Home Video Picks & Passes 10.13.19

Shakespeare makes the thumbs-up list.

Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing (photo: via IMBD)

Much Ado About Nothing (1993) — PICK

Witness (1985) — PICK

 

Looking for non-Halloween-y October viewing options? Hulu has you covered with two very different, similarly fantastic movies revolving around two characters who can’t admit their attraction to one another.

Much Ado About Nothing may not be the Bard’s funniest comedy, but Kenneth Branagh’s riotous romp — starring Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson, with Denzel Washington, Kate Beckinsale, Keanu Reeves and Michael Keaton — might be the funniest, most joyous Shakespeare movie ever made.

In a movie with a lot to enjoy — gorgeous scenery, mixed but mostly enjoyable acting, snappy editing — the biggest pleasure is simply listening to the Bard’s English flow from Branagh and Thompson’s lips. No other screen actors have ever — ever — made Shakespeare sound so natural and accessible.

What can I say about Peter Weir’s Witness, starring Harrison Ford as a Philadelphia cop and Kelly McGillis as an Amish widow whose young son witnesses a murder?

It’s one of my top 25 films of all time: a compelling thriller, a smoldering love story, a thoughtful study in comparative cultures, and a respectful exploration of religious community and nonviolence.

 

CAVEAT SPECTATOR: Much Ado About Nothing: Brief nonsexual nudity; a fleeting bedroom scene (nothing explicit); some suggestive content. Mature viewing. Witness: Some deadly graphic violence; brief nudity and a sexual reference; some objectionable language. Mature viewing.