Mary Poppins Returns

"Nothing. Such a useful word, isn't it? It can mean anything and everything."

In 1930s London, Michael Banks (Whishaw) is raising his children in his childhood home.  After the death of his wife, Michael has struggled to keep things together.  His three children, Annabel (Davies), John (Saleh), and Georgie (Dawson), try to help around the house and take care of their father.  They are helped by Michael's sister Jane (Mortimer), who lives nearby, and their housekeeper Ellen (Walters).  The future looks grim when the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank comes to collect a loan on the house.  They have until Friday to pay the loan or lose the house.

As Jane and Michael try to find a way to save the house, the kids go to the park where they meet Mary Poppins (Blunt) and lamp lighter Jack (Miranda).  Mary Poppins returns to the house to be their nanny.  She takes the children on adventures, while Michael tries to talk to bank president Mr. Wilkins (Firth) about the loan.  Can they find a way to save the house and the family?


This film is the sequel to the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins.  Both films are based on P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" books.  There are 6 books in the series, beginning with "Mary Poppins" in 1934.  The film features some elements from the books, but is an original story written by David Magee (who also wrote the screenplay), Rob Marshall (who also directed the film), and John DeLuca.

I love the 1964 film and I was nervously optimistic about this film.  My 8-year old niece, who was obsessed with the original, gave it a rousing endorsement, so I decided to give it a chance.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

The Good:
The story feels familiar and comfortable, while still new.  It hits all the same beats as the original, but it in new ways... it isn't an exact repeat.  Emily Blunt is great at Mary Poppins.  She is different from Julie Andrews' Poppins, but still captures the character.  She has good chemistry with the the Banks family and with Lin-Manuel Miranda.  Miranda is good as Jack, the new Bert.  He has a terrible Cockney accent, to mirror Dick Van Dyke's character from the original, and he dives into the role with the same gusto.  Speaking of Van Dyke, his cameo made me smile.

The Bad:
Topsy... I like Uncle Albert from the original, and I understand why they wanted to bring in another of Mary Poppins' eccentric relatives, but it definitely took me out of the film.  I like Meryl Streep, but not here.

Other Comments:
-The film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards in 2019: Best Original Score, Best Original Song (for "The Place Where Lost Things Go"), Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design. The film did not win any of these awards.
-The new music, by Marc Shaiman, is good.  "The Place Where Lost Things Go" is a standout, alongside the lamp lighters' song "Trip A Little Light Fantastic."
-Angela Lansbury plays the Balloon Lady, a part that was offered to Andrews.  She is great in the role.
-Karen Dotrice, who played Jane in the original film, has a small cameo in the film.  Van Dyke is the only other original cast member to return for this film.
-Marshall and Blunt expressed interest in making another Mary Poppins film, but there is nothing official at this time.
-I thoroughly enjoyed this film and look forward to watching it again.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) 130 minutes
Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Jack
Ben Whishaw as Michael Banks
Emily Mortimer as Jane Banks
Julie Walters as Ellen
Pixie Davies as Annabel Banks
Nathanael Saleh as John Banks
Joel Dawson as Georgie Banks
Colin Firth as William "Weatherall" Wilkins
Meryl Streep as Topsy

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

"You know, you really are... fantastic."

"I try."

Mr. Fox (Clooney) is a well-known thief.  He loves planning and carrying out heists, until he and his wife, Mrs. Fox (Streep) are caught and he agrees to change his ways.  12 fox years later, Mr. Fox writes a newspaper column.  He, Mrs. Fox, and their misunderstood son  Ash (Schwartzman) live in a hole.  He dreams of his old life and moves the family, including his visiting nephew Kristofferson (Anderson), to a tree.

Their new home is the perfect place to spy on the neighboring farms.  The farms are successful and the animals fear the farmers.  Fox convinces their landlord, Kylie (Wolodarsky), to help him with a grand heist of the farms.  Mr. Walter Boggis (Hurlstone) is a chicken farmer.  Mr. Nathan Bunce (Guinness) is a duck and goose farmer, and Mr. Franklin Bean (Gambon) is a turkey and apple farmer.  Fox loves the heists, but his actions cause the farmers to go after all of the animals.  Can they outsmart the farmers?


The film is based on Roald Dahl's 1970 children's book "Fantastic Mr. Fox."  The book remains popular and has been adapted to stage as a play, a musical, and an opera.

The Good:
This was director Wes Anderson's first stop-motion film (followed by 2018's Isle of Dogs).  The medium was a smart choice for this story (the way Anderson wanted to tell it).  It has all of the Anderson trademarks: intricate details, the usual cast, etc.  The animation is well done and earned all of it's accolades.  The story, by Anderson and Noah Baumbach, adds some background and fleshes out the other characters.

