Movie Review Stardust

Stardust (2007) 

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Written by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman

Starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michele Pfeiffer, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller

Release Date August 10th, 2007

Published August 10th, 2007

From the wildly inventive mind of Neil Gaiman comes Stardust. The fantasy of Stardust combines science fiction and romance with some wondrous takes on literary legends. On the surface; director Matthew Vaughn may not seem the ideal choice for such light hearted romantic notions. A protégé of Britain's maestro of violence Guy Richie, Vaughn's first outing as a director was the Richie influenced Layer Cake, a mob story with a pre-Bond Daniel Craig.

Nevertheless, Vaughn pulls off a near masterpiece of genre fiction in Stardust.

Tristan (Charlie Cox) is a fool for romance. He has fallen in love with the most beautiful woman in all of the town of Wall, Victoria (Sienna Miller) and will go to any length to win her heart, even if it means crossing the wall. The Wall that gives Tristan's hometown its name is a magical barrier between the real world and the realm of Faerie, a kingdom ruled by kings and witches and ghosts and flying pirates.

Most citizens are unaware of what is beyond the wall, only knowing that they are never to cross that wall. Tristan however, must cross the wall when he sees a falling star crash beyond the city limits and he promises that star to Victoria in exchange for her hand. Now Tristan will cross that wall and embark on a life altering adventure.

Opposing Tristan, without knowing it, is a trio of witches led by oldest sister Lamia (Michele Pfeiffer). She needs the star in order to replenish her and her sister's powers. Also on the trail of the star is Septimus (Mark Strong). He needs the star in order to finally inherit the throne of Faerie; ahead of his brothers, four of whom have met with an ugly fate, something that the others may meet as well if Septimus is to become king.

Meanwhile, the star is actually on earth in human form. Her name is Yvaine (Claire Danes) and when she is found by Tristan, the real love story and a truly grand adventure begins.

My description of Stardust makes it sound like a trifle, however, thanks no doubt to the hard boiled influences of director Matthew Vaughn, Stardust is a good deal more tart than I let on. The early scenes between Tristan and Yvaine crackle with conflict, as any good romantic match often does. She is aware that she has been sought as a gift for another, and though he finds her striking, Tristan longs for Victoria.

The film doesn't let this torturous banter go on to long and indeed doesn't play many of the typical romantic games in order to place roadblocks in the lovers path. Matthew Vaughn and co- writer Jane Goldman do a terrific job of allowing the romance to develop naturally and create roadblocks organically rather than by what is often dictated by the history of Hollywood romance.

With a light hearted take on some rather dark materials, Stardust is classically English in wit. Take for example Prince Septimus and his brothers. As they seek the crown, four have already been disposed of in ghastly fashion, even before we meet them. Each brother sticks around after his demise; left in the final pose of their passing. This provides a number of big laughs throughout the picture as the ghosts poke about.

The film also mines laughs from an unexpected source. Robert De Niro plays Captain Shakespeare, a blood thirsty air pirate who sails the sky stealing lightning and toughening up on anyone who dares board his ship unwelcome. When the Captain encounters Tristan and Yvaine, high in the clouds, the scene is strange not just for its location but for the wit of De Niro playing against type.

Who doesn't love a great romance? Stardust has a really good one in the story of Tristan and Yvaine. It's a story rife with conflicting emotions and grand romantic gestures and a good deal of suspense. The conclusion is not shocking but it's not predictable either, Yvaine is a star and must one day return to the sky. How that is resolved is a clever bit of romantic engineering, and don't forget that the lovely Sienna Miller plays Victoria.

Stardust also has a grand adventure as we take to the skies with pirates who harvest lightning and do battle with kings and witches. It's a wonderfully literate tale that will delight readers and non-readers alike. For the literate; nods to Tolkien and Shakespeare are a treat, while never distracting from the adventure and romance familiar to everyone. This is an artful yet still populist picture that can dazzle the film buff and the parents dragged to the theater by his teenagers, all in the same scene.

Stardust is a big step forward for director Matthew Vaughn. His leap in genre from hard boiled crime to light as a feather romance and broad science fiction; is a leap most directors could not make. His range is only a small example of his talent. Watching Stardust you sense a director of great confidence, poise and imagination. Beneath the surface of sometimes surly dialogue, is the soul of a poet and a big heart. All of which will serve Vaughn well as he strives for his first masterpiece.

