Victoria and Abdul and A Mountain Between

Movies this past week were somewhat a snooze, with Judi Dench commanding the screen in Victoria and Abdul in the same performance she has given previously in her recent films. She is being typecast, so it's not her fault that all of her roles are the same from film to film, but I would have loved to have seen this role be a bit more interesting, more dynamic, and a whole lot less predictable. In a couple of places, I said the lines as she was saying them -- and I didn't write the screen script.

I give this film a C as it's pretty much not good enough for an A or B, and not bad enough for a D or Fail.

A Mountain Between is a story of a plane crash in the deeply snowy mountains which is survived by a man and a woman, and a dog, who then have to find either a way to be rescued (not going to happen) or a way to save themselves, which seems highly improbable. However, being a movie, they do get down the mountain and save themselves -- oh, did I just give away the movie? Really not really because it's that predictable. The acting is pretty good in the film, and the dog has a starring role and provides a bit of both comic relief and a moment of sheer terror, followed by heroism.

I almost want to give this film a C+ as it's better overall than just average, but not really outstanding as it's too predictable. Even the ending, which you'll see coming a mile away.

If your theatre has a discount ticket price, I'd go for the least expensive showing as it would seem really not worth it if you paid full prime ticket sales amounts.