A princess and a king: movies viewed (#SFWApro)

THE PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR (2000) reuintes Franka Potente and her Run Lola Run director to very little effect. The concept isn’t bad — a nurse becomes obsessed with the man who saved her life, which is inconvenient for him as he’s a bank robber plotting a heist — but the execution is horribly slow and meandering (though with nice visuals). I gave up after 45 minutes.“You’re all asslickers and all you do is kiss your own ass!”

THE HOLLOW CROWN: Richard II (2013) is the first in a series of adaptations by Sam Mendes tackling the historical arc that runs from this Shakespeare play through Henry VI (though Richard was written years earlier than the other histories). Ben Whishaw (below, all rights to image remain with current holder) plays the king whose arrogance, indecisiveness and bad decisions lead to his downfall and the passing of the crown to Bolingbroke, AKA Henry IV (and by implication setting up the instability that plagues subsequent monarchs). A good job with a show that I’ve never seen before; with Rory Kinnear as Bolingbroke and Patrick Stewart as John of Gaunt. “Landlord of England art thou now, not king!”