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Oscars 2025 Best Picture Reviews: Part Five

12 March 202612 March 2026Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

I didn’t think I could do it but I did it. And this soon! All ten Best Picture nominees reviewed. And these are the last two. One just set an Oscars record for the most nominations (16) and the other was the big winner at the Independent Spirit Awards:

Sinners

The most unique thing about this film is that it goes on a common theme of how past generations of peoples would see music as a way to heal but also some music that is evil and is able to unleash demons. This story helps imagine of such a type of music or such musicians that can unleash a type of evil spirits or in this case, create a set of vampires. The setting appears to be right. Two African American twins, the Smokestack Twins, rent out a sawmill for a night of entertainment for their people. They do the dealing and inviting and even bring their younger cousin Sammie to play, despite his minister father’s religious objections. Meanwhile an Irish vampire is sheltered by a couple who belong to the KKK. The vampire infects them and they come to the event just as everyone’s partying. Despite their initial rejection, they find a way to infect those from the party and turn them into vampires themselves.

It’s the story of mixing the theme of music as something wicked and playing on that theme as white musical vampires use it to lure people to their spell and become vampires themselves where they become enslaved by the leader. It’s also the theme of music as something good as it helps connect with both generations past that adds to the theme of the overall story. Outside of music, it’s also the theme of racism in the film. Whites who are part of the KKK own this Mississippi land. The twins learned a thing or two about money and they try to prove they’re not inferior by proving their purchasing power to the white men. A group of singing white vampires, including two KKK members, who find a way to infect some attendees and turn them under their spell. This can definitely stimulate a lot of talk about racism and Jim Crow laws. And all this in a story about a young musician who gets his first break in a gig that will haunt him for the rest of his life, and have him decide his future.

Now this film became the surprise hit film of the summer. Normally horror films and films of the supernatural are good at winning crowds and stimulating intrigue, but most film critics look down upon the genre. These past ten years has helped in giving this genre its long overdue respect. This film helps add to the respect of the genre of various music styles. Mind you this is not your typical horror film. The twins thought their only problems they had to deal with was Jim Crow racism, but a bigger more supernatural threat was coming their way. Being a story about music bringing demons out, both in the spirit world and down to Earth, this horror story goes above and beyond what one would expect for a horror story. With music being a central theme, the film delivers on a lot of excellent songs that can make you appreciate the genre it represents. Easy to see why this film that was quietly released in the summer became one of the biggest hits.

Biggest acclaim has to go to writer/director Ryan Coogler. His illustrious career took off with 2013’s Fruitvale Station, which was also the breakthrough film for Michael B. Jordan. Further success would come with 2015’s Creed, 2018’s Black Panther and its 2022 sequel Wakanda Forever. This film is his masterpiece. It’s a film no one expected to be a hit and comes across as a difficult story to write and a difficult film to direct, but Coogler masters it. In the end comes the film of 2025 I can most label a masterpiece! Definitely a classic for the future.

One of the biggest strengths of the film is its acting. Top accolades should go to Michael B. Jordan. He’s worked with Coogler before with Fruitvale Station, Creed and the two Black Panther films. Here, he does the remarkable job of two twin brothers. He’s able to know the characterizations well and portrays Smoke as the serious one and Stack as the more playful one very well. Then to have Stack become a vampire and Smoke to fight the vampire spirits. To do the two roles and know what to play when is a job and a half. Especially for a film like this.

The supporting acting of the film really stands out. The top standout has to be Miles Caton as Sammie Moore. For a debut role as a young musician looking for his big moment and being horrified with all that happened, that is no easy task. Miles masters it like nobody’s business. Miles is also great at singing the blues. In fact, some of the best acting of this film comes from the performances that include singing. Delroy Lindo is very believable as Delta Slim. His delivery of the performance gets you believing he really is a blues legend. Wunmi Musaku gave an excellent performance as Smoke’s estranged wife and she can sing very well too. Other standout performances in the film include Hailee Steinfeld as Stack’s former girlfriend, Jayme Lawson as a singer who seduces Sammie, Jack O’Connell as the leader of the vampires, Li Jun LI as the shopkeeper’s wife, and the legendary Buddy Guy portraying the older Sammie at the end! Kudos to casting director Francine Maisler for making the right choices!

