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You already know Mary Poppins is one of the most beloved movie musicals of all time. But did you know it also holds the record for most Oscar nominations (13) and wins (5) for a movie released by Walt Disney Studios? Audiences…critics…everybody loves Mary Poppins, right? Well, unless you follow movie history pretty closely, you may not know the film had a famous, formidable critic in P.L. Travers, the author of the “Mary Poppins” book series.
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The most peculiar thing about The Hunger Games — both in the books and the blockbuster movie adaptations — is that the Games themselves are easily the least interesting part. The first film’s staggering box office success predictably led to a much bigger budget for the rabidly-anticipated sequel. (Catching Fire cost a reported $140 million, which is nearly double the original’s $78 million budget.) The extra money is on display in almost every engrossing frame, including the action-packed arena scenes filmed in Hawaii. But the real reason Catching Fire is an improvement over its predecessor is because the story’s satirical, political, rebellious spirit has been placed front and center.
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“For me, it was always going to be about love.”

The best time travel stories don’t endure because people really like thinking about wormholes and paradoxes. No, it’s the idea of reliving the past or getting a peek at what’s next — before realizing we’re better off just living each day to the fullest — that captures our imagination. That’s why a filmmaker like Richard Curtis, best known for writing and directing romantic comedies like Love Actually, as well as his Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill screenplays, can take on a fantastical concept like time travel so naturally.
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“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy — understand him well enough to defeat him —then in that very moment, I also love him.”

It’s no accident that both soldiers and football players are fashioned to look indistinguishable from one another on their respective battlegrounds. We create a personal detachment between ourselves and our adversaries because we believe that will make it easier to annihilate them. That’s one of the many provocative ideas in Ender’s Game, the consistently dazzling and occasionally rushed adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s beloved science fiction book.
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“They’re gonna laugh at you. They’re all gonna laugh at you.”

The idea of remaking/reimagining/refurbishing a horror classic may have been laughable at one point, but now it’s just business as usual. Then again, I happen to think this is an especially good time to revisit 1976’s Carrie. With all the attention bullying has gotten in the media these last few years, the supernatural story of a high school outsider pushed to her violent breaking point seems particularly timely. I just wish the new movie had more going for it beyond decent timing and a pair of impressive leading ladies.
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