Branagh, Kenneth

William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Hamlet has the kind of power energy and excitement that movies can truly exploit' award-winning actor/director Kenneth Branagh says. In this first-ever full-text film of William Shakespeare's greatest work the power surges through every scene. The timeless tale of murder corruption and revenge is reset in an opulent 19th-century world using sprawling Blenheim Palace as Elsinore and staging much of the action in shimmering-mirrored gold-filled interiors. The excitement of the Bard's words and an adventurous filmmaking style lift the story from its often shadowy ambiance to a fully-lit pageantry and rage. Now presented in an amazing 2-Disc Special Edition.System Requirements:Running Time: 242 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 053939268324 Manufacturer No: C2683

It's the greatest work of literature, but nobody had ever filmed Hamlet uncut--until Kenneth Branagh went about the task for his lavish 1996 production. The result is a sumptuous, star-studded version that scores a palpable hit on its avowed goal: to make the text as clear and urgent as possible. Branagh himself plays the melancholy son of the Danish court, caught in a famous muddle about whether to seek revenge against his royal father's presumed slayer… the man who now sits on the throne and shares the bed of Hamlet's mother. (Or, as the song "That's Entertainment" summarizes the plot: "A ghost and a prince meet / And everyone winds up mincemeat.") As a director, Branagh (who shot the movie in 70 mm.) uses the vast, cold interiors of a vaguely 19th-century manor to gorgeous effect; the story might scurry down this hallway, into that back chamber, or sprawl out into the enormous main room. With its endless collection of mirrors, the place is as big and empty as Citizen Kane's Xanadu.

That all works; what doesn't work is Branagh's tendency to over-direct the big dramatic moments. He indulges in quick cutting and flashbacks as though to fend off the audience's objections to the four-hour running time, and the style sometimes looks like wasted energy. The experienced Shakespearians in the cast come off nicely; Derek Jacobi's Claudius, Richard Briers' Polonius, and Michael Maloney's Laertes are just terrific. Julie Christie is a suitably attractive Gertrude, and Kate Winslet makes the most of Ophelia's mad scenes. Branagh's habit of folding in unexpected American performers is on the mark, too: Billy Crystal is surprisingly good as the Gravedigger, Robin Williams predictably camps up Osric, and Charlton Heston is an inspired choice as the grandiloquent Player King. The biggest irony here is that Branagh himself is not quite spot-on as Hamlet. Of course he speaks the lines beautifully, but Branagh's screen personality radiates certainty and clarity of vision; there's little of the doubt that might make him Hamlet-esque. Still, tremendous credit for fending off slings and arrows to get the movie made. --Robert Horton

Peter's Friends

After his father's death the grieving Peter (Stephen Fry) invites a group of college friends who have been separated for 10 years to a New Year's Eve reunion at his English countryside estate. In scenes by turns funny and sad they talk over old times reassess their life choices and finally come together to help each other through an unexpected crisis. Kenneth Branagh's ensemble comedy is punctuated by a classic rock soundtrack that recalls the chums' university days. A witty heartwarming film PETER'S FRIENDS includes fine performances by Branagh Emma Thompson Hugh Laurie Imelda Staunton and Rita Rudner.System Requirements:Running Time; 101 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/ROMANTIC COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616098641 Manufacturer No: M109864

Sleuth

Directed by critically-acclaimed director Kenneth Branagh Jude Law and two-time Oscar-winner Michael Caine (1987 Best Supporting Actor Hannah and Her Sisters; 2000 Best Supporting Actor Cider House Rules) join forces in this sharp-witted modern adaptation of the 1972 classic Sleuth. Locked in a high-tech English manor bound in a deadly duel of wits Andrew Wyke (Caine) and Milo Tindle (Law) come together as English gentlemen to discuss the matter of Wyke's wife: the woman both are sleeping with. But as wit becomes wicked and clever becomes cutthroat Wyke and Tindle's game of one-upmanship spirals out of control in an escalating chess match that can have only one outcome: murder.System Requirements:Running Time: 89 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/AMATEUR SLEUTHS Rating: R UPC: 043396225220 Manufacturer No: 22522

Thirty-five years after Michael Caine played the role of crass boy-toy Milo Tindle in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's screen adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's hit play Sleuth, the actor takes over his 1972 co-star Laurence Olivier's role of rich cuckold Andrew Wyke in Kenneth Branagh's updated remake of the same story. Where Olivier brought a seething, upper-class disgust to mystery-novelist Wyke's attitude toward Tindle--who is having an affair with the former's wife and has come to the writer's mansion to request that Wyke divorce her--Caine basks in the comic absurdity of a superficial man like Tindle (Jude Law) led by the nose into one or another illusion of happiness. The new film's script by Harold Pinter has the arid air of expectation familiar to his work, the weight of things not said whenever someone speaks. That's a considerable weight indeed, in Sleuth's story of a psychological contest between two very different men who despise one another beneath outward civility.

