Upon my return to NYC, I made my way to Queens to visit Mi Cariño. It was raining like you wouldn't believe, which made it a perfect afternoon to go to the movies.
First we saw Glee 3D, which is out in limited time. Why the thing had to be in 3D I'm not sure, but stuff really did look sharp. This "movie" is essentially footage from the Glee concerts that went on around the country during the summer. This is the actors doing a concert as their characters in Glee, though, and so in reality this was a "New Directions" Concert. Confusing, I know, but I enjoyed the premise, and can also see why the producers would want to make sure that people associated the singing and dancing peeps with the show and not with the actors themselves.
This meant that behind the scenes and on stage, the actors were in character, portraying the wonderful Santana and Britney and Rachel Berry, etc. For the most part it sounded like the concert was actually live, although there were moments (like in Britney's rendition of Britney Spears "I'm a Slave 4 U") where I wondered if it was really live because the choreography was amazing and she sounded barely out of breath. Almost everyone had a solo number, except for Quinn and Sam who had a duet, and Tina who just had the main lead during "Born this Way." Some of the songs I think hadn't even made it to Glee, but a lot of the favorites were played, like "Don't Stop Believin'" and what not.
Like the Justin Bieber classic film, "Never say Never," Glee 3D went outside and interviewed the fans. This was not the camera asking them to yell the name of their favorite character though - the producers chose three kids to follow outside of the arena, all the way to their schools. They played for effect for the first one, not letting you know why she was different until after we learned she was a cheerleader. All three kids though, loved Glee and talked about the characters changing their lives and teaching them lessons.
Peppered through were also videos of the "Mini-Warbler," the philipino cutie that dresses in the Warbler getup and adores Blaine. Personally I enjoyed that everyone was in character - it kept the concert fun - and I wish I had seen less of Artie and more of others, but I understand he has a pretty good voice that lends itself to a lot of the songs, and I think of the boys he has the most experience performing live. "Rachel Berry" killed it every time she was on stage, showing that she was used to this and fed off of the audience. Santana, however, was the best, as always. :-)
After the fluff goodness that was Glee 3D, we decided to watch The Help.
I'm still not sure as to what I think about the movie... it follows closely on the books - except when it doesn't. (Ha!). Instead of having 3 narrators, we have one, and it's not Ms. Skeeter (young white woman in my book "review"), who is really the main narrator in the novel, but Aibeleen (Wise Maid), who provides the general thread. It was a smart move, in making the movie "user friendly." What works in a novel doesn't necessarily work when you're trying to get a big audience to come to the movies. And I won't lie, I think the movie was well done, superbly acted, even if it's not quite the same movie as the book. A lot of little things and nuances were changed in order to accommodate for time (and mind you, the movie is 2 hours long, though you don't notice). The "Horrible Awful" is milked a bit more in order to bring out the laughs. There are more inside jokes and times in the kitchen were Aibeleen gets to interact with Minny (Angry Black Maid), and really, every single one of the actresses is amazing.
Though Skeeter's storyline is cut off a little, Emma Stone makes her relatable and good - you really don't look at her as if she's a White Girl taking advantage of the Black Woman in order to get herself a job. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer are magnificent, in roles that could've been turned into caricatures. Bryce Dallas Howard melds herself into that character in a way that you just love to hate her. Jessica Chastain (and you know, she's been in as many movies as Emma Stone lately, that woman don't play) was perfect as the White Trash that doesn't see color. Allison Janey is also there, and as I mentioned to Mi Cariño in the movie, was soo good at what she did, that at a pivotal scene in the movie when her character is doing something that will hurt her Maid and family, a despicable racist thing that she somewhat was forced to do (different times, crap-cakes), though I felt for the black maid and her daughter, I also just felt bad for Allison Janey's character.
Some of the choices were blatantly off towards the end, and I don't want to give things away, but even if I had never read the book, they didn't fit. I was a bit upset that although the movie ends somewhat happily, and Aibeleen ends spiritually in the same spot as she does in the novel, she doesn't get to have the same ending as novel Aibeleen. I'm not sure as to why they chose not to follow up on this - if they thought it wouldn't be historically accurate, I don't know. But to spoil some endings for you: In the novel, Skeeter gets her job in NY, and she leaves her job to Aibeleen, who then leaves her job as a maid to be a writer. In the movie, Skeeter gets her job, and Aibeleen declares herself a writer as the movie ends, but is left without a job. What the heck Hollywood?
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