REVIEWS

Lee Daniels’ The Butler Home Entertainment Release

ByChiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Dec 21, 2013

Title: Lee Daniels’ The Butler 

Director: Lee Daniels

Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr. Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, David Oyelowo, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber, Robin Williams and Danny Strong.

The American historical fiction drama film, directed by Lee Daniels, inspired by the real-life of Eugene Allen will be released for home entertainment on January 14th, 2014. Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company proudly present the ‘The Butler’, grossing over $115 million in box office, on Blu-Ray Combo Pack with Digital HD Ultraviolet, On-Demand and Pay-Per-View. The DVD Special features include: An American Story, The Original Freedom Riders, “You And I Ain’t Nothin’ No More” performed by Gladys Knight and Lenny Kravitz, deleted scenes and a gag reel.

 

The film stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, an African-American  who eyewitnesses notable events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure serving as a White House butler. Academy Award and media magnate Oprah Winfrey co-stars, along with a stellar cast that includes John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding, Jr. Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, David Oyelowo, Alan Rickman, Liev Schreiber, Robin Williams and Danny Strong. The great leader of this performance is the Oscar nominated director of ‘Precious,’ Lee Daniels.

 

This exquisite star-spangled jamboree, that depicts the tortuous civil rights struggle, is undeniably a touching and powerful film, as it holds you, provokes you and ultimately moves you. The character of the Butler represents the symbol, embodied by the film’s pitch: how “One Quiet Voice Can Ignite a Revolution.”

 

Technical: B

Acting: A+

Story: A

Overall: A

Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, is a film critic, culture and foreign affairs reporter, screenwriter, film-maker and visual artist. She studied in a British school in Milan, graduated in Political Sciences, got her Masters in screenwriting and film production and studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York and Los Angeles. Chiara’s “Material Puns” use wordplay to weld the title of the painting with the materials placed on canvas, through an ironic reinterpretation of Pop-Art, Dadaism and Ready Made. She exhibited her artwork in Milan, Rome, Venice, London, Oxford, Paris and Manhattan. Chiara works as a reporter for online, print, radio and television and also as a film festival PR/publicist. As a bi-lingual journalist (English and Italian), who is also fluent in French and Spanish, she is a member of the Foreign Press Association in New York, the Women Film Critics Circle in New York, the Italian Association of Journalists in Milan and the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean. Chiara is also a Professor of Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts at IED University in Milan.

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