Gosford Park (2001)

Robert Altman’s art-house hit “Gosford Park” has been high in interest for the past three years thanks to Brit series “Downton Abbey,” both written by Julian Fellowes and concerning early 20^th century England where wealthy, connected families made caste system upstairs/downstairs a way of home, and of thought. 

Here, an aging benefactor (Michael Gambon) hosts a shooting/dinner party, bringing in family, friends, and hangers-on from local lands and across the pond in America. After the feast, a hunt, and other stuff you or I don’t ever do, the old man ends up murdered, and suspicion abounds. 

Among the cast: Kristin Scott Thomas as the wife, Maggie Smith as an (imagine!) uppity bird, Ryan Philippe and Clive Owen as footmen, Bob Balaban as a filmmaker, and Helen Mirren as a head house-woman. 

“Park” is purposefully slow as we follow these people in their routines before the murder pops every one’s bubble. Watching the film now, it’s a cool gift to see characters and dialogue lifted for “Downton,” and Stephen Fry brings the comedy as a bumbling detective. But it’s often a check-your-watch sit. 

The cast is marvelous, working for a film master sorely missed. B+

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

"The Other Boleyn Girl" may make hash of recorded history, but it's good drama. Based on a novel, it follows the Boleyn sisters, Mary (Scarlett Johansson) and Anne (Natalie Portman), and their seriously warped relationship with King Henry VIII (Eric Bana).

Portman, who suffered through three terrible "Star Wars" films, is back in form as a schemer for the ultimate second chair in England. Alternating between a victim of the misogynist times and a shrew whose soul has been swallowed by ambition, she's ruthless, cunning and weirdly innocent.

Every actor and role is top notch, especially Kristin Scott Thomas as the Boleyns' suffering mother and Jim Sturgess as gay brother George. The drama hits many points, including the dangers of theocracy and the sheer hypocrisy of anyone who claims that God has given them power to rule. Thomas has one of the year's best lines: "God turned his back on this long ago."

English history is rife with jaw-dropping stories of immorality, death and schemes for power, and this story is one of the best. The film bears it well. B+