There have been many attempts to modernize the works of William Shakespeare. The Bard’s classic language is something many writers and filmmakers have tried to bring to the screen. This doesn’t always work unfortunately and while the motion picture is a more than appropriate medium to do this, it can sometimes be an utter disaster. One of Shakespeare’s later plays, Cymbeline, has caught the attention of director Michael Almereyda. No stranger to Shakespeare, he actually helmed the Ethan Hawke-starred Hamlet back in 2000. With an all-star cast and an intriguing premise, Cymbeline has loads of potential. Sadly, the actual resulting film falls painfully short. With the actors reciting Shakespeare’s dialogue word for word, this film will detract many but others might find it rather interesting.
Tag Archives: Ethan Hawke
Predestination
The great thing about science fiction films is that they can pretty much take you anywhere. From action-adventures to romantic comedies, sci-fi can serve as the perfect backdrop for truly riveting cinema. The new Ethan Hawke film Predestination is science fiction for sure but it also has a bunch of other genres that it falls under and sadly this mishmash of genres creates some confusion as to what the true identity of the film is. Is it a big budget production and one of its leading actors turns in a superb performance but the film suffers from a severe lack of direction. Audiences may leave the theater scratching their heads and eventually forget this average sci-fi picture.
Boyhood
Richard Linklater is a filmmaker with one of the most impressive and eclectic resumes of any artist working today. From Slacker to Dazed and Confused to Waking Life to Before Sunrise and its sequels, the man certainly has a gift when it comes to making quality films. His latest work Boyhood continues this trend of supplying exemplary art on the movie screen and it is without a doubt, one of the best movies of 2014 thus far.
Unger the Radar 