Iron Lady

Meryl Streep shuffles down a London street wearing a kerchief, a drab beige overcoat and enough prosthetic wrinkles to pass as an octogenarian in the opening scene of her new movie about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "The Iron Lady. " For Streep, shooting the sequence provided a jarring taste of a specific kind of invisibility. "There is no more dismissible figure on the street than an old woman," Streep said over a mid-December lunch with her "Iron Lady" director, Phyllida Lloyd, in a cavernous suite at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

The Iron Lady/Albert Nobbs Available on VOD April 10 Oscar veterans Meryl Streep and Glenn Close squared off in the lead actress category this year, both nominated for roles that saw them radically altering their appearances and voices. Streep won the statuette for "The Iron Lady," a biography of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that skips through decades of the stateswoman's life in breezy flashbacks. Given how controversial Thatcher's administration was — and how much the conservative-liberal divide continues to be a major story around the world — "The Iron Lady" is something of a missed opportunity by director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan, as they take more of a Wikipedia approach to their subject than one that's relevant to today's headlines.

The Iron Lady/Albert Nobbs Available on VOD April 10 Oscar veterans Meryl Streep and Glenn Close squared off in the lead actress category this year, both nominated for roles that saw them radically altering their appearances and voices. Streep won the statuette for "The Iron Lady," a biography of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that skips through decades of the stateswoman's life in breezy flashbacks. Given how controversial Thatcher's administration was — and how much the conservative-liberal divide continues to be a major story around the world — "The Iron Lady" is something of a missed opportunity by director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan, as they take more of a Wikipedia approach to their subject than one that's relevant to today's headlines.

For the second year in a row, Harvey and Bob Weinstein have come away from the Oscars with a cart full of statues. But this year's movies didn't put as much gold into the independent studio's coffers. "The Artist," which won five Oscars, including best picture, has grossed $31.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, and "The Iron Lady" and "My Week With Marilyn" collected $25.7 million and $14.1 million, respectively. Added together, that's less money than the $136 million - $114 million of that before it won its big prize - made by last year's Weinstein Co. best picture winner, "The King's Speech.

A shocked British press continues to dish dirt about the nation's "perpetual prime minister," who, according to the June Vanity Fair, keeps herself spry with "electrical underwater stimulation and Italian mud therapy." One tabloid has changed the Iron Lady's nickname to "Ion Lady," and a member of Parliament has warned countrymen not to experiment with electricity in their own baths. The beauty revelations are actually among the least interesting aspects of the epic, absorbing profile of Margaret Thatcher by Gail Sheehy.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has made a public declaration of love for her husband. "Life with him is marvelous and I adore him," the so-called Iron Lady said of Denis Thatcher, a wealthy businessman who has no government or political role. "I think he is wonderful and I could not do without him." Thatcher's rare and romantic glimpse of domestic life with Denis came in a radio interview Wednesday.

Margaret Thatcher turned 80 with a posh party attended by Queen Elizabeth II and the former British prime minister's successors, John Major and Tony Blair. Although the "Iron Lady" has grown frail after a series of strokes, she looked healthy as she arrived at the party about 15 minutes late -- a delay that an aide attributed to a congratulatory call from President Bush. She paused for photographs before making her way into the plush Mandarin Oriental hotel near London's Hyde Park.

This past week was a lousy one in the political life of Margaret Thatcher--perhaps the worst. Her probity is under attack and in defense of her honor even the Iron Lady appears to wilt, as though she may be losing her grip. She was typed as the Iron Lady in 1979 because of her uncompromising hostility to the Soviet Union. But she liked the label and did her best to live up to it, although the iron showed more clearly in her relations with Argentina. British trade unions felt her metal too.

Churchill's cigar and Chamberlain's umbrella were equally famous, but only Margaret Thatcher's trademark purse produced a verb for the English language: To handbag an opponent is to treat him ruthlessly, as the Iron Lady frequently did. Forget that the former Conservative prime minister's handbag often inspired fear. With a little luck it should provide a windfall for a private British charity when it goes on the auction block next week.

Worldwide reaction to Margaret Thatcher's resignation reflected admiration for her fierce determination and stunning achievements. Even her foes tempered scorn with praise for a formidable adversary. In resignation, as at the peak of her powers, the British prime minister left nobody speechless. The "Iron Lady" has long been described as stubborn, exasperating and often amusing, but never boring.

