SAVING MR. BANKS is a corporate, borderline-sexist spoonful of lies- Page 5

[DAME]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 1:21pm

Just like you , LOCA!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 1:25pm

DAME you are a HOT MESS.

Your crack addicted ways have led you to de-rail the SAVING MR. BANKS thread.

STOP!!

[DAME]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 1:27pm

Derailed? Honey that happened the moment you showed your face!

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 1:30pm

I didn't think My Week with Marilyn was anywhere near as much of a bore as Hitchcock, ray.

I mean, yeah MWWM kind of stalls as a film halfway through, but Williams' performance is so true and layered that it carries it forward. The film becomes about Williams finding and replicating all of the complicated, human aspects of Marilyn's personality. (Plus Eddie Redmayne is beautiful.)

Whereas with Hitchcock, it seemed like the director and Hopkins didn't really do their homework to the full extent. So many things felt wrong. Hitchcock being that worried about box office? Please.

Hitchcock peeping at Vera Miles in her dressing room? Just too on the nose.

And they weren't allowed to use the Psycho house in the film, so it's like, why even bother?

Scarlett was the saving grace for me. She was lovely.

Updated On: 1/5/14 at 01:30 PM

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 1/5/14 at 8:11pm

I went back to see this with my best friend. It just as delightful as I remembered or maybe even more delightful. Thompson, Hanks, Scwartzman, Farrell, and Novak's performances were even better than I remembered.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 1/6/14 at 4:35pm

MrMidwest, we had opposite opinions about those two movies, which is totally okay. I wish I had found MY WEEK WITH MARILYN as fulfilling as you did. Truly, I thought the screenplay was one of the blandest things in the world, I didn't need to see yet another coming of age story about some young kid who falls in love with the aloof star framed by a movie that seemed so irrelevant even while watching the film (I thought they did an awful job of telling me why this moment in Marilyn's life had to be singled out instead of what seem like much more interesting periods/films of her life). I didn't like the writing of Marilyn as a "little girl lost" and I thought Williams did the best she could with the material, but I didn't get the layers you got from her performance mainly because I disliked the screenplay/direction so much. We can agree on Eddie Redmayne's beauty though
With HITCHCOCK, I thought the movie was successful enough that I didn't care much about the portrayal of the real life people, the same way I don't care whether anything in SAVING MR. BANKS happened or not. I was interested, I knew what was a stake, and I went with it (I can't say I got much of what was at stake in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN). Yes, it was very surface and kind of fluffy, but I liked that about it, it wasn't self-important. Hellen Mirren was sublime and Scarlett Johansson was delightful. I quite enjoyed it.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 1/6/14 at 7:59pm

I saw it the week after I saw Frozen and I loved it. The ending itself was a HUGE tearjerker, and I was very teary-eyed.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 1/6/14 at 7:59pm

DOUBLE POST Updated On: 1/6/14 at 07:59 PM

[missthemountains]

Posted: 1/7/14 at 4:28am

***LONG POST AND SPOILERS AHEAD***

I never thought I'd say this, but SAVING MR. BANKS has made me think a great deal long after I saw it. Generally speaking, most films--much less Disney films--do not have me reflecting like this after I watch them, but this one was different. I should also preface this by saying that while I do not hate all Disney movies, I generally disagree with the messages that Disney sends out to our kids, such as the societal expectations of monogamy, constant reinforcing of the beauty standard (women should look like pretty white skinny princesses. Ugly people are mean people, etc), lack of diversity and occasional racism in films (I'm looking at you, Song of the South), it's complete inability to handle dark material (with the exception of most films made during the 80's- Return To Oz, Dark Cauldron and The Black Hole to name a few). I am also against the constant Disney monopolizaiton of everything--from the film industry, hotels, food, and most importantly, Broadway/theatre in general. All that aside, I loved this film.

I saw SMB with my extended family in Erie, PA who are some of the most average, run of the mill people ever. I saw it with my Aunt who is morbidly obese, my Uncle who works at a bank, and my cousin Tammy who is 34 and has Downs Syndrome. When the film started, all my uncle could remark at PL Travers was that she was a "snooty b_tch" and audibly grunted at everything she had to say, which I for the most part agreed with. However as the film went on, I began to see the larger picture of Travers' life, as told in flashbacks (some of which I felt were a bit labored, but they were all pretty important so I guess I can't complain), my heart ached for her. The combination of the horrors of her fathers' alcoholism, and her sneaking booze from him which was killing him and her mother's suicide attempt (albeit totally sensationalized with the river scene, which was 100% Hollywood overdramatization I'm sure) and the difficulty of having to sell out knowing her material would be f_cked with just so she could live within her means was truly heartbreaking.

My two favorite moments were when Travers writes down the list of all the famous people with learning disabilities for Paul Giamatti's character, assuring him that children of any disability can achieve great things was truly moving. A simple lesson, and not one that we haven't heard before, but one that everyone needs to be reminded of. Sitting with my disabled cousin--and of course, myself having LD, depression and anxiety--meant a lot to me. Although I've now done a lot of research and have now learned that Giamatti's character was entirely fictitious, his character moved me to bits.

My next favorite moment was "Let's Go Fly A Kite". I re-watched the clip today and was still crying. In spite of all the creative tension and hardships, the fact that she was able to simply enjoy the moment and that ending was so powerful. I almost prefer that version to the one in Mary Poppins itself, though I'm gonna have to hold off watching it due to the fact it makes me cry. Again, I know this is also probably not real- pretty sure I read that none of the script sessions took place at Walt Disney Studios, rather a dingy off-site place, but for theatricality sake, I loved it.

