"Saving Mr. Banks" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2013 Film….

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"…I Have Final Say!" – Saving Mr. Banks on BLU RAY

It’s 1906 in the beautiful and affluent city of Maryborough in Australia. Travers and Margaret Goff are leaving with their two daughters – Ginty and Dolly. Like Pied Piper their jokey father is leading his family to a new home, a new town, a new job in a bank for him and supposedly – a new and happier life. But the nanny who watches them leave yet another nice home and wife Margaret with an infant in her arms seems not so sure. And on the train to a remote place called Allora in Queensland (the last stop on the line) – Margaret watches with concern as her husband Travers sips slyly from a hip flask filled with whiskey. So while Ginty may adore her story-telling Dad who fills her with magic thoughts – she just stands on the back of the train dreamily watching everything she’s ever known disappear into the distance because of Daddy’s "ways"…

Now its April 1961 in London and the child Ginty is grown up into the frightfully prim and prig Pamela L. Travers – author of "Mary Poppins" – sat alone at her desk meditating (as per the works of George I. Gurdjieff). A ring at the front door brings in her literary agent Diarmuid Russell (Ronan Vibert) who informs her that the royalties have dried up and because she refuses to write anything new - soon even her beloved Bloomsbury home will go unless she procures money. But still she’s staggeringly prickly. Russell who has tread lightly long enough rages that Walt Disney - who has pursued her for twenty years to get the film rights to "Mary Poppins" - has even agreed to her excessive demands - no animation and full script approval. But she lives in terror that Hollywood will turn her beloved creation into pap.

But needs must – so - soon she’s on a BOAC jet to Los Angeles being rude to air hostesses, mothers with children and even the driver who picks her up at the other end – Ralph (a fabulous show by Paul Giamatti). "It smells like chlorine and sweat!" she says as Ralph tells her the scent in the Californian air is Jasmine. He buckles up – it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Mrs. Travers then throws pears out of her hotel window, growls at the writers in the Disney studios, whinges about piddly details like numbers on doors and moustaches and says "No! No! No!" absolutely all of the time. She’s even truculent in the face of the legendary Walt Disney and his considerable charm.

“Saving Mr. Banks” uses the technique of running Ginty’s 1906 childhood in Australia alongside her 1961 Californian battle with Disney and his people – so we slowly get to see why the dreamy hopeful child grows into a woman who would pen such a prig and proper character. Key to all of this is her relationship with the man she worshipped – Travers – her father. His daily battle with drink made his wife attempt suicide in a lake - lost him his job and health (consumption) – and eventually saw the kids farmed out to a visiting matriarch - Aunt Ellie. And with her starched almost churchlike garments, large carpetbag, face-shaped umbrella and 'no nonsense' practicality in the face of a crisis – Aunt Ellie would of course become the character "Mary Poppins". But is Mary Poppins about her saving the children - or is it really about Ginty saving her father through fiction? 

The superb cast includes Ruth Wilson as Margaret Travers, BJ Novak and Jason Schwartzman as the composing brothers Robert and Richard Sherman and Bradley Whitford as Disney man Don DaGradi. But the movie belongs to the leads… Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.

There’s a strong body of evidence (“Castaway”, “Charlie Wilson’s War”, “Cloud Atlas” and “Captain Phillips”) that Tom Hanks may indeed be up there with De Niro, Al Pacino, Liam Neeson, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman and other greats in terms of being the best actor who’s ever lived. So it takes serious boots to outshine him as Walt Disney. Up steps such a force of nature - Engerland’s Emma Thompson – giving her hateful bully lady a beating heart and gradually unfolding the real reasons for her guarded and prickly nature. Thompson gives a performance of true brilliance - an embattled woman who is hurting so deeply that you literally ache for her – cherishing dreams she cannot have sullied by commerce and gaudiness. The dances between her and Hanks are fabulous – but even better is her work with Giamatti – the humble limousine driver who touches her heart and makes her offer up a rare morsel of kindness when he reveals he has a special needs daughter ("Tell your daughter she can do anything she puts her mind too…").

