Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Mary Poppins

I had never seen Mary Poppins before today. This somewhat startling fact had become more or less a running gag with certain friends since they just could not fathom why I hadn't seen it and why I had no desire to do so. I was the same with The Sound of Music until I came across it one day on television and figured "it's now or never." My experience with watching that famous 1965 Julie Andrews musical only made my desire to not watch Mary Poppins from one year earlier even stronger. Still, bite the bullet I did and I watched Robert Stevenson's 1964 musical for the first time for The Film Experience's ongoing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series.

I'll admit that for as much as I struggled to watch the movie its seemingly interminable series of pantomime and cloying wide-eyed quirkiness, I struggled even more to find a shot that I liked enough. I don't feel Mary Poppins is a particularly well-photographed film. Oh, sure, the sets and the costumes and the animation and the visual effects are all working overtime to make this a lively and energetic picture (there is always a lot going on in nearly every frame), but I don't think the cinematography do it any favours with its unimaginative set-ups and framing. I didn't find many of the musical sequences all that involving and only when they really ramped up the artificiality did I actually get invested in them, which is a curious thing to admit but there you go.

I guess that brings me back to why I just flat out did not like this movie. It feels so crushingly old-fashioned. Consider that West Side Story had come out just three years prior and maybe you can see what I mean. That one is so vibrantly constructed and beats with a modern heart. Mary Poppins, for all of its technological advances, just reeks of mothballs. I know many consider the film to be a lighter than air confection, but I found its dottering and fluttering to be nigh on insufferable. I mean, it certainly doesn't help that Julie Andrews is the only one I could stand to listen to - it's undeniable that she has a pretty voice, yes - but I really struggled to watch this movie without sighing every time an unnecessary song that goes on far too long came on. Cutesy kids alert at red, folks. Eep!

The one aspect other than Andrews that I enjoyed was just how very odd the whole enterprise is. I don't just mean in that characters go about doing odd things, but that the film itself finds itself throwing some truly odd stuff out there in what was probably conceived as a rather innocuous children's flick (upcoming Saving Mr Banks will certainly show us what's what, right? Ummm... maybe not). When it came to selecting a shot I considered the moment the flowers become butterflies in the famous animated sequence (above), or something from Dick Van Dyke's rooftop dancing sequence with the fireworks since there was some beautiful matte work there, or his foggy exit, or even one of the ridiculous shots of nanny's flying away down the street (did nobody find that odd?) No, my "best shot" is one actually from the very beginning of the movie as the camera pans across the London skies and spots Mary Poppins sitting atop the clouds. I found it quite odd, but that's a good thing.

It's a moment that genuinely surprised me. And for a film that didn't do all that much surprising to me in its following two hours and twenty minutes, I figured that was worth celebrating. It's just a supremely strange moment that comes unexpectedly and comes rather peacefully, uncluttered by everything including the kitchen sink that the rest of the film seems determined to throw at the screen. Looking at it just now and it's a rather beautiful image in its own right, and one that looks as if it carries a certain sadness without its cheerful chim-chim-cheree on the soundtrack. I wish the rest of the film was able to make me actually feel something other than painful contempt. I am not surprised in the least that the creator of the Mary Poppins character hated the film.

If you ask me, the best thing this film wrought was the infamous "Scary Mary" recut trailer that reposits the film as an suspenceful horror flick about a vengeful nanny with mystical powers. I'd long enjoyed the video, but now having seen the movie it's based on I can guarantee that it'd be a helluva lot more interesting. Especially since, as the video suggests as well as the aforementioned odd moments, there's a completely different movie going on in there and I want to see it.

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: END CREDITS of Scream 2 (1:47:39-1:55:31)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!



SCENE 31 (End Credits) of Scream 2
Length: 7min 52secs


Cue inappropriate end credits song!

Randomly, this song that plays over the beginning of the end credits is, much like in the original, one of my favourite songs from the whole soundtrack. Along with D'Angelo's "She's Always In My Hair" from the opening scene, and "Your Lucky Day in Hell" by The Eels, Collective Soul's "She Said" is definitely a keeper. I know ranking Collective Soul alongside The Eels is considered sacrilege by many, but I just like it, okay? Reminds me of that great alt-rock period of the 1990s. Sigh.

Now, what I don't understand is what a song about an aging lush is doing as the big triumphant end scene. Anyone care to explain? Watch the video below, which features clips from Scream 2 interspersed. Using images of Neve Campbell's Sidney as they sing lyrics about "time isn't fair to a woman her age" and "she's seen better days" and you'll see how much they misread the lyrics. The video is so deliciously '90s though that I have to love it. Underwater ballet dancer putting on Ghostface mask!


