The Help

I likes me a good fictional history lesson. While it’s nowhere near as absurd as Inglourious Basterds, The Help is an empowering watch about a moment in time that never was. The definitive characters are the biggest testament to the movie’s quality. Everyone from the broken-down black maid (Viola Davis) to the stepford wife alpha-bitch (Bryce Dallas Howard) sell their roles immediately. When confrontation eventually strikes, it’s a brilliantly emotive eruption. In comparison to its subject matter, the film did seem a little tame overall. Nevertheless, by the end, I wanted to hi-5 each and every one of those maids. 

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Hanna

The director of upper class tea-n-crumpet contemporaries Atonement and Pride and Prejudice does a 180, busting the balls of Hollywood with this borderline art house thriller. After plastering your face with a big red “HANNA” sign, the film stamps its foot and becomes its own beast. Consequently, the awkwardly spastic side characters nearly derail entire scenes. Luckily, the distinctive direction and epileptic editing make the action look slicker than a greased-up zoot suit. It may turn some off, but I’m the polar opposite: Hanna turned me on. The movie I mean, not the 16-year-old girl.
…
I plead the fifth.

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