Saving Mr. Banks

The story of Mary Poppins is arguably one of the most well-known and beloved children's stories of all time. Written by P.L. Travers in 1961, Mary Poppins ultimately had become more than just a character written on paper - she became family to Mrs. Travers. As the success of her books grew, offers of buying the film rights came rushing in. Mr. Walt Disney himself was one of the many suitors looking to adapt the story of Mary Poppins. For 20 years Mr. Disney pursued Mrs. Travers in an effort to fulfill a promise he made to his daughters that he would bring their favorite book to life. For 20 years Mrs. Travers resisted, fearful that her story would be ruined by needless embellishment on the big screen. Finally Mrs. Travers gave in to an offer from Walt Disney to bring her to Walt Disney Studios and oversee the process herself to bring her story to life the way she wanted. What followed was an experience neither of them would ever forget, as Walt Disney tried to closely follow Mrs. Travers' demands, while Mrs. Travers made sure her story was told correctly - ultimately opening up to Disney just how much Mary Poppins means to her.

Saving Mr. Banks is without a doubt one of the sweetest, and best feel-good movies of the year. A lot of films like these tend to make me roll my eyes at how obviously they want the audience to go "awww!" and wipe tears from their eyes. That was nowhere near the case here. It was sweet without being overbearing, charming without being insincere. Emma Thompson was perfectly cast as P.L. Travers, and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney. At times I found myself wishing Mrs. Travers would just give in and let Walt Disney adapt her story, if only for the reason being that I've seen the end result and absolutely loved Disney's interpretation. After I saw Saving Mr. Banks with my family, we looked up Mrs. Travers history to learn more about her and the creation of Mary Poppins. A lot of what we learned was really interesting. Saving Mr. Banks is not on my top 5 favorites of the year, but is most definitely on my top 10 of the year. It is a must-see film that adults and teenagers will enjoy, especially those who remember seeing Disney's take on the classic tale.

American Hustle

Irving Rosenfeld is a devious con man. For years he's been dealing in forged art and a shady loan shark business, all while keeping a legit dry cleaning business as a front. His wife, Rosalyn, knows about his under the table dealings, but has quietly put up with it since he takes care of her and her son.

For a while, things go smoothly for Irving and Rosalyn until Irving has a chance encounter with a femme fatale named Sydney Prosser. Sydney and Irving engage in a sordid affair, and Sydney eventually encourages Irving to branch out in his loan shark business. Irving does so with Sydney as his partner. Things go well from there until they catch the attention of power-hungry FBI agent Richie DeMaso. DeMaso makes a deal with Irving and Sydney: help him make four busts in a FBI con scheme of their own, and they can walk free.

Nothing is quite as it seems in David O. Russell's cautionary tale based on a true story of the Abscam scandal in 1981. Abscam saw seven U.S. congressmen convicted on charges of bribery. In this elaborate retelling of the events, every single person involved on both sides of the scam has some sort of ulterior motive which drives them, often with disastrous results. Irving wants to provide for his family, especially his adopted son. Sydney wants Irving to herself and continue to live her life as a con artist. Agent Richie greatly desires power and the fame that comes with it. On the other side of the scam, New Jersey Mayor Carmine Polito tries to find a way to create jobs for the citizens of his town. Each of these players in the con game have good intentions, however they fall into the trap of constantly making bad decisions to achieve their goals.

On the surface American Hustle looks like a slick, fun retelling of true events that in a convoluted way are reminiscent of the storyline of Ocean's 11 and it's two sequels. While that is partly a good description of American Hustle, it is also a cautionary tale of how desperate people can be when pushed to their breaking points. Seeing each of these people make such horrible decisions and face the consequences of those decisions is admittedly slightly depressing. The good thing, however, is David O. Russell does not paint their actions in a positive light and try to make excuses for them. Instead, he simply tells a story of how each of them got to that certain point of desperation. Unlike David's previous film, Silver Linings Playbook, the depressing factor actually helps the film instead of taking away from it. In Silver Linings, none of the characters seem repentant of their ways and there does not seem to be a satisfying "everything is going to be ok" kind of ending (that might have been the point for all I know, but for me it did not work). In American Hustle, each of the characters seemed genuinely wanting to change for the better. And that is what makes American Hustle worthwhile.