Widows (2018)

Huge doesn’t even come close to describe how big of a fan I am of Steve McQueen, the British director not the American actor. It comes without saying that I was very looking forward to Widows, his fourth feature film. Unfortunately, my cinema didn’t show it so I had to wait for the home release to watch it.

The story follows three women who don’t know each other, Veronica Rawlings (Viola Davis), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), and Amanda (Michelle Rodriguez), and whose only connection is their criminal husbands who got killed by the police during a heist. When Veronica learns that her husband, Harry (Liam Neeson), stole $2 million from Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), a crime boss and politician, and that Jamal wants her to give him his money back, she enlists the other widows and decides to carry out a $5 million worth heist planned by his late husband.

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Genre

Biography | Comedy | Drama

Director

John Lee Hancock

Country

UK | Australia | USA

Cast

Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, B. J. Novak, Jason Schwartzman, Kathy Baker, Melanie Paxson, Rachel Griffiths, Ronan Vibert, Kristopher Kyer, Victoria Summer

Storyline

After 20 years, when she's financially strapped, author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) finally considers Walt Disney's (Tom Hanks) offer to make a film of her book, Mary Poppins, but won't approve unless Disney does it as she wants. So she goes to California, and while working on bringing the character of Mary Poppins to life, she starts reflecting on her childhood, upon which the book is based.

Opinion

Although this film has been on my watch-list for a while, I was reluctant because of some negative reviews I've heard and read. People complaining about Walt Disney being nothing like the man portrayed by Tom Hanks, others complaining about this being not a biopic worthy of such a man. Well, I'm not sure those people have quite understood what the film is really about.

Saving Mr. Banks actually tells the story of the making of the Mary Poppins film, and if it has to be considered a biography, it is surely not Walt Disney's but P.L. Travers's. Now, the fact that the story is more or less accurate, and that maybe there is a spoonful of sugar too much to make the film suitable for families is another thing.

Having said that, Saving Mr. Banks is a feel-good dramatic comedy, both witty and sentimental, that draws you in.

The film praises imagination and its power to help some grow, by lighting up childhood and its natural path towards adulthood. It also praises those people that, even though they have grown, are still capable of dreaming, like P.L. Travers or Walt Disney.

There are some outstanding performances too. Emma Thompson play P.L. Travers beautifully. Cold and definitely not likable in the first part (as required), she brings out all the emotions, and the serious aspects of her character. Tom Hanks does a nice job as Walt Disney and seems to be enjoying himself but this is not one of his best achievements. The supporting cast offers strong performances, especially Colin Farrell, who brings vitality and interest in the parallel story about Travers's childhood. 

Don’t you ever stop dreaming. You can be anyone you want to be. - Travers Goff