On this past weekend’s menu: Time After Time, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and the first hour of the 2009 UK Royal Shakespeare television production of Hamlet.
Time After Time was maybe a bit cheesy in parts, but on the whole rather enjoyable. H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell—always freaks me out when he’s not the bad guy) actually invents a time machine, which Jack the Ripper, aka John Leslie Stevenson, uses to escape capture by Scotland Yard. Without the auto return key locked, the machine returns so H.G. can pursue the Ripper to 1979 San Francisco, where he meets and falls in love with Amy (Mary Steenburgen). Well acted for the most part and a decent story. I was just left wondering if Steenburgen has a knack for landing roles where she falls for time travelers.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was a nice bit of meta that I didn’t watch half as closely as I should have. A nice study on the futility of things. Plus it had Gary Oldman, who I am a sucker for and I can’t really explain why. Not to mention Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss.
Lastly, Hamlet. I love Hamlet even if Hamlet is an emo boy and the play is so overquoted (though I rather adore catching lines in different places). Kenneth Branagh’s version is far an away my favorite, because it’s Branagh and the film is gorgeous. I think Mel Gibson’s version still inspires revulsion—and I saw it before Branagh’s. One of these days I do have to check out Laurence Olivier’s because he’s Olivier (though I’ll probably be one of the odd ducks that is unimpressed with him, much as I am by, say, William Faulkner—a story for another day).
Anyway, this version has David Tennant as Hamlet (the Tenth Doctor or Barty Crouch, Jr., to the rest of you) and Patrick Stewart as Claudius/the Ghost(if you don’t know he is, then I don’t want to talk to you). Tennant is utilizing his English accent here, save when he gets really emotional and his natural Scottish slips through. Though I still prefer Branagh, Tennant does have some good moments (the boy can do crazy far too well); however, he really needs to watch the heavy breathing with his super deep emotional scenes. I blame the wine, but it took me too long to stop thinking that the Doctor was playing Hamlet for some reason or another.
Then there’s Stewart who…yeah, the man is a god of stage and starships. I dare you to disagree with me. I’d love to see him in other plays. I’d really love to see him live. I did note that IMDb says he’s in an upcoming production of MacBeth, so I’ll be checking that out. Outside the broad strokes, my knowledge of MacBeth is rather fuzzy as I’ve only read it once and never watched it…no, wait, I may have seen a version with Ian McKellan and Judi Dench in college. Must seek that puppy out. And thinking of Ian McKellan and Shakespeare makes me want to watch Richard III again. I think I know what’s on the agenda for next weekend. Sadly, I think I got rid of the DVD in my moving purge, so off to the wonders of Netflix.
Overall, way better quality viewing than last weekend’s movies.
