William Shakespeare Movies

Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld step into the roles of Romeo and Juliet in this reinvention of William Shakespeare's play from director Carlo Carlei (Fluke). Paul Giamatti co-stars. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

This theatrical release captures a live performance of part one of William Shakespeare's Henry IV, recorded live at the Globe Theatre in 2010. The production stars Jamie Parker in the comedic role of Prince Hal, the nere-do-well son of the King, who squanders his life away with the fat Sir John Falstaff. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Sir Patrick Stewart stars in director Rupert Goold's visionary take on William Shakespeare's classic play, which shifts the action to a foreboding purgatory in order to explore mankind's eternal struggle for power. Based on the production originally staged at the famed Chichester Festival Theater in England, and co-starring Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest stars none other than Christopher Plummer as Prospero, a sorcerer stranded for 12 years on an island, where he suddenly gains the chance to exact revenge on those who left him there. The performance was recorded at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2010. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

This performance of Giuseppe Verde's tragic opera Faust by the Opera Royal de Wallonie was recorded at the Opera de Liege in November of 2009, and features vocalists such as Ruggero Raimondi, Luca Salsi, and Virginia Tola in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

The legendary Shakespeare's Globe Theater mounted this production of Shakespeare's romantic comedy {+As You Like It] in 2009, with a cast that includes Brendan Hughes as Duke Frederick, Naomi Frederick as Rosalind and Ganymede, Jack Laskey as Orlando, Laura Rogers as Celia and Aliena, and Dominic Rowan as Touchstone. Dick Bird designed the sets and Thea Sharrock directs for the stage, with choreography by Fin Walker. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Shakespearean tragedy gets a surreal makeover courtesy of fledgling auteur Alexander Fodor, who instills the oft-told tale with a few startling twists. Focusing more on the supernatural aspects on the tale than the human elements, the film retains Shakespeare's original dialogue while changing the personalities and even genders of certain pivotal characters. In Fodor's version, feeble Polonius is transformed into treacherous femme fatale Polonia, who attempts to gain control of her sister Ophelia though the use of addictive drugs, and steer the vulnerable girl into a royal marriage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A simple case of assumed identity snowballs into a romantic mix-up of epic proportions in director Andy Fickman's contemporary teen take on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) has good reason for wanting to conceal her identity upon arriving at Illyria Prep School, and with her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), skirting school in an attempt to break into the London music scene, Viola sees her sibling's well-timed absence as the perfect opportunity to assume his identity. When Viola is assigned a shared dorm room with campus cool guy Duke (Channing Tatum), her facade slowly begins to crumble as she begins harboring a deep-rooted crush on her unsuspecting new roommate. The situation begins to take a turn for the worse, however, when Duke reveals his affection toward campus knockout Olivia (Laura Ramsey), who in turn seems increasingly drawn toward the sensitive imposter known as Sebastian. The problem is, the real Sebastian has decided to cut his London trip short, and upon arriving on campus two days earlier than expected, Viola's elaborately executed ruse hits an unexpected hitch that sends the entire situation spiraling into chaos. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

With the 2006 MacBeth, controversial Australian director Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper, Metal Skin) launches his fourth big screen outing and continues the trend of reinventing Shakespeare by contemporizing the bard's plays. As in other recent efforts (Richard Loncraine's Richard III (1996), Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000)), Wright uses a distinctly postmodern context to extract related themes from the original work. Here, Wright reworks the brutal tragedy Macbeth, retaining its Elizabethan dialogue, but resituating the events within the arena of modern Australian gang violence. His Macbeth (Sam Worthington) is a drug baron and pimp, his Lady Macbeth a Valium-addicted, narcoleptic burnout and manipulator, his Duncan the head of Melbourne's criminal underground. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth murder Duncan in cold blood (framing the servants as responsible), but soon after Macbeth takes the throne, he is undone - and beheaded - by usurper Macduff. Like former adapter Roman Polanski, Wright ups the quotients of bloodletting, sadism, and underlying iciness. He filmed much of the picture with HD photography - thus capturing a broader range of imagery and a much blacker darkness in his nighttime sequences - and lit a pivotal action scene exclusively with red laser gun sights. The result is a thoroughly unique and unprecedented work. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi