Tag: Stephen Frears

Dench shines in an uneven ‘Victoria and Abdul’

Jeff Mitchell

“Victoria and Abdul” – In 1887, Abdul Karim’s (Ali Fazal) life dramatically changed.  A British officer selects him to present a coin to Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) at Buckingham Palace.  Along with another local from Agra, India – Mohammed (Adeel Akhtar) – Abdul sets sail for England for a ceremonial event, which seems like an awfully long journey for just a three-minute role during a royal dinner, but when in Rome….err, London. While on the palace grounds, a few officials specifically instruct the two newcomers to avoid looking into the…

Five wonderful, lead female performances on Netflix

Jeff Mitchell

Netflix provides a truly remarkable convenience to its millions of subscribers, with thousands of movie choices available at a simple click of a button.  At the same time, so many film possibilities can create a conundrum:  Which movie to choose?   When an evening hinges on the quality of your movie experience, it is not a decision to be taken lightly. Art House Film Wire searched through hundreds of movies and found scores and scores of terrific films.  There are lots of movies with wonderful female performances, but here are five. Judy…