I think perhaps what I enjoyed at the end of the day was the themes of the film. First, artistic integrity. Not many films cover this topic, and although I realize that in real life it wasn't a life or death situation for Travers to sign away the rights as the film portrays (she wrote several Poppins books and had other writings to live off of) as a writer, I have watched my work been sabatoged and I have also watched it become something beautiful, so it was pretty relatable. Another thing I took away from the film was the idea of pain in an artist's life, how they deal with it, and how others' interpret it. Walt Disney had a rough childhood but decided to make an empire founded on happiness and fun, while Travers decided to write a fictitious allegory about her life which she did not see as happy- but Walt, and millions of others, did. As my favorite musician Amanda Palmer once said (I'm paraphrasing) "once you create a piece of art and put it out there, it's no longer yours, it's subjected to be interpreted by the audience". Her song "Leeds United" which is about her turbulent relationship with a Rugby player was used as a Neo-Nazi anthem in Australia which is not what Palmer intended at all, but she accepted the fact that that's what others did with her music.

Now for what I didn't like: I will say that I do think the film was a bit hard on Travers and a bit light on Disney, because as its been said Disney was no saint, and ran a very intense business/empire, and in real life was a chain smoker and racist (although I don't think he was totally evil incarnate either). I also totally get that just based on the premise that the Disney company making a film about the Disney company is pretty tacky/self-rightous, but I think it's better they did it than any other label because after all, it is a Disney story.

I also wish it showed the premiere scene more honestly. The one thing I knew going into the film was that Travers wept the whole way through and caused a huge scene at said premiere. While Thompson's Travers shed a few tears, they could be interpreted as happy tears, which was not what those tears were in real life at all. And although it seems proven by the audio footage and by most others accounts that Travers was a royal pain during the process, she did lead a very interesting life for a woman of her time which was not shown here. She was a radical feminist writer, and I would love to see a film that covers her bisexuality, theatrical career and her strange adoption scenario, however one has to understand that this film was about Travers and Mary Poppins, not her life as a whole therefore the aforementioned concerns would best be suited in a seperate Travers biopic.

***SPOILERS AND RANT OVER***

TL;DR: Thought it was very moving and emotional in spite of the fact that it portrayed Disney as a saint and Travers as a c_nt and altered several details from reality, which I often don't forgive but found to be forgivable in this film.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/7/14 at 5:19am

Missthemountains, that was a great read. Thanks for posting it!

I have to pick on one element... "t's complete inability to handle dark material (with the exception of most films made during the 80's- Return To Oz, Dark Cauldron and The Black Hole to name a few)"

Really? No less than Hitchcock commented on the genuinely nightmarish quality of aspects of the first five, pre war animated films (before Walt became less involved) Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. If you think they show complete inability to handle dark material, I'd beg you to watch--to name a few examples--the Queen's transformation into a Witch in Snow White, the Strombolli and Pleasure Island scenes in Pinocchio, the terrifying Night on Bald Mountain sequence of Fantasia, obviously the death of the mom and the forest fire in Bambi and even the brief bit where Mama Jumbo is locked up, and the surreal Pink Elephants sequences in Dumbo. Certainly at the least these handle dark subject material better (and often with amazingly expressionistic animation) than The Black Hole (Though I do think Disney's 80s horror film, Something Wicked this way Comes is brilliant.)

[degrassifan]

Posted: 1/8/14 at 6:23pm

I saw it today and I liked it. I thought it was delightful, funny, and sad. Emma Thompson was remarkable, Tom Hanks was fantastic, and I now have a new found respect for Paul Giamatti as an actor. My only qualm was the ending.

SPOILERS

I thought it ended abruptly. I expected them to show how Travers was proven wrong and that Mary Poppins would be a success. I wanted them to show how it ended up winning 5 Academy Awards and was the box office champion of 1964. I was left with thinking, "Okay, so what was the point of Saving Mr Banks? Why was this made?" I feel like with the added info about how Mary Poppins became a classic, it would've given Walt Disney himself validation for going through the trouble of adapting the book in the first place.

END OF SPOILERS

I'm sure Emma Thompson will get an Oscar nomination.

Updated On: 1/8/14 at 06:23 PM

[BwayTday]

Posted: 1/8/14 at 7:29pm

*Spoilers probably*

As much as the company tried to make it about Disney saving this woman or whatever, it's about P.L. Travers' journey, so it really doesn't matter that the movie Mary Poppins was a huge success. In this film, Walt Disney didn't need gratification and triumph to end it, because that's not what it was about.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:56pm

I'm a Disney fan, so I understand what the movie was about, but what of people who have never seen Mary Poppins? It felt as if "Ok, so why are we supposed to care about this woman and her story? Why do we even care about the making of Mary Poppins?" I just wish there was a vindication at the end as to why we should care, you know? It seemed to be a bit "so what?" at the end.

[BwayTday]

Posted: 1/9/14 at 3:39am

Oh I understand what you are saying more clearly now. Hmmm... I just can't imagine someone not seeing Mary Poppins but then seeing this film, but you raise an interesting point from that perspective.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/11/14 at 6:26am

For any of you interested, you can see "the real Mary Poppins's umbrella" on display in the New York Public Library (along with the real Winnie the Pooh and his friends).

This umbrella belonged to PL Travers' bossy and wealthy Aunt Ellie, who was an early inspiration for Mary Poppins. Her umbrella was described with a parrot's head in the books ...

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 1/13/14 at 12:59am

The movie was very boring, I couldn't wait for it to end. At the end I didn't care about anyone....