Shakespeare in Love is a lighthearted romp through the imaginations of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Poking playfully around in the populist roots of the master, they imagine him faced with writer's block as he writes Romeo and Juliet. Gleeful parallels between Elizabethan London and our own time fly through the air like merry potshots. Gwyneth Paltrow is radiant and utterly in tune with this devilishly original screenplay. The Thin Red Line is an abstraction, a fragment of poetry about World War II during the battle of Guadalcanal.
Tree trunks are sculptures, children at play are paintings.
The mucky swamp, twisted roots, and steamy air sifting through the lacy leaves of a bamboo forest are the landscape for an army creeping toward death. The focus is on the peace of an island landscape infused with waiting, guessing, and dread-boys, once again, forced to die 12,000 miles from home. Elizabeth is a triumph for actress Cate Blanchett and director Shekhar Kapur. They have made a compelling drama from the story of the queen who built her reign on the strength of her will. The loneliness of the young queen surrounded by the promise of betrayal and treachery in the dark gloom of those cold castles is timeless.