SAVING MR. BANKS (Rated PG-13)

Tom Hanks can do just about anything. He’s convincing whether stranded on an island with a volleyball as his only companion, or playing a real life character like Captain Phillips facing off against marauding Somali pirates.

Playing the part of Walt Disney as the avuncular head of a major studio would be a challenge for anyone. But Hanks is more than up to the task in “Saving Mr. Banks,” a factually based account of the making of “Mary Poppins.”

One should not be fooled into believing that the story of how Walt Disney courted prickly author P.L. Travers into letting him option the rights to Mary Poppins to bring the beloved character to the big screen is geared to a younger audience.

This is not to say that “Saving Mr. Banks” is an unwholesome film not in keeping with the great Disney tradition.

The audience needs to be aware that this is not some sort of fairytale, but rather a warts-and-all look at troubling aspects of an author’s upbringing and the clash of strong willed people trying to make a film.

For 20 years, Disney wanted to secure the rights to turn “Mary Poppins” into a musical starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, resulting in a film that was to become one of the classics in the Walt Disney Studio’s cinematic canon.

Author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), or Mrs. Travers as she preferred to be called and apparently wished to avoid knowing most everyone on a first-name basis, is a tightly-wound sourpuss, who reluctantly agrees to spend two weeks in Los Angeles in 1961.

Persuaded by her London financial advisor to consider Disney’s offer, Mrs. Travers journeys to the strange land of California, seemingly immune to pleasant weather and the sunny optimism of the locals.

Paul Giamatti, serving as her chauffeur, has a great small part in chipping away at Mrs. Travers’ hard-shelled facade.

Checking into the swank Beverly Hills Hotel, Mrs. Travers is overwhelmed with countless gift baskets and stuffed Disney character animals. She dispatches an oversized Mickey Mouse to sit facing the wall with an admonition to achieve a more subtle approach.

Things get more interesting when Mrs. Travers makes her first visit to the Disney Studio lot in Burbank, where she meets up with the creative team that would produce the film version of “Mary Poppins” if only the thorny British author would consent to an agreement.

Walt Disney is highly motivated to obtain the film rights if for no other reason than to honor a promise to his daughters that he would bring their favorite fictional nanny to the big screen, complete with musical numbers and flourishes of animated enhancements.

Despite the charm offensive launched by the smiling Walt Disney, Mrs. Travers is resolute in her opposition to certain things, such as the use of the color red and inserting animated penguins into a dance sequence with Dick Van Dyke, an actor she rejected as unsuitable for Julie Andrews.

Befitting her permanent scowl and trying disposition, Mrs. Travers strikes fear into the hearts of head writer Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford) and the composing duo of the Sherman brothers, Robert and Richard (B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman, respectively).

Though humorless and frosty by nature, Mrs. Travers, looking very much the part of an uptight British matron, delivers a constant stream of witty put-downs and clever one-liners while tormenting the Disney creative team with her dry observations and cultural objections to tinkering with the idealized version of the super nanny.

Flashbacks to Mrs. Travers’ childhood in the Australian outback in 1906, when she was known as Helen Goff, help to explain over a period of time the reason she is so relentlessly protective of the governess with whom she had a personal connection.

There’s sadness and sorrow in Travers’ early years, as she’s devoted to her loving father (Colin Farrell), an alcoholic struggling to hold his bank job as well as his sanity. Meanwhile, her distant and aloof mother offers little solace.

Eventually, recalling his own farm boy roots, Disney is able to connect with Travers’ troubled upbringing, forging a shaky bond. This works better than the trip to Disneyland, where Travers looks like a prisoner of war forced to endure loathsome indignities.

For all his effective depiction of an iconic figure, Tom Hanks really takes a back seat to Emma Thompson, who is not only brilliant as the fearsome, surly inspired writer but garners the lion’s share of the best dialogue.

“Saving Mr. Banks” is superior as an entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the film industry. A great cast proved absolutely essential to delivering the exceptional product. A spoonful of sugar wasn’t needed to make this entertainment go down smoothly.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

Here’s a vivid portrayal of one of those school events to which parents are summoned and to which they go both dutifully and with love. The poet, Maryann Corbett, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Holiday Concert

Forgive us. We have dragged them into the night
in taffeta dresses, in stiff collars and ties,
with the wind damp, the sleet raking their cheeks,

to school lunchrooms fitted with makeshift stages
where we will sit under bad fluorescent lighting
on folding chairs, and they will sing and play.

