Saving Mr Banks (G) ****
Movie mogul Walt Disney was not a man used to the word ‘no’. But for two decades, feisty author PL Travers point-blank refused to give him the rights to the book he promised his daughters he’d put up on the big screen.
It hailed the beginning of one of the strongest battles of wills in Hollywood history, and a dark point in the story of cinema.
This film about what happens when Disney and Travers locked horns could have been a couple of hours of Oscar-baiting schmaltz but instead emerges as something very special indeed.
Peppered with rapid-fire dialogue, wit and real heart - and packed with fine performances - Saving Mr Banks is a delight.
1960s LA is brought vividly to life by director John Lee Hancock in the movie, which focuses on the two-week period the British writer spent butting heads with Disney, scriptwriter Don DaGradi and world famous songwriters the Sherman brothers.
“I won’t have her twinkly, or cavorting” snips the enjoyably volatile Travers, brought to life in a terrific performance by Thompson.
Gradually, the reasons behind Travers stubbornness emerge in emotional scenes told in flashback in the film.
We learn that the Mary Poppins story is partly based on her own family and that Travers took her father’s name as her penname. Played by Colin Farrell at his very best, he’s a passionate, imaginative man who wins the heart of his daughter even as he scandalises his family with his inability to stop drinking.
It adds a quiet warmth and sadness to a movie that’s already brimming with humour, sharp writing and fine performances. Stay for the final credits for a unique and spine-tingling insight into the real-life Travers.
Carrie (16) **
Horror remakes - what’s the point of them? They rarely bring anything new to the genre - but this is Hollywood, and horror puts bums on seats.
More than three decades on from the chilling original that is based on Stephen King’s classic horror tale about a telekinetic teen who is driven to kill by her high school tormentors, with this tired remake from director Kimberley Peirce.
The story follows Carrie (Chloe Grace Moretz ), a vulnerable and painfully shy high schooler who is treated as a social pariah in her small town.
Smothered by her fiercely religious and mentally-disturbed mother Margaret, a wholly convincing bible-bashing (Julianne Moore), the socially awkward teens troublesome upbringing leads to her being targeted by her peers, most notably the acidic-tongued Chris (Portia Doubleday).
The supernatural tale takes root during the now infamous locker room scene where a shell-shocked Carrie is mocked by classmates when she gets her first period and doesn’t understand what’s happening to her body. Believing that is bleeding to death the terrified teenager crumples on the shower floor as her classmates throw tampons at her while simultaneously filming the spectacle on their phones.
The experience, however traumatic, allows her telekinetic abilities to come to the fore as she soon realises that she can move objects with her mind but learning to harness her powers proves a problem as she becomes the victim of a callous high-school prank that has a less than fairy tale ending. Unfortunately, special effects and lots of gore swamp any of the subtleties or relationships of the original.
