Butter (2011)

“My name is Laura Dean Pickler, and this is the cut-throat story of greed, blackmail, sex, and butter.”

            No offense to anyone out in the Midwestern United States but how bored are you guys out there that you hold contests to sculpt butter? Is sculpting butter something you do out there in some states? I am only asking because the 2011 movie Butter is about bored pure white Midwestern people who take the contest of sculpting butter super seriously. (Forgive my assumption I am from the NY/NJ area we can be pretty rude and presumptuous people).

            Laura Dean Pickler (Jennifer Garner) is the wife of the Bob Pickler (Ty Burrell) the champion of butter sculpting in Iowa. She enjoys her husband’s success and attention it brings to both of them. Since Bob has won the contest for fifteen years in a row he is asked to step down out of the contest to give someone else a chance. Bob has no issues with stepping down he is just worried that Laura will go out of her mind, which is of course does. Laura goes so far as to go to the house of the head judge of the contest to speak to him, well not so much speak to him as to yell at him. Bob needs to get away so he goes to the local strip club where he is given a lap dance and some more by Brooke (Olivia Wilde). Laura somehow finds out that Bob is at the strip club and rams her SUV in their van where Bob and Brooke are having sex.

            Since Bob cannot compete in the butter sculpting contest Laura decides to enter herself. When she goes to enter she is the only one there until a young girl named Destiny walks in and also a woman who is a fan of Bob and also Brooke the stripper. Brooke is determined to kick Laura’s ass in some form after she hit the van and Bob has not paid her for the rest of the night they spent together.

            Destiny, for years, has bounced around from foster home to foster home. One year while at the Iowa State Fair she sees Bob’s butter sculpture of The Last Supper. She goes into the room and finishes sculpting the small grail. Bob sees Destiny doing this and he is impressed by her art work. After that Bob helps to place Destiny in a nice home with a very white couple. When they ask if she has any hobbies she replies that she does not have one but she decides to go into sculpting butter.

            On the day of the contest Destiny is declared the winner and Laura comes in second place. Laura is infuriated. She decides to manipulate a former boyfriend Boyd Bolton (Hugh Jackman) who is dumb as a stick, to say that he helped Destiny to carve her sculpture. The idea is so stupid because everyone could see that Destiny made the sculpture herself but Laura has such weight and made such a fuss the committee decides to let Destiny and Laura duke it out again at the Fair. Destiny’s sculpture is of her real mother holding her as a baby in a rocking chair. Laura’s is the moments after JFK is shot in the head in the car with Jackie Kennedy reaching out for the Secret Service member. That night Boyd decides to sabotage Destiny’s sculpture for Laura without her knowing. He melts the face of the baby. Destiny’s foster parents are totally upset that something happened to the sculpture the following day. Despite the melted part Destiny’s sculpture wins the contest.

            The cast of Butter was awesome. I am a HUGE GIGANTIC Jennifer Garner fan so of course I had to watch this movie. I have actually had the DVD for years and only just today finally watch it. Garner is hilarious. She has not really played outrageous, fake, uptight women before so seeing her as Laura Dean Pickler was a panic. I died laughing hearing Garner yell out “mother fucker!” in one part! (also have to say that I was dying her character’s name was Laura… it’s an Alias thing). Olivia Wilde is insane with the types of characters she plays in movies. She was so good as Brooke! Her character was pissed off and out for revenge. She did not do the revenge aspect that well but she tried her best and it was so funny.  Ty Burrell was alright. He was not like his character on Modern Family (am I the only one who has watched that show and totally hated it?) which I liked. Kristen Schaal plays the huge Bob fan. I cannot hear her voice and not want to immediately watch Bob’s Burgers! Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone play Destiny’s foster parents. The girl who played Destiny was fantastic! She was excellent acting with all these awesome seasoned actors. Hugh Jackman was alright as Boyd Bolton. Boyd was an idiot which is not a character I think we’re really used to seeing Jackman play.

            Butter was one of the most hilarious, ridiculous comedies I have ever watched. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Trust me when I say I did not just like it because Jennifer Garner is in it, I would totally admit if a movie she was in was awful. Butter was just so good. I am so happy I bought it all those years ago. Definitely check out Butter if you are in need of a good laugh. 

Silent Sundays: Haldane of the Secret Service (1923)

Harry Houdini was a famous magician from the early Twentieth Century. I am sure that you have heard of Houdini at some point in your life. He was the master at creating ways for himself to escape impossible situations such as having himself locked in a straightjacket and a water torture cell. While he most well-known for his magic and illusions, Houdini was also in the movies. From 1918 to the mid-1920s, the magician acted in several films including Haldane of the Secret Service.

            A group of bankers in New York City are having issues with counterfeiters. Their banks have become flooded with this fake money and it is ruining their business. One of the bankers includes the eccentric Edward Ormsby. Investigating the counterfeiting ring is Heath Haldane (Houdini) an agent of the Department of Justice. He is working to take down these counterfeiters mostly because his father had been investigating them and he was killed.

