Mary Poppins Returns

With franchises and sequels taking over the cinematic landscape and being green lit before their predecessor has even left the cinema, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a sequel that waited for its time. Whilst author P. L. Travers dismissed the original Mary Poppins, there’s no denying it is a classic, a family favourite, and was revolutionary in its day for combining animation and live action. It was begging for a sequel, as were its producers. But for over 50 years, despite plenty of efforts nothing came... until now.

Mary Poppins Returns is set 25 years after its original, featuring Jane and Michael Banks as adults in the midst of a family crisis and the bank wanting to repossess the Banks' family home. Michael, whose wife has recently passed away, has three children that he needs to look out for and no money with which to do it, but he has some shares in the bank which would pay off his debt. If only he knew where his father left them. With the Banks children, and their children, in trouble, Mary swoops in on a breeze and cryptically promised to stay until the door opens.

We’re swiftly returned to the magical landscape of the original Poppins: talking umbrellas, bigger-on-the-inside carpets bags, animated adventures, but with lamplighters taking the place of the original chimney sweeps. However, herein lies the problem. In retreading the path walked by the original, Returns builds expectations without delivering. There are set-ups without conclusion, familiarly dodgy cockney accents, unnecessary romantic subplots, and perhaps most damningly, homage to the original without the heart. 

The film’s nostalgia overload feels less like a tribute to the old film (though there are small but excellent moments that do this) and more like a cardboard cut out of its former self, looking the part but lacking depth. Mary is less a mystical magical nanny, wanting to help the Banks family overcome their problems and more superhuman ready to overcome their problems for them in a rushed climax that almost makes a lot of what came before feel unneeded.

But it’s not all bad, hardly so. The film is headed up with a sharp, practically-perfect performance by Emily Blunt. It’s a different interpretation than Andrew’s original nanny but not a lesser. Blunt is sterner but naughtier, with a mocking sense of humour stemming from a genuine care for the children. She easily holds the film together with a charisma and charm to die for. With her are a superb supporting cast, particularly Ben Whishaw's barley-holding-it-together Michael, but also Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Lin-Manual Miranda (cockney accent notwithstanding) and an all too short appearance by the great Dick Van Dyke.

And there is a solid story here too, somewhere beneath the loosely intertwined and forgettable songs. A touching tale of family, of growing up, of joy and love. If Mary Poppins Returns main goal was to make you smile and feel happy, it succeeds even if some elements are lacking. There are a couple of scenes that could have been left on the cutting room floor (an underwater non-adventure and a rushed topsy turvy sequence), but otherwise there's nothing too harmful here, but rather harmless fun. There's some stunning set pieces, genuine laughs, and a sense that this film was made with love. Some who love the original will be let down by an attempt to recreate the magic rather than make it anew, whilst others will be joyful that there's still magic in Hollywood at all. 

Best Picture: Part I

Dunkirk


Visionary director and innovative story-teller, Christopher Nolan tackles the tale of one of Britain's most dangerous challenges during the Second World War: the evacuation of Dunkirk. The story is told in three temporalities with three areas of battle - we spend a week on land, a day on the sea, and an hour in the sky. The stories, interwoven into one another, capture the struggle and determination of both the British public and armed forces.

Nolan is at his visceral best. Every bomb hit you, water pouring into a claustrophobic space engulfs you. This is sensory film making as it should be. Delicately balancing his timelines to maximum effect, Nolan manages to tell three powerfully engaging stories which are all as gripping and nerve wracking as one another. A master class in war films.

Phantom Thread


Daniel Day-Lewis' 'retiring' film, Phantom Thread tells the story of a man, a dress maker, though more importantly, he's a perpetual bachelor, allowing women to float through his life and inspire him on a breeze before they drift away again. But falling for one of them disrupts his whole life.

Beautifully shot and wonderfully crafted, Paul Thomas Anderson's latest struggles at times to be fully engaging. Grounded by solid performances by the whole cast, notably Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread is, in essence, a film about the consuming world of fashion and an eccentric designer but his quirks often rub the wrong way, making it difficult to support the central figure and his reluctant pursuit of romance. It works as proof that making a technically brilliant film does not necessarily make a brilliant film.

