3. How good is the… Acting

4. How good is the… In "Elizabeth," Blanchett was an ingénue in a movie about a girl learning on the job. By the time of "The Golden Age," she's become the sort of star who's comfortable hamming it up and injecting a lot of supercilious humor into a part without sacrificing all the character's wisdom. (Her eyes roll like a bowling ball.)

5. How good is the… Directing

6. How good is the… Kapur is not a natural moviemaker, although some of the more random disco-y shots suggest a man who longs to make videos for Cher. Otherwise, the close-ups are too close, the aerial shots too high. Shadows still equal evil intrigue. And the big war is done mostly as a haphazardly assembled montage of incendiary chaos.

7. How good is the… Costumes

8. How good is the… [T]here is time to contemplate the beautiful intricacies of Alexandra Byrne's costumes - their outlandishness, too. (The queen's battle armor is nothing less than 16th-century C-3PO.) You might be inclined to think of names for Elizabeth's various wigs (I saw the Richard Simmons, the Streisand, and the Big Bang) and admire her triumphant combat stances.