The Help: thumbs up

SO much better'n I was expecting. Many wonderful performances in it, black and white. And painful truths, too. I was expecting it to be another p.c. melodrammer of the era & place, and sure, it has some of that in it, but it's more precisely observed than that, and more moving. It's a powerful rebuttal to Gone with the Wind, not as self-congratulatory as something like In the Heat of the Night...

Viola Davis has that line late in the movie about finally expressing how felt to be her, the truth of her life. That's what that movie is about: people finding the courage, putting their very lives on the line, to express the painful and often shameful truths of their lives. ...Despite or because of all the obstacles laid in their way. It'll be in line for a number of Oscars....for actors, for writing, maybe Tom Newman's music, maybe the direction... Loved the exterior shots of those incredible Jackson, MS, mansions, too. Davis will get a nomination at the least. Director Tate obviously has a visceral feel for the place.

Emma Stone is very good. At first I thought: Lindsay Lohan has come through her addictions looking WAY better than I expected.....but it's Emma. Ron Howard's daughter Bryce has a big part, she's passable but one-dimensional. Other actresses could have done something more interesting with the role. Please don't nominate her for nuthin'.... Most of the male actors are ciphers, placeholders...

I was sitting behind three old black people from the South, and boy did they love it. They were INVOLVED....sang along with the songs, answered back at the screen...