Mel's Movie Catch-Up: Eagle Eye, Lee Daniel's The Butler, & Marvel One Shot: All Hail to the King
Marvel One-Shot: All Hail to the King -- This short film centers around the Iron Man 3 character Trevor Slattery after his arrest in the film. One could say this film answered the criticisms about the Mandarin twist in IM3 and it totally could have. If it was, then it is nice to see a studio respond positive to some of their criticisms. However, another person (like me) could say I KNEW IT!! If you go back to my IM3 review I stated I wasn't quite sure Killian was the MCU's Mandarin because the dialogue and direction left it quite open. So for me this short film was a big confirmation that the real Mandarin is out there, and the Ten Rings are still quite a threat to be messed with. Thus, leaving Iron Man 4 a big possibility depending on Robert Downey Jr.'s contract renewal.
I thought All Hail to the King was bloody brilliant!! It was funny, scary in certain parts, connected to other MCU films, and brought a lot of backstory about Trevor's character. Ben Kingsley is so funny in the Trevor Slattery role that I'm simply overjoyed now that we can have both the real Mandarin and keep Trevor too. That is if he can survive what is coming next for me *gulp*. Btw, Sam Rockwell reprises his Iron Man 2 role Justin Hammer and he is soooo funny!! Man, I truly loved all of Marvel One Shot short films!!
Eagle Eye -- Is a 2008 action thriller that starred Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan and Billy Bob Thornton. I fell upon this movie while preparing for work. LaBeouf and Monaghan portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous female caller into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The acting wasn't that great, but I really enjoyed the action and where the terrorist storyline headed. I figured out what was happening about halfway through the movie, but it didn't make the ending any less predictable. However, what happens to the villain does have the flaw of "that should've happened during" one particular scene. I really loved the Big Brother technological aspect because frankly and nervously as we found out that does indeed happen in our world. Overall, the movie was decent and good for at least one viewing.
Lee Daniel's The Butler -- This movie is loosely based on the real life of African-American Eugene Allen who eyewitnesses notable events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure serving as a White House butler. Allen served in the White House from the Eisenhower Administration to Reagan Administration. Forest Whitaker plays the male lead, and he does a beautiful job. I was really blown away by Whitaker's acting whether it be quite subtle to assertive. The actors who I was also blown away by were: Alex Pettyfer, Lenny Kravitz, and James Marsden. Pettyfer is only in it for a few minutes, but man he can play one mean jerk (to put it lightly). Kravitz, who I have seen act in The Hunger Games, continues to impress me with his calm and cool performances. In fact, in this film you can see more of Lenny Kravitz's humor. I've always been a huge fan of James Marsden since his short lived tv show Second Noah. I was quite impressed in his representation of President John F. Kennedy.
While the movie does a good job at showing the chaos of the 1960's-1970's I thought the movie suffered so much from its historical inaccuracies. Granted the movie did say it was "loosely" based on Eugene Allen's life, however; I felt there should've been more historical balance in the politics and lives it presented. While I love Danny Strong's work on Buffy, but as a historical screenplay writer I feel he needs to stop or improve. He pretty much rewrote Allen's life to be filled with more drama from the moment the movie opens to suddenly Allen having two children. I don't mind when historical films change a few things, however; there were a ton of things changed. Overall, the movie is okay for one viewing, but it's not a movie I would watch more than once. I felt it was too overhyped, and I can now see why the film didn't receive the award nominations people thought it would have.