The Help

It is the early 1960's Mississippi. African Americans still do not have equal rights. They may not be slaves but they might as well be in small town Jackson. This story follows African American maid Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) as she cooks, cleans, shops and even raises the children of her white employees.
On the other side of the racial barrier is young aspiring writer Skeeter, (Emma Stone) who decides to write a book detailing the lives of a dozen African American maids.
These two characters begin a secret partnership writing Aibileen's story. Soon more maids join up, including the memorable Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer).
Skeeter may be the only white female in Jackson that isn't racist, having fond memories of her own maid who she idolises. Skeeter's best friend however, Hilly Holbrock (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the complete opposite. Hilly is oblivious to her blatant discrimination, even treating her own mother like trash.
This is another film documenting the very racially unbalanced and scary era of the 60's, but it explores the topic in a new way. What can be very male dominated and violent films,  The Help differs as it is a female ensemble cast.  This results in the exploration of not only the violence apparent in this era, but also the extreme hurt of gossip, along with the power of the written word.
The female ensemble is amazing. Emma Stone has already proved her worth in Easy A and she shines once again in this film. But it is Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer that contribute the more powerful and emotional performances on screen. Bryce Dallas Howard is fucking scary as Hilly Holbrock, capturing the essence of pure evil in her performance, making it impossible to feel anything but hate for this woman. Sissy Spacek gives a hilarious performance as Hilly's mother, proving that not everyone in the Holbrock family are the spawn of Satan. Allison Janney plays Skeeter's mother and she does her normal wonders in a role that has surprising heart. Finally Jessica Chastain gives a sweet performance as a ditzy wife shunned from the other women in town.
This is an emotional film; one minute you may be crying with a character,  the next laughing with another and then tearing up all over again.  You would have to be a member of the KKK not to be emotional moved by this film. Maybe the film's poster doesn't evoke much official prestige but if Touchstone/Disney plug the movie at Oscar nomination time, there will definitely be acting nominations from this amazing ensemble.

Cowboys and Aliens

Jake (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of the desert thirsty, disorientated and with a strange metal band locked to his wrist. He has no memory of who he is and when he strolls across a nearby town he soon learns that he is a wanted man. Local cattle owner Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) is one man affected by Jake's criminal activities after robbing Dolarhyde a fair amount of gold. Naturally Dolarhyde wants to seek revenge. But before any of these issues can be resolved, flying Alien spaceships come and destroy half the town, stealing most of the townsfolk. The aliens leave as quickly as they appeared but not before Jake subconsciously uses the metal wrist band to shoot and destroy one of the spaceships. Unfortunately Dolarhyde loses his bratty son to the aliens and so sets out on a mission to rescue the stolen people. Jake tags along in hope for answers about who he is. There is also a beautiful woman Ella (Olivia Wilde) thrown in the film, who really wants to help Jake remember, for mysterious reasons of her own.
The plot may seem like a lot to take in - Cowboys, Aliens; in one film? The west meets space? But hey, it's fun! Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1 and 2) knows how to make an action film, and Craig, Ford and Wilde look like they are having heaps of fun on screen. But the film can not just survive on the element of fun alone. There are many structural problems with the story. Firstly there are way too many characters, meaning there is not enough time to develop any of them substantially. Even the main characters seem rather hollow to the point that you aren't even emotional involved with their story.  Because of the amount of characters, Jake's back story is rushed and when we finally learn the truth it is rather anticlimactic. Then there is Dolarhyde gallivanting about like a hero rescuing his douche of a son. I was left wondering why Dolarhyde was even bothering, the annoying son is perhaps better left dead. Really all we needed Dolarhyde to say was that his son is the only family he has left or something cliche like that.  Then there is Olivia Wilde, yes she looks amazing, the girl can even act but everyone could see her character twist miles away. Actually the whole film was predictable and ran like most other action films. And don't even get me started on Daniel Craig's over sized hat!! I just wished I could walk up there and lift the damn thing so we could actually see his eyes.
There were elements of the film to be enjoyed. The western setting was beautiful. They included the gore and grittiness so common in the western genre. The aliens reminiscent of the creatures seen in the Alien films were also fun. The CGI was top notch and the comedy helped to lift up the drab characters.
It was fun to see the two genres of Western and Alien films mashed together, but is the world a better place because of this film? Definitely not.