I can’t quite believe Saving Mr Banks is 2 years old now, it feels like I’ve been putting off watching it for a couple of months, not years! I remember little of the Mary Poppins story, in fact I can only recall a couple of the songs, and maybe that’s why I put this film off for so long. I’m glad I gave it a shot though, as this was a beautiful story.
Emma Thompson does a fantastic job at portraying this frustrating character who you struggle to warm to at first, but by the credits roll I had tears in my eyes. The whole cast made this a wonderful film to watch, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston and films that tackle depression have always interested me, which I realise sounds quite morbid! Therefore, I thought Cake would be a film I would really enjoy. Cake is a dark story of a woman who becomes obsessed with the suicide of a friend in her support group for chronic pain, who also tries to deals with her own severe issues.
Maybe watching this in chunks throughout my lunch breaks didn’t help, but I found the story so hard to understand, I had to read half on an IMDB synopsis to work out what was going on. Once I worked it out it was more enjoyable, but still fell flat for me.
When the posters and trailers came out for Ex Machina came out, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest. I didn’t even notice it come and go from my local cinema. However, anyone I knew who went to see it or watched the DVD said how brilliant it was, and the got my curiosity. It’s hard to even explain the plot of Ex Machina without ruining the experience, but I would recommend it to anyone.
It starts of as a family friendly, futuristic film and out of nowhere, takes a very dark turn, and rapidly turns into adult-only territory. I haven’t seen anything like it, and although I don’t think a re-watch will give the same impact, it was a brilliant experience first-time.
I really connected to Saving Mr. Banks in a way that a lot of people didn't seem to...most wrote scathing reviews about it's sentimentality and manipulative narrative, but I loved it...and you're right...Thompson is just great!
ReplyDeleteI have no desire to see Cake.
I can't wait to finally see Ex Machina. It looks great!
Oh I'm glad you enjoyed Saving Mr. Banks so much! Cake is absolutely worth a miss, and I'd love to know your thoughts on Ex Machina once you've seen it :)
Delete- Allie
I haven't seen Saving Mr. Banks, but I definitely agree with you on Cake. That film just wasn't that good, and it's blantant Oscar push for Aniston turned me off a bit. Loved Ex Machina though!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad others have the same opinion on Cake actually, I was worried watching it on a tablet screen in work lunchbreaks might have ruined it, but I guess not! :)
Delete- Allie
Saving Mr Banks is very good fun, if inaccurate but it should a love of Mary Poppins from the 60s. I liked the "lets go fly a kite scene", showed a lot of affection to the 60s film.
ReplyDeleteEx Machina is the best film of the year for me. I have to admit that Ava fooled me just as much as she fooled Celab...I guess that says a lot about me.
I did read about some inaccuracies in Saving Mr. Banks, so I guess my complete lack of memory of it helped my viewing!
DeleteAva had me fooled too. I loved the subtle teases to other twists that never happened, it kept me trying to work out just how it was going to end :)
- Allie
Ex Machina is so good it's ridiculous. Every bit of the best movie of 2015 so far. I haven't seen the other too yet, but Saving Mr. Banks looks magical. Need to get on that one. Cake just doesn't interest me that much.
ReplyDeleteOoooh!! I'm not sure it tops Mad Max for me, but it was pretty darn good! You can definitely give Cake a miss, but Saving Mr. Banks is perfect for a night in :)
Delete- Allie
I love your mini-reviews. I saw Saving Mr. Banks last year and I really enjoyed it, especially one of the final scenes when Emma Thompson's character was dancing. I saw Thompson on the Graham Norton show who said the movie made her character more sympathetic than she was in real life. According to Thompson they had hours of recordings of the woman she was playing and she was in Thompson's words...vile. I haven't heard of Cake, but from your review, I will skip it. I am really looking fwd to seeing ExMachina. I can't wait.
ReplyDeleteThank you :) I might have to find that interview on YouTube and give it a watch! Definitely skip Cake, and I really hope Ex Machina lives up to your expectations, but I'm sure it will!
Delete- Allie