Just as equally deserved as praise and the reason for this film’s record-setting sixteen Oscar nominations are the technical efforts. If you take away the three Oscar categories for small films as well as the categories for Animated, Documentary and International Film, you’d see Sinners has a nomination in all those categories! The sound technicalities and the visual effects stand out. Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne did a great job in the set designs and succeeded in turning back time. Also turning back time is Ruth E. Carter in costuming. Autumn Durald Arkapaw did a great job in cinematography.

The standout technical effort in this film has to be the music. Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson did a great job in delivering a score that respects the African American music styles and succeeds in creating the right mood for the film. Of the songs in the film “I Lied To You” which was written by Goransson and Raphael Saadiq stood out as it succeeds in making us believe it’s an old-time blues song. The whole film plays a wide variety of songs whether it’s sung by the actors or played as background music. When you watch the film and listen to the songs, it’s almost like the film is saluting music itself. The film magnifies the charm of the music styles. Even styles of music we come to dismiss as hokey, the film highlights the charming part of the style we didn’t bother to see the whole time. Music is the central theme of the film so it makes sense to have top-notch music.

Sinners is a film that’s indescribable. You could describe it as a horror movie or a drama set in the past or a musical. You can be both wrong and right. The film defies convention and delivers a masterpiece that’s unforgettable!

Train Dreams

A lot has changed in the film world over the last 25 years. The types of films that would find its way in film festivals and would find itself getting a chance at the box office would now find themselves on Netflix if they’re lucky. That doesn’t mean such films won’t be seen by the public or are out of chances for the Oscars. That was the case of Train Dreams as it made its debut at Sundance 2025, was shown in select theatres for Oscar eligibility and would become a Netflix film. A film about an 80 year-old hermit living in the forests of the Rocky Mountains a century ago doesn’t make for an attention-grabber of a film. How it attracts intrigue is it’s a story about one simple man and how he encompasses our own human feelings. Robert Grainier goes through the happiest of moments when he falls in love, marries and has a daughter. He goes through the hardest of heartbreaks when he loses them seemingly forever in a fire. He has feelings of hope as he hopes they may have survived and just moved off. Even feelings of hope as he meets Claire and the chance to start a new life for himself. He has feelings of hopelessness as his ageing no longer makes him physically able to do forestry work. He has images that haunt him like the Chinese worker who was killed, those in the forestry work who were killed on the job, or his wife Gladys and daughter Kate who give him haunting messages. He connects with all sorts of people from co-workers to people in town to people doing other work close by, even if it only appears to be a temporary connection with them. That seems to be it about the story of Robert Grainier. He’s a man whom people come and go in his life — even those closest to him — but he seems to find a purpose to his life. Having lost so many people, some tragically, he could do himself in and end it all, but he continues to live. And it’s all the better for him.

The unique thing about the film is not just about Robert Grainier and how he seems to be an ‘everyman’ character, but also happening in a time in the United States in the past. It’s a rare time to be in the forests of the American Northwest in the 1920’s. The film shows of a United States that used to be. A United States that was on the growth and Grainier was a part of it. It shows a nature of the United States that would soon fall prey to urbanisation. Grainier is part of both what nature gives to him generously and what nature takes form him cruelly. Even with urbanisation, Grainier doesn’t take himself away from the nature until his visit to Spokane in the 1960’s. The nature of the forests and the mountains Grainier is a part of is just as fascinating as the simple life of Grainier himself.

This film is another achievement for director Clint Bentley. He has only had four years of film work but he has created achievements like 2021’s Jockey and co-writing the script with Greg Kwedar for 2024’s Sing Sing. For this he directs, he collaborates again with Kwedar to adapt the 2011 novella form the late Denis Johnson. The novella received praise for its work and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Here, Bentley brings it to life and creates a story about the man and the time he lives in. He makes it a story that’s also about the people that come and go in his life and make it a story in which we the audience can find enriching. It’s an excellent achievement.

The film single-handedly belongs to Joel Edgerton. The whole story revolves around the life of Robert Grainier: a fictional man living in the forests of the American Northwest. Joel not only acts the role of Grainier out well but he also tells his story well. He tells his story and helps connect the characters of the story. The film is also as much about the people in Robert’s life as it is about him. Being the centrepiece, Edgerton makes the story of Grainier come alive.

