The ultimate Bond girl was recently seen working the back streets and alleys of London, and man, what a dame. Wait, that didn't come out quite right, did it? Let me try this again. Dame Judi Dench was recently spotted filming the new Bond movie on location in London. Dench will be reprising her role for the sixth time as M, the boss of James Bond and the head of Military Intelligence, section 6, better known as MI6 to Bond enthusiasts. It's the British Secret Intelligence Service, so Dench as the fictional figurehead is perfect — her intelligence is no secret, and neither is her presence or value on screen.

Dench first appeared as M in the 1995 Bond release GoldenEye. I was never much of a fan of the Bond franchise, though even as a kid I was a huge car fiend. To me, Bond was simply a lovely Aston Martin. As I got older, he was a lovely Aston Martin with lovely women either trying to kill him or be saved by him. But the presence of Dench instantly upgraded the tired franchise. Though the other Bond women come and go, M has been the most consistent woman in Bond's life, and he has a real affection for her. Well, if you want to call it that. She tells him what to do, and he tries to do it without getting killed, killing too many people (especially innocent ones), embarrassing his country, or making M so angry that she'll fire him.

Here are the recent pictures of Dench on the set: … continue reading

If I told you that the new British boarding-school comedy St. Trinian’s, released in the U.K. on Dec. 21, has aspects of the Kristy McNichol film Little Darlings crossed with Tina Fey’s comedy Mean Girls, you might think that you ought to be excited about seeing it. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as good as either of those movies. But it does begin with a similar premise: the female of the species — and particularly the teenage female — is much, much more deadly than the male.

Although I don’t think they’re really known of in the U.S., the fierce and fictional schoolgirls of St. Trinian’s have been iconic in the U.K. for over half a century. They first sprang from the brain of the cartoonist Ronald Searle, who in 1941 was a soldier stationed in Scotland near a friendly family whose daughters attended a school named St. Trinnean’s. Encouraged by the success of his early cartoons within the family, Searle sent them off to a magazine. By 1947, the series was a national hit, being published in book form as Hurrah for St. Trinian’s! … continue reading