Tea With the Dames

Today I saw Tea With the Dames, starring four British Dames.

Four women have been friends for decades and regularly get together in the English countryside for tea and conversation. It's only an afterthought that all of these individuals happen to be official Dames. Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Eileen Atkins and Dame Joan Plowright (who is also a Lady as a result of her marriage to Sir Laurence Olivier), to be exact.

Four women who are all stars of the stage and screen. Four women who have worked together, competed for roles and raised their families alongside one another. To say that their conversations are interesting would be an understatement. Though they may struggle with hearing at times, and Joan has lost much of her eyesight, they are as sharp (and hilarious) as ever.

The filmmakers did a lovely job of splicing in clips of the theater performances, films and television shows that they discuss, as well as footage of them with their husbands, families and each other over time. It's like watching a living scrapbook, complete with narration by its subjects. 

I'm familiar with much of the work of these wonderful ladies, but I had no idea how personally intertwined they all are and am happy knowing that they've had other similar women to lean on all these years.

If you're in the mood for something light yet sentimental, give this a go. You'll leave the theater smiling.

~~~

Victoria & Abdul

Today I saw Victoria & Abdul, starring Dame Judi Dench and Ali Fazal.

Queen Victoria (Dench) made friends with one of her Indian servants, Abdul Karim (Fazal) toward the end of her life and ruffled many feathers in her household.

The film is based on a true story, though the disclaimer at the beginning admits it gets it "mostly" right. Knowing that, I decided just to sit back and enjoy the ride, and I very much did.

Dame Judi Dench, who has played this queen before, has her down pat. Based on how the history books describe the legendary Victoria, she exemplifies the best and worst of her without making her a caricature. Ali Fazal in the role of Abdul is handsome and likable, though probably not quite as arrogant as the real man was.

Their chemistry was real and their pairing unlikely, but the two developed a genuine kinship that so annoyed her family and staff that they burned all of her letters to him upon her passing. What survived was Karim's diary, which was passed down in his family and only revealed to the public in 2010.

Though the content is indisputably light, the story has darker tones of racism and class divisions that absolutely contributed to the controversy surrounding their friendship.

What a shame that so many years later, we still have similar issues.

~~~

Murder on the Orient Express

On Tuesday, I saw Murder on the Orient Express, starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer.

A story that has survived since Agatha Christie's book of the same name was published in 1934, this Murder may have been better off left in the past. With an all-star cast and a star director (Kenneth Branagh), it was almost doomed to fail. And unfortunately, fail it did.

The mystique and character of a Christie novel is admittedly hard to bring to life, but you'd think with such a talented bunch it would happen. It didn't.

Instead of truly "wondering" who committed this heinous act on a glamorous train filled with people of status, the audience spends time hoping something—the train, the plot, the dialogue—will speed up. The quiet, slow pace isn't suspense-building (as it may have been intended); instead it's nerve-wracking.

The cinematography is beautiful, and the actors do their parts well, of course. It just wasn't enough to save it (or the victim) in the end.

~~~

Skyfall

Tonight I saw Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem.

What a fun ride!

I'll confess that I haven't loved the entire library of Bond movies—and the last one left a lot to be desired—but this one brought me back.

The opening scene is nothing if not exhilarating, with 007 (Craig) jumping trains and operating heavy equipment (yep) to bring down his first enemy of the chase.

Behind the scenes, M (Dame Judi Dench) is calling the shots, and unfortunately not calling them too well. There are moments of worry that the entire film may turn into one long funeral, but of course that's not the case. Bond is back, after all.

And even as wonderful as the two of them are, nothing injects the story with more pizazz than the appearance of villain Silva (Bardem), who appears to relish in the art of revenge.

Bardem is in fact so good in this role, it sort of makes me wish he could just pop in to every movie and "be the bad guy" because he brings his characters to life with such dimension. We fear him, we loathe him and we can't take our eyes off of him.

He's sadistic here, but also sad—showing traces of the time when he was once on the right side of the action. That said, our threshold for tolerating gratuitous violence may be exhausted several times as we anticipate the good triumphing over evil.

Aside from the excessive guns and explosions (it is, after all, a spy film), this story twists and turns with sexy scenes and fast-paced thrills that never disappoint.

The running time of almost three hours just flies by.