Although the film is mostly Edgerton playing Grainier, the actors playing the supporting roles also add to the film very well. Felicity Jones did a great job of playing his wife Gladys who is able to win his heart. William H. Macy is also great as the explosives worker Arn Peeples who considers trees to be spirits. For a short period of time, Macy is able to steal the attention away. Kerry Condon is also great as Claire who is able to connect with him and share her loss with his. The film also features a lot of great technical achievements like the cinematography of Adolpho Veloso. His images really captured the region and helped to make the story. Malgosia Turganska made excellent decisions in the choice of costumes for the film’s costuming, fitting the eras well. The score from Bryce Dessner does a great job in capturing the atmosphere and drama of the film.

Train Dreams may come across as a slow film of boring subject matter but if you give it a fair chance, you will come to like the story it tells. It’s a story where one man can reflect our own feelings in his lifetime. It also feels like a piece of Americana.

And that does it. I am now complete in my reviews of the Best Picture contenders of 2025. It’s up for the winners to all be decided on Sunday March 15th.

Double Movie Review: Mad Max- Fury Road and Jurassic World

13 August 201514 January 2016Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

Here I am back to my blogging habit. Yes, I have quite the backlog in terms of movie reviews. I have the energy to post now and I’m able to post a double review of two of the hottest movies of the summer: Jurassic World and Mad Max: Fury Road. Both were either sequels or part of a franchise. Both cost $150 million each to make. Both are different in terms of the audience they can win over and both have differing success results.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Yes, it’s been a long time since there’s been a Mad Max movie: 30 years to be exact. George Miller is back in directing this Mad Max movie, or picking up where he left off as one could assume. And believe me this movie was quite something else.

Right at the beginning you’re left wondering what kind of world this is. The world is a complete bizarre wasteland and the whole universe in existence is fighting each other and Max. Mind you even the bad guys are insane enough that Joe uses Max as a universal blood donor and has five wives for the sake of breeding purposes. Over time, some of the people become Max’s friend in order to save civilization from Joe.

Already that’s a lot of craziness most fans of the original three Mad Max movies would find hard to fathom but watching the movie even gives it enough craziness for any movie viewer hard to fathom. Even the people all act like they’re all on something–crack, smack, speed–and it’s not just the bad guys. Just one insane place full of insane people. However what would have to make people adjust to this new version of the Max Max franchise would have to be good characters. First would have to be Furiosa. Right in the middle of the movie, you could see the pain in which she’s going through. It’s also a pain shared by the other four wives of Joe. Once these characters were made more human, it made for something for people to connect to the story. In addition is the connection of the character Nux. Nux was very unhuman but his human side was more noticeable later on and it gave cause for people to feel for him even as he sacrifices himself.

The character work couldn’t have been done firstly without Charlize Theron as Furiosa. It’s her performance that made people feel the pain of Furiosa. There’s even talk of Oscar buzz for Charlize this early. Nicholas Hoult’s performance help turn a beast of a character like Nux into a character with dimension and actually makes the audience feel for him. Tom Hardy did a good job as Max Rockatansky. I’m sure in this film he had the duty to try to fill Mel Gibson’s shoes. I don’t know if he did it but he did a good job as Max.

George Miller did a good job not just in directing the movie and co-writing the script with two additional writers. He also created the bizarre world in which Mad Max and his allies had to survive in and fight for their freedom. Also instrumental in creating this bizarre world are the set designers, costumers and the visual effects team. The music from Junkie XL also adds to the drama and the insanity of the movie.

Of the $150 million Mad Max: Fury Road cost to make and produce, it has so far made $152.6 million in North America and $368.6 million worldwide. Not huge spectacular numbers as far as summer movie fare goes but pleasant enough for a sequel– Mad Max The Wasteland— planned for either 2017 or 2018. It has even impressed critics that it received 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Who says all summer movies are money-grabbing junk?

Mad Max: Fury Road may not be exactly the type of movie most would expect, not even fans of the original Mad Max movies, but it exceeds the expectations of whatever you throw at it. I know for me it didn’t appear at all like what I normally expect from a sequel. And many of you already know what I feel about Hollywood sequels. I don’t even think this is even a sequel. Mad Max may just be a franchise instead of a chronological series. Nevertheless it’s way better than most common summer fare.

JURASSIC WORLD

Already you know a movie like Jurassic World will be a hit simply because of the title. This is the few times where judging a book by its cover is legit. Whether the movie is all that great remains to be seen.

