Saving Mr. Banks

3 pipes out of 4

Who’d a thunk that Marry Poppins would still be relevant 50 years after its original release? With a star studded cast Disney gives the outside world a fresh look at the magical nanny and how she came to the big screen. The dynamic between the people person Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and the antisocial P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) is intriguing. A warning to the wise, make sure to watch this movie with a group of people, be it alone but with others in the theater or with a group of friends. I watched this movie twice, once completely alone and the second with a moderately filled theater and my, what a difference it made. Alone all I could think about was how mean and awful Travers was to everyone and I never saw her redeeming herself because of how terrible she was. On seeing it with others in the theater I was able to see more of the comedy of her animosity and the issues she was truly dealing with.  It also helped with having others around to add to the emotion of the movie making it much easier for Travers to be redeemed. As the story goes it is quite fascinating how Travers agreed to the script and how actual parts of the movie, in particular songs, where based on the interactions of Travers and the screenwriters. The one downside is that there is little in depth analysis of Walt Disney and he comes across as almost a faultless character. The film saves face by demonstrating a few faults but based on what was known about him, it is a little hard to believe that he was always cheerful and respectful to his employees. While it is a strong and emotional film and may get a little buzz around the Oscars, the only real chance of an award comes from Emma Thompson’s portrayal of a conflicted and emotionally damaged Travers. Strongly recommended for those interested in a film based on history and in need of some nostalgia. 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

1 pipe out of 4

What a disappointment. Two and a half hours of dwarfs and a hobbit running around only to not complete any type of the journey. I have had feelings about this for a long time now but this film finally proves it, that Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit series is simply a money grab. He adds random characters that have no business being there, ads aspects that virtually nullifies the first half of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and takes forever to do it. What seemed like an amazing idea of having Bennedict Cumberbatch be the voice of Smaug turned out to be wasted by the horrible interaction he has with Bilbo. The Hobbit also rehashes the issue of trust between Thorin and Bilbo that was supposed to be solved at the end of the first Hobbit. There were a number of cool but completely unnecessary action and chase scenes. The white orc is also relegated to the background after dominating most of An Unexpected Journey which is aggravating because it is an obvious attempt to drag out the storyline till the final film. Jackson also creates tension in the group of Dwarfs and even breaks them up when none of that happens in the book, simply to create unneeded tension and provide an opening for his addition of a female elf and Legolas. The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey had changes from the book but that was to be expected and they were not incredibly drastic. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug goes in the opposite direction, basically defecating on the source material and changing the whole essence of the book. This film is only recommended to be watched at home so that you can multitask because sitting in a theater for a two and a half hour movie was trying.

Captain Phillips

3 ½ pipes out of 4

Tom Hanks is back in true form with his brilliant portrayal of cargo freighter captain Phillips whose ship is taken over by pirates. Jumping right into the controversy, yes there probably are many inaccuracies and maybe Phillips was not as heroic as he is portrayed in the film but that does not take away from the film itself. As a disclaimer in every movie similar to Captain Phillips, they state that they are BASED on true events. They do not say that it is all true; they simply take the idea of the events and they hollywoodize it. If Paul Greengrass had portrayed the actual events of the pirate hijacking, he wouldn’t have a very interesting film. With what he did portray, he has an extremely interesting film. Tom Hanks plays the titular character and is the biggest name in the film rightfully deserving the acclaim that is coming his way but as the Golden Globes showed, () has a shocking break out role as the Somali Pirate Captain. What Greengrass does with the portrayal or the Somali pirates completely took me by surprise. He still shows them as the main villains of the movie but he shows how they got to the position that they are in and almost makes us feel sorry for them, almost. This depiction of Somali Pirates may change the mind of many on how they are perceived; it certainly has changed my view. The true meat of the film doesn’t come until the last 45 to 30 minutes when Hanks is trapped in the small rescue dingy with the pirates in close quarters. The best acting that I have ever seen comes from Hanks in the final three minutes of the film. It is compelling and truly heartbreaking. Another fantastic film created by director Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks.

American Hustle

3 pipes out of 4

America has been hustled. In every commercial designed to market American Hustle it is projected as a comedy when in fact it is not. There may be a few funny moments but it is much more of a drama. The marketers even hustled the Golden Globes winning Best Picture for a comedy or musical. What if fear is the case is that the main comedy of the film was supposed to come out of the situations and actions of the characters. The problem with this was that while these actions and actions may have been designed to be funny, when compared to the whole film and the desperation of the characters, they are not actually that funny. Had American Hustle been billed as a serious drama I would have come out of the film much more satisfied but being a comedy I was expecting to feel happy and energetic when all I felt was depressed. Don’t get me wrong, Christian Bale pulls of an acting masterpiece along with Amy Adams, with Jennifer Lawrence doing a superb job as bale’s deranged wife. Bradley Cooper on the other hand simply does an adequate job in his role not really stretching his acting from his other roles, most similarly in The Silver Linings Playbook. A theory has floated out there that Cooper can only act well when he is surrounded by good actors and I am beginning to agree with this theory. Cooper did well in A-Team alongside Liam Neeson, Sharlto Copley and Jessica Biel and he did his best work in The Silver Linings Playbook alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Deniro and Jackie Weaver. His lone projects such as The Hangover Part II and III as well as Limitless have been terrible. But I digress, as long as you know what you are going into American Hustle is a must see before the Oscars because it has a good chance to win big.