An aging actor remembers his past stage triumphs and contemplates a dim future on the stage of an empty theatre.

Swan.Song.1992.Opus.2.0.H.264.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	22mn 46s
Size:	104 MiB
Video
Codec:	h264
Resolution:	714x480
Aspect ratio:	3:2
Frame rate:	25.000 fps
Bit rate:	
Audio
English 2.0ch Opus

https://nitro.download/view/5C8E3FB846BFBB6/Swan.Song.1992.Opus.2.0.H.264.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:Italian [Hardcoded]

The post Kenneth Branagh – Swan Song (1992) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

When the brilliant but unorthodox scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge.

Frankenstein.AKA.May.Shelley's.Frankenstein.1994.576p.BDRip.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	2h 3mn
Size:	2.89 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
Minimum settings:	Met
Video
Codec:	x264
Resolution:	1024x552
Aspect ratio:	1.85:1
Frame rate:	23.976 fps
Bit rate:	2 651 Kbps
Audio
English 5.1ch AC-3 @ 640 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/D252FDA433D78CC/Frankenstein.AKA.May.Shelley’s.Frankenstein.1994.576p.BDRip.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

https://ddownload.com/2xjebcxuwl9o/Frankenstein.AKA.May.Shelley’s.Frankenstein.1994.576p.BDRip.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:Multi language

The post Kenneth Branagh – Frankenstein AKA Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Michael Billington:
There are many ways of approaching Shakespeare’s youthful tragedy: Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh take the scenic route in this new production. We are plunged into a vividly imagined 1950s Italy of dark-suited men, petticoated women, bicycling friars, patriarchal oppression and frantic partying. You feel Fellini is due any moment to film it with a movie camera and, even if the result has its oddities, the production certainly has a pulsating energy.

The big draw is the casting of Lily James and Richard Madden, who played opposite each other in the Branagh movie of Cinderella, as the doomed lovers. They acquit themselves very well: they have youth, looks and passion on their side. I was puzzled, however, by some of the directorial decisions that mean we miss Juliet’s rapid maturation from inexperienced child to married woman. James’s Juliet seems very knowing from the start and when Romeo says “she doth teach the torches to burn bright” you wonder if it is because she is at the time huskily crooning a song in the style of a torch singer.

This is a Juliet who swigs from a bottle on the balcony and later anticipates Romeo’s arrival with a positively orgasmic ecstasy. James is excellent in the second half where Juliet vividly imagines the horror of entombment but, by placing so much stress on the character’s sexuality, the production sacrifices some of her vulnerability.

Madden gets more chance to show Romeo’s progress from self-absorbed moper to someone genuinely inflamed by love. Madden is especially good at articulating Romeo’s challenge to fate on “I defy you, stars” and suggests he is infected by the Veronese cult of violence: at one point, he even threatens to strike his spiritual adviser, Friar Laurence, who for once seems roughly the same age.

That is in stark contrast to Mercutio who is here played by Derek Jacobi. The idea is clearly that Mercutio is a dandified old swinger who likes to hang out with young men, and Jacobi brings to the role both a sashaying charm and his own minute precision with the verse: it is a pleasure to hear him treat the Queen Mab speech not as a manic rant but as a series of microscopic images so that we actually imagine “the wings of grasshoppers”. It just seems improbable that Jacobi’s humorous lounge-lizard should suddenly turn into a reckless swordsman.

But the production is staged with great fluency and Christopher Oram’s design, dominated by soaring columns that reminded me of Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, allows for striking effects: the best is when Juliet retires for the night in a circular white tent that descends on her like a shroud. There is also good work from a strong supporting cast: a constant feature of the Branagh season. Meera Syal plays the Nurse not as a toothless old crone but as a friskily mischievous figure who genuinely shares Juliet’s amorous excitement, and Michael Rouse’s Capulet is a dangerous hysteric who abuses all the women in his power.

The whole thing is done with a speed and vigour that ensures we are never bored; and if I generally preferred the first half to the second, that is because Shakespeare’s tragedy itself depends too much on chance and the faulty Italian postal service.

Part I.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 20 min
Size: 	1.19 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1118x476 
Aspect ratio:  	2.35:1
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	1 950 kb/s
BPP: 	0.147
Audio
#1:  	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 160 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/EBFBFF807F555B8/Part_I.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/E50208B98BA1801/Part_II.mkv

Languae(s):English
Subtitles:None

The post Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford & Benjamin Caron – Romeo and Juliet [Branagh Theatre Company] (2016) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A 1989 British drama film adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name about Henry V of England. The film stars Branagh in the title role with Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian Holm, Emma Thompson, Alec McCowen, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Brian Blessed, and Christian Bale in supporting roles.