The film doesn’t really carry on the tradition of the Jurassic Park book of Michael Crichton. Instead it’s a new story concocted by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and adapted to screen by Jaffa and Silver along with Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow who directs the movie. What happens is Jurassic Park is long defunked especially after the fatalities. The writers and directors create a story in a new park, Jurassic World. Jurassic World is a theme park that`s a whole island that includes exhibits that make it both a museum and like one of those safari parks one can drive through.

Clever work for a popcorn movie but over time, you feel the story is as simplistic as one would expect from a Hollywood story. A park worker is a woman out of love while looking after her about-to-be-divorced sister`s kids and dealing with the dinosaur trainee whom she finds charming but had a flop first date with. Sometimes it seems as though the characters seem too simplistic as well: Owen as the charming but stuffy trainer, Claire as the out-of-love-and-depressed type, Vic as the slacker security operations person, Grey as the cute kid with sad puppy dog eye and his bother Zach as the typical bored miserable teen who somehow gets cheered up by the dinosaurs.

Even the drama becomes a bit predictable over time. You sense there would have to be some sort of havoc at the World to get the story rolling. Sure enough, the escape of Indominus is what starts the drama. You have to admit it was a tad predictable. Even how the two boys become threatened in the ensuing drama is predictable too. I will admit the one unpredictable thing was when Indominus breaks into the park`s pterosaur aviary and has them all on the loose chasing all the other park visitors. I did not expect that nor did I expect the whole Jurassic World to look like a war zone at the end. I give that credit.

Overall, Jurassic World came across as a common popcorn movie where a lot of the excitement was either missing or anticipated right from the start. It`s a movie that appears undecided whether it wants to be charming or a thriller. I kind of blame it on the lack of Spilberg magic that came with the first Jurassic Park movie. I also kind of blame it on some of the character acting that appears so stocky like Bryce Dallas Howard playing another unlucky in love type, Vincent D`Onofrio playing an all-to-common slacker player and Ty Simpkins playing a typical cute kid with sad puppy dog eyes. The one good performance although in a typical popcorn movie character was from Chris Pratt. He was able to make his character of Owen Grady charming and even a bit charismatic. I also give credit to the set design team for creating this island where Jurassic World is situated on and credit to the visual effects team for delivering top notch visual effects and even delivering some thrills to the movie. Although I said the action was mostly predictable, it did deliver in some thrills.

Jurassic World wasn`t too much of a critical darling as it received 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Good but it could be better. However the big payoff came for Jurassic World at the box office as it broke a ton of records. It all started in breaking the opening weekend record and becoming only the second movie ever to have an opening weekend that grossed more than $200 million (the 2012 Avengers movie is the first ever) and it`s been growing ever since:

All-Time Opening Weekend: $208.8 million.
All-Time second weekend: $106.7 million
Fastest to $500 million (North America): 17 days
Worldwide Opening Weekend: $524.4 million
Fastest to $1 billion (Worldwide): 13 days

That`s just a sample of the records Jurassic World broke. I`m sure you`ll find more at Box Office Mojo. I don`t think it will break the all-time gross records especially as it finds itself out of the Top 10 in its ninth week. It may eclipse Titanic as the second-highest grossing movie in North America but it would still need at least $100 million more to contend to beat Avatar`s record.

Sure enough, there will be a Jurassic World sequel. It`s not clear if Trevorrow will return as director but he will write and produce it. Bizarre because if the Jurassic World wreaked that much havoc on that many visitors, you`d figure Jurassic World would mark the absolute end of any Jurassic theme parks. Hey, money talks especially in Tinseltown.

Jurassic World and Mad Max: Fury Road were two of the big movies of the summer of 2015. One didn`t do as well as expected while one was a record-breaker. One had a better story and better character than the other. Both gave a good statement of what the summer movie season of 2015 was like.

VIFF 2013 Review: Willow Creek

29 September 201329 September 2013Jon The BlogcentricLeave a comment

The couple of Jim and Kelly get the fright of their lives in Willow Creek. — The couple of Jim and Kelly get the fright of their lives in their vacation to *Willow Creek*.

I saw Willow Creek at the Vancouver International Film Festival just for the heck of it. What I got was something familiar but just as thrilling and had its own uniqueness.

The film appears to be videos of a couple, Jim and Kelly, as they are about to search for the mystery of Bigfoot. The legend of bigfoot started in Willow Creek, California one 1967 day when two men names Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin claimed they sawe him and even provided a picture. The stories have kept on popping as the years went by.