Stardust is almost there. A terrific example of a talent on the rise, Stardust is a crowd pleasing romantic adventure for any audience.

Movie Review: Evening

Evening (2007) 

Directed by Lajos Koltai

Written by Susan Minot, Michael Cunningham 

Starring Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Mamie Gummer, Glenn Close 

Release Date June 29th, 2007

Published June 30th, 2007

Some films just look like Oscar movies. They carry a certain weight of subject matter and location that gives the film the pretense of quality. That pretense accompanies the movie Evening which features an all star cast, including Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep and Toni Collette, a gorgeous seaside location that films like a travelogue, and the subject of life, death and regret, the ingredients of a deep dramatic story.

With all of that quality in place all that is needed is a story to tie it together. Sadly, a good story is exactly what is missing from Evening. What is in place of a good story is a melodrama ranking somewhere between Lifetime movie and WB network teen drama.

Lying in her deathbed, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is flashing in and out of conscousness and flashing back to the night that changed her life forever. Fifty years earlier Ann (Claire Danes) was a bright eyed bohemian with dreams of becoming a famous singer. For now she is visiting the Newport home of her best friend Lila (Mamie Gummer) who is about to be married.

Whether Lila really wants to marry Carl (Timothy Kiefer) is in question, but she will marry him. This will happen despite the drunken protest of her brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) who implores Ann to try and stop his sister from marrying without love. Buddy himself is holding on to a love that can never be, a confused attraction to both Ann and a handsome man from his and Lila's past named Harris (Patrick Wilson).

Harris arrives at the wedding as the guest everyone is watching. Lila and he had a brief flirtation when she was just a girl and then there are Buddy's complicated feelings. Things get even murkier when Harris falls for Ann and the two spend a torrid night together that ends in tragedy when one of the other main characters suffers a major injury.

In the modern story, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson play Ann's daughters. As they hover at their mother's bedside they represent the dual tracks of Ann's life. Collette's Nina is a boho chick with a rocker boyfriend and an ambivalence about marriage and commitment. Richardson's Connie is a typical soccer mom with the minivan and the 2.3 kids. Both are the lives that Ann lived and regretted in her time.

Director Lajos Koltai spent years as a Cinematographer on such well photographed films as Being Julia, The Emporer's Club and Sunshine and he brings that same painterly eye to the look of Evening. How unfortunate that he didn't bring the same attention to detail to the films confused plot and confusing characters.

Evening has the air, the pretension of a prestige picture. It has an all star cast and a well appointed location. It has a grand, sweeping timeline and the hint of depth given to any movie that deals so directly with death. This depth however, is never earned by the story but expected by it. We are just supposed to assume because the pieces are in place for great drama, that great drama is unfolding before us. That is simply not the case.

What unfolds before us is the kind of movie the Lifetime network might make if they had the budget for this kind of starpower. It's a film that is not without its charm and even a few moments of honest drama, most courtesy of the wonderful Toni Collette who overcomes an underwritten character and delivers the only moments close to true drama.

The rest of the film is a confusing melange of mixed motivations, confusing character twists and even more confused timelines. Then there is poor Vanessa Redgrave whose unassailable dignity is put to the test as she is subjected to a number of humiliating fever dream fantasies. These scenes are so embarrassing that you stop feeling for the character and start feeling for poor Ms. Redgrave as she shuffles about in her nightgown.

It's interesting to note that Mamie Gummer who plays the young Lila is the daughter of Meryl Streep who plays the older Lila in cameo late in the film. Similarly, Natasha Richardson plays one of Vanessa Redgrave's daughters in the film and of course happens to be Ms. Redgrave's real life daughter. I mention these tidbits because there is so little else of interest here.

The biggest obstacle to this film working, aside from the first time director with the mixed up script, is the wooden, sullen performance of Patrick Wilson as Harris. After a near Oscar level performance as Kate Winslet's eye candy in Little Children, Wilson returns to the form that made him a hammy punchline in Phantom of the Opera.

His Harris is supposed to be the man who inspires to different women's fantasies for the rest of their lives. However, I can't imagine any woman remembering this Harris long after he's walked out of a room, let alone for their rest of their life. Stuffy, stuck up and just a tad bit creepy, Harris couldn't inspire bad poetry, forget inspiring a lifetime of fantasy and regret.