The film received worldwide critical acclaim and has been widely considered one of the best Shakespeare film adaptations ever made. For her work on the film, Phyllis Dalton won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design and Kenneth Branagh, in his directorial debut, received Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Director.

Branagh’s film is frequently compared with the 1944 film of the play directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. The visual style of Branagh’s film is grittier and more realistic than that of Olivier’s. For example, his film avoids Olivier’s use of stylized sets, and, where Olivier staged the Battle of Agincourt on a sunlit field, Branagh’s takes place amid rain-drenched mud and gore. Nearly all of the scenes involving the comic characters were also staged as drama, rather than in the broad, more slapstick way in which Olivier staged them, because Branagh felt that modern audiences would not see the humor in these scenes.

While the text of the Chorus’ monologues are the same, the setting for them has been adapted to reflect the nature of the motion picture adaptation of the play. Unlike the other performers, who are dressed in clothing contemporary to the actual Henry V to reflect their characters, the Chorus is dressed in modern 20th century clothing. The opening monologue, originally written to compensate for the limitations of on stage theater to represent the historical scenes presented, is delivered on an empty motion picture sound stage with unfinished sets. The other chorus monologues are delivered on location where the relevant action is taking place. In all cases, the chorus speaks directly to the camera, addressing the audience.

Henry V received near-universal critical acclaim for Branagh’s Oscar-nominated performance and direction, for the accessibility of its Shakespearean language, and for its score by Patrick Doyle. It currently holds a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 83 out of 100, based on 17 reviews—all positive. Henry V also ranks #1 on the Rotten Tomatoes list of Greatest Shakespeare Movies, beating Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (1985) and Branagh’s own version of Hamlet (1996), respectively ranking in second and third place.

Roger Ebert, noted critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, highly praising Branagh’s performance and writing, “There is no more stirring summons to arms in all of literature than Henry’s speech to his troops on St. Crispan’s Day, ending with the lyrical ‘We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.’ To deliver this speech successfully is to pass the acid test for anyone daring to perform the role of Henry V in public, and as Kenneth Branagh, as Henry, stood up on the dawn of the Battle of Agincourt and delivered the famous words, I was emotionally stirred even though I had heard them many times before. That is one test of a great Shakespearian actor: to take the familiar and make it new.” Variety magazine also gave the film a positive review, calling Henry V “A stirring, gritty and enjoyable pic which offers a plethora of fine performances from some of the U.K.’s brightest talents.”

Henry V (Kenneth Branagh 1989).mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	2h 17mn
Size: 	2.10 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	716x466 ~> 862x466
Aspect ratio:  	1.85:1
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	1 992 Kbps
BPP: 	0.249
Audio
#1:  	English 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 Kbps (Stereo)

https://nitro.download/view/BB1727BD84CD781/Henry_V_(Kenneth_Branagh_1989).mkv

https://fikper.com/rEcdO21roR/Henry_V_(Kenneth_Branagh_1989).mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Kenneth Branagh – Henry V (1989) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Out of work actor Joe volunteers to help try and save his sister’s local church for the community by putting on a Christmas production of Hamlet, somewhat against the advice of his agent Margaretta. As the cast he assembles are still available even at Christmas and are prepared to do it on a ‘profit sharing’ basis (that is, they may not get paid anything) he cannot expect – and does not get – the cream of the cream. But although they all bring their own problems and foibles along, something bigger starts to emerge in the perhaps aptly named village of Hope.

1.71GB | 1h 38m | 720×480 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/0A732E1FA13FC6B/A.Midwinters.Tale.AKA.In.the.Bleak.Midwinter.1995.DVDRip.DD2.0.x264-ATK.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:None

The post Kenneth Branagh – In the Bleak Midwinter AKA A Midwinter’s Tale (1995) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

A semi-autobiographical film which chronicles the life of a working class family and their young son’s childhood during the tumult of the late 1960s in the Northern Ireland capital.

5.04GB | 1h 38m | 1920×1040 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/69BCDE3AB3B94AB/Belfast.2021.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:English,French (Softcoded)

The post Kenneth Branagh – Belfast (2021) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.

2.14GB | 1h 50m | 1024×554 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/077C5BD43FF3E14/Much.Ado.About.Nothing.1993.576p.BluRay.AAC.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English

The post Kenneth Branagh – Much Ado About Nothing (1993) first appeared on Cinema of the World.