Credit also has to go Colin Farrell who is magnificent and measured as the troubled yet adoring father Travers. The scenes between him and Annie Rose Buckley as young Ginty are beautiful and immensely moving. Childlike and wondrous himself – he instils in his little girl the qualities that would make her such a great writer later on. But he also crippled her mind with images of innocence betrayed – and a helpless descent into loss that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Thomas Newman’s perfectly complimentary music and the presence of those wonderfully uplifting movie songs that are lingering in the back of our consciousness give the whole film warmth that’s tangible. But what really gets you over and over again - is the astonishing and truly immersive attention to period detail. The look of the bank Travers works in Allora, the huge wooden house on a hill in the middle of nowhere, the fun-fair day where he makes a fool of himself in front of his family because he’s drunk…  Then there’s the Beverly Hills Hotel where Pamela stays in 1961 – the Disney gift hampers she encounters in her room – even the stationery that Giamatti is holding when he meets her at the airport – all of it is period and absolutely spot on. There’s a scene where Walt takes Travers to Disneyland in an effort to soften her up – the stalls outside the theme park gates – the public crowds walking by the attractions and the carousel that ends up in the movie – huge set pieces - and all of it perfect.

The BLU RAY print is glorious throughout - a big Hollywood production and the picture quality reflects that. It’s defaulted to 2.34:1 so there are bars top and bottom – but even extended to Full Aspect – the print is gorgeous. This film is a real looker on the format.

Audio is English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with English 2.0.
Subtitles are English for The Hard Of Hearing, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish
Extras include "Deleted Scenes", "The Walt Disney Studios: From Poppins To The Present” and "Let’s Go Fly A Kite".

And on it goes to P. L. Travers finally sat in a cinema with tears rolling down her face as Walt Disney gives her Mister Banks the joy he so lacked all those years ago in Australia. Even Dick Van Dyke’s awful accent is forgiven as the joy of the songs and the film transcends everything. 

"Wind's in the east…mist coming in…like something is brewing…about to begin…"

"Saving Mr. Banks" is beautifully crafted cinema – superbly written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith and Directed by John Lee Hancock.

Do your heart and yourself a favour and spend Tuppence on this quality movie…

"Babette's Feast" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 1987 Danish Film...

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"…Love Shall Unite Us…" – Babette's Feast on BLU RAY

It’s September 1871 in a remote part of Jutland in Denmark – and on a rain-sodden night - a young French woman dressed in hooded garb knocks on the door of elderly sisters Martine and Filippa. The serenely beautiful ladies live frugally and quietly in tiny houses high above the cliffs in a deeply Christian Community – generously feeding the elderly of the flock every single day with hot food culled from their basic cooking skills.

The woman is Babette Hersant – once a worshipped culinary chef in Café Anglais in Paris - and she bears a letter from an elderly French Opera Singer called Achille Papin. He has sent Babette to Denmark by boat to escape political rioting in the capitol city that has robbed her of everything including a husband. Papin visited the sisters when they were youthful beauties many decades back – and lost his heart to Filippa’s angelic voice (words from a duet they sing in a clinch together titles this review). But because of fear and entrenched Christian beliefs – Filippa could not bear what their burgeoning love was doing to her soul – so she had her Pastor father send him away (and silence his singing). But Papin remembered her kindness too – so he has sent the broken Babette into their care.

14 years pass and Babette has now worked her way into the hearts of the kindly sisters, the local grocer and even the fishermen who can’t pass off rancid meat or old fish on the food-knowledgeable Babette.  She even knows where the herbs are on the wild grass stretches that overlook the Sea.

Babette’s only link with France is a lottery ticket a kind relative keeps renewing for her year after year. And one day she gets a letter – she’s won 10,000 Francs. To their astonishment Babette doesn’t want to squander the money on clothes or fine things – but instead payback their kindness by cooking the austere community a proper French Dinner in honour of their Pastor Father whose anniversary is approaching. And Babette wants to do it her way. The sisters agree but have no idea of the opulence that is going to invade their linen-covered table and remain tearfully terrified of its corruptive nature. But great wine, champagne, real turtle soup, sumptuous cooking and divine food mellow the bickering and tetchy elderly community and bring about a deep healing – even a spiritual renaissance of sorts…

Released in the summer of 1987 and directed by Gabriel Axel (a Danish language movie with English subtitles) – the film is based on a story by Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen) and its full title is "Karen Blixen's Babette's Gaestebud". It was Denmark’s first Oscar Win for a foreign language film (also took the BAFTA).

