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‘Cymbeline’ is an admirable Shakespeare adaptation, but far too convoluted

Cymbeline is director Michael Almereyda’s second Shakespeare adaptation set in modern day, his last being 2000’s Hamlet, also starring Ethan Hawke. The Bard’s late work tragedy, previously set in the Royal Court of Olde England, receives a face-lift, updated to a war between the Roman police force and the Briton Motorcycle Club ran by Cymbeline (Ed Harris). The King trades in a crown for an Uzi and a leather jacket as a drug kingpin troubled by familial strife. His second wife (the serpentine Mila Jovovich) despises Cymbeline’s daughter, Imogen (Dakota Johnson, proving she has acting chops that viewers may not find in Fifty Shades of Grey), for not marrying her son, Cloten (Anton Yelchin). In secret, Imogen has pledged herself to Posthumus (Penn Badgley), much to Cymbeline’s displeasure.

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Will Ferrell to become a thespian in new comedy

If you were betting that someday Will Ferrell would do Shakespeare, you can cash in now. Variety reported on Tuesday that Sony has picked up a currently untitled comedy starring Ferrell that centers around the intense, competitive world inside a Shakespearean theater company. The screenplay will be written by David Guion and Michael Handelman (Dinner for Schmucks). This …

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‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is an absolute gem of a film

Much Ado About Nothing Directed by Joss Whedon Written by William Shakespeare (play), Joss Whedon (screenplay) USA, 2012 Upon first realization that Joss Whedon’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is set in contemporary Southern California, one most certainly becomes both skeptical and intrigued all at once. How will all this play out? (No …

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‘The Raven’; a series of short stories does not a great novel make

The Raven Directed by James McTeigue Written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare USA, 2012 In a room of posh, opulent women, Edgar Allan Poe (John Cusack) commands their undivided attention by reciting the film’s titular poem, The Raven. Enamored, one of the women tries her hand at poetry as well. Crude, unsophisticated and juvenile, …

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