Jim Broadbent

[6] Maggie Smith headlines this true story adapted from a stage play by Alan Bennett, about a homeless woman who parks her van in a single, gay man’s driveway and stays for fifteen years. Smith reliably carries the film, but The Lady in the Van misses a lot of opportunities to deepen its characters. A mystery is set up around Smith’s character, but instead of …

[6] Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent star in this true but tragic love story about lovers of 40 years who are torn apart by Alzheimer’s Disease. Dench is portraying novelist Iris Murdoch, a lover of language who begins losing her ability to communicate, becoming more and more lost in her own inner world. Broadbent plays her devoted husband, desperately trying to understand her and keep …

[5] This belated sequel gets by, for the most part, on good will and fond memories of the previous three installments. It’s light on memorable action scenes and heavy on silliness (the CGI mokeys and gophers are really, really hard to shake). What I really wanted were more special moments between Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. I mean, who didn’t always want to see Indy …

[8] Martin Scorsese unleashes this epic tale of 1860s New York City street battles, with Leonardo DiCaprio starring as a young man with a vendetta against the near legendary Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis). See, DiCaprio’s character saw Day-Lewis’s character kill his father in the big opening battle scene, and then DiCaprio’s character goes away for a while. Once he’s of age, he comes back …

[8] This 2002 classic, period-piece rendition of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby is sweet, sentimental, and beautifully executed. I personally found it irresistible. Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim) is perfectly cast as Nicholas, a young man who discovers his own strength of character when called upon to defend his family and friends from villainy. The main villain is his own uncle, played deliciously by …