Richard III (1995)

Shakespeare’s play about the titular, murderess, hunchbacked monarch updated to an alternate 1930's England. Instrumental to the York family’s victory in a civil war between monarchs, his brother Edward is barley on the throne before Richard has begun his bloody, conspiratorial ascent, that in the fashion of tragedies is not to end well. I knew the basics of the Richard story, but had never seen a play or film production of it before, so the Shakespear alone was worth the trip; not to mention the superb cast, a whose of who of British character greats with a couple of Americans thrown in. The 30's setting both works and doesn’t, there was a time when I would have most enjoyed this element of the film, and while the production designs pretty grand (this has got to be one of the more expensive non-commercial films of the 90's), the acting and story’s what keeps you. My biggest complaint is that story feels quite compressed and you never do get a good sense of the passing of time, the whole movie thusly comes across as unduly over rushed. Still a good entertaining time with substance, 4 out of 5.