I'm trying to watch all the major Academy Award nominees before the ceremony in less than two weeks! Saw "Babel" over the weekend and last night I took in "Notes on a Scandal." Judi Dench was just delicious! Last time I saw her on the big screen was as James Bond's boss M and she was so self-assured and attractive. In "Notes," she is CREEPY! A spinster lesbian shcoolteacher who falls in love with Cate Blanchett then blackmails her into being her "friend." Dench's character narrates the thing and I liked that aspect of the film a lot. You see it all from her warped perspective. She is crackers! Blanchett is terrific (although better in 'Babel" I think) and I think you will enjoy the heck outa this one. For anyone who might scoff at Judi Dench getting an Oscar nomination virtually every year it seems, she earns them! She certainly does this year.
Now I just have to find time to see "Letters from Iwo Jima," "Venus," "Little Children," "Volver" and "Pan's Labyrith" and my pre-Oscar research will be complete! I guess this means I'll have to take in "Norbut" AFTER the Oscars...