Curious, too, that they chose a far more triumphant song choice to accompany the big end credits crane camera move, as opposed to the original which used a much darker track. If they never made another Scream movie then this would have been a very fitting ending. Apart from the lyrics.


I've said multiple times how wonderful and vivid the colours are in Scream 2, especially compared to the lower budget aesthetic of the original, so here is one last reminder.



Can we get a round of applause for Mr Craven and Mr Williamson, please? I think they deserved it after helping to bring the life one of the greatest ever sequels and one damn good film in general. I do still love that Kevin Williamson is perhaps the only horror film writer of the last few decades to actually be a name. Says a lot about the impact these movies had, I say. And even if Scream 4 didn't do the sort of business that everyone was hoping, the fact that so much press was made out of his return made me happy.


I like that the cinematographer gets the first credit title card after the screen goes to black. Like his own little ovation now that the curtain has closed.




The "return" of Ghostface in the credits has been taken by fans as meaning that he/she will be back. There was not one at the end of Scream 4. Make of that what you will.

Oh! It's time for the cast credits. For reason I get a real kick out of seeing these. One last reminder of all the awesome actors and characters. One last chance to go "awww" at their subsequent death.














I'm glad that Jamie Kennedy got upgraded to the main credits rather than the strange non-alphabetical order section that he was dumped in during the original's end credits. Meanwhile, would it had hurt them to add an extra slide for Omar Epps/Phillip Pavel/Christopher Doyle? I mean, they were all somewhat vital characters who died so it's almost like they're saying their deaths weren't important enough. They were just nothing characters. Hmmm.


And with that we are DONE! Complete! Finished! No more!

er... until we start on Scream 3. Oh Jesus. It will never end!

Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14. Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 11 of Scream (0:37:24-0:38:19)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!

SCENE 11
Length: 1min 26secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley, Deputy Dewey, Mrs Riley, Cotton Weary (Liev Shreiber)
Pop Culture References:

• None
  

Oh look, an American flag! Worth mentioning is that this scene brings us to the Scream franchise's theme song of sorts in Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" having appeared in all three films of the trilogy. Will it be in Scream 4?


This shot reminds me of why I kinda became obsessed with the USA in the first place. My first real memory of truly wondering "what is this country and why is my country so different?" came through music videos like those for - and I'm not joking - Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" and Julian Lennon's "Saltwater" (ignore the music during the latter since YouTube rules the song and the video can't go together for some reason, blerg). I used to love reading atlases and books about geography and as I read more about America - most of my favourite musicians being from there and all, I was a music fiend before a cinema fiend - I fell in love. Something about how their nature looked so much different to our nature. As I started to watch movies and seeing things like skyscrapers, which living in a town like Geelong I had never seen before, and wondering why Australia was so different.

I've been to America twice now and am planning a third visit (which won't eventuate for a good 2 years or so) and it is this third visit where I intend to finally see some of this part of America. The stuff I was originally so hooked on. I'm sure it can't possibly live up to the nostalgic memories I hold, but I'm willing to take the risk.

So, yes, this shot reminded me of all that. Vividly. Australian towns just don't look like that when I was growing up. Well, not Victorian ones, anyway. Don't get me wrong, growing up here had its own beauty, but much like FBI Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks and his obsessed with Douglas Furs I guess I'm in love with this sort of imagery that Australia just doesn't have. Scream was filmed in Santa Rosa, California, so maybe I should mark that down as somewhere I need to visit. Experience it for myself and soak it all in. It is fascinating that I can drum up so much from one simple shot, to think that as a kid I used to wish I could live in one of these sort of American towns with the two story house (always with the two story houses, you Americans!) and parks that look like Yosemite. I'm sure if I saw these places in person they'd look much the same to what we have here, but I guess old memories die hard and it's why I will always have that yearning for this kind of stuff.


Firstly, I love that Dewey still lives at home. Secondly, don't "Corn Chex" sound like a disgusting cereal? Thirdly, this is Tatum's third hairstyle of the movie. First she had her normal hair with nothing done to it, then she had a ponytail and now plaits. Adorable.


One night as I was watching the Golden Globe Awards with my mother and brother I said I was cheering for Liev Shreiber to win the award for his performance as Orson Welles in RKO 281. My brother shot me down saying I only wanted him to win because "he was in Scream" and my brother was right. That's the hold that his trilogy had on me for a good long while. I do like seeing Shreiber these days having so much success knowing that the first two Scream movies were pivotal moments in his early career.


"We're checking every cellular accounts in the county. Any calls made to you or Casey Becker are being cross-referenced. It's gonna take some time but we'll find him."
The telephone lingo in Scream is often hilarious. So dated!!


A light, consoling punch by my gal Tatum! I want a light, consoling punch from Tatum. ME!

Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10