            While walking down the street Haldane sees a woman running away out of a vehicle. She dropped her bag as she was running into an apartment on the corner. Haldane picks up the bag and looks inside. He sees counterfeit bills. When he goes to the apartment a Chinese servant answers the door. The servant says that the young lady, Adele Ormsby, is not in which Haldane knows is a lie so he knocks the guy around until he gives Haldane what he wants. Haldane is brought into a room to a table by Adele. The servant also comes in and switches out the bags without Haldane knowing. Haldane asks Adele about what is in the bag. Adele pretends not to know and tells him that she was leaving in a hurry and her things are in her bag. When Haldane looks into the bag to prove her wrong he is actually the one that is proven wrong when he sees Adele’s clothes. But to Adele’s surprise Haldane has the money from the bag in his coat pocket.

            Adele tries to explain that she was supposed to be marrying a man named Usher. She was not in love with Usher but Ormsby had been very adamant that she marry him. The reason she gave for taking the bag with the money was that she was in a rush out the door. She had heard a gun go off and then a moan. Haldane comes to find that everyone in the house has something to hide and that there are so many mysteries abound inside it.

            Later on, Adele informs Haldane that Ormsby came into possession of sacred Chinese plates while in China by having someone steal them for him. She also found a letter with the names of men from the Secret Service.

            Doing some reconnaissance, Haldane trails a man named Ivors to a warehouse. He is found by Ivors and his crew and thrown into the river. Adele is on a ship bound for Glasgow and Haldane manages to swim to the ship before it leaves New York. In the warehouse Haldane saw a box with an address in Hull, England stamped on it. Haldane figures that this is the house where the smugglers have been working out to create counterfeit money for all over the world.

            The rest of the story gets a bit crazy with a Chinese prince and some speakeasy and monastery in France. Just know that Haldane does find the counterfeiters and that Ormsby and some other bankers were behind the fake money.

            Haldane of the Secret Service is really good. I was hooked to the story from the time it started. As I said, the story gets a little crazy towards the end. In fact, it gets a little crazy almost from the beginning with so many people coming into the picture. Houdini was really good in the lead role. I did not know what to expect with Houdini acting and I was surprised that he was as good as he was. I am actually looking forward to finding some of his other films to watch. I definitely suggest watching Haldane of the Secret Service it was a great mystery. It is currently available to view in full on YouTube.  

Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)

If there was one female musician who truly paved the way for other female musicians it is definitely Janis Joplin. Joplin accomplished and did what no other woman before her had ever done in the music industry. She sang the way she wanted, she lived the way she wanted and in doing what she wanted she broke down so many walls and created so many more opportunities for other female artists. Joplin’s influence on music is explained in the excellent documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue.

            Janis Joplin grew up in Texas. She was never like any of the southern girls around her growing up. She was completely different. Joplin realized she could sing when she was seventeen and started out as a folk singer but no one was taking her seriously or liked her voice for the genre. She headed out to California where she lived until she was sent home to try to kick her initial addiction to heroin. Sometime later Joplin returned to California and was given the spot as the lead singer for a band called Big Brother and the Holding Company.

            Big Brother and the Holding Company achieved success under Joplin’s singing and the band’s music. Their hits include “Summertime” and “Piece of My Heart.” In the late 1960s Joplin left the band and started another band. That band did not work out so well. When that venture did turn out so well Joplin struck out on her own. She finally found a producer that worked with her voice and knew what types of songs and music would suit her voice. Joplin recorded her last album Pearl before she died in October 1970 of a heroin overdose in her hotel room at the age of twenty-seven. Pearl was released three months after Joplin died. The album was a success and her biggest hit, “Me and Bobby McGee” came from that album.

            I am sure most of you know who Janis Joplin is or have heard of her music. For a long time, I was not too sure if I liked Joplin or not. Her voice I found to be alright and her look kind of bothered me (she always looked like a mess). I also had no respect for her because she was addicted to drugs. Fortunately, my entire attitude towards Joplin (and people who are addicted to drugs) have changed. They changed before I even watched Little Blue Girl. My tastes in music has grown. I listen to basically everything as long as I think it sounds good (I have over 10,000 songs on my iTunes). I became curious about Janis Joplin so I took a listen to her songs and downloaded a greatest hits album. After listening to that album I could hear why she is such a legend and after watching the documentary I could see why she is such a legend.

            Joplin was so ahead of her time in terms of what a female musician could do vocally and what they looked like. She opened the doors for women in Blues and Rock music. There was not a woman like her in the music world before she came along and there really has not been since. Her influence on female artists can be seen and heard in music even today. Joplin’s spirit is in those artists and her feelings and emotions she put into songs can also be seen in certain female artists.

            Janis: Little Girl Blue is one of the best music documentaries I have watched. I am always enamored by musicians and singers because, as I said, I love music so much. Even though I cannot sing for my life and I can play basic drums, I am so influenced by singers and musicians. I love finding singers to listen to no matter what era or decade they are from. Janis Joplin is not one of my all-time favorite singers but I enjoy listening to her music because of the emotion she put into her voice. You can feel the emotions and feelings she was feeling singing all her songs. The documentary explains that all of her emotions and feelings she put into her music and her performances are why she turned to drugs because the come down from performing for her was too much for her to cope with.

            Janis Joplin achieved so much and made an incredible impact music in just a short time. Janis: Little Girl Blue is a sensitive, thoughtful look into this amazing, game changing artist. I really hope you can watch Little Girl Blue. It was a very good, well made documentary. I also hope that if you have never really taken a listen to Janis Joplin and you do watch this documentary you go and listen to her music. I know after watching Little Girl Blue I have a bigger appreciation for Joplin, her legacy, and her music.