We will watch the first grader with little cymbals,
bending her knees, hunched in concentration
while neighbors snicker at her ardent face.

Forgive us. We will hear the seventh-grade boy
as his voice finally loses its innocence
forever, at the unbearable solo moment

and know that now, for years, he will wince at the thought
of singing, yet will ache to sing, in silence,
silence even to the generation to come

with its night, its sleet, its hideous lunchroom chairs.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2013 by Maryann Corbett, from her most recent book of poems, Credo for the Checkout Line in Winter, Able Muse Press, 2013. Poem reprinted by permission of Maryann Corbett and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A full house greeted the 60 members of the Lake County Symphony Orchestra at its annual Christmas Concert held Sunday, Dec. 15, at Lakeport’s Soper-Reese Community Theatre.

It was a high point for the orchestra, which is winning acclaim as one of the best of its kind in Northern California.

Presented by the Lake County Symphony Association, which has recently changed its name from Clear Lake Performing Arts, the program featured a wide range of holiday favorites both secular and religious.

The young members of the Symphony Youth Orchestra, led by conductor Susan Condit, led off with themes from “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi, and a contemporary number called “Bobsled Run” written by Lloyd Conley. The group won applause for their skillful playing of the two difficult pieces.

The scene was set for the main program by the local vocal group “My Divas,” although they rounded out their number with a couple of male vocalists, singing the popular Burl Ives “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas,” accompanied by the audience.

The symphony’s Music Director and Conductor John Parkinson then took the podium to lead his musicians through a tune written by Chip Davis entitled “Fanfare on Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” which he had arranged for the orchestra.

This was followed by a half-dozen popular Christmas numbers including such favorites as “Winter Wonderland,” “Frosty the Snowman” and Victor Herbert’s “March of the Toys.”

Following intermission, where a large selection of home-baked cookies were served by the women of the Symphony Association Auxiliary, Parkinson took the occasion to present scholarship certificates to Youth Orchestra members Clayton Rudiger and Max Lehman.

He then introduced Hidden Valley Lake’s singing sensation Shelly Mascari, who delivered another six popular numbers arranged by John Parkinson, including Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time is Here,” Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” and Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song.”

She concluded with a sultry and sexy delivery of “Santa Baby” written by Joan Javits and Phil and Terry Springer.

Four songs of faith formed a sing-along medley with the audience joining “My Divas” in singing “Joy to the World,” “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Silent Night.”

Then all orchestra members donned Santa hats to play Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.” Parkinson sported a version that was royal purple in color.

As has become a tradition, the program ended with the audience joining in singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” from George Handel’s “The Messiah.”

At its conclusion the concert was awarded with continuing applause from an audience reluctant to leave its seats after hearing what many believed to be one of the best concerts ever presented by the Lake County Symphony.

This was the 36th Symphony Christmas Program and if attendance is a measure, it appears to have been the most popular yet.

According to Andi Skelton, who doubles as orchestra Concertmaster and Chair of Youth Music Activities for the Symphony Association, the open rehearsal held Sunday morning was also a near sellout.

The rehearsal is offered free of charge to anyone under the age of 18, and others are charged only five dollars admission.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Be prepared to be delighted at the new show of work from People Services in the Linda Carpenter Student Gallery at the Jan. 3 First Friday Fling at the Lake County Arts Council's Main Street Gallery.

The event will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

An “encore” showing of the work of artists who showed for at least three months in 2013 in the Main Street Gallery will prove to be an eclectic event.

Adding to the evening's festivities will be the talented Mel Taylor on keyboard and Moore Family Winery will pour their wines.

Join the Lake County Arts Council, and meet the artists and other art lovers as they welcome in 2 014.

The Main Street Gallery is located at 325 N. Main St. in Lakeport.

For more information, contact the gallery at 707-263-1871.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday, Dec. 31, the Soper-Reese Community Theatre will celebrate New Year's Eve featuring The Funky Dozen.

The theater invites you to join them with your friends and families to enjoy the holiday season to dance, sing and bring in the new year.

Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 for loge seating, and $50 for table seating.

Tickets are available at The Travel Center in the Shoreline Shopping Center, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the theatre box office on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and two hours before show time on the day of any event.

Tickets also can be purchased online at www.soperreesetheatre.com .