The Bad:
The film is marketed as a "family film," but I'm not sure I agree.  Yes, the original book was a children's book... but the film is much darker.  They don't actually swear (just use the word "cuss" for any number of curse words), but it is violent and mildly off-setting.  I don't think I would show the film to children, at least not young children.  It is dark (the book is also dark for a children's book).  A character is killed on screen and bleeds to death.

Other Comments:
-The film was nominated for 2 Academy Awards in 2010: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, but did not win either.
-It wasn't my favorite... but it was still a well-made film.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) 88 minutes
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: George Clooney as Mr. Fox
Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox
Jason Schwartzman as Ash Fox
Bill Murray as Clive Badger
Willem Dafoe as Rat
Michael Gambon as Franklin Bean
Owen Wilson as Coach Skip
Wallace Wolodarsky as Kylie
Eric Anderson as Kristofferson Silverfox
Jarvis Cocker as Petey
Wes Anderson as Stan Weasel
Robin Hurlstone as Walter Boggis
Hugo Guinness as Nathan Bunce

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

"This could literally not get any weirder."

"It can get weirder!"

Miles Morales (Moore) is a New York teenager trying to find his place.  He is a talented artist and struggling to fit in at his new boarding school.  Everything in his life changes when he is bitten by a spider.  The next day he starts exhibiting strange abilities that he can't control.  He discovers the Kingpin (Schrieber) has built a super-collider to access parallel universes.  He uses the machine, but is thwarted by Spider-Man (Chris Pine), who is killed in the aftermath.  Before Spider-Man dies, he tells Miles how to destroy the collider and save the world.

As the world mourns the loss of Spider-Man, Miles finds another Peter Parker (Johnson).  This Peter is Spider-Man in a parallel universe and was sucked into this world by the collider.  Peter agrees to help Miles, so he can return to his time.  They also discover Gwen Stacy (Steinfeld), Spider-Man Noir (Cage), Peni Parker (Glenn) and her robot, and Spider-Ham (Mulaney) were pulled into Miles world by the collider.  Can they team up to defeat Kingpin and his murderous minions and save the world?


Spider-Man was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962.  He is a popular Marvel comics characters and has two iterations: Peter Parker and Miles Morales.  The character has appeared in numerous animated TV shows since the late 1960s.  Parker has appeared in films since the late 1970s.  Nicholas Hammond starred in 1977's Spider-Man, 1978's Spider-Man Strikes Back, and 1981's Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge.  Tobey Maguire starred in the Sam Raimi trilogy: Spider-Man in 2002, Spider-Man 2 in 2004, and Spider-Man 3 in 2007.  Sony rebooted the franchise in 2012 with Marc Webb as the director and Andrew Garfield as the title character: The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.  Sony came to a licensing agreement with Marvel Studios, allowing the character to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and solo films for Sony.  This version of Parker is played by Tom Holland, who starred in Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017 and Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019 and appeared in the MCU films Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.  The Morales version of Spider-Man was created in 2011 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli.  This is the film debut of the character.

The Good:
Most people know Spider-Man and his origin story (at least the traditional Peter Parker origin story) is well-known.  They give each of the various Spiders a chance to do a brief recap of their origin story, while the file serves as Miles origin.  The film also references the live-action Spider-Man films, the animated TV shows, etc.  It is a love letter to Spider-Man fans

The Bad:
I don't have any complaints.  The story is interesting and moves as at a good pace.  The villains aren't overly defined, but they aren't bad.

Other Comments:
-The animation is great.  The style is distinct for each of the Spiders: Spider-Man Noir is black and white, SP//dr is cartoony-anime, and Spider-Ham is kiddie animation almost like the Looney Tunes.  Everything looks hand-drawn, but is CGI animation.  The film won the 2019 Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
-It feels like a comic book.  After Miles is bit by the spider, thought boxes appear.  It doesn't seem gimmicky and adds to the story.
-They use well-known villains: Kingpin, Doc Ock, Green Goblin, without taking the focus away from all of the Spiders.
-They wisely leave the story open for potential sequels.  Two sequels, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, are also in the works.

-They are also planning to make a spin-off about the Spider-Women. 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) 117 minutes
Director: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
Starring: Shameik Moore as Miles Morales / Spider-Man
Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker / Spider-Man
Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman
Mahershala Ali as Aaron Davis
Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis
Lily Tomlin as Aunt May
Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales
Zoe Kravitz as Mary Jane Watson
John Mulaney as Peter Porker / Spider-Ham
Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker / SP//dr
Nicholas Cage as Peter Parker / Spider-Man Noir
Liev Schrieber as Wilson Fisk