mickeysrq

This is a slow moving maudlin soap opera about the Bard coming back to Stratford to retire and try to reconcile family matters with the wife Anne nee Hathaway and the two daughters. The younger daughter, Judith, is still unmarried at the ripe old age of 28 and the prospects aren't looking good. The center of the plot is Hamnet, who was born Judith's twin but died when he was 11 of the plague. Shake wants to plant a garden in his honor but wifey Judi Dench and daughter take it upon themselves to remind Shake over and over that he didn't even make it back to S-U-A when Hamnet died.

I suppose this soap opera being (allegedly) about Shakespeare gives it special meaning. Watching this awful drama I just thought praise heavens Shake that you went to London and stayed there most of the time because you would not have gotten anything accomplished in that freaking daily melodrama.

If you like Judi Dench go for it. She has a great Elizabethan/Jacobean frown that pretty much carries through the film. I like her but didn't see where she made a difference. Ian McKellen as the Earl Of Southhampton yeah pretty good but he had some good lines, nice outfit and looked, well, properly ugly in an Elizabethan way. When wifey hears he might drop by she gets all over Shake about his sonnets since she figured he had the hots for the Earl.

And the "cinematography" ain't all that much either. Can't carry this made-for-tv melodrama.

So go see it for yourself. I just have no faith in Kenneth Branagh now, someone who's managed to make a career off Shakespeare. Finally got the nerve to get up and go for a drink of water 10-15 minutes before it was over, never to return.

Just writing this review to controvert some of the bad reviews. Glad I didn't pay attention to them, glad I saw Mary Queen of Scots. Both Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth deliver believable, compelling performances. For me it checked off all the boxes: beautiful and stunning cinematography, proper historical costumes, dramatic court scenes and palace intrigue as the movie marches toward Mary Queen of Scots final dramatic scene. Very fine rendition by director Josie Rourke though I think the viewer would understand and enjoy the sequence of events much more just by reading, say, the wikipedia bio of Mary. In real history way too much going on and way too many arguments amongst historians about too many things regarding Mary. Rourke does take some very minor license with casting and according to some the accents are not perfect, as if they expected Saoirse (as Mary who was raised in France) to be spitting out Scottish dialect as if she were Bobby Burns. The movie naturally has to discard, refine and distill piles of intrigue, movements and events concerning Mary. Josie Rourke does a fine job. Check this one out, you'll enjoy it!!

Okay go see the movie 'Gravity'. Why? Because it gets a super high rating. Because everybody else has seen it, so you'll be able to carry on an informed conversation about another CGI movie and be up-to-date.

But don't expect much in the way of dialogue, characters, or plot, in fact don't expect anything. The first fifteen minutes of 'dialogue', if dialogue interests you, just might have you scratching your head. Who wrote this drivel? And it doesn't get any better... well it can't, actually. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney? Okay they help. Gotta have a couple nice looking stars to sell the product. From my point of view that's good enough reason for them to be in the movie but sorry I don't see any awards here.

This is a lot of 3D CGI and a lot more 3D CGI. I just don't see that it's all that great, sorry. A half hour of that'll do me. And adding to the problem was the 'discount' matinée price of $20 for two. Sorry for me way overpriced. I suggest if you're on the fence about this to wait until it gets to a discount $2 theater. In the meantime you can pretend you've seen it, just ooh and aah and mention the "objects in space that looked like they were floating over my seat", and so on.

But if you like things like story, characters, dialogue, plot twists and real cinematography- not that there's much of that around anymore but hey once in a while something does come along- well I wouldn't waste too much of your money or time on 'Gravity'. Way over-hyped.