Lee Daniels’ The Butler(PG-13, 126 minutes, The Weinstein Co./Anchor Bay):
Inspired by the true story of Eugene Allen, who served eight presidents during his tenure as a White House domestic, the film stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, who grows up amid Southern cotton fields, witnesses the systematic abuse of his parents and learns that one goes along to get along. Director Lee Daniels trails Cecil through his near-slave childhood, a civil rights movement that impassions one son, a Vietnam War that draws in another and an election that results in the first African-American president. Extras include “Lee Daniels’ The Butler: An American Story” and “The Original Freedom Riders” featurettes; deleted scenes; gag reel; and music video of “You and I Ain’t Nothin’ No More” by Gladys Knight and Lenny Kravitz.
Enough Said(PG-13, 92 minutes, Fox):
Writer-director Nicole Holofcener’s film zings and pops with hilarious dialogue between James Gandolfini and Julia-Louis Dreyfus. “Enough Said” also gets to the heart of human nature: in this case, the lengths people go to to fill their empty spaces, and how lovable foibles become intolerable flaws. Extras include promotional featurettes. Also, on Blu-ray: “Second Takes.”
Fruitvale Station(R, 84 minutes, The Weinstein Co./Anchor Bay):
The directorial debut of 27-year-old Ryan Coogler won big awards at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. The story — about an unarmed young man who was shot and killed in Oakland in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2009 — parallels the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. In this portrait of a 22-year-old man struggling with a troubled past and cut down before he can build a future, Coogler allows Grant to exist as a complex, even contradictory human, inviting the audience simply to sit with his life, his loss and what they both meant. Extras include “The Story of Oscar Grant” featurette and a Q&A with Coogler, Jordan, co-star Melonie Diaz and producers Nina Yang Bongiovi and Forest Whitaker.