Then there is Hugh Dancy as Buddy who goes the opposite way from Patrick Wilson. Buddy is the typical movie drunk always ready to make everyone uncomfortable with a few fumbling words or a tumble in the middle of the room. His love for both Harris and Ann is played as a side effect of his drunken stupor and does nothing to make him sympathetic, rather just simply pathetic.

Meanwhile Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson deliver performances that in a better movie would radiate great warmth, humor and charm. Each of these lovely actresses aquit themselves as well as they possibly can within the messy narrative of Evening with only Collette emerging as the punky younger, or was she older? One of the many miscues of the movie, I couldn't figure out if she was the younger or older sister of Ann's two daughters. Scenes point to two different conclusions.

Nevertheless, Collette's punky, spirited, sad performance is the one consistent source of honest drama in Evening.

The payoff of Evening is a scene that puts two of our greatest actresses together for one scene. As Vanessa Redgrave's Ann lay dying, in walks Meryl Streep as her former best friend Lila. The film has been building to this scene, the director has kept Streep offscreen to this moment so we could have this scene.

As we wait and watch as Lila arrives to relieve her friend of so many of the burdens she has been dreaming of throughout her convalescence we find that nothing really gets resolved. The scene devolves into a mutual fantasy of Harris, the man who could not inspire a bird to fly if he threw it off a cliff. Then the film simply ends. Ending with the abruptness of sudden death.

I'm not giving anything away here, the point of the film is a frank discussion of dying. There was not going to be any last minute reprieve for Ann who is old and frail and ready to die. However, we really aren't ready for her to go. We long for a little resolution, a mention of what the film was really about. Certainly we did not just waste two hours of our life watching this woman remember a wet blanket like Harris?

There must have been something richer and deeper than that. Sadly there isn't and that is the disaster of Evening.

Movie Review Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Directed by Jonathan Mostow 

Written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christanna Loken, Claire Danes, Nick Stahl

Release Date July 2nd, 2003 

Published July 1st, 2003 

No film has ever inspired more dread and more excitement for me than Terminator 3. Terminator 2 was the moviegoing experience that inspired my love of going to the movies. That awesome, visceral, exciting experience changed the way I looked at movies. I realized for the first time what was possible in films. The special effects were like nothing anyone had ever seen before. Those effects have since been rendered passé, but I have never forgotten the experience of seeing them for the first time. However, since seeing T2 in theaters some 12 years ago, I have only seen it twice. I can't bring myself to watch it again for fear of diminishing that first viewing. I took that same fear with me into Terminator 3.

My fears were increased when James Cameron, the visionary creator of the series, dropped out of the project and was followed by his ex-wife and series star Linda Hamilton. The fears were furthered when star Edward Furlong's real-life problems caused him to be replaced as John Connor. Then, most disturbing of all, the report that Arnold Schwarzenegger would spend most of T3 getting his butt whipped by a girl Terminator. Thankfully, my fears melted away quickly as the screen went black in my preview screening and new John Connor Nick Stahl began his ominous voiceover. That feeling I had from T2 returned slowly.

It has been 12 years since a teenage John Connor learned that he was to become the savior of humanity in a war against machines. Now under the belief that he prevented Judgment Day from happening, John lives a life on the fringe of society. With no permanent address, phone, or steady job, John goes from town to working odd jobs for beer money with the sneaking suspicion that maybe he only postponed Judgment Day.

After an accident on his motorcycle, John breaks into a veterinary clinic in search of painkillers. As fate would have it a former junior high school classmate named Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) works in the clinic and happens upon him. However, before she can alert authorities, she finds one of her clients shot dead in the hallway and a blonde red-leather-wearing killer is stalking her.

The killer is the T-X (Kristanna Loken) and what Kate does not know is that her name is on a list of people the T-X is to eliminate (as is John Connor). Before the T-X can complete her mission, it walks the real Terminator (Schwarzenegger) with the mission to protect Kate and John. After temporarily slowing down the T-X, the Terminator helps John and Kate escape, leading to a chase sequence that is one of the greatest in film history.

While some critics have complained that the sequence goes on too long, the chase seemed damn near perfect to me. Big, loud, and violent, involving a crane, driverless emergency vehicles, and numerous crushed vehicles, the sequence is edge-of-your-seat exciting and fun.

