Review: Emma Thompson Saves "Saving Mr. Banks"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Running time:  125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for thematic elements including some unsettling images
DIRECTOR:  John Lee Hancock
WRITERS:  Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith
PRODUCERS:  Ian Collie, Alison Owen, and Philip Steuer
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Mark Livolsi
COMPOSER:  Thomas Newman
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/HISTORICAL with elements of a biopic and comedy

Starring:  Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, B.J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman, Lily Bigham, Melanie Paxson, Ronan Vibert, Rachel Griffiths, and Kathy Baker

Saving Mr. Banks is a 2013 drama from director John Lee Hancock and is an American, British, and Australian co-production.  The film is a fictional account of author P.L. Travers’ trip to America, as she considers selling the film rights to her Mary Poppins books to Walt Disney.

Walt Disney is really a supporting character in Saving Mr. Banks, as the movie focuses on Travers as she reflects on her childhood and on her relationship with her troubled father.  The parts of the film that focus on Travers’ childhood are melancholy.  The parts of the film that take place in the film’s present (1961) are lively and colorful, and I wish all of the movie were set at Walt Disney Studios.

The film opens in the year 1961 in London, where it finds author, Pamela “P.L.” Travers (Emma Thompson), experiencing financial troubles.  Travers does have a way out of her money woes.  She can sell the film rights to her Mary Poppins books to Walt Disney (Tom Hanks), who has been pursuing Travers for the rights to the books for 20 years.  Travers travels to Los Angeles, where she is whisked to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.

In America, Travers meets a kind limo driver, Ralph (Paul Giamatti). She meets Mr. Disney.  She meets the creative team assigned to adapt Mary Poppins to the screen:  screenwriter, Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford); and musical composing brothers, Richard and Robert Sherman (Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak, respectively).  For two weeks, Travers plans on working with the team to get Mary right – at she sees it.

However, everything about her Mary Poppins book may be too personal for her to accept anyone else’s vision of Mary Poppins, especially Walt Disney’s version of Mary Poppins.  As she works on the film, Travers’ mind goes back to her life in Australia as a girl (Annie Rose Buckley) and she recollects her relationship with her troubled father (Colin Farrell).

I have to admit that I like Saving Mr. Banks because of its fanciful and real-life complication-free look at Walt Disney, his employees, and life at Walt Disney Studios.

I will grant that Emma Thompson gives a fantastic performance, one that is worthy of the Oscar nomination Thompson did not receive.  I will also grant that the story of Travers’ past is heartbreaking and fairly well-executed by director John Lee Hancock and his collaborators.  I will finally admit that I don’t think Hanks deserved an Oscar nomination for his performance as Walt Disney, especially not as a lead actor.  His Disney is clearly a supporting character in this story… and this is not close to being one of Hanks’ better or memorable performances.

Mostly, I think Saving Mr. Banks is a soapy television movie with big name actors trying to be a prestige motion picture.  I think the film sometimes portrays P.L. Travers as a contrary old kook and also glosses over her legitimate concerns about how her characters will be translated to film.  After all, she clearly knew that more people would see a Mary Poppins movie than would ever read her Mary Poppins books.  Because of that, many people would know Mary Poppins only through the film, so she had right to be concerned that the screen Mary Poppins be as close as possible to her Mary Poppins.

After all that granting, I am back to what I like about this movie. Saving Mr. Banks presents a… well… Disney-fied version of some of the events surrounding the production of the 1964 Mary Poppins film.  That is okay by me, but I realize that there is much more to the real story than is in Saving Mr. Banks.

6 of 10
B

Monday, May 05, 2014


NOTES:
2014 Academy Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Thomas Newman)

2010 Golden Globe:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Emma Thompson)

2014 BAFTA Awards:  5 nominations:  “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, and Sue Smith), “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Thomas Newman), “Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer” (Kelly Marcel), “Best Leading Actress” (Emma Thompson), and “Best Costume Design” (Daniel Orlandi)

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "MARY POPPINS" is Still "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 (of 2014) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mary Poppins (1964)
Running time:  139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Robert Stevenson  
WRITERS: Bill Walsh and Don Da Gradi (based on: The "Mary Poppins" books by P.L. Travers)
PRODUCERS:  Walt Disney and Bill Walsh
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Edward Colman (D.o.P.) 
EDITOR:  Cotton Warburton
COMPOSERS/SONGS:  Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
SCORE:  Irwin Kostal
Academy Award winner

FANTASY/MUSICAL/FAMILY

Starring:  Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns, Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber, Hermione Baddeley, Reta Shaw, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Treacher, Reginald Owen, Don Barclay, and Ed Wynn

Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical fantasy film from Walt Disney Productions.  The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Walt Disney, although he did not receive a credit in the actual film as the producer, while producer Bill Walsh is only credited as co-producer.  In 1965, both Disney and Walsh received nominations for best producer for their work on Mary Poppins.