~~~

Nine

Today I saw Nine, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and a slew of women.

Director Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He believes this is because he is about to make another film, but really it's because he can't successfully manage his addiction to women.

We meet each of the ladies in his life through a series of musical numbers and brief encounters with him. His mistress (Penelope Cruz) gets the most screen time.

Really, there's not much of a story here and therein lies the problem. A famous, handsome director is approaching a state of nervous breakdown because he has it all and "all" turns out to be too much.

His wife Louisa (Marion Cotillard), aside from being beautiful, does nothing to convince us that he wouldn't get bored being married to her. She's alternately obedient and disobedient, then finally unwilling to look the other way at her husband's transgressions. He probably truly loves her, but then again, he probably truly loves all of them.

A consistent ear for him comes in the form of Lilli (Dame Judi Dench), a wise costume designer that sees not only his aesthetic vision, but also his wandering eye. She provides a motherly like counsel for him while his real mother (Sophia Loren) appears to be paraded out into numbers just so we can marvel at how beautiful she still is.

In the not-sure-why-they're-even-there department we find a Vogue writer named Stephanie (Kate Hudson) who offers possibly the best dance sequence, though shows no evidence beyond physical attraction that she has a connection with Guido. There's also a very random number with the voluptuous Saraghina (Fergie), an apparent beach recluse who enabled the younger Guido to learn about women. She's easily the best singer of the bunch (no surprise there), but her performance feels underutilized because she barely moves from her dancing chair.

Also on screen is the director's muse, Claudia (Nicole Kidman) who serves as nothing more than a reminder that Guido likes beautiful women. Hey, guess what? We already knew that.

His most believable and developed relationship is with his mistress Carla, who truly loves him despite her own marriage. He treats her as men typically treat their mistresses: hiding her away and orchestrating her every move, then forgetting about her once he's had his fill of the sex and adoration only a good mistress can provide. And yes, there are always consequences for all involved.

The shame about this movie is the amount of Oscar® caliber talent that shares the screen, but with the exception of Day-Lewis, doesn't get to prove it. He is amazing in whatever he does and this role is no different—in fact, the most delightful thing about Nine is finally seeing him act as a somewhat traditional leading man. He's sexy, he's well-dressed, he hasn't killed anyone (that we know of) and good God, he even sings!

But it's not enough to make up for this pieced-together series of vignettes that are too weak to amount to a quality musical.

Notes on a Scandal

Yesterday I saw the thriller Notes on a Scandal, starring Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.

I was left with mixed emotions.

The story centers around Sheba (Blanchett), who has spent ten years caring for her family—specifically her son with Down's Syndrome—and finds herself ready to branch out and start a career. As a result, she becomes a somewhat scattered art teacher at a high school. A veteran instructor, Barbara (Dench), who lacks companions of her own, quickly befriends Sheba and keeps a detailed diary of their friendship.

As the story progresses, Sheba gets caught having an affair with one of her students by Barbara, who then blackmails Sheba for attention in return for her secrecy.

Dench is apparently a lesbian who is attracted to the younger teacher with a questionable past that only unfolds near the end of the film.

The pace of the movie is great—everything happens quickly and believably, as it would in real-life. The performances are flawless (even the supporting cast is great) and the ending is fine.

The main problems I had with it were the dialogue (wait until you see Sheba scream "Here I am!" in one of the key scenes near the end) and the intrusive score, which often drowned out the cheesy dialogue. Oh wait—maybe the score was good after all.

Anyway—I'd be lying if I didn't say I was entertained during this one. It's a fun, if not predictable ride.

And with Mirren and Winslet all but confirmed for Oscar nods, Dench just may make the Best Actress race a three-way Battle of the Brits with her performance here.