A funny thing happened whenever I set out to see Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady.” I'd invite one of my moviegoing pals to join me and then find myself later that evening at “Shame,” “My Week With Marilyn” or the glorious “Pina.” The reviews for “The Iron Lady” weren't all that glowing, but Streep came in for her usual chorus of hosannas. For some reason, this wasn't proving to be much of a lure. Even after the Oscar nominations came out, with two-time winner Streep making history with her 17th nomination, “The Iron Lady” was still a no-go with them.

It's weird, watching a major movie about someone you worked for before the world discovered her, someone whose political party you then joined as a member of Parliament with her as prime minister, and someone who now appears on the cinema screen like an apparition from the past, with liveliness and youth breathed back into her. It's even more uncanny when this woman is played by an actor with such a genius for impersonation that you cannot help...

With awards pundits buzzing over Meryl Streep's Oscar-worthy performance in "The Iron Lady," the Margaret Thatcher biopic got off to an excellent start at the box office this weekend. The film about the former British prime minister grossed $280,409 over the four-day holiday weekend, according to an estimate from its distributor, the Weinstein Co. Playing in two cinemas in New York and two in Los Angeles, that amounted to a strong per-theater average of $70,102. The film appealed to a slightly more female audience, because 54% of those who saw the film were women.

'The Iron Lady' MPAA rating: PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Playing: At ArcLight Cinemas, Hollywood; the Landmark, West Los Angeles

There is far more softness than steel in "The Iron Lady," starring Meryl Streep as the iconic British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The film catches her long after she's left the public eye, and rather than an examination, or an assessment, of her politics, it instead offers up an affecting if not always satisfying portrait of the strong-willed leader humbled by age. Director Phyllida Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan have discarded most...

Meryl Streep shuffles down a London street wearing a kerchief, a drab beige overcoat and enough prosthetic wrinkles to pass as an octogenarian in the opening scene of her new movie about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "The Iron Lady. " For Streep, shooting the sequence provided a jarring taste of a specific kind of invisibility. "There is no more dismissible figure on the street than an old woman," Streep said over a mid-December lunch with her "Iron Lady" director, Phyllida Lloyd, in a cavernous suite at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

It's been an unsteady few days for the normally sure-footed Margaret Thatcher and Britain's corridors of power are buzzing with the question: "Is the Iron Lady losing her grip?" Two public disagreements with Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley within 48 hours, a weak performance at question time in Parliament and a series of minor slips suddenly raised the image of a rattled and weary prime minister.

When a Mama Grizzly meets an Iron Lady, you'd expect it to be set against a Godzilla-esque Tokyo skyline, rather than the more genteel surroundings of a London tea house or crumpet shop. Sarah Palin on Monday said on her Facebook page that she'd "love to" meet with former British Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher after a recent report that she'd made plans to visit Britain and had contacted Thatcher's people about a possible meet-up. Thatcher, who is nicknamed the Iron Lady after a 10-year premiership that saw her foster a "special relationship" with the United States and Republican President Reagan during the Cold War, is a natural ally of the Republican former Alaska governor.

Imagine, if you will, a Hollywood version of fantasy football pitting the likes of Margaret Thatcher, J. Edgar Hoover, Marilyn Monroe and F. Scott Fitzgerald in a head-to-head battle with, well, a bunch of nobodies. Daunting, to say the least. Yet these powerful, iconic, often historical figures are likely to be doing just that this film award season, in a competition that squares them off against such characters as a nebbishy lawyer and an illegal immigrant gardener. It seems evident from the start just who will come out on top: Anecdotally, audiences and voters seem to naturally gravitate toward big-screen portrayals of the powerful, the movers and the shakers, and celebrity types.

A movie doesn't have to be jampacked with cinema style to have a memorable fashion moment or two, and in the course of screening the slate of holiday-season films, we found all kinds of clothes, accessories, hairstyles and makeup worth a mention. "Hugo" Yes, Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," based on a book by Brian Selznick, is a movie about an orphaned boy living in a Paris train station. But it's also a filmmaker's film about a filmmaker making films, and as such even the costumes and makeup (designed by Sandy Powell and Morag Ross respectively)