The Help-This book tells the fictional story of a small circle of white women living in Jackson, Mississippi and their African-American domestic servants ("the help" of the title) during the late 60s. The story is told alternatively from three point of views: Skeeter, one of the white ladies, a would be writer and the least socially successful of three friends that make up the central character in the white circle; Abileen, also a would be writer, who is the domestic help for Elisabeth, (one of Skeeter's friends,) and best friend to Minny; and finally Minny, the most outspoken of domestic help, who works originally for Hilly, Skeeter's other friend, and then after being fired in an incident that is central to the book, works for Celia Foote, an outcast in Jackson because of her white trash roots and because she marries the man Hilly loved. As Skeeter sympathy for the lives of the domestic help brings her more and more in conflict with the views of her best friend Hilly, she decides to write a book telling the stories of these women. Of course, as Jackson is the city that murdered Medgar Evers, such an book could lead to brutal reprisal. So Skeeter must first win the trust of the women whose stories she wants to tell.
This is a superb book, not only for capturing both the brutal and sympathetic race relations of the civil rights era South, but perhaps even more universally the story of women and their friendships and cat fights. Highly recommended.
Three Cups of Tea-This is the real life story of Greg Mortensen, a mountain climber whose failed attempt to summit K2 led to a lifetime of trying to build schools in the high passes of Pakistan. This is compelling reading and one begins to grasp the difficulties that make our foreign relations with Pakistan and Afghanistan so complex. More than anything one comes out of this feeling that one person can make a difference, and that when that person can garner the trust of key tribal leaders, miracles can happen. One also is reminded that our best defense against terrorism is not the force of our arms, but to provide education and meaningful alternatives to the madrassas and jihad. Although the book is written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, it is told in third person, which I first found a bit off-putting. Still, since I'm guessing that
Relin did all of the actual writing, with Greg providing most of the story supplemented by numerous interviews, this does come out alright in the end.
Avatar-I am not generally a fan of James Cameron, I enjoyed this film because of the way that the spectacular special effects film makes the fantasy world of Pandora come breathtakingly to life. By moving elements of the battle of little big horn into a fictional and futuristic setting and then keeping the references to its modern day parallels in Iraq fairly oblique, James Cameron can do a tiny bit of social commentary without raising the ire of his main constituency. While the story is necessarily predictable (at least if the younger generation has seen Dances with Wolves), the artwork enhances the story telling in a way that keeps us interested and connected. Unlike the dreadful films G.I. Joe and Transformers with their endless eye-candy battle scenes that become boring after 20 seconds, the battle scenes never really seem like the climax in this film. Rather, it is the smaller moments with discovery of the hidden potentials of the new world and its danger and beauty. It also occurs to me that the big studios may have identified one answer to the dwindling interest of moviegoers to actually see films at outrageous prices in the theater. Afterall, this is one movie that is far more satisfying to see in 3D on the big screen than at home.
Julie and Julia-Meryl Streep as Julia Childs is a hoot. And any food lover will salivate in this small film about a rather self-absorbed New York woman trying to come to grips with her depressing job and lack of success compared with her also self-absorbed but financially successful friends. Thankfully her far more grounded husband helps keep her in reality and Julie takes to blogging about her attempt to cook all the recipes in Julia Childs The Art of French Cookiing in a single year. The more interesting part of the film is really the back story about Julia Childs and her husband, an American diplomat stationed in Paris. Julia Childs is played by Meryl Streep and her performance is wonderful to watch. For my generation that is used to seeing Julia Childs done a parody on SNL, taking on the real Julia Childs is an eye-opener.
The Fantastic Mr. Fox-Cross Ocean's 11 with stop action claymation and you get this very quirky adaptation of the Roald Dahl book. While the sort of winkishly amateur titles and interjection seem a bit odd in a film that used the painfully expensive stop-animation technique and top name actors, this film is nevertheless quite a quirky gem. In particular, evolution of the relationship between the Mr. Fox, a "former" thief and his wife, and then their son and his athletic cousin through the inevitable show-down between the fur-bearing mammals and the farmers.
Angels and Demons-Unlike the DaVinci code, this movie adaptation of the Dan Brown book is at least interesting as its plot involves a ticking time bomb, a mildly useful and slightly accurate philosophical consideration of history of the Roman Catholic church and science, and the opportunity to see some of the lovely architecture of Rome and the Vatican. I'm curious why the producers made some of the revision that they did, because they made the plot twist at the end feel a bit more contrived, but they did lower the body count a bit which I suppose it makes more palatable to the audience.
G-Force-The Chipmunks turned secret agents, this easily forgettable kids movie still entertained our youngest kids because of the cuteness of the CGI secret agent rodents. The plot rather predictably unfolds with the project to train guinea pigs and other animals as FBI secret agents being shut down by a overeager new FBI manager after an apparently botched raid. The rodents end up in the pet shop, make a few new friends, escape, and stop a plot to destroy the world which turns out to be run by one of their own. While a few jokes are original and funny, mostly this is derivative stuff. But still better than an hour and a half at the dentist office.
