Shakespeare

[Worm of Despite]

What's your favorite Shakespeare movie?

Mine is Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, directed by and starring him (circa 1989).

[Loredoctor]

Hamlet - the one with Mel Gibson. Brilliant.

[Worm of Despite]

Have you seen Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet? My English class preferred it over the Mel Gibson one. Not saying it's better, but Branagh is worth a try.

[Damelon]

I liked Ian McKellan's Richard III. (1995)

[The Leper Fairy]

I like the modern Romeo and Juliet movie.

[Skyweir]

yeah Leper Fairy .. i absolutely love BAZ LUHRMAN's Romeo and Juliet .. totally awesome!! so BAZ

midsummer nights dream was good too with kevin kline etc..

hard to go wrong with shakespeare actually

[matrixman]

I prefer Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy.

[Skyweir]

havent seen it but then i am not a Woody Allen fan

[Dragonlily]

Shakespeare in Love, with Gwynneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, and the rest of that lucious cast, and a marvelous screenplay

[Loredoctor]

Have you seen Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet? My English class preferred it over the Mel Gibson one. Not saying it's better, but Branagh is worth a try.

Thanks, LF. I'll check that out.

[Worm of Despite]

But if you haven't watched Henry V, then watch it first, not Hamlet. Again, of all the Shakespeare films I STRONGLY recommend Branagh's Henry V.

Very few films come close to the brilliance Kenneth Branagh achieved with his first foray into screenwriting and direction. Henry V qualifies as a masterpiece, the kind of film that comes along once in a decade. He eschews the theatricality of Laurence Olivier's stirring, fondly remembered 1945 adaptation to establish his own rules. Branagh plays it down and dirty, seeing the bard's play through revisionist eyes, framing it as an antiwar story. Branagh gives us harsh close-ups of muddied, bloody men, and close-ups of himself as Henry, his hardened mouth and willful eyes revealing much about this land war. Not that the director-star doesn't provide lighter moments. His scenes introducing the French Princess Katherine (Emma Thompson) are toothsome. Bubbly, funny, enhanced by lovely lighting and Thompson's pale beauty, these glimpses of a princess trying to learn English quickly from her maid are delightful.

What may be the crowning glory of Branagh's adaptation comes when the dazed, shaky leader wanders through battlefields, not even sure who has won. As King Hal carries a dead boy (Empire of the Sun's Christian Bale) over the hacked-up bodies of both the English and French, you realize it is the first time Branagh has opened up the scenes: a panorama of blood and mud and death. It is as strong a statement against warmongering as could ever be made.
--Rochelle O'Gorman

[birdandbear]

Julie Taymore's TITUS is possibly the most visually stunning film I've ever seen. I WISH I'd seen it on the big screen.

Brannaugh's Hamlet is right at the top too. Then there's the most recent (as far as I know) A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Kevin Cline and Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne's Othello, Brannaugh's Henry V.

I also LOVE The Five Minute Hamlet, and Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead.

And I really want to see Ian Mckellan's Richard III

[dlbpharmd]

Branagh's Hamlet is absolutely awesome - it's my favorite.

I also recommend Othello, with Branagh as Iago and Lawrence Fishburne as Othello.

[matrixman]

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[Worm of Despite]

I must add that the ultimate Shakespeare babe was Olivia Hussey in 1968's Romeo and Juliet. A most excellent point, Garth! Sha-wing!

[Tulizar]

Favorites: Without a doubt, Branagh's Henry V and McKellan's Richard III.

Another great Shakespeare movie is Scotland, PA with Christopher Walken. It's a modern take on the tragedy.

[birdandbear]

Ooooh! I forgot about Scotland PA!!

That was a great one!!