The primary source for Mary Poppins the movie is the 1934 novel, Mary Poppins, which was written by author P.L. Travers.  Eight Mary Poppins books written by Travers were published from 1934 to 1988.  The movie mixes adventures and episodes taken from each of the novels that existed at the time the film began production with new material created specifically for the movie.

Mary Poppins the film follows a nanny with magic powers who comes to work for the Banks family.  She takes care of two children whose father is an emotionally distant and cold banker and whose mother is a usually-absent suffragette.  The nanny gets some help working her magic on the family from a singing and dancing chimney-sweep.  I consider Mary Poppins to be an exceptional Hollywood fantasy film.  I would consider it a truly great film, except that I think the movie is too long and that it practically has no plot.

Mary Poppins opens in the year 1910.  In the city of London, England, there is trouble at No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane.  George W. Banks (David Tomlinson) and his wife, Winifred (Glynis Johns), are having trouble retaining a nanny to care for their two children, Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber).  Enter Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews); blown in on the east wind, she is the practically perfect nanny who will revolutionize the prim and proper Banks family with a bit of magic and a spoonful of sugar.  Of course, she will get some help from a Cockney jack-of-all-trades and chimney sweep, the dancing and singing Bert (Dick Van Dyke).

Mary Poppins has the magical quality that infused the Walt Disney animated films that preceded it.  One reason is because Mary Poppins combines live-action and animation.  This includes an extended sequence in which Mary Poppins, Bert, and Jane and Michael frolic in a world that is entirely animated except for them.  I think some of the live-action backgrounds and environments and some of the live-action sequences were produced in such a way that they would look like they belong in an animated feature film.

The acting is good, but not great, except for the wonderful Dick Van Dyke, who is outstanding in this film.  Julie Andrews plays the title character, but in many ways, Mary Poppins the movie is as much Bert’s film as it is Mary Poppins’.  Van Dyke’s wild, but precise and imaginative dancing sometimes cast a spell that made me watch every moment of his routines.  Van Dyke’s Bert is one of the best supporting characters in American film history, simply for the fact that he supports the film to the point of often carrying the story – especially when it really needs someone to carry it.

Of course, the songs are classic.  The songwriting duo of brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman are American treasures.  Even with silly titles, the Shermans’ songs are excellent and unforgettable.  Irwin Kostal adapts and orchestrates the Sherman Bros.’ songs into a musical score, and he should always get credit for how he translates those songs into music that is important to the storytelling’s mood, action, and drama.

However, I do think that the length of this film is a problem.  The film’s runtime is too long at two hours and 19 minutes.  Some of the song and dancing sequences stretch to the point of turning that which is captivating into something annoying.  Most glaring, the resolution of the Banks’ problems does not make sense.  It just comes out of nowhere, probably because at some point, everyone realized that even this movie had to end.

Still, Mary Poppins has that instant classic, Disney quality of which we all know and practically all of us love.  Perhaps, that is because Mary Poppins seems intent on plucking the audience’s emotions and playing up the good things about family.  However, the film does that with songs rather than through substantive plot and narrative.

Some of Mary Poppins is extraordinarily good.  Some of it made me tear-up, even the last act which I just criticized.  Mary Poppins is an American classic.  I don’t think we will ever stop loving it, and we will watch it again… and again.  It is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” indeed.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1965 Academy Awards, USA:  5 wins: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Julie Andrews), “Best Film Editing” (Cotton Warburton), “Best Effects, Special Visual Effects” (Peter Ellenshaw, Hamilton Luske, and Eustace Lycett), “Best Music, Original Song” (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman for the song “Chim Chim Cher-ee”), and “Best Music, Substantially Original Score” (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); 8 nominations: “Best Picture” (Walt Disney and Bill Walsh), “Best Director” (Robert Stevenson), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi), “Best Cinematography, Color” (Edward Colman), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color” (Carroll Clark, William H. Tuntke, Emile Kuri, and Hal Gausman), “Best Costume Design, Color” (Tony Walton), “Best Sound” (Robert O. Cook - Walt Disney SSD), and “Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment” (Irwin Kostal)

1965 Golden Globes, USA:  1 win: “Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy” (Julie Andrews); 3 nomination: “Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy), “Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy” (Dick Van Dyke), and “Best Original Score” (Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman)

