Movie Review: "Saving Mr. Banks" and Other Thoughts

The first Grandstander post of 2014 actually should have been written last night, but what the heck.  

Marilyn and I fulfilled our New Year's Eve tradition of attending a movie and dining on Kentucky Fried Chicken afterwards.  You just can't top some traditions!  This custom was started, by the way, back on New Year's Eve, 1990 when we both got home from work early, and decided to take in a movie, "Home Alone".  Since then, that has been the drill.  Wish I could remember what each of those 24 movies has been.  I know that they included such flicks as "Titanic", "Silver Linings Playbook", and "True Grit".  I know that there have been more memorable ones among the list, but I'm drawing a blank for now.

Anyway, last night's offering was "Saving Mr. Banks", the story of the difficult road traveled by Walt Disney and his movie studio in dealing with author P.L. Travers as they were trying to make the classic movie "Mary Poppins".  While I had read the reviews and had an idea what it was about, I didn't expect the emotional wallop that this movie would deliver.  Very good to excellent movie, and Tom Hanks as Disney and Emma Thompson as Travers were, as always, terrific in their roles. How great is Tom Hanks? Surely one of the best actors of his generation.  And for good measure, throw in Paul Giamatti, also one of the greats of his generation, in a wonderful supporting role.

I suppose that now I will have to see "Mary Poppins", which, believe it or not, I have never seen.

While New Year's Eve has passed, if you are looking for a movie with a New Year's Eve theme, it's still not too late to watch one of the following (see, I told you this post should have been written yesterday)......

• "Ocean's Eleven", the original one with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the rest of the Rat Pack.  The gang plans a heist of five Las Vegas casinos on New Year's Eve.
• "Radio Days".  Woody Allen's terrific memoir of old time radio and growing up in Brooklyn concludes with a New Year's Eve scene.
• "Sunset Boulevard", Billy Wilder's great movie about Hollywood contains a pivotal scene involving a New Year's Eve party planned by Norma Desmond.

Of course, these are all great movies to see, no matter what time of the year you might watch them.

Have a great 2014, everyone, and start it off by seeing "Saving Mr. Banks".