Jim and Kelly head to Willow Creek to camp out in the Rockies and get their own piece of the action. Jim especially is a huge bigfoot enthusiast. Kelly doesn’t seem too into it but is cooperative with Jim nonetheless. They come to the town that’s full of Bigfoot landmark and businesses named Bigfoot. They even go to a Bigfoot diner where they have a Bigfoot burger with the buns shaped like a big foot. They interview residents, visit a Bigfoot museum and even have fun with the Bigfoot statues. They even show a singer who wrote the song Bob and Roger about the legendary discovery. It’s not to say that all has been fun before their camp-out. They did see one person who didn’t like how they were having a mock interview with a Bigfoot statue. They also met another man with an aggressively rude attitude while driving their Humvee down the valley.

That doesn’t stop them from finding another path to set up camp. They set up and then leave temporarily. Once they return they find their tent down and their stuff thrown about. Jim even finds his sock up in a tree. That doesn’t stop them from setting up again. They even sleep in the valley overnight leaving the camera running in hopes of getting a piece of the Bigfoot action. The night is a special bonus for Jim as it’s his chance to finally propose to Kelly. Kelly gives an unexpected answer but Jim’s cool with it.

Overnight they hear a lot of noises. First sounds like banging of rocks. Then sounds like loud growling. Then comes forceful actions outside their tent like their tent body being pushed. Jim and Kelly decide to leave the following morning. As they go to return to their car, Jim still tries to capture some stuff related to Bigfoot like hair from a tree or footprints near the creek. The fun ends when the two learn they’re lost without a map. The two are left stranded in the night where the unexpected happen.

Some of you may say this film sounds very familiar to The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. That’s definitely what I thought. It may be another spin off that formula but it does have elements of its own. First is of a mysterious phenomenon that’s already hugely popular and the place that made it popular. For those that don’t know, the town of Willow Creek, California is dubbed the Bigfoot Capital Of The World. They not only have all these Bigfoot places as shown in the film but also a Bigfoot festival. Back to the subject of the film, I’m sure one could see themselves doing such a film with other phenomenon like say going to Roswell for the alien phenomenon or Kelowna, BC for the Ogopogo.

Even separate from the subject of the search for Bigfoot was the story is also about the couple too. Blair Witch was of a group of friends together. Paranormal Activity had a couple but there wasn’t much focus on the relationship of the two. Willow Creek had a lot of focus on the relationship of Jim and Kelly first during their moments of fun together then on moments of great fear. Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson gave a great performance as the couple. They made it work with their believable performance.

Bobcat Goldthwait also did a good job of directing and writing the story. Many of you may remember Goldthwait from the 80’s and 90’s with his comedic acting and his stand-up comedy where he had this irritatingly growling voice which people really liked. Filmmaking is something you would not normally associate with Goldthwait but he does make films of his own. This was a good film put together as it had a lot of people in suspense. Also he was at the showing for both the intro and the Q & A. Shows he still has it in terms of stand-up.

Willow Creek may remind you of certain other movies of the past but it’s a good story of its own and is worth watching. However I don’t think it may want you to check out the Bigfoot mystery anytime soon.

Move Review: The Help

21 September 201127 January 2012Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

I know what you’re going to say before I talk about The Help. There have already been a lot of movies about racism and segregation. Yes there have been. Nevertheless The Help is a well-made story about showing a black woman’s point of view on racism from a state most synonymous with segregation: Mississippi.

The movie revolves around three women in particular. The first is Abilene; an African American maid whose latest maid work comes right after the death of her son. The second is Milly; another African American maid who was recently fired from Hilly Hollbrook–Jackson’s white female ringleader–for using a toilet meant only for Hilly’s white family and is only rehired by a white ‘misfit’. The third is Skeeter; a white journalism grad from Ole Miss who is unmarried and wants to make a career for herself in writing but lacks a story.