Special mention should be made of the 'young' sisters whose back-story of 'lost love' gives the film its beating heart. A dashing Hussar called Lorens Lowenhielm is stationed in a Garrison Town living a life of tedium and gambling. His father feels he needs to be 'sent away' – so ships the blue-uniformed young man off to his aunt in Norre Vosburg in Jutland. One afternoon out of horseback he sees his redemption from creditor notes and parental lectures – the beautiful young Martine. He immediately tries to woe both her and the pious community who surrender her at every moment – but soon becomes painfully aware that his needs for luxury and easy living far outweigh his needs for Martine. So Lorens leaves and marries a countess with wealth and position. But he has of course made the mistake of a lifetime.

Now an old man but still a dashing officer – he is invited to the feast – and recognizes the extraordinary cooking skills from a past encounter in Paris (like a warm glow from the past). But more than that – he fills old Martine’s heart with joy by telling her that he has always loved her – and not even the physicality of years or body will keep them apart spiritually (his declaration of love to her at the end is one of the loveliest pieces of dialogue in cinema).

I wish I could say the Artificial Eye BLU RAY is a triumph – far from it. Despite its BFI logo – the print has specs of dirt on it, lines showing on occasion and a fair amount of natural fuzzy grain. It does look cleaned up in some places – beautiful even – but the BLU RAY improvement is slight. It’s defaulted to 1.85:1 so fills the entire screen but there’s no getting away from the fact that its good rather than great – which given the sumptuous nature of the feast – is so disappointing (docked a star for that).  As I say – it does look shockingly clean in places – but anyone expecting frame-by-frame clean up can look elsewhere.

There is a short interview in French with Stephane Audran who is intensely proud of the ‘masterpiece’ and Subtitles are Danish, Swedish, French and English.

"Babette's Feast" is a gentle film – slow and even pious to a point of being farcical. But the good-humour and warmth will etch its way into your heart – and after you witness the feast – be prepared to raid the cookie jars in your kitchen with a passion.

As young Papin's heart soars and he tells young Filippa she has 'the voice of joy' – there are moments in "Babette's Feast" when you are in complete lip-smacking agreement with the rotund Frenchman. A beautiful life-affirming film and then some…

"Prisoners" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2013 Film…

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“…He Knows Where They Are!” – Prisoners on BLU RAY

Young parents Keller and Grace Dover walk over to the suburban home of Franklin and Nancy Birch in the November cold for a Thanksgiving Dinner involving neighbours, laughter and bad trumpet playing (Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Terence Howard and Viola Davis). Their respective daughters of 7 and 6 Anna and Eliza happily play upstairs with a pet while the adults below drink and reminisce. That is until both children go outside to play - and unaccompanied - addle up to the back of a muddied RV parked suspiciously by the kerb in broad daylight...

Although I thoroughly despise material that uses children being hurt as entertainment - "Prisoners" beats the pants off so many supposed thrillers because it reeks of intelligence (a fantastic and clever script) and has a cast that emotionally rivets you to the screen every second they're up there. It's also prepared to be silent - ordinary even - thereby making some scenes disturbingly close to how real life actually is. It's unnerving, creepy and stomach churning in places too (there are monsters out there).

In order for this to work you need major league actors - and lots of them - and right down to a repentant Paedophile Priest - even the small parts are perfectly cast. Hugh Jackman plays Keller Dover - a redecorator/builder and a 'prepare for the worst' deer-shooting survivalist - while his wife Grace believes she'll and her family will be 'safe' with him. Mild-mannered neighbours and friends Franklin and Nancy Birch have the opposite dynamic - the wife is the boss while her husband is more reflective.  But when a local simpleton Alex Jones is found singing in the front seat of the squalid RV and arrested but won't talk - both sets of parents have their patience and nerves tested. Frustrated by the cops lack of progress and working to the letter of the law - and with the days passing and time running out for their abducted daughters - Alpha Male Keller decides to take matters into his own hands...

Into this emotional cauldron comes Detective Loki who’s solved every case he's ever been given. He may at times seem too detached from the parent's pain and rage - but he's a man who spots things and sees through the lies in people (a mesmerizing Jake Gyllenhaal). Obsessive yet law-abiding - he instinctively feels that spaced out Alex Jones who can't say much but can still drive an RV easily - is lying - sickly concealing the whereabouts of the girls and enjoying the cat and mouse game too (an Oscar performance yet again from Paul Dano - the preacher in "There Will Be Blood"). But is he? And what about his heart-broken mother (subtle brilliance from Melissa Leo) who has defended this social outcast all her life - despite her religion-obsessed husband leaving years back and abandoning them both. Keller even goes after her. In the meantime Grace Dover (a ragged looking Maria Bello) simply breaks at the enormity of her child being lost - while the stoical Nancy folds her arms, grits her teeth and reconciles herself to what both fathers must do - go over demarcation lines you really shouldn't cross...

