As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
Author P.L. Travers reflects on her childhood after reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.
Director:
John Lee Hancock
Stars:
Emma Thompson,
Tom Hanks,
Annie Rose Buckley
The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
Director:
Paul Greengrass
Stars:
Tom Hanks,
Barkhad Abdi,
Barkhad Abdirahman
While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.
Director:
Brian Percival
Stars:
Sophie Nélisse,
Geoffrey Rush,
Emily Watson
A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as the South African President, initiates a unique venture to unite the apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Director:
John Wells
Stars:
Meryl Streep,
Dermot Mulroney,
Julia Roberts
A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.
Director:
Daniel Espinosa
Stars:
Denzel Washington,
Ryan Reynolds,
Robert Patrick
An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling.
Director:
Robert Zemeckis
Stars:
Denzel Washington,
Nadine Velazquez,
Don Cheadle
Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way. Written by
Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
When his fellow butler clears Cecil's empty plate at the state dinner, he clears it from Cecil's left. Proper etiquette calls for dishes to be cleared from the diner's right. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Cecil Gaines:
The only thing I ever knew was cotton. It was hard work.
See more »
The movie was untrue, and portrays whites in this movie to be monsters of events that never happened to the real Butler. Strictly as a professional, though, the movie was excellent with excellent acting; however, the "commercial" at the end of credits was THE MOST RACIST PILE OF CRAP that I have ever seen. First, asking blacks to vote is one thing, and the director of that affair assumes that mostly blacks will see it, so of course it is OK to ask them to get out there and vote, especially for the failing city of Detroit. But in 2013, calling whites "the Man" and referring to us as "He" and not an entire race; and how we have taken everything from the blacks of Detroit or anywhere else for that matter, is racist! We (Americans) are all out there trying to make it right now, in this ruined economy, but when it's all said and done, we are making our own future; all of us. Blacks are allowed to vote, women are allowed to vote. There should be no scapegoats anymore. There is also hateful remarks about "the Arabs" taking gas stations and other establishments (etc.) from the blacks as well, and implying the dummy is mad that they are able to "come up." I can not BELIEVE that a movie of this caliber could sit there with a message that good, and then slap that sad excuse for a pile of crap on the end of it. It made me so sick, I had to watch it to the very end, to see if it was a joke. I was again, disappointed. I am very sorry for what my white history has done to your black history. I am very sorry that people have died, and been abused, and are still being abused today, but to sit there and advocate for the plight of the black man, and then ruin it with that creepy, racist message, was appalling to say the least! I think that something should be done about this. I believe that the stupid dummy bit should be removed immediately, followed by someone losing their dang job. Come on...really? (Anger words removed for PG submission to enlarge the audience - stronger language should be substituted!)
44 of 76 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
The movie was untrue, and portrays whites in this movie to be monsters of events that never happened to the real Butler. Strictly as a professional, though, the movie was excellent with excellent acting; however, the "commercial" at the end of credits was THE MOST RACIST PILE OF CRAP that I have ever seen. First, asking blacks to vote is one thing, and the director of that affair assumes that mostly blacks will see it, so of course it is OK to ask them to get out there and vote, especially for the failing city of Detroit. But in 2013, calling whites "the Man" and referring to us as "He" and not an entire race; and how we have taken everything from the blacks of Detroit or anywhere else for that matter, is racist! We (Americans) are all out there trying to make it right now, in this ruined economy, but when it's all said and done, we are making our own future; all of us. Blacks are allowed to vote, women are allowed to vote. There should be no scapegoats anymore. There is also hateful remarks about "the Arabs" taking gas stations and other establishments (etc.) from the blacks as well, and implying the dummy is mad that they are able to "come up." I can not BELIEVE that a movie of this caliber could sit there with a message that good, and then slap that sad excuse for a pile of crap on the end of it. It made me so sick, I had to watch it to the very end, to see if it was a joke. I was again, disappointed. I am very sorry for what my white history has done to your black history. I am very sorry that people have died, and been abused, and are still being abused today, but to sit there and advocate for the plight of the black man, and then ruin it with that creepy, racist message, was appalling to say the least! I think that something should be done about this. I believe that the stupid dummy bit should be removed immediately, followed by someone losing their dang job. Come on...really? (Anger words removed for PG submission to enlarge the audience - stronger language should be substituted!)