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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated All Is True (2018) in Movies

Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)  
All Is True (2018)
All Is True (2018)
2018 | Biography, Drama, History
2
6.3 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
I have reservations about anything that Kenneth Branagh is in on the big screen. I'm sorry but I'm going to say it... he needs to stop. Stay behind the camera or on stage. I'm already pre-disappointed for Death On The Nile.

Regardless of that feeling I was excited to see Judy Dench and Ian McKellen in action, it was also a nice surprise to see Ben Elton's name on it... I'm not sure how that had escaped my notice.

Even with those redeeming features I was left bored? Disappointed? No, definitely bored.

I know lots of different snippets about Shakespeare. Whether they're true or not always seems to be up for debate but there are plenty of facts out there. One of the things I had never heard before was this film's addition of the Shakespeare/Wriothesley friendship. By this point I was already feeling disengaged so adding it in pushed me even closer to the edge. I was actually annoyed to be presented with something completely unknown. I know that's mad.

The story as a whole wasn't going to be action-packed and therefore a little slower paced, but everything we were presented with didn't seem connected to anything else. One of the notes I made just said "nothing seems to have a real purpose" and I don't think that opinion changed by the time the film ended. I didn't understand the ultimate point of this film, I know it's about the end of his life and yet... *quizzical shrug*.

You say Ben Elton and you think Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line, at least I do. He's built for comedy and in this there just isn't any and it shows. Everything feels bland and is punctuated with silences that bring the awkwardness of the characters right out into the audience. Unfortunately a real awkwardness and not an "I identify with this character" one.

As for the star-studded cast, I enjoyed Judi Dench's performance the most but even that can't bring up the score on this for me. McKellen gave a fantastic performance but it didn't feel like it belonged in this film, it felt like he was acting in a Shakespeare play and not in a film about Shakespeare.

Had you taken Dench and McKellen out there would have been very little in this film to stop it from sliding into obscurity.

What you should do

I can't recommend this one, I wouldn't even bother when it appears on TV. It does have its audience somewhere though, as I and several other people heaved a sigh of relief when it ended the little old lady across the aisle exclaimed "ooooh weren't that lovely!"

Movie thing you wish you could take home

I would like to take home the two hours of my life I spent on this film, if that's possible?
  
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Erika (17788 KP) rated Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded in Books

Feb 1, 2020  
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
Samuel Richardson | 1740 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel is commonly known as the first true English novel, as well as the first epistolary novel. I've taken numerous British and English Literature classes, but had not been introduced to this novel until I studied in England and took an English novel class taught by a German professor who learned English solely so he could read Shakespeare in the vernacular. I'm glad that this prof included this wonderful novel. It was a nice change from just assigning Jane Eyre and Great Expectations.
It's an interesting study on Pamela, and spawned so many great, satirical novels. This is definitely a must read if you like classic literature and enjoy reading the novels that shaped the literature of today.
  
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David McK (3425 KP) rated Stardust (2007) in Movies

Aug 3, 2019 (Updated Apr 6, 2021)  
Stardust (2007)
Stardust (2007)
2007 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
6
7.9 (89 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Starring a pre-Daredevil Charlie Cox and based on the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman, this actually sticks pretty close to it's source material for the majority of its runtime: that is, up until about the last 30 minutes or so when it goes off in completely its own tangent.

I also have to say that I found the inclusion of Ricky Gervais to be completely out of place (I find his whole schtick to be incredibly annoying anyway), and Robert De Niro playing against type as Captain Shakespeare also took me quite by surprise the first time I saw it (but good on him for being game enough to do so).