Saving Mr. Banks and other must see films!

There are a few films on my list to see (hopefully over the holidays) which I will blog about later, but I thought I would let you know what looks good so you can see them before I do!

You have likely seen some of the promos for Saving Mr. Banks with Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks. If you are a sentimental fool like I am, you will be counting the days until you see the story of how Walt Disney convinced P.L. Travers to let him bring Mary Poppins to the silver screen. I love the title, which refers to how the book Mary Poppins is about rescuing Mr. Banks (and Mrs. Banks for that matter) not the children. I have loved the Disney film from when I was young and my eldest child (now 22 years old) used to pretend he was a chimney sweep and dance around the house when he was 2 or 3. I think I may take him to see this one!

I am looking forward to seeing Philomena just as much as Saving Mr. Banks. Apparently Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are both at their level best in this dramedy about an elderly Irish woman who goes to America with the help of a journalist to look for the boy she unwillingly "gave up for adoption" after a stay at a 1950s Catholic home for fallen women. Apparently it is Stephen Frears' best film since The Queen.

I can't wait.

Although I am not a huge Ralph Fiennes fan, I have a lot of respect for his acting and that he is such a fan of Charles Dickens that he wanted to bring The Invisible Woman, the story of Dickens' mistress Nelly Ternan to the screen. The fact that the middle aged Dickens abandoned his wife and 10 children for an 18 year old actress...well that much is history and we might as well have a great film out of it. Felicity Jones plays the titular role (I have loved her since Northanger Abbey) and a few names like Tom Hollander and Kristin Scott Thomas sound good too!

Well, a few others are on my list such as August: Osage County, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Book Thief and American Hustle.

And don't forget that Season 4 of Downton Abbey starts Sunday January 5th! PBS is having a draw for a trip to England to mark the event!

Nora Ephron- Writer/Director of the Week

"Be the heroine of your life, not the victim".  Nora Ephron sure could turn a phrase, couldn't she? In all the tributes to Nora I have read in the weeks since her death, she emerges as a wonderfully funny, kind, feminist who loved to cook (with butter). And what a great combination that turned out to be.

I know she didn't write period drama, but she sure had a fondness for Jane Austen. Wouldn't you love to be at a dinner where Jane Austen and Nora Ephron were at the same table? OK, maybe that's too much greatness at once. Separately then perhaps! And she loved films. Films with humour and romance and happy endings. I am going to be spending my summer holidays reading Nora's books, watching Nora's films, and thinking about how to be the heroine of my life. So here's a little tribute.

Heartburn with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep

Mark Forman: My wife's name was Kimberley. One of the first Kimberleys.
Rachel Samstat:My husband had hamsters.
Mark Forman: Me too.
Rachel Samstat: Not as a grownup you didn't. He had hamsters named Arnold and Shirley. And he was always whipping up little salads for them in the Slice-O-Matic and buying them extremely small sweaters at a pet boutique in Rego Park. Also, there was a certain amount of talking in squeaky voices.
Mark Forman: Both of you?
Rachel Samstat: Well, he was Arnold... and I was Shirley.

When Harry Met Sally with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan

Harry Burns: There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.
Sally Albright:Which one am I?
Harry Burns: You're the worst kind; you're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance.
Sally Albright: I don't see that.
Harry Burns: You don't see that? Waiter, I'll begin with a house salad, but I don't want the regular dressing. I'll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side. And then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side. "On the side" is a very big thing for you.
Sally Albright: Well, I just want it the way I want it.
Harry Burns: I know; high maintenance.

Sleepless in Seattle with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks

Sam Baldwin: What is "tiramisu"?
Jay: You'll find out.
Sam Baldwin: Well, what is it?
Jay: You'll see!
Sam Baldwin: Some woman is gonna want me to do it to her and I'm not gonna know what it is!

You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan

 
Kathleen Kelly: I love daisies.
Joe Fox: You told me.
Kathleen Kelly: They're so friendly. Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower? 

Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci

Paul Child: What is it you REALLY like to do?
Julia Child: Eat!

**********************************************************************************

So again, thank-you Nora Ephron for leaving the world a happier place. I dearly love a laugh!

You've Got Mail 1998

It seems fitting to blog about Nora Ephron's film You've Got Mail this week. I never really thought of myself as a Nora Ephron fan, but I guess I am. And this film is an adorable slice of the 1990s. Remember when it was exciting to get email? Before spam?

How can you not love a RomCom about books that refers to Pride and Prejudice in a lovely scene in a coffee shop where the guy has actually read the book (even though he can't stand it)? Ah, yes,and he has a Golden Retriever to boot!

Kathleen Kelly: Confession. I have read Pride and Prejudice two hundred times. I get lost in the language, words like 'Thither, Mischance, Felicity'. I'm always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are going to get together. Ah! Read it. I know you'll love it.

Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly

Kathleen Kelly: Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one! It got on at 42nd and off at 59th, where, I assume, it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake, as almost all hats are.

Tom Hanks as Joe Fox

Joe Fox: Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms.

The Shop Around The Corner

Kathleen Kelly: When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.  

 

Joe Fox: The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.

Joe Fox: I could never be with someone who like Joni Mitchell. "It's clouds illusions I recall/I really don't know clouds at all." What does that mean? Is she a pilot? Is she taking flying lessons? It's probably a metaphor for something, but I don't know what.

Joe Fox: Don't cry, Shopgirl. Don't cry.
Kathleen Kelly: I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly.

**********************************************************************************

Thanks Nora. We're really going to miss you. But we'll always have You've Got Mail!