invisibleunicornninja I had to watch this movie in school. As movies I had to watch in school go, this one was pretty good. Characters - This was a bit of a mixed bag. Most of the actors were very good. A few of them were terrible. The characters were all well-written though. Plot - This story is solid and entertaining. Both the comedic and dramatic bits work for the most part. This movie is great. Sights and Sounds - The cinematography is awesome. The sound mixing leaves a lot to be desired.Overall this movie is pretty entertaining. Not the greatest, but its ok.

DailyMovieGoer Watched The Help the other night again after first seeing it a half dozen years ago and before so much of the press as of late. The Help tries to hint at the real cultural divide between the black and white communities yet in a very watered down manner, but the focus was spot on regarding where the control really was; the white women. My grandmother grew up in this crowd and played the game well. Had her own man, a grounds keeper and knew how to manage the near enslavement relationship they had at the time. We only knew the man as John; no last name or where he lived or that he even had a family. Then one day, in my home town, during my grandmother's life, a white woman got mad at a black man and over the next few days, every black-owned building and home, about a thousand, was burned to the ground with nearly the same number dead. As our main character was delivering her pie in appeasement to her master, she knew what the downside might be like and she was no fool. While the movie makes her out to be clever and brave, most of the black community of the day was deferential out of necessity for survival.Try not to think of this movie as a real reflection of the time; had it tried to be so, it would never have been released, however, it was a good attempt at starting a conversation of the over-privileged nature, and outright cruelty of the white-woman of the day, which, actually, still persists.

classicsoncall Stepping out of my usual comfort zone of movies I prefer, action flicks and Westerns, this one was an insightful look into an era in the country's history that is thankfully growing older by the day. It's disturbing to see how members of a minority race were treated at one time. Having grown up in the North, the racism wasn't as blatant, although I recall the 'n' word being used rather casually by adults when I was just a kid. Somehow that just never seemed right to me.The film has it's share of characters that one will immediately come to love and hate. Bryce Dallas Howard's Hilly Holbrook appeared to be the one most likely a caricature of all that was wrong with white employers of house servants during the Sixties South. Not that there couldn't have been real employers like her, but the portrayal in the movie was certainly meant to reflect the worst of the lot. One would also have to concur that what Skeeter Phelan's (Emma Stone) Mom (Allison Janney) did when firing her own maid (Cicely Tyson) was an act of despicable cruelty.The humanity of the black maids is wonderfully portrayed relative to the humor they saw in their daily lives amid some often times dreadful conditions. With a little more work, I think that 'eat my s...' scene could have gone down as one of the classics along side say, Meg Ryan's restaurant scene in "When Harry Met Sally". As it is, there was an awful lot of payback there for Hilly Holbrook's underhanded treatment of the housemaid.Octavia Spencer took a Best Supporting Actress for her role as Minny Jackson, well deserved though one can't help feel that the entire ensemble deserved as much, as recognized by the Screen Actors Guild. And though I've seen Jessica Chastain in other roles, this is the one that would put her in direct contention for portraying Marilyn Monroe should a project like that ever come along. Her resemblance and body language were uncanny.

Harrison Tweed (Top Dawg) I'm not a huge fan of these 1960's films, as they've been done over and over again, but this one was a winner for me primarily due to the outstanding performance of Viola Davis. I have to say, Viola is one of the most passionate actors out there. If she's in pain, you are too. If she's crying, you are too. Add to this film the remaining exceptional performances by Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain and you have a winner. The pacing was a little slow for such a long movie, but still beautifully written an acted. 8/10 from me!