RED JOAN – Judi Dench stars in this film based on the book which is loosely based on the story of Melitta Norwood. Norwood became known as the granny spy when she was arrested in her English garden at the age of 87 for smuggling information to the Russians forty years earlier during World War II. It’s an interesting tale and I rather liked it, although the story telling is a bit choppy alternating between present day and flashbacks. Dench is always top notch and the rest of the cast delivers as well. I don’t know how much I believe about Norwood’s explanation for treason, and I have a hard time justifying it in any case, but it does provoke some thought on the subject. Neutral on the toasts. Zero boyfriends and girlfriends.