From there, we learn the fate of Linda Hamilton's legendary character Sarah Connor. I won't give it away, but for such a warrior it's a bit of a letdown. If any female character deserved a true Viking funeral, it was Sarah Connor, so it's disappointing she was lost with such a whimper. However, this series of events leads to another terrific action sequence, this time in a graveyard, with a hearse and a rocket propelled grenade.

Terminator 3 never drags and never tires. Its action propels the story forward without ever trampling the plot, which is a logical extension of the two films that preceded it. Admittedly, my memory of T2 has grown fuzzy over the years, but I was under the impression that the world was saved at the end. T3 has some logical and philosophical explanations as to how the story could continue through its use of the ideas of fate and destiny, classic sci-fi questions about whether you can alter the past or the future.

Then, of course, there is the philosophical debate about technology versus humanity. This film has a decidedly anti-technology vibe; even as the heroes are protected by technology, they are forced to fight against it. It is a fascinating debate, one the film sidesteps in favor of action and explosions, but it does spark the discussion about if or when our technology will go too far. Like a less spiritually inclined version of The Matrix, the Terminator series has some cautionary tales for our modern technological society.

Director Jonathan Mostow deserves all the credit in the world for picking up the gauntlet from James Cameron and making the film that Cameron himself likely would have made--a polished, professional action movie that is entertaining, exciting, imaginative and fun. Not only does Mostow provide the thrills, but he and screenwriters Jon Brancato and Michael Farris have brought wit as well (especially in Arnold's introductory scene set in a strip club on ladies night.)

I had every expectation that they would screw this up. That the film that inspired my love of movies would forever be tarnished by another big budget Hollywood shoot-em-up without a brain. There is plenty of shooting, but plenty of brains as well. Mostow did what I thought could not be done and nearly matched T2. It has been too long since I have had this great movie going experience and though the film suffers the loss of Linda Hamilton, it is a worthy successor to T2. If, as the ending seems to hint, there is a sequel, I will look forward to it like I have no sequel before it.

Movie Review The Hours

The Hours (2002) 

Directed by Stephen Daldry 

Written by David Hare 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Toni Collette, Claire Danes 

Release Date December 25th, 2002 

Published December 29th, 2002 

One of the first things I wrote when I started writing for this site was a column lamenting the lack of good roles for women. At that time, the majority of lead roles for women were still in service to male characters. However, in the second half of 2002, something happened and the trend began to reverse. Strong roles for women like those featured in The Good Girl, White Oleander and Secretary showed great progress. Now, with Stephen Daldry's The Hours, we have not one great role for a woman, but three: Three sensational roles for three sensational actresses in one excellent movie.

Three women over three generations are united by one book written by one of the characters. That character was a real person, writer Virginia Woolf, played by Nicole Kidman. Her book, "Mrs Dalloway," is read by both Julianne Moore's 1950's housewife Laura Brown and Meryl Streep's modern day Clarissa Vaughn.

Laura Brown is a troubled housewife whose troubles are written on her face. Her every action seems slowed by depression. Everything, including her interaction with her young son, seems to be affected by her depression. After seeing her husband off to work, a neighbor played by Toni Collette stops by for a visit that shows Laura what life might have been or what Laura really wanted in her life. The scene illustrates Laura's connection to the book "Mrs. Dalloway" as it demonstrates the dilemma that also haunted Virginia Woolf's literary creation--choosing the safe route of marriage over the adventurous life with a lover.

In the modern story, Meryl Streep's Clarissa Vaughn is planning a party for an ex-lover played by Ed Harris. Now dying of AIDS, Harris' character entertains thoughts of suicide as he comes to realize how close to death he is. He has called Clarissa by the nickname Mrs. Dalloway for years and now, in an ironic twist that mimics the classic book, Clarissa plans a party and her poet friend is planning his death. The characters are aware of the parallels but only Harris' character accepts his fate.

The third story is that of Virginia Woolf played by Kidman. We watch as Woolf, whose mental health problems are well documented, creates her masterpiece "Mrs Dalloway." Forced by her husband to live in a quiet, suburban, England country house, Woolf longs for the lively nature of the city. Attended by doctors on a daily basis, Virginia's only sanctuary lies in her writing. The fate of Virginia Woolf, much like her troubled life, is well known. If you don't know how she died, I will leave the mystery. Her death is dramatized in The Hours in a powerful scene that bookends the film.

