Saving Mr Banks.... a review.

Nearly everybody from the 1950's onwards, will know the name Walt Disney, a name that conjures up all sorts of magical memories in my mind. All the cartoon characters from the mischievous Tinkerbell to Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and all the others that were too many to mention.
    When Walt's daughters, Diane & Sharon, were young, their favourite books were the 'Mary Poppins' series of books, by British/Australian Author, P.L Travers. The books dealt with the titular character, who was a fictional Housekeeper in London during the years prior to WWI. She possessed magical powers, such as an Umbrella which gave her the ability to fly. She gets a job with the Banks family Father Bert, a Chimneysweep, and his children Jane & Michael. This would be the premise for the movie released in 1964
  In 2013, 'Saving Mr Banks', deals with the strenuous negotiations between Walt Disney and PL Travers, to secure the rights of her books, with the view to making a  movie of 'Mary Poppins'. On their first meeting in California, Walt is taken back by Travers's unfriendly and curt manner, she had the demeanour of a School Headmistress. She disliked any of his ideas, and was highly scornful of Disneyland, and all it represents.
    Through the movie, we're shown glimpses of PL 'Pamela' Travers's childhood with a father who she adores, he sadly dies with excessive Alcohol consumption, when she is young. We are lead to believe the idea for Mary Poppins came from a Housekeeper Aunt Ellie, in the Travers's household.
    In conclusion the actors chosen for the Roles Tom Hanks as Walt, he was sublime. Emma Thompson, as Miss Travers, and Aussie actress Rachel Griffith's as 'Aunt Ellie. Also worthy of mention was Paul Giamatti, who was Miss Travers' driver. This movie deserved more awards then what it got.   4 stars.

 
 
 

My Favourite Actors: 2. Tom Hanks, an actor for the ages.

I've admired Tom Hanks for a long time, and having watched his movies over the past few decades, he seems to have held on to what he believes in and not in any way sold out, despite all the other movie genres he might have chosen.

  From having a love affair with a Mermaid, as he did with Daryl Hannah in 'Splash, to being the Commander of Apollo 13, Hanks has shown his liking of roles that show that he is multi talented, whether it be light hearted 'Big' or poignant as in 'Forrest Gump and heroic as he was in 'Saving Private Ryan, his star is still in an upward climb.

 His role as Andrew Beckett in 'Philadelphia, where he played an AIDS sufferer unjustly fired from the legal firm where he worked, only to find the Lawyer representing him in his law suit against his former employers is Homophobic.

 In recent times Hank's has played in movies that have interested me, and they were ' Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close', the 2011 film dealing with the story of a man who is killed in one of the towers in the World Trade Centre in 9/11.
 
  Then in 2013, he played Captain Richard Phillips, in the titular role of USS Alabama, hijacked off the coast of Somalia.

 And in his most recent film, TH, played Walt Disney in 'Saving Mr Banks' in 1964, when he was having negotiations, with P.T Travers, the author of  the 'Mary Poppins' series books, with the plan to make  a movie, and the problems that arose,