Dear Hollywood: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Okay, so this is only my third "Dear Hollywood" post, but I'm already trying something radical: I'm basing it around a movie which I enjoyed a lot. And that movie is, would you believe it, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. For anyone looking for a refresher, just remember that this is not unlike those "Agony Aunt" posts, i.e. Dear Agony Aunt,
I'm always cold. What do I do?
From I. C. Colde.
The catch is, the agony aunt is actually Hollywood. Cool huh? I thought so. Anyway, let's give this one a go...

Dear Hollywood,
I just got back from seeing New Year's Eve. Oh yes, it had a very good cast. All that star power, with all those Oscars hidden away in a mantelpiece far far away...you should really be proud. Who needs a good script when you have so many famous faces in a movie? Hell, they don't even need to act.
Anyway, I was wondering if you could lend me some advice. I would love to do one of those "big cast" movies. But, well, you've taken up all of the holidays that there are. Apart from Queen's Birthday. You're not getting that one. Also, I suppose you'd be the wrong one to ask out this, but I want my "big cast" movie to be actually good.
Tell me, what story could I throw at a whole lot of actors so they can just show their faces? But in a good way. Like, in a good movie. That kind of stuff.
Yours sincerely,
Britain Needs Their Big Cast Movie Too

Dear Britain Needs Their Big Cast Movie Too,
You had the Olympics. Doesn't that count as a big cast movie?
Yours sincerely,
Disgruntled Hollywood

Dear Hollywood,
Hooooooooooold up, is someone a bit jealous? Just because our Queen jumped out of a plane with James Bond.
Yours sincerely, 
Britain Needs Their Big Cast Movie Too

Every Secret Comes with a Price.

Film: The Debt
Year: 2010
Director: John Madden
Written by: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan (based on the 2007 film 'Ha-Hov')
Starring: Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciarán Hinds, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas, Jesper Christensen, Romi Aboulafia. 
Running time: 113 min.

Right, the time has come: you may as well call me a hipster. I saw the original movie of The Debt, a small Israeli film made in 2007, before I saw the remake. I know, I made a choice so obscure that I should probably be wearing my hipster flag out and proud - but for now, I'd like to call it a good choice on my part by delving into the shallow waters of the preview drawer. Usually, there is just a flood of needlessly violent and cheaply gruesome horrors, or action movies starring Z-list 'actors'. At first, The Debt looked a little like that. But going in 'blind' led to some good results.

These results, though, were some that - dare I say - could have been improved on. I don't want to put anything indelicately, but better production values and a little more money could have turned a solid movie into an extremely good one. With a who's who of British screen-writing team (Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan), Shakespeare in Love director John Madden at the helm and a cast headlined by the always wonderful Helen Mirren, this remake is not one that we can dismiss as a 'copy-cat crap'. Trust me, I know - I'm a 'hipster'.