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Iron Lady - what were they thinking?

Deckerd

Deckerd

Fleet Arse
Premium Member
Cinemas in Scotland are showing The Iron Lady at multiple viewing times because they haven't actually given any thought to this beyond it being a Hollywood blockbuster.

A straw poll amongst office workers and friends revealed in my circle of acquaintance at least that nobody in their right mind would pay good money to go and watch a feelgood biopic about that fucking bastard.
 
But it's got Meryl Streep in it, and it's by the director of Mamma Mia. Surefire hit if ever there was one.

Now if it was a feel good film about someone dancing a merry jig on her grave, there's a blockbuster hit round these parts. But you know what... I'll likely see it (I won't be paying) just so I can hate it with every ounce of my soul, and hate myself for seeing it.
 
I can't see it doing good business anywhere much in the UK, outside the City of London, maybe.

Of course, being a biopic about a British old woman, our local one-screen fleapit have decided it's perfect for them (chick-flicks for the blue-rinse crowd are their thing) and are getting it instead of Puss In Boots - which I really fucking wanted to see!

At least they've got Sherlock Holmes 2 this week...
 
Skutter Claws said:
But it's got Meryl Streep in it, and it's by the director of Mamma Mia. Surefire hit if ever there was one.

Now if it was a feel good film about someone dancing a merry jig on her grave, there's a blockbuster hit round these parts. But you know what... I'll likely see it (I won't be paying) just so I can hate it with every ounce of my soul, and hate myself for seeing it.
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I believe that the 3D version actually does feature someone dancing a jig on her grave during the end credits.
 
Lonemagpie said:
I can't see it doing good business anywhere much in the UK, outside the City of London, maybe.

Of course, being a biopic about a British old woman, our local one-screen fleapit have decided it's perfect for them (chick-flicks for the blue-rinse crowd are their thing) and are getting it instead of Puss In Boots - which I really fucking wanted to see!

At least they've got Sherlock Holmes 2 this week...
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Puss in Boots isn't really worth it. It's not terrible or owt but not really worth shelling out so see it.
 
I don't know. I'm quite looking forward to seeing it in some ways. I'll be looking out for the scene where they bus loads of working class people in and make them lie down in the gardens of number 10 so Thatch can trample on them. (At least I assume that scene will be there - I'm pretty sure it happened in real life...)
 
I'll wait for the American remake where Thatcher builds a high-tech suit of armour and flies to the Falklands to take on the Argentinians , led by Mickey Rourke.

Geoffory Howe will be played by Don Cheadle, reprising his awful accent from OCEAN'S ELEVEN, and Powers Boothe as Denis Thatcher, a raving alcoholic who struggles with being married to the female saviour of the free world.
 
As I understand it, it's supposed to be Oscar Bait anyway, so it doesn't matter if people actually see it.
 
Jinglebell JaRock said:
As I understand it, it's supposed to be Oscar Bait anyway, so it doesn't matter if people actually see it.
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I was about to post that. This is just another in a long line of films - like Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Crash, etc - that is basically released as a lost leader at this point under the assumption it'll be nominated for at least one Oscar, in this case Best Actress (there's apparently a law now that mandates automatic Oscar nominations for any dramas Streep makes) and maybe a few others if the film is actually, you know, good. (Thatcher may not be very popular in the UK these days, but no one outside the UK cares anymore; see that in Canada all the time - in Alberta onetime Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is still treated as the Antichrist, but outside Alberta he's just a dead prime minister. Same thing with Thatcher and the UK/outside the UK except for the dead part.) Then the film will either get re-released or receive a speedy DVD/Blu-ray issue and make its money that way. Ref. Slumdog Millionaire.

The sad part is that out-of-the-gate "non-blockbuster" successes like The Help are pretty rare these days, so faced with competition from 3-D and people who are only interested in seeing things like Mission Impossible on the big screen, being Oscar bait is pretty much the only way these films have a chance of getting into the black.

Alex
 
Disruptor said:
I'll wait for the American remake where Thatcher builds a high-tech suit of armour and flies to the Falklands to take on the Argentinians , led by Mickey Rourke.

Geoffory Howe will be played by Don Cheadle, reprising his awful accent from OCEAN'S ELEVEN, and Powers Boothe as Denis Thatcher, a raving alcoholic who struggles with being married to the female saviour of the free world.
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They could make it a bigger budget sequel to Churchill: The Hollywood Years.
 
23skidoo said:
and maybe a few others if the film is actually, you know, good. (Thatcher may not be very popular in the UK these days, but no one outside the UK cares anymore;
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Actually, I did also mean to post that just because the subject of a film is an unpopular person doesn't mean the film must be rubbish and/or offensive. It could well be good drama - c.f Hitler in Downfall, Idi Amin in Last King Of Scotland, etc...

Unfortunately, even on those grounds I suspect it'll be utterly boring, so still have no intention of seeing it!
 
They were fine because the subjects of the films were dead. I saw an interview with Meryl Streep where she was talking about the fact the film comes up to present day and depicts an old widow. From what I gather it doesn't depict someone with advanced Alzheimer's.
 
Mark Kermode says It's a film that has exactly as much political insight as you'd expect from the director of Mamma Mia, so I think that's our answer right there. But he is an old Trot.
 
23skidoo said:
in this case Best Actress (there's apparently a law now that mandates automatic Oscar nominations for any dramas Streep makes)
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It's also about a British person, which helps too.

and maybe a few others if the film is actually, you know, good. (Thatcher may not be very popular in the UK these days, but no one outside the UK cares anymore; see that in Canada all the time - in Alberta onetime Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is still treated as the Antichrist, but outside Alberta he's just a dead prime minister. Same thing with Thatcher and the UK/outside the UK except for the dead part.)
Click to expand...

I only read one review. Their critique was that it was too broad and unfocused. Basically, most good biopics tend to focus on a defining event of a character. This one just attempts to cover her entire life, more or less. It would have made more sense to cover something like the Falkland's Crisis than her entire career.
 
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