Reviewers reviewed.
(posted Tuesday, Nov. 5) |
Movie William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (20th Century Fox). This modern-dress, teen-targeted version of Shakespeare's romance, directed by Baz Luhrmann (StrictlyBallroom), has been greeted warily by critics, who deemed it "frenetic" and likened it to an MTV video or a Ken Russell film. "A classic play thrown in the path of a subway train," as the New York Times' Janet Maslin puts it. But Maslin and others found enough redeeming features (originality, flashy style) to consider the film "sometimes successful." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times writes "it has enough positive energy and dizzying high spirits to make it irresistible." S LATE's Alex Ross calls it "one of the more operatic Hollywood creations of recent years." (Stills, soundtrack, etc., available at the promotional site for the film.)