In an unusual way, The Hours reminded me of Adaptation, in that a writer writes another writer into his screenplay. Then, the actions of the book are played out in the film and (not literally) the actions of the book unfold onscreen.

Director Stephen Daldry, working from a script by David Hare and the book by Michael Cunningham, creates a film of great emotional and intellectual power. While "Mrs. Dalloway" has been adapted for the screen before, the film shows what a truly special work it is. The film manages to communicate just how powerful and effective the book is without literally translating it. The Hours is a brilliant, remarkable film.

Movie Review Igby Goes Down

Igby Goes Down

Directed by Burr Steers 

Written by Burr Steers

Starring Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Bill Pullman, Susan Sarandon, Ryan Phillippe, Jeff Goldblum

Release Date September 13th, 2002 

Published October 23rd, 2002

The meteoric rise and fall of Macauley Culkin is one of those cautionary tales of Hollywood that makes the E! True Hollywood Story so popular. The domineering father, the loving mother, the multi-millions of dollars flowing in and out of the home and the hints of abusiveness. There is a movie all its own in the Culkin family. Thankfully the fate suffered by Macauley provided a what-not-to-do roadmap for younger brother Kieran who is building a strong resume. A resume that should include an Oscar nomination for his title role in Igby Goes Down, if there is any justice in the world.

As Igby, Culkin is the son of a shrewish controlling Susan Surandon and a middle-aged and crazy Bill Pullman. Ryan Phillipe is Igby’s perfectionist brother Oliver and Jeff Goldblum plays his rich Godfather. Igby has a habit of being kicked out of every school he goes to, until finally he escapes on his own to New York where his knowledge of an affair between his Godfather and an artist played by Amanda Peet leads to his staying in a gorgeous New York loft, rent free. 

While on a weekend trip to his Godfather’s home in the Hamptons, Igby meets Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes), a college student moonlighting as a caterer's assistant. After Igby moves to New York, he and Sookie form a tentative romance that is the soul of the film. Their intelligent, funny and very well written exchanges are the highlights of this magnificent film.

Culkin and Danes are both sensational, their conversations foreshadowing their uncertain future. Like any good romance the roadblocks of this relationship are obvious but not acknowledged. Writer/Director Burr Steers never settles for typical romantic situations, he uses every opportunity to tease the audience with a happy ending without ever having to provide it. It is a very delicate balancing act of great acting, writing and direction.

Culkin is the film's centerpiece and it is his acerbic honesty and humor that makes Igby Goes Down such a great film. Danes and Phillippe are also excellent with Phillippe once again showing his amazing versatility, falling into his preppy clothes and manner the same way he embraced his down and dirty thief in The Way Of the Gun and his nerdy computer guy in Antitrust, a pair of guilty pleasure classics.

Indeed, the entire cast of Igby Goes Down is very good. The only issue I had with the film was not enough Bill Pullman. As Igby’s schizophrenic father Pullman has a very limited role but makes an amazing impression in his short screen time. Igby Goes Down is an incredible film with one of the best casts of the year headed up by Culkin in a performance guaranteed to be criminally overlooked by Oscar voters.

Movie Review Romeo and Juliet (1996)

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Directed by Baz Luhrmann 

Written by Craig Pearce, Baz Luhrmann 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy, Paul Sorvino

Release Date November 1st, 1996 

Published November 1st, 2016 

It’s fair to call Baz Luhrmann’s modernized take on Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet a Romeo for the MTV generation. Though today such a pronouncement could seem insulting, in 1996 Luhrmann’s vision of the Bard’s work had everything that a great music video would including quick cut action, lots of colors, a pair of teen idol lead actors and an unbelievably good soundtrack.

Two Households at war 

It’s a tale told in fair Verona Beach or, in reality, Miami standing in for the Shakespearean city. Two households are at war, the Capulets lead by Fulgencio (Paul Sorvino) and the Montagues headed up by Ted (Brian Dennehy). No one seems exactly sure why there is war between them but as this story begins, thugs from both sides engage in a shootout that ends in a massive conflagration.