The setting is Jackson, Mississippi. Segregation is alive and well but is facing abolishment. The black maids have had enough while the white upper class females want to see it kept. Hilly herself wants to enact a passage of a law to make it standard for separate bathrooms for white and colored people. Skeeter is tired of writing a housekeeping column and wants an actual story. She comes across it just after her former maid Constantine, who she always looked up to as a child, is mysteriously gone, Hilly speaks her pro-segregation mind at her ‘clique meetings’ and she encounters Aibilene and Minny. They have quite the story to tell and she learns a lot from what they have to say and what they’ve experienced. Even Milly’s story of her revenge on Hilly with ‘the pie’ makes for some colorful. Nevertheless a book publishing company wants to have the points of view from twelve maids, not two. It’s a struggle for Skeeter as she becomes more of a misfit in Hilly’s clique for being unmarried and being opposed to segregation and because of state law: Mississippi law can imprison writers and interviewees for cross-race writing. It isn’t until the shooting death of Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers that Skeeter finally gets her twelve to interview, however giving them pseudonyms to protect their identity. The result is the novel finally being made and boy does it stir up a lot of debate and reactions.

One thing about the ending is that a lot is accomplished and many good things come out of it. Despite positive changes, some bad things still remain and the movie doesn’t end on a completely positive note. The ending takes a turn for a different more negative ending. Nevertheless it did so on the right note. It reminds us that even after segregation was ended for real in the Southern States, some negative aspects of racism still remained and some changes didn’t go as far as it should have.

There have been movies about racism in the past and conquering racism but hardly has there ever been such where it’s on the basis of the black maids for white families. It touches on a common notion. The white children were raised and cared for by the African American maids and many of the children would look up to them as a mother figure. As most of those white children grew up as adults, they would then go on to the hiring and firing of them. They would adopt the cruelness to the maids their own parents had. The story is set in Jackson, Mississippi around the time of the civil rights movements and around the time Jackson, the capitol of Mississippi, is where segregation is possibly the most alive and well. The story features Skeeter, an aspiring writer who’s looking for a story and sees one. Remembering how Constantine was like a mother to her and wondering whatever happened to her, she hasn’t developed the hardness of heart her girlfriends had developed over the years. It is with her willingness to see the maids’ side and write about it that made her want to set the record straight. That helps to create the intrigue of the story.

One of the interesting themes in the movie is oddly enough its use of toilets. Many people including myself still look at toilets as something taboo but in recent decades, many people and many creative artists have defied this taboo and become more public about it and even incorporated it into art. In this film, it plays a significant role because as we remember, toilets were a part of the days segregation: separate ones for whites and colored. The Help presents toilets in many different references. It is Aibilene’s toilet teaching where she shows she’s a better mother to Mae Mobley Leefolt than Mrs. Leefolt is. It is where Minny uses a toilet for white people only in Hilly’s house that gets her fired. It’s where Hilly strongly believes in segregated bathrooms to the point to where she’s willing to take her plea to the surgeon general. It’s also the prank Skeeter uses to pull on Hilly for her lobbying. As taboo as it is, there’s no denying the significance of toilets in the movie.

One thing about the movie The Help is that it’s based on a novel that is complete fiction. That fact might make some question the triumphant moments in the movie. Question it all you want. One thing you can’t deny is that despite it being fiction, there are a lot of hard truths experienced by the African Americans in Mississippi that are portrayed very well and will make you think. Seeing how Hilly treats her maids meanly to the point of firing them instantly and even getting them arrested makes you think how many others were as mean as Hilly. That scene where Minny is with her eldest daughter in a maid’s uniform about to board the bus can also disturb you. Imagine a future that limited. Also that scene where Charlotte told how and why she fired Constantine. How many times do you think that has happened in the past? So the novel may not be based on a true story but possibly based on a thousand true stories.

The directing from Tate Taylor was top notch. He did an excellent job of directing the movie and writing the storyline well. The acting however is what made the movie most. The standout without a doubt was Viola Davis. Her performance of Aibilene was the glue of the movie and had the most to tell. Her acting was full of believability from start to finish. Octavia Spencer was the top scene-stealer as Minny. She was able to make for an excellent turn with adding elements of humor to her role. Emma Stone delivered possibly the best performance of her career. Already people are saying she’s the next big thing. Her performance of Skeeter demonstrates she can also make a good actress of herself. Also a standout is Bryce Dallas Howard. Her character acting was so excellent, she will easily make you hate Hilly.

Overall, The Help is a very excellent movie revealing a harsh reality of 60’s Southern racism. Some say it’s not as harsh of a depiction as it should be. Nevertheless we shouldn’t forget that even in racism situations that aren’t as harsh, the hurt can still be felt and the picture can have an ugliness of its own.