Get Out


Take a the sense of unease you get in any good horror movie. Combine it with overtones of the racial oppression that haunts suburban, southern USA. What you get is Jordan Peele's phenomenal Get Out, a striking racial satire with Daniel Kaluuya anchoring the film with a star-making leading turn.

The important social issues presented in Get Out are the reason satire exists - to hold a mirror up to society and highlight its blemishes - and Peele focuses his quiet anger on making the audience feel uncomfortable before unleashing it in loud, brutal fashion.  Get Out is bold. Get Out is brave. But most of all, Get Out is terrifying. The question that remains is whether it is the film that is scary, or the darker reality it is portraying?

Call Me by Your Name


Beautiful, relaxed, loving film-making. This is what is on display in Call Me by your Name, the unconventional and forbidden character driven love story set in the countryside of Italy. The camera floats around the leads passively, simply observing something, allowing characters and relationships to evolve in its view. 

Featuring strong performances from its leads but also from the minor characters (particularly Michael Stuhlbarg, who was robbed of a Best Supporting Actor nomination), Call Me by your Name is arguably the most rounded, well crafted film at the Oscars this year. It succeeds on every single level, not to mention Luca Guadagnino's immense control over combining all these elements. This is film making at its very best, its most powerful, its most emotive. And the the long takes are to die for. 

Oscars 2018: Part I

 Beauty and the Beast 

The live action re-telling of one of Disney’s biggest and most successful animations that occasionally dips its toe into original thought but otherwise clings passionately to its 1991 predecessor. And a little too much.

The issue with remaking a classic almost shot for shot is it all feels too familiar - we’ve seen this done better before. That’s the problem here. The nostalgic enjoyment of the original is overshadowed by the creepy realism of the living objects and the layers of auto tune slathered over certain numbers. The aim here is to recreate something magical but in doing so, the film loses its own magic. It feels like that passion is for imitating rather than creating, and as such it’s noticeably the lesser beast. It’s adequate; everything is done fine, but why settle for fine when Disney proved how well the story could be told 26 years ago. 

Strong Island


Director Yance Ford retells the circumstances surrounding his brother's murder and tries to get answers for why his killer walked free. Intermingled in the story are interviews with family and friends whose calm, quiet anger and hurt are the heart of this documentary.

A more haunting, personal, and pained perspective on the institutional racism in the US and its justice system than last year's 13th or OJ: Made in America but not quite as captivating or as powerful.

Kong: Skull Island

At the close of the Vietnam war, a team of scientists, explorers, and soldiers go on an exhibition to the elusive and uncharted Skull Island. A standard mapping mission with a sinister ulterior motive that goes wrong immediately when they disturb the king of the island: Kong.

Kong: Skull Island is a Vietnam film without the Vietnam. Visually, the inspirations from the likes of Platoon and Apocalypse Now are clear but the enemy are replaced with the unknown inhabitants of Skull Island. The film suffers from clunky dialogue and underdeveloped characters and relationships but succeeds in being a heap of fun. Considering the big names involved (Larson, Jackson, Hiddleston, Goodman), the film feels like it lacks depth in its human performers (which the exception of Jackson and John C. Reilly) whilst their computer generated counterparts dazzle.  It’s a film on the brink of brilliance so it’s a pity that it falls short on some major points (developed characters, particularly female, being the most needed element).


The Boss Baby

Obviously babies come from a company called Baby Corp that is run by businessman babies - we all know that - but in The Boss Baby, Puppy Corp, their business competitor, is about to release a new puppy that will be so adorable, no one will ever want a baby again thus putting Baby Corp out of business. 

The Boss Baby is a charming family film with enough 'adult' jokes about memos and meetings to keep the parents entertained. That being said, it walks a path well trodden; whilst the premise is original and entertaining, the story is lacking innovation. It's silly fun but Dreamworks still has a way to go to match the constant standards of Pixar.