Lee Daniels' The Butler

Director: Lee Daniels
Genre: Historical Drama
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, David Oyelowo
Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: August 16, 2013
My Rating: 9/10

This has undoubtedly been another of my top favorite movies of the summer and of the year thus far. Director Lee Daniels (Precious) brings to the big screen the true story of White House butler Cecil Gaines (Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker), who is based on Eugene Allen, a butler who served eight different US presidents over eight terms, from 1952 to 1986. Over the course of these three decades, Cecil Gaines witnesses a number of historical events both from within and outside the White House, including the Civil Rights Movement, the assassination of John F. Kennedy (James Marsden), the Vietnam War and the Anti-Apartheid Free South Africa Movement. Throughout the film, these events begin to personally affect his family: his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) and his two sons Louis (David Oyelowo) and Charlie. Cecil also quickly befriends two fellow butlers, Carter Wilson (Academy Award-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and James Holloway (Lenny Kravitz).

What I liked most about this film was the fact that, contrary to many similar dramas that covered the same period of American History, this story presented it from a very different point of view: that of an African-American butler of humble origins (he grew up on a farm as a slave for a white plantation owner) who ends up working at the most important building in the nation. To some, the "little-fish-in-a big-pond" story may seem overplayed but to me, it made the story so much stronger. It was also very captivating to see the constant switch between the parallel stories of Cecil's everyday life in the White House (and the special relationships he forms with each president) and that of his family's life, particularly his older son Louis' involvement in movements such as that of the Freedom Riders and the Black Panthers.

Aside the all-star cast led by Whitaker, this film is overall a powerful portrayal of one man and his family, and how they struggle through the turbulent times that marked the post-war era. It is a very human, touching, and 100-percent American story.

Fruitvale Station

Director: Ryan Coogler

Genre: Drama

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Kevin Durand

Distributed by: The Weinstein Company

Release Date: July 26, 2013

My Rating: 8/10

I always like watching films that are based on a true story. Movies are a great way of raising awareness amongst the general public about events that actually took place, and you look at the film differently from the moment you walk into the theatre because you know the story is real and not a work of fiction.

This film-produced by Forest Whitaker-tells the true story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a young black man living in Oakland, California with his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz) and young daughter Tatiana. After having been arrested a year before the start of the film's events, Oscar has become determined to make some changes in his life: get a steady job to provide for his girlfriend and daughter, and strengthen his relationship with his mother (Octavia Spencer). On December 31, 2008, Oscar, Sophina and their friends decide to take a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train to San Francisco to celebrate New Year's Eve. All goes well until Oscar begins a fight with another man who was an inmate with him in prison, causing the train to stop at Fruitvale Station and BART officers to forcibly remove Oscar and his friends from the train and arrest them. After a long shouting match between the police and the young adults and a number of resists, one of them shoots Oscar in the back.

The film is very short, with a running-time of about 90 minutes. However, not much appears to happen during the first 45 minutes or so, although it is evident why: the main purpose served by the first half of the film is not to demonstrate the relationship that Oscar has with his loved ones-his friends, his mother, his girlfriend and his daughter-and both the happiness and arguments that he develops with them. These scenes are beautifully written and acted, and come off as very genuine, although they could have been slightly developed and prolonged in exchange for two or three out-of-place scenes that could have been omitted.

Once the film finally reaches the main action, the events seem to unfold much more quickly, and the long-running scene at the end where Oscar and his friends are stopped by the police is an incredible and heart-pounding sequence. This movie is a fantastic portrayal of the final day in a young adult's life: I really liked that all of the events-except for one flashback-occurred over a single day, thus reinforcing the idea that you have to live each day as if it were your last. The film also raises questions about the power and brutality of law enforcement officers, injustice and racism, since the other man with whom Oscar started a fight on the train was white and the film never seems to show that man even being arrested. Overall, this film shows a powerful story about a youth who became a symbol in the Bay Area after that fateful day and remains one to this day. 

Despicable Me 2

Directors: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud
Genre: Animated Comedy/Kids

Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan

Distributed by: Universal Pictures (Illumination Entertainment Studio)

Release Date: July 3, 2013

My Rating: 7/10

In Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me 2, sequel to the successful box-office 2010 animated film Despicable Me, we are reunited with Gru, the lovable and eccentric villain-turned-good-guy for a whole new adventure. After his last great scheme to steal the moon in the first film, Gru (Steve Carell) has decided to leave his life as a villain behind and become a responsible father to his three new adopted daughters, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith, and Agnes, and start a new jelly-making business. One day, an agent named Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) shows up at his door and asks him to come with her to an unknown location. After he refuses, Lucy kidnaps Gru and two of his minions and takes him underwater to an organization known as the Anti-Villain League, headed by a man named Silas Ransbottom (Steve Coogan). Together, Lucy and Silas attempt to convince Gru to help them steal a purple serum fluid from an evil villain known as "El Macho," who plans to use the serum to create terrifying monsters and rule the world.

This sequel proves to be a superbly fun thrill ride and although I believe it doesn't match the excellence of the first film, it certainly comes very close. Of course, the plot is a bit more complex than that of the first, but it remains captivating nonetheless. The new characters who are introduced, such as Lucy Wilde and the new villain El Macho are excellent, and each one brings an additional lovableness and humor to the story through their incredible voice talents. Gru's hilarious hi-jinks and american expressions in his funny and unidentified foreign accent never get old, and I was glad to see him paired up with a female character to see how their relationship evolved. 

The girls again provide a fabulous distraction for Gru, and accentuate his proneness to get into awkward situations as their father. Unsurprisingly, nothing made me laugh more throughout the film than the minions, whose antics most people seem to remember and adore most in the first film. The originality of the characters, from their appearances and costumes, voices and facial expressions, had me laughing hysterically the entire movie. In addition, there are two well-known old songs sung by the minions at the end that wrap up the film on an extra-hilarious note. (I promise I won't spoil which ones) Directors Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud provide the minions' voices, and producer Chris Meledandri proves that Illumination Entertainment Studios (The Lorax) can truly make great films.