Final quick succession post in preparation for my new Celebrity Interview series “11 Questions with…” Who’s debut will be TOMORROW, Monday March 5th 2012! The inaugural release is going to be Elm Street 4′s Tuesday Knight! Then we’ve got Action Queen Sybil Danning, Elvira Mistress of the Dark Cassandra Petersen, Oscar winner Lee Grant, Master of Horror John Carpenter and many more coming soon! Be there or be square!

Now onto the bitchy Britishness!

On Monday February 27th 2012 I had a rare day off with little to do besides some errands, and taking care of my Grandfather (who had just had a heart attack the day before), so we decided to use our free time to just have little day out.

First we went to price some piercings for Adam’s facial area. Then we went to the mall and walked around and looked at crap (lovely rainbow colored Hookah is still at Earthbound!) And, then after that we had a horrible sushi and bento lunch at Mura (if you live in or ever visit Raleigh and anyone tells you they serve good food punch them in the face and never listen to them again. The place looks gorgeous, but the food made me want to die.)

Our bellies full to bursting with a bunch of crazy nasty we figured we should hit up the nearby cinema to cleanse our pallet. That, and, we hadn’t been to a “normal” theater in quite some time.
We selected the Daniel Radcliffe starring, New-Hammer produce, remake of the obscure (but quite good) 1989 ghost film “The Woman in Black” for our viewing pleasure (as we enjoy Daniel Radcliffe, I wish to support anything bearing the name of Hammer films AND the original film is one of those movies that COULD stand for a remake, if done well.)

…We should have picked something else.

I wanted to comically make the review one sentence in the “Xanadon’t” vein, like “The Woman in Black? More like This Movie is Crap!” or “The Woman in Black? Should be called The Woman is Whack!” But, as that isn’t REALLY my style and it’s painfully unfunny, I will detail a little bit more about the film Adam has decided is so bad that we never actually watched it.

Essentially the movie is 2 hours of a mopey looking Daniel Radcliffe running around a house being menaced by jump scares and music stings. There is an excessive dearth of dialog and back story. What little plot there is, is just cliché marrow scraped over bare, genre staple bones. The actors do their best, but have nothing to work with. Some of the set design is quite nice and the real physical location of the house is dreamy and far deserving of a place in a better film. Everything else is pure and utter garbage.

Avoid the film at all costs. And, if you’re forced to watch it stick your fingers in your ears, have someone cover your eyes and just keep telling yourself “I can’t wait to see what Emma Watson’s post Harry Potter cinematic failure is going to be. I can’t wait to see what Emma Watson’s post Harry Potter cinematic failure is going to be. I can’t wait to see what Emma Watson’s post Harry Potter cinematic failure is going to be…” Until you pass out from the pain.

Also, my beloved Roger Allam was in the film, in a throw away part, so small he barely even got to chew any scenery.

After getting a lobotomy to remove that celluloid tumor from our collective minds we then continued on with our day off by purchasing a Nintendo 64 and Conker’s Bad Fur Day (yes, be envious.) At this moment we (OBVIOUSLY) decided “we need to go and see The Iron Lady right fucking now!” And, that we did.

We tracked down the sole art house theater in the area showing and plopped ourselves into our seats for 2 hours of Meryl Streep playing a crazy old bitch!

Despite her stance on the gays I’ve always been a fan of Margaret Thatcher as a politician, speaker and historical figure. I’m not much into that world, but when I do dive in, I like headstrong, intelligent, well spoken people of power, who know how to make tough decisions and will fight tooth and nail for what they believe in, whilst still lending the whole affair an air of grace, class and bitchiness. And, that IS Margaret Thatcher. She practically invented that.

The film overall was good and compulsively watchable, if woefully inaccurate in regards to its subject matter. Phyllida Lloyd is much more at home with this sort of movie than say… Mamma Mia and Meryl Streep is much more at home with this sort of part than say… the character she played in Mamma Mia (although the movie would have been 800x better with some ABBA musical numbers.) I especially loved the scenes with dementia addled Thatcher and husband Denis (played with mischievous glee  by the always wonderful Jim Broadbent.) These moments that frame the major plot points of the film and drive it along were touching, funny and sincere (plus, Streep/Thatcher in these scenes reminded me of my grandmother to a degree and that touched my “awww bone.”)

Meryl, as she has time and time again, throws herself into Margaret Thatcher with complete abandon, getting lost in the process (in the best of ways.) Her recent Oscar win for the role was entirely deserved in my opinion. Young, Old or in Between, Streep IS Thatcher in the film and despite the minor flaws the movie has on the whole, she carries it on her more than capable shoulders (and flawless accent) and then some.

Also, was randomly (and pleasantly) surprised to find Roger Allam in the film. Once again in a semi-throwaway role (but a bit meatier than the part in TWIB) as one of Thatcher’s PR people. Hence the title of the article, Unintended Roger Allam Double Feature. See what I did there?

The Woman in Black, 2 out of 10 Screaming Poorly Edited in Ghost Reflections

The Iron Lady, 6 out 10 Moments of Real Life Drama Poorly Inserted into Bad Recreations

---

We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.

---

Trending on BRWC:

---

Cool Posts From Around the Web:

---

---