1965 BAFTA Awards 1965:  1 win “Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles’ (Julie Andrews-USA)

2013 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  National Film Registry

Tuesday, May 06, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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"Godzilla" Soundtrack Arrives May 13th 2014

GODZILLA: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK Due May 13th from WaterTower Music

Featuring Original Music by Golden Globe and Grammy Award® Winner Alexandre Desplat

Soundtrack Premiere on Spotify

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WaterTower Music today announced the release of the soundtrack to Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ epic action adventure “Godzilla”, which hits theatres May 16. The 20-track “Godzilla” soundtrack features new music from Golden Globe and Grammy Award® winner, and six time Academy Award® nominee Alexandre Desplat, and will be released both digitally and on CD on May 13. The Godzilla soundtrack premieres today on Spotify, and is currently available for preorder now at iTunes and Amazon.

    “a great sense of continuity between what you’re seeing and hearing.”

The Parisian-born composer worked closely with director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) as the score was taking shape to establish what he describes as “a great sense of continuity between what you’re seeing and hearing.” Desplat elaborates, “When I played back music for him in my studio, I could see him watching the images and listening at the same time…Gareth is very sensitive to music and that was fantastic for me.”

“Alexandre is a bit of a hero of mine musically, and the score he created for this film is just stunning,” says Edwards. “I’m really excited. I can’t quite believe not only that Alexandre composed the Godzilla soundtrack, he’s done my soundtrack. It’s the most amazing gift I think I’ll ever get.”

With the great force of Godzilla propelling the action, Desplat also relished the opportunity to make a big sonic impact with the music as he recorded the final score with the Hollywood Studio Orchestra. “I’ve never done a monster movie before, so coming to this with more than a hundred musicians—double brass, double horns—allowed me to open the frame of my imagination to another territory, and that’s very exciting,” Desplat describes.

The Godzilla track list is as follows:
                1.         Godzilla!
                2.         Inside The Mines
                3.         The Power Plant
                4.         To Q Zone
                5.         Back to Janjira
                6.         Muto Hatch
                7.         In The Jungle
                8.         The Wave
                9.         Airport Attack
                10.         Missing Spore
                11.         Vegas Aftermath
                12.         Ford Rescued
                13.         Following Godzilla
                14.         Golden Gate Chaos
                15.         Let Them Fight
                16.         Entering The Nest
                17.         Two Against One
                18.         Last Shot
                19.         Godzilla’s Victory
                20.         Back To The Ocean

The world’s most revered monster is reborn as Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures unleash the epic action adventure “Godzilla.” From visionary new director Gareth Edwards (“Monsters”) comes a powerful story of human courage and reconciliation in the face of titanic forces of nature, when the awe-inspiring Godzilla rises to restore balance as humanity stands defenseless.

The film stars an international ensemble cast led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Kick-Ass”), Oscar® nominee Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai,” “Inception”), Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Oscar® winner Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient,” “Cosmopolis”), and Oscar® nominee Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), with Oscar® nominee David Strathairn (“Good Night, and Good Luck,” “The Bourne Legacy”) and Emmy® and Golden Globe Award winner Bryan Cranston (“Argo,” TV’s “Breaking Bad”).

Edwards directed “Godzilla” from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, story by David Callaham, based on the character “Godzilla” owned and created by TOHO CO., LTD. Thomas Tull produced the film, along with Jon Jashni, Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Patricia Whitcher and Alex Garcia served as executive producers, alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira. Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures present a Legendary Pictures production, a Gareth Edwards film, “Godzilla.” The film will be presented in 3D, 2D and IMAX® in select theatres and is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it is distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment. www.Godzillamovie.com

WaterTower Music, the in house music label for Warner Bros., has been releasing recorded music since 2001. Distributed through InGrooves Fontana, WTM has released over 150 titles, including the film soundtracks to “Gravity,” “Man of Steel,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “Game of Thrones,” and “The Great Gatsby Jazz Recordings” among others.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Have a great day! Happy Birthday and many, many, many more.

Although you say you don't mind, I still won't go there with the age thing.

Teaser Poster for Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" Revealed

MANKIND WAS BORN ON EARTH.  IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO DIE HERE.

From Christopher Nolan

INTERSTELLAR

November 2014

To watch the teaser trailer: http://youtu.be/nyc6RJEEe0U

Official Website:http://www.InterstellarMovie.com/
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/Interstellar
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InterstellarMovie
Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/InterstellarMovie

Grumble Indiegogo Campaign: Can Booty Be a Perk?

One month on and a month to go in my Grumble 2 Indiegogo campaign:

Happy Birthday, Sarah

I can't remember how old you are, but Happy Birthday and many, many, many more.