The story finds Tindle arriving at Wyke's home. Following various small humiliations, he is invited by the older man to steal his wife's jewels in a scheme that benefits everyone. There's more than meets the eye to Wyke's proposal, however, leading to unexpected developments and surprises in the film's second half. Branagh's direction is suitably cool and sleek in the beginning, when the characters' emotions are still in check and the oddness of Wyke's gadget-filled world is still entertaining to behold. (The film's set design is one of its strongest elements.) But once voices rise and threats appear and the like, Branagh can't seem to penetrate the surface of things. Unlike Mankiewicz's take, the new version is caught up in the insularity of the characters' tit-for-tat gamesmanship, lacking the intriguing, class-warfare subtext of the earlier work. A gay angle thrown into the last half-hour sits uncomfortably and irrelevantly with the rest of the material. The best thing about this Sleuth are the performances of Law and Caine, who could have been even better with a great script. --Tom Keogh

Stills from Sleuth (click for larger image)

Beyond Sleuth

On Blu-ray

Audio CD

Frankenstein [Region 2]

Let's be honest: this should be titled Wretched Excess' Frankenstein. Swooping, wild, bloody, and energetic, this is bad moviemaking from the best, which makes it all the more lovable. Kenneth Branagh plays Victor Frankenstein, a man so obsessed with conquering death that he decides to create life. What he gets, after a protoplasmic mud wrestle, is a Mean Streets monster (Robert De Niro) that isn't particularly happy to be back from the dead or thrilled about all the stitches. Helena Bonham Carter may, at several points in this film, actually be channeling Ramtha. The supporting cast couldn't be peopled with better performers (Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but they all look like they're ringside at some Ultimate Fighting competition. A must for any midnight movie collector for the shock factor alone. A hoot. --Keith Simanton

Frankenstein [Region 2]

Let's be honest: this should be titled Wretched Excess' Frankenstein. Swooping, wild, bloody, and energetic, this is bad moviemaking from the best, which makes it all the more lovable. Kenneth Branagh plays Victor Frankenstein, a man so obsessed with conquering death that he decides to create life. What he gets, after a protoplasmic mud wrestle, is a Mean Streets monster (Robert De Niro) that isn't particularly happy to be back from the dead or thrilled about all the stitches. Helena Bonham Carter may, at several points in this film, actually be channeling Ramtha. The supporting cast couldn't be peopled with better performers (Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but they all look like they're ringside at some Ultimate Fighting competition. A must for any midnight movie collector for the shock factor alone. A hoot. --Keith Simanton

Frankenstein [Region 2]

Let's be honest: this should be titled Wretched Excess' Frankenstein. Swooping, wild, bloody, and energetic, this is bad moviemaking from the best, which makes it all the more lovable. Kenneth Branagh plays Victor Frankenstein, a man so obsessed with conquering death that he decides to create life. What he gets, after a protoplasmic mud wrestle, is a Mean Streets monster (Robert De Niro) that isn't particularly happy to be back from the dead or thrilled about all the stitches. Helena Bonham Carter may, at several points in this film, actually be channeling Ramtha. The supporting cast couldn't be peopled with better performers (Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but they all look like they're ringside at some Ultimate Fighting competition. A must for any midnight movie collector for the shock factor alone. A hoot. --Keith Simanton

Frankenstein [Region 2]

Let's be honest: this should be titled Wretched Excess' Frankenstein. Swooping, wild, bloody, and energetic, this is bad moviemaking from the best, which makes it all the more lovable. Kenneth Branagh plays Victor Frankenstein, a man so obsessed with conquering death that he decides to create life. What he gets, after a protoplasmic mud wrestle, is a Mean Streets monster (Robert De Niro) that isn't particularly happy to be back from the dead or thrilled about all the stitches. Helena Bonham Carter may, at several points in this film, actually be channeling Ramtha. The supporting cast couldn't be peopled with better performers (Tom Hulce, John Cleese, Ian Holm) but they all look like they're ringside at some Ultimate Fighting competition. A must for any midnight movie collector for the shock factor alone. A hoot. --Keith Simanton