ALL IS TRUE: Kenneth Branagh's Will Shakespeare "take" does the Bard proud

As both actor and director, Kenneth Branagh (shown above, center, and below, has by now done so much filmed Shakespeare that it seems somehow only fitting that he should himself play the great guy in a movie. And so he does -- as Shakespeare during his final years -- in the splendid new ALL IS TRUE. The title seems immediately ironic on a number of levels, as we are told via info offered at film's beginning that this title was given initially to the Bard's play now known as Henry VIII, during a production of which, the Globe theatre, in which it was being performed, burned to the ground.

The irony is echoed again in a wonderful scene in which Will's intelligent and angry daughter Judith tells her father directly and unequivocally, "Nothing is true." (This would seem even more appropriate in our own age and the full-bore falsity of Donald Trump.)

And yet, in its own sweet and unhurried manner, Branagh's movie seems to this Shakespeare fan a  remarkable achievement in that it captures so beautifully time and place, character and event, and finally the utterly splendid and remarkable poetry the man was capable of in a scene of such perfection, it will probably be vimeo-ed and/orYouTubed into eternity. (More about that scene later.)

We meet our Will as he returns to the home and family he has cared for mostly at a distance during his long (for the times: most of his contemporaries are, or soon will be, dead) and successful career. That family includes his distant wife (the sublime Judi Dench, above)

and two daughters: the smart and angry Judith (Kathryn Wilder, above, left) and the loving and more submissive Susannah (Lydia Wilson, below). The Bard has given up playwriting -- writing of any sort, really -- and decided to create and tend a garden (he's not very good at it). But of course he becomes most involved in the family matters -- marriages, in-laws, and mostly past mistakes -- that continue to distance him from those he's supposed to love and care for.

The biggest of these matters has to do with the life and untimely death years ago of his son, Hamnet (Judith's twin), and what this finally means to him and the rest of the family. Nothing is hurried here, yet all of the events and themes are worked through believably, humorously and/or movingly, resulting in a work that celebrates the most significant writer (and probably mind) in world history in a manner that does him as much justice as could be managed in a 101-minute movie.

All is -- if not true -- quite wonderful. Yet two scenes stand out above the rest. One, as mentioned earlier, captures the beauty of the writing, as Branagh and Ian McKellen (left, playing the Earl of Southampton) chat and reminisce. Here, poetry, love, loss, class and position all merge so perfectly, with the two actors at the absolute tip-top of their form, that I suspect this perfect scene will survive as long as there's anyone left who appreciates great art.

The other scene involves Will's surprise visit by a younger fan, played with a gentle combination of sweetness, strength and sincerity by Phil Dunster (below). This fellow simply wants to meet the great writer and try to tell him how much his work has meant to him. But of course, in the presence of "greatness," he fumbles and meanders and finally asks, "How did you know? "How did I know what? Shakespeare asks back. And then the answer comes: "Everything."

Indeed. That's the question that's been asked over and over by so many other great minds -- as well as by all of us lesser souls who revere the Bard's work. How did he know people and politics, greed and ambition, love and lust, youth and age and everything in between so very well that it does seem as though, yes, he did know it all? And women, too (who befuddled even Freud). While Shakespeare wasn't much of a feminist, perhaps, he was surely forward-thinking for his time.

Mr. Branagh has given us quite a little gift here, and Shakespeare fans ought to partake. For those afraid that perhaps the language used will be "old English" and beyