Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Kirpianuscus a charming adaptation. loyal to the play, using few modern pieces, beautiful cinematography, perfect cast. a film who reminds the colors, the flavors, the joy, the humor of a lovely masterpiece. all is fresh. all is seductive. and, in few scenes, almost perfect. a film who seems invent again an universe but, in fact, only impose its true nuances. Kevin Kline's work is gorgeous and Rupert Everett seems be the perfect Oberon. the wood, the story of the two couples, the delicate story of Tysbe, the grace of atmosphere of an Athens who seems between periods, all does the film a seductive adventure. and that is not surprising. only admirable because the simplicity is not easy to create in the case of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Python Hyena A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999): Dir: Michael Hoffman / Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, Calista Flochhart, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci: Gloriously stunning fantasy that underlines our desire for love. Case in point, Calista Flockhart peddles after a frustrated male who is in love with another woman. Actors assemble for a play and Kevin Kline auditioning for all roles. Sighting all this are the fairies who live in the forest enchanted by a Queen. When the actors draw near to the forest twilight in preparation for their play, the magic begins thus leading to a quiet night of mist and stardust. Very funny with exquisite production and visual delight directed with wit and charm by Michael Hoffman who previously collaborated with Michelle Pfeiffer in the mediocre One Fine Day. Michelle Pfeiffer is stunning as the fairy Queen and Rupert Everett fools her with enchantment that will bring bewilderment and focus. Kline takes a strange transformation hair and donkey ears but will enact his true hilarity on the stage. Flockhart is hilarious in her naïve hopeless state. Stanley Tucci is hilarious as Puck who ends up screwing up all the romantic ties when sent out on his orders. Themes regard blind love that we often fall victim too. Appropriately moves from scene to scene is Shakespearean stage fashion, it is an enchanting masterpiece with a ravishing sense of wonder. Score: 10 / 10

Red-125 Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) was directed by Michael Hoffman. who also wrote the screenplay. This is an excellent version of MND, a play that has been filmed many times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This version worked for me.Some of the casting was excellent--Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, Stanley Tucci as Puck, and Rupert Everett as Oberon. Calista Flockhart was miscast as Helena. In the play, Helena is supposed to be tall. (There's an entire scene where the fact that she's taller than Hermia is discussed.) However, Hoffman wanted a marquee name, and he chose Flockhart.Kevin Kline plays Nick Bottom, the weaver. Kline is a superb physical actor, but he looks too handsome and intelligent for the role. Director Hoffman got around this by making him a dandy. When we meet Bottom on screen, he's dressed in the height of fashion, flirting with all the women who gather around him. Bottom is supposed to be a working class rustic, a "rude mechanical," and that's not Kline. However, once you accept the fact that this is how Bottom will be portrayed, Kline's excellent acting skills carry it off.This film will work better on a large screen, but we enjoyed it on DVD. Production values are excellent, and, more important, Shakespeare's concept shines through. This is a fine film if you are a Shakespeare expert, but it's also a great introduction to Shakespeare for someone unfamiliar with his work.For some reason, this movie carries a dismal 6.5 IMDb rating. It's much better than that. Don't miss it.

jwv-823-79715 The acting in general was not very convincing, especially not as is required for a good Shakespearean rendition. Most lines are uttered without real feeling and with clichéd emotion, facial expression and gesture. Calista Flockhart (Helena), Sam Rockwell (Francis Flute; especially in the play-in-the-play) and Kevin Kline (Bottom) were best, my favourite being Calista Flockhart who brings Helena's emotions convincingly with great authenticity. I have read that "this was Kevin Kline's play", but I disagree because the character of Bottom has a lot of potential as a funny Shakespearean stereotype (but this was probably acted out under the director's guidance). Only in the end did he really show himself in the play-in-the-play. Michelle Pfeiffer (Titania) and especially Rupert Everett (Oberon) show us that the failing fairies' relationship was not only due to adultery and jealousy, but also because of the lack of emotional depth in their relationship - which speaks out of their performance. The biggest disappointment is that I don't see the Shakespearean stereotypes played out on screen, Bottom is supposed to be the idiot with a carpe diem lifestyle, but he is portrayed too gravely, which stifles a lot of potential humorous approaches to the character. Puck also didn't come to life as the witty and mischievous knave he is. I also feel that the director could have done more with the mute characters on screen, their short scenes are there to set a mood, but they seem superfluous.The soundtrack was nothing spectacular and the sound-effects and background noises were cheap clichés we see everywhere nowadays (cf. forest background sounds). Most of the actors' voice-acting was also uninspired, and does not do homage to the verbal virtuosity of Shakespeare's play.I sincerely wonder whether the director knows of the potential comedy that lurks in the play, because I did not have the feeling that I was watching a comedy at all. The play-in-a-play was in it's 10-minute totality more funny than the whole 100 preceding minutes. There were no genuinely funny situations, and the movie was absolutely not original in creating these, Instead, it relied too much on the inherent comedy of the incompatibility of some characters and emotions in certain situations, and so took a too passive and unoriginal approach. The movie lets a lot of very obvious occasions of potential funny situations slip by, even the potential very comic situation with the chink in the wall slip (hint: "I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all"). The only scene that comes closest to a comic situation is when Helena runs away from a chasing Demetrius and Lysander, but even this scene was more dramatic than funny. Bottom's lying with Titania too was also disappointing.