TOM TANGNEY

Remembering Margaret Thatcher with a little help from BAFTA winner Meryl Streep

Apr 8, 2013, 7:41 AM | Updated: 12:18 pm

This is an undated film image provided by on Feb.1, 2011 by The Weinstein Company, Meryl Streep as she portrays Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Alex Bailey, File)

(AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Alex Bailey, File)

Meryl Streep won her most recent Oscar for portraying Margaret Thatcher in the movie “The Iron Lady.”

She won near universal praise for her performance, from conservatives and liberals, and most especially from the Brits.

The movie charts her somewhat unusual position in British politics – first, as a woman running as a conservative. Then eventually being groomed as a prime minister candidate, a notion she found absurd at first.

The film covered everything from her decision to go to war over the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina, to a portrayal of Thatcher’s dementia – in very frank, realistic terms, which managed to be respectful as well.

“Iron Lady” not only referred to Thatcher’s political will – it was an apt reference to her personal qualities as well.

Tom Tangney

Belfast...

Tom Tangney

Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ is a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t quite hit the mark

"Belfast" has plenty to recommend itself but it's not nearly the moving testament to fraught times that Kenneth Branagh thinks it is or wants it to be.

2 years ago

Eternals, Marvel...

Tom Tangney

‘Eternals’ has to do a lot of heavy lifting for a single film

Imagine the daunting task Marvel sets for itself in "Eternals." It has to introduce 10 new superheroes, not to mention an entirely new cosmology.

2 years ago

French Dispatch...

Tom Tangney

‘The French Dispatch’ is unmistakably Andersonian

Wes Anderson is an acquired taste. But luckily, after 10 full-length movies, most critics and many movie-goers have acquired it.

2 years ago

Dune...

Tom Tangney

All set-up and no payoff: ‘Dune’ is world’s longest and most expensive trailer

It's hard to find the right metaphor for the new "Dune" movie. Whatever comparison you choose, it must reflect a sense of incompletion.

2 years ago

Last Duel...

Tom Tangney

Poor Marguerite’s story saves ‘The Last Duel’

Tom Tangney says, ultimately, The Last Duel is a proto-feminist take on the Middle Ages with Marguerite's take that brings the film into focus.

2 years ago

James Bond...

Tom Tangney

Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie comes full-circle

The 25th installment in the James Bond movie franchise may be titled "No Time to Die," but "Too Much Time to Die" may be more fitting.

3 years ago

Remembering Margaret Thatcher with a little help from BAFTA winner Meryl Streep