The genius of Aaron Guzikowski's script and Dennis Villeneuve's Direction is that one whole hour in - and you're absolutely none the wiser as to who is the bad guy and who isn't. And it has to be said that some of the violence is horrible and cringing. But what keeps you watching is the sheer visceral power of the actors. The dance between Jackman and Gyllenhaal is fantastic cinema - both men barely holding on to any humanity or faith as the frustration mounts and suspicions arise (exactly the sick kind of mental torture the abductor wants to inflict on them). And you also sit there questioning just how far a determined parent would go to get their child back (abusing a man who may or may not be an innocent).

Special mention has to be made of the picture quality of the BLU RAY. Defaulted to Full Aspect (which fills up the whole screen) - "Prisoners" is starkly gorgeous and truly beautiful throughout. Often without any music - the blunt and stainless steel cold angles ratchet up the tension to unbearable levels (fear of what is happening to the children). It's the Cinematography genius of ROGER DEAKINS ("The Shawshank Redemption" and "True Grit"). Scene after scene is filled with it: casing a house in the pouring rain at night - Jones walking his dog as Keller spies on him from a nearby truck - the decaying body tied to a chair in the basement of a suspect's house - Detective Loki interviewing a sex offender you can't see behind a filthy pane of glass - Loki's tired bulging eyes and unkempt stubble (hasn't slept for days) as he leans forward into a computer monitor scouring the screen for any detail that will help - closing in on the jagged bark of a tree... The framing of everything is the unsung hero of the movie - adding unbelievable depth and genuine unease that serves right up until the superb and clever ending.

There are two Extras - the short "Every Moment Counts" and the more extensive "Powerful Performers" which features enthusiastic interviews with all the principal actors, Director Dennis Villeneuve and Producers Kara Davis and Broderick Johnson. But don't watch "Powerful Performers" before you watch the movie - it rather clumsily gives away far too much in terms of the twisting plot.

The brilliant and unsettling "Prisoners" had my wife and I on the edge of our seats unable to press the pause button to desperately go to the loo. Now that's how you put the 'thrill' in thriller.

Job done I'd say...

"Collected" by STEELY DAN (2009 GERMAN Universal 3CD Compilation of Remasters from 1972 to 1980 with Rarities) A Review by Mark Barry…

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MORE THAN A FEELING 

1976

Your All-Genres Guide To 

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"...The Charmer Under Me..."

I suspect like many Steely Dan fans - anything that enhances our listening pleasure of this most brill of groups - is fair game. I say this because I've noticed a rather odd phenomenon that's taking place with Universal out of Europe (in this case I think it's Germany). Their compilations seem to be remastered when they don't say so - or just better mastered than those in the UK, USA and even (dare we say it) - Japan.

So I took a £10/$15 chance on this European 2009 "Collected" 3CD set by STEELY DAN (Universal 532 112-2 - Barcode 600753211229). And lo and behold - it sounds better. I swear to God! Anyway - here are the detailed pretzels combined with the sonic logic...

Disc 1 (67:17 minutes):

1. Do It Again

2. Dirty Work

3. Only A Fool Would Say That

4. Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)

5. Midnight Cruiser - tracks 1 to 5 are from their debut album "Can't Buy A Thrill" (1972)

6. My Old School - track 6 is from their 2nd album "Countdown To Ecstasy" (1973)

7. Pretzel Logic 

8. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number - tracks 7 and 8 (see Note) are from their 3rd album "Pretzel Logic" (1974)

9. Rose Darling

10. Bad Sneakers 

11. Everyone’s Gone To The Movies - tracks 9, 10 and 11 are from their 4th album "Katy Lied" (1975)

12. The Fez -track 12 is from their 5th album "The Royal Scam" (1976)

13. Deacon Blues - track 13 is from their 6th album "Aja" (1977)

14. Hey Nineteen 

15. Babylon Sisters - tracks 14 and 15 are from their 7th album "Gaucho" (1980)

Note: "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" loses its album intro and runs to 4:08

Disc 2 (67:04 minutes):

