is quite left leaning, he does bring up some thought provoking points, no matter your political beliefs.  It was interesting.

While watching One Day, adapted from a book I have not read by David Nicholls, I had a sense of foreboding. When it was realized, I was quite shocked none-the-less. Without giving away the story, Anne Hathaway plays Emma and Jim Sturgess plays Dexter. They meet on the day of their graduation from university, and for the rest of the film (the next twenty or so years) we check in on the two on the anniversary of that day. Patricia Clark (yay!) is in this movie, playing Dexter's mother.  It was good.

MK out.