Other coming events at the Soper Reese Theatre:

• Lake County Live: Live two-hour radio special with Majide on KPFZ, 88.1 FM, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 29.
• Second Tuesday Classic Movies: “Casablanca,” Jan. 14, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Third Friday Live: Featuring Bill Noteman and the Rockets, Jan. 17, 7 p.m.

For all the latest in information, tickets and more visit www.soperreesetheatre.com .

AMERICAN HUSTLE (Rated R)

Readers of this column may be expecting a review of “The Hobbit,” one of the major holiday film releases. Regrettably, a screening opportunity was either not available in time or Warner Bros. felt no great need to promote a sure thing box office hit.

In any case, it’s all for the better because due to my insufficient “Lord of the Rings” knowledge I really wouldn’t know the difference between Bilbo Baggins and the infamous Senator Theodore Bilbo (check out his sordid, checkered career online).

In a pivot away from medieval fantasy, David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” rooted in the corruption of the late 1970s Abscam scandal, plays out as a fantasy of a different sort in a chaotic world full of con artists and hustlers vying for an edge.

The FBI sting operation that took down various politicians during the post-Watergate Jimmy Carter era seems too ripe for parody, considering that a fake sheik was used to entice the corruptible into accepting bribes in exchange for political favors.

At the film’s opening, a tag line reading “Some of this actually happened” is a tipoff to the playful subversive nature of director Russell conflating actual events and fictionalized accounts that are so fanciful that the shadowy world of undercover operations reeks of ambiguous morality.

Christian Bale is outstanding as hustler Irving Rosenfeld, the Bronx-born owner of a chain of dry cleaning shops who dabbles in phony bank loan schemes that appeal to incredibly gullible or desperate victims.

Overweight and balding (which is ridiculously concealed with a hairpiece that looks like roadkill), Irving’s unvarnished confidence charms the sexy Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), a New Mexico native who passes herself off as Lady Edith Greensly, with banking connections in London.

Fast becoming soul mates in crime, Irving and Sydney team up for more elaborate con jobs to separate the unwitting from their cash. Before long, the duo’s partnership becomes a full-blown love affair, apart from the fact that Irving has a wife and adopted son residing in Long Island.

Too eager to close a fake loan deal one day, Irving and Sydney get tripped up by the wily FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooer sporting a perm and dressed like he came straight out of “Saturday Night Fever”), who offers them a questionable deal to avoid jail time.

Bucking for a promotion and looking for a big takedown, Richie thinks that Irving and Sydney would fit nicely into his sting operation that does not exactly meet with the approval of his superior (comedian Louis C.K., amusing as the bumbling bureaucrat type).

Richie is the type of rogue agent who may have the right motives but seems to be out-of-control. As such, he’s the perfect guy to work with other con artists. You get the feeling that Richie could easily work the other side of the street.

The beauty of the high stakes caper in “American Hustle” is the unpredictable nature of the parties involved. On either side of the law, it’s hard to tell where to draw the line between those being conned and the ones doing the manipulation.

Though big fish like a U.S. Senator and several congressmen are ultimate targets, the sting operation centers first on charismatic New Jersey mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), whose motives appear altruistic when he seeks funding for an Atlantic City casino.

Mayor Polito, though not adverse to a little piece of the pie, really wants to generate jobs and income for a blighted area of the state. Unfortunately, he gets ensnared in a scheme of easy bribes and bad choices.

Helping to weave the web of deceit, a Mexican-American FBI agent (Michael Pena) poses as an Arab sheik, his handlers convinced his darker skin allows him to impersonate a Middle Eastern investor. This is just one of many comical situations.

Robert De Niro shows up as a lieutenant for Meyer Lansky and the Miami Beach mafia, anxious to tap into the potential lucrative business of a legitimate casino, as long as the palms of politicos can get greased to expedite permits and licenses.

As the scamming of crime lords and politicians gets ratcheted up, Irving’s alcoholic, loose cannon wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), her hair swept like a hornet’s nest, enters the fray, manipulating Irving and one of the mafia goons out of Florida.

Speaking of scheming behavior, Sydney (or I should Lady Edith) is also busy manipulating Richie into an emotional tailspin, convincing him that she’s ready to ditch Irving. Nothing is as it seems.

“American Hustle” is a delightful merry-go-round of con jobs and schemes, leading to plenty of unhinged behavior with deliciously comic outcomes. Director David O. Russell has come up with a story where the fiction is even stranger, and certainly funnier, than the truth.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.