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Judi Dench
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Home on the Range (2004)
This bouncy Western musical-comedy adventure is long enough on charm, but wisely short and sweet at 76 minutes. It's also totally bereft of innovation...
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Vainly attempts to elevate Riddick into a mythological hero in a political-intrigue contest meant to be
Dune
in an action context, though it's a lot more like
Stargate
in a crap context.
Ladies in Lavender (2005)
Dance allows Dench to overact her lovestruck nervousness...By the time he stages a hay-baling montage, you'll have had enough of this close-but-no-cigar misfire.
Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
The diminished return of the English striptease comedies...neither swanky nor funny enough to entertain, and Sherman's shallow script never earns its melodramatic turns.
Casino Royale (2006)
Everyone's favorite British agent is still good for a punch, a shag, and a quip...
Casino Royale
gives the reborn franchise a second chance to grow up.
Notes on a Scandal (2006)
Note to self: accept no British imports trying to be American trash.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
The 22nd Bond film too often seems like an old friend on the wrong anti-depressant: still the person you love, but the rhythm's off and the precious moments fewer and further between.
Hamlet (1996)
The play widely regarded as the best piece of dramatic literature ever written...[in] the only unexpurgated big-screen version.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
The problem with attempting to replicate the 'magic,' such as it was, of
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
is you get something very close to a replica, minus the novelty.
Jane Eyre (2011)
The slow-boiling romance convinces thanks to Wasikowska and Fassbender's unwavering seriousness and commitment to selling the story.
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Williams is better than the picture, but within the screenplay's constraints, she nails every possible nuance of physical and emotional expression. It's dazzling work, and reason alone to spend ninety-nine minutes 'with Marilyn.'
J. Edgar (2012)
Despite the odd sharp observation, somehow
J. Edgar
comes off like the Max Fischer Players' production of
Serpico
...
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)
'Eat Gray Love'...the whole enterprise [is] too platitudinous, but with powerhouse actors like Dench, Nighy and Wilkinson, even a critic can agree it's better to be plucky than a sour stick-in-the-mud.
Skyfall (2012)
Playful...the most conspicuously repeated word is 'game,' the most dangerous of which Bond typically is, pursues, or plays.
Philomena (2013)
Though Coogan's the avowed funnyman, twinkly-eyed Dench makes beautiful comic music with him...and though Dame Judi's the classically trained tragedian, Coogan holds his own when matters get serious.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
Shows little strain in maintaining its cute factor, thanks to the drily winning personalities of the likes of Smith, Dench, Nighy, and the comic ebullience of Patel.
All Is True (2018)
An elegiac valediction for Shakespeare’s genius...a celebration of the centuries of scholarship that got us here...[and] an ode to parental love, complicated as it is by ego.
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