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• Title: Mary Poppins
• IMDB: link

Released for the film’s 50th Anniversary, which also coincides with Disney’s new drama Saving Mr. Banks re-telling the making of the film, Mary Poppins returns to home video in this new Blu-ray. Based on the series of children’s books written by P. L. Travers, the movie stars Julie Andrews (who took home an Oscar for her title role) as the new governess for the Banks household.

With magic, music, a stern (yet loving hand), wild adventures, and a spoonful of sugar, Mary Poppins will make everything shipshape not only for young Michael (Matthew Garber) and Jane (Karen Dotrice) but also for their tightly-wound father (David Tomlinson) as well.

Although Travers was less than pleased with the result, Mary Poppins is arguably Disney’s most successful live-action film earning 13 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture).

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• Title: The Grandmaster
• IMDB: link

The Grandmaster follows the life of Ip Man (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), who the film suggests may have been the greatest Chinese martial artist of his generation. From an early challenge from a Northern Chinese Grandmaster (Qingxiang Wang) through teaching in his own school in Hong Kong decades later to pass on his teaching to the next generation (including a young Bruce Lee), the script by director Kar Wai Wong and fellow screenwriters Jingzhi Zou and Haofeng Xu examines the major events and relationships of Ip Man’s life.

There are three different cuts of the film in existence. Sadly neither this Blu-ray nor DVD release include the original cut of the film released in Asia (which earned more critical acclaim than the versions made for U.S. audiences). As I haven’t seen the original cut I can’t compare the two, but I will note that some of the editing in this version, especially for the kind of philosophical and slow wide-sweeping tale the film strives to be, at times seems rushed and a bit muddled.

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