The Mad Cap Heir

I am completely preoccupied with Hamlet lately. It started last week when I came home early from work and ended up watching A Midwinter’s Tale on HBO. This is a mildly entertaining movie from Kenneth Branagh about a group of semi-professional actors who put on a Christmas performance of Hamlet for a church benefit.

I, like one of the IMDb reviewers, thought the best thing about the film was the glimpses of the group’s quirky production. It put me in the mood to watch Hamlet and I discovered the only one I have in my house is the Ethan Hawke modernized version from 2000, which I‘ve probably had since 2000 but never managed to watch before.

That movie is a Hoot And A Half. I am NOT an Ethan Hawke fan, but I have to admit he is Awesome, if only because he, unlike certain somebodies (Kenneth Branagh, Mel Gibson) is so completely right for the part. And I am particularly tickled by his Mad Cap



On the subject of Kenneth and Mel, however, I went to the video store to get the other Hamlets today so I could compare and contrast. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. It seems like they might have been truly better movies. It’s just always bugged me that the Hamlets were too old.