Captain Prince (Vondie Curtis Hall), the head of Verona law enforcement, has seen enough, he wants peace and is ready to take extreme measures. Meanwhile, young Romeo walks the beach in devastation, his beloved Rosalyne having forsaken him. Thankfully, his cousin Benvolio and best friend Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) have sport to cheer him.

What light through yonder window breaks

Mercutio has obtained tickets to a costume party at Capulet mansion and as long as everyone stays in their masks it should be a fine feast. At the party Romeo spies Juliet through the glass of a fish tank and is immediately smitten. He is already in love by the time he finds out that she is Juliet Capulet, the daughter of his family enemy. Juliet has also fallen for Romeo despite his name and the seal it with a dip in the Capulets pool and a kiss.

The following day the two decide to marry and Romeo’s friend Father Lawrence (Pete Postlethwaite thinks the wedding may be a chance to bring peace to the family and the un-civil war. He conducts the wedding but there is tragedy to come, one that will separate the young lovers and further complications involving a mislaid letter that could mean doom.

Stylistically jarring 

It’s a classic story and Baz Luhrmann’s telling it has a new, stylistically jarring life. The film begins with Shakespeare’s classic epilogue as told by a news reporter on TV. Then Pete Postlethwaite picks up the same dialogue in voice over and then in a bold move, the same words are incorporated into the film’s experimental score.

From there we are thrust down into the streets of Verona Beach where Shakespeare’s immortal words are spoken by common street thugs wielding Sword brand 9mm handguns. The Montagues and Capulets meet in combat in the urban setting of a Grand Theft Auto video game but all the while speaking with Shakespeare’s tongue.

Radiohead, Garbage and Prince 

It’s all quite jarring at first but when the music of Radiohead kicks in as we are introduced to Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo, things begin to settle in and we are quickly invested in this highly unique retelling of a classic love story. There are times when the classic Shakespearean turns of phrase are incomprehensible to the modern ear but the meaning is well conveyed by the exemplary cast, as it would be if Luhrmann had not chosen to modernize the setting.

Leonardo DiCaprio had not yet become a global icon when he starred in Romeo +Juliet. He was less than a year from becoming ‘the King of the world’ as Jack Dawson in Titanic but his star was certainly on the rise. “Romeo + Juliet” was indeed the perfect table setter for his breakout in Titanic. Romeo offered just the right mix of serious acting and teen idol mooning needed for the establishment of global icon status.

Claire Danes has never found the stardom that DiCaprio has achieved since “Romeo + Juliet” but onscreen she is every bit the star DiCaprio is. With her wide expressive eyes, beautiful smile and delicate delivery, Danes was a marvelous Juliet and when Juliet takes hold of a gun as she does more than once during “Romeo + Juliet” it is a stunning counterpoint to her nuanced beauty.

The music of Romeo + Juliet acts as the third lead character in the film. Baz Luhrmann and his music team did yeoman’s work to mix movie score and pop songs in ways few had ever done before. While many will remember the hit song “Lovefool” by the Cardigans the stand out for me while watching the film this week was Des’ree’s haunting love theme “Kissing You.”

The hit soundtrack also includes music from popular 90’s rockers Everclear and Garbage and, as briefly mentioned earlier, experimental rockers Radiohead whose song “Talk Show Host” serves as Romeo’s theme. There are also, ever so brief, musical intrusions by Massive Attack and most famously a remix of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” sung beautifully by a church choir.

Romeo and Juliet for the MTV generation 

Yes, this was “Romeo + Juliet” for the MTV generation and as horrific as such pronouncement seems today; it was slightly less of an insult at the time. In 1996 MTV still had certain culture relevance then. In 1996 you could turn on MTV and actually watch a music video. It was before Britney and the Backstreet Boys took music back to the dark ages.

Connecting Shakespeare and the MTV generation was a stroke of genius on the part of Baz Luhrmann. He brought these two portions of world culture together in ways that no one thought possible. Baz Luhrmann made Shakespeare significant to an audience that otherwise might have thought his work was staid and dusty, something that teachers forced them to read but had no relevance to their lives.

A place in history lost

Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” somehow never gained the mainstream acceptance it so richly deserved. Though it was a worldwide hit, earning more than 140 million dollars on a budget of a paltry 14 million dollars, its place in pop culture history was quickly consumed by another re-telling of Shakespeare’s doomed lovers’ tale, James Cameron’s “Titanic.”