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.

Katherina_Minola This 1999 movie was Hollywood's take on one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. It boasts an impressive cast – Michelle Pfieffer, Rupert Everett, Anna Friel, Dominic West, Christian Bale, Calista Flockhart and Stanley Tucci among them.Until fairly recently, I did not enjoy reading Shakespeare's work – it seemed very 'dry' when written on a page (to me, at least). However, when his words are acted out on stage or screen, it all falls in to place, and it's much easier to appreciate the wit and intelligence of Shakespeare. In this case, I would suggest that some knowledge of the storyline of the play is helpful before watching (it does cover three interlinked stories), but it is certainly not necessary to have studied or read the play in any detail.Briefly, Egeus (played by Bernard Hill) wants his daughter Hermia (Anna Friel) to marry Demetrius (Christian Bale). However, Hermia is in love with Lysander (Dominic West). When she is given the choice of marrying Demetrius, being sentenced to death, or living as a Nun for the rest of of her life, Hermia and Lysander decide to run away together. Hermia's friend Helena (Calista Flockhart, in a fantastic turn) is in love with Demetrius, but he loves Hermia.Meanwhile, King of the Fairies Oberon (Rupert Everett) is estranged from his Fairy Queen Titania (Michelle Pfieffer); she has taken over the care of a changeling boy, after the death of the boy's mother, who was one of Titania's worshippers. Oberon wants the boy to work for him. He summons his mischievous but loyal fairy servant Puck to sprinkle a magic flower on Titania's eyes while she sleeps – the spell it casts causes the sleeping person to fall in love with the first living thing they see upon waking. Oberon believes that Titania will fall in love with a creature of the forest (where the fairies all live) and while she is distracted, he can take the boy.After seeing Demetrius and Helena arguing, Oberon also orders Puck to sprinkle the magic flower on Demetrius's eyes so that he will see and fall in love with Helena. Puck however has never seen Demetrius and when he stumbles across Lysander asleep in the forest (he and Hermia have stopped there for the night before continuing with their escape), he sprinkles the magic flower on Lysander instead. Helena then comes across Lysander and wakes him, and Lysander falls in love with her immediately. When Puck's mistake is discovered, he also sprinkles the magic flower on Demetrius's eyes, and Demetrius too sees and falls in love with Helena. The two young men argue over who should be with Helena, while Hermia accuses Helena of stealing Lysander's love.While all this is going on, a group of workers in the village are practicing a play to put on at the wedding of the Duke Theseus and his bride to be, Hippolyta. During their rehearsals in the forest, Puck sees Bottom (Kevin Kline) and casts a spell giving Bottom an ass's head, which naturally terrifies the fellow performers. They run away, and Bottom falls asleep. And then he is the first thing that Fairy Queen Titania sees when she awakes…The plot sounds complicated, but it all plays out beautifully. The action is moved from Ancient Athens to Italy at the turn of the 19th century. The reason for this is not made clear (and the script retains its references to Athens), but it doesn't matter – Italy looks lovely – the film was shot on location, large in Tuscany. The fairy forest is enchanting, and even the cast are beautiful – in fact the whole film looks as though it has had its own sprinkling of fairy dust!The cast are all terrific. Stanley Tucci – always under-rated – excels as Puck, and really seems to be having fun with the character. Kevin Kline also makes the most of his part and gives a great performance. Puck and Bottom are probably the two funniest characters in the script, and I thought Tucci and Kline did great justice to the roles.The script is actually very very funny – I laughed out loud on a number of occasions – and very romantic and sweet too. The interlinked stories tie up together well and the ending is perfect – well, there must be a reason that Shakespeare is so revered centuries after his death.Overall, this is a very amusing, and beautiful looking film. Even if you're not a fan of Shakespeare, I'd recommend giving this film a watch.

ntsci The dream is my favourite Shakepearean play. Truth be told if I had the choice, I'd rather seen the Dream performed live. This is one of the most entertaining adaptations of Shakespeare I've seen on film. Most films of a Shakespearean play are boring, but this one was beautiful and hilarious. I rented it, but then purchase a copy so that I could enjoy it over and over again.The soundtrack was perfect, the setting was elegant, and everything worked together.Puck played by Stanley Tucciin was superb. I think he should get much larger movie roles then he has in the past. I also really enjoyed Kevin Klines interpretation of Bottom.If you love the Dream, you'll love this film.