[7] Judi Dench plays a cranky old teacher who befriends a new, younger teacher played by Cate Blanchett. Blanchett quickly confides in the older woman and thinks she’s made a new friend. But Dench’s aims are more sinister than that. After Dench catches Blanchett in an extra-marital affair with an underaged student, she uses the knowledge to emotionally manipulate Blanchett. As Blanchett enters crisis mode, …
[2] This is the worst adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma I’ve seen, with Gwyneth Paltrow’s middling 1996 version coming in ahead, and Amy Heckerling’s Clueless easily taking the crown. This newest incarnation is directed by Autumn de Wilde, a first-time feature director with a string of music videos in her filmography. But don’t expect any visual or aural panache on that account. This Emma suffers …
[8] A bunch of British people fall in love, out of love, and do lovey-dovey things in the month leading up to Christmas. Now, if you’re like me, that’s a description that will keep you from ever wanting to watch Love Actually. But since a hundred different people have insisted I watch it over the last fifteen years since it was released, I finally gave …
[6] Director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) takes us once more to the Marigold well, reuniting all the original cast members and throwing Richard Gere into the mix. Gere plays a mysterious American who may or may not be a financial inspector whose opinion could make or break the Marigold’s franchising to a second location. Judi Dench’s character is offered a new career, all while …
[7] John Madden, the director of Shakespeare in Love, serves up an adaptation of Debora Moggach’s novel about an eclectic group of aging Brits who manage to turn their lives around for the better at a rundown hotel in India. I couldn’t argue with anyone claiming this movie is a pandering, formulaic feel-good dramedy — it is. But when you have the likes of Judi …
[6] Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, The Usual Suspects director and screenwriter, reunite for this true story of German officers conspiring from behind Nazi lines to kill Hitler. Tom Cruise doesn’t quite disappear into the role of real-life renegade Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, but the stellar supporting cast includes Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, and Eddie Izzard. The true story is a …
[6] A British diplomat in Kenya tries to solve the mystery of his activist wife’s murder, only to get in over his head with the culprits — a pharmaceutical company that is intentionally poisoning and killing people. The first third of the film belongs to Rachel Weisz, who plays the deceased wife in a series of flashbacks. Weisz took home the Oscar for best supporting …
[5] They were re-writing the script for Jack the Giant Slayer while they shot the movie, and it shows. It’s a bit of a hot mess. I’m a fan of director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men) and I’m down to watch Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Warm Bodies) carry a film, but the film never hooked me. The only character who musters any emotional …
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