1. Reelin' In The Years 

2. Turn That Heartbeat Over Again - tracks 1 and 2 are from "Can't Buy A Thrill" (1972)

3. Night By Night

4. With A Gun

5. Any Major Dude Will Tell You - tracks 3, 4 and 5 are from "Pretzel Logic" (1974)

6. Black Friday

7. Doctor Wu

8. Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More

9. Any World (That I'm Welcome To)

10. Chain Lightning - tracks 6 to 10 are from "Katy Lied" (1975)

11. Green Earrings

12. Kid Charlemange - tracks 11 and 12 are from "The Royal Scam" (1976)

13. Here At The Western World - track 13 was an exclusive song on the 2LP set "Greatest Hits 1972-1978" (1978)

14. Peg

15. Josie - tracks 14 and 15 are from "Aja" (1977)

16. Time Out Of Mind

17. Third World Man - tracks 16 and 17 are from "Gaucho" (1980)

Disc 3 (71:28 minutes):

1. Bodhisattva

2. Show Biz Kids

3. Pearl Of The Quarter - tracks 1 to 3 are from "Countdown To Ecstasy" (1973)

4. Parker's Band 

5. Barrytown - tracks 4 and 5 are from "Pretzel Logic" (1974)

6. Throw Back The Little Ones - track 6 is from "Katy Lied" (1975)

7. Don't Take Me Alive

8. Haitian Divorce

9. Sign In Stranger - tracks 7, 8 and 9 are from "The Royal Scam" (1976)

10. Black Cow

11. Aja

12. Home At Last - tracks 10, 11 and 12 are from "Aja" (1978)

13. FM (No Static At All) - track 13 was exclusive to the 2LP Soundtrack "FM" (1978)

(It's what's known as the "Saxophone" version - the album also has "A Guitar And Strings Version" and "Reprise")

14. Gaucho - track 14 from "Gaucho" (1980)

15. Everybody's Gone To The Movies (Demo) - track 15 first appeared as a Previously Unreleased track on the 1993 "Citizen Dan" 4CD Box Set

The 3-way foldout card digipak houses an inlay in the left wallet with the 3 CDs spread across the other flaps. It doesn't say who wrote the liner notes in the rather tasteful 8-page mini booklet and the only reference to sound is "Mastering: QS Sound Lab". And even though each song is exactly the same length as the 1998 versions - my reason for the review is the SOUND...

I've A/B played many of the songs against the 1998 Remasters and the three 2008 Japanese SHM-CDs I own (I also have an SACD of "Gaucho"). And I'd swear the sound is inexplicably better on many tracks. It doesn't sound ramped up for the sake of it - just clearer - more revealing somehow. "Do It Again" is a song I've heard a thousand times over 40 years - yet here its end section is detailed in rhythmic ways that I've not heard before.

If I was to single out a few -"Rose Darling" and "Bad Sneakers" on Disc 1 sound gloriously detailed all of a sudden - "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" and the gorgeously musical "Greatest Hits" loner "Here At The Western World" has extra oomph that it's frankly always needed. The funky wallop off "Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More" and "Green Earrings" is now huge as is the fabulous "Josie" with it's chugging guitar over on the right. "Third World Man" sounds stupendous - but then it always did (wow city goes to Larry Charlton's perfect guitar solo). "Bodhisattva" and "Sign In Stranger" on Disc 3 are punchy as is the wonderful "Home At Last" for the magisterial "Aja".

Fans will also notice that the set is 'not' chronologically lined-up and I'd argue that it’s so much the better for it. All 3 discs cleverly start at 1972 and end at 1980 - so they feel like mini compilations in themselves - each complete with its own genius running-order. The only clunker on here is the terrible Demo of "Everyone's Gone To The Movies" which ends Disc 3 in a disjointed and unseemly way. Might have been better to include a better sounding "The Caves Of Altamira" - or better still - their rare debut 7" on Probe Records "Dallas" b/w "Sail The Waterway" - neither track being remastered for CD anywhere in the world.

If you wanted a cheaper option the "Show Biz Kids" 2CD set is dirt-cheap now - but I'd say the extra few bob is money well spent here. And if ever a band deserved your hard earned - then the incomparable Steely Dan is that group.

PS: Other artists in this Universal Euro Series are:

The Allman Brother, The Band, J.J. Cale, The Carpenters, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fairport Convention, Golden Earring, John Hiatt, The Moody Blues, Shocking Blue, Stealers Wheel featuring Gerry Rafferty and The Humblebums, Cat Stevens, 10cc., Thin Lizzy and Gino Vannelli. I've bought the 10cc set which just sounds like the 1997 remasters and is filled out with a lot of crap solo stuff  - but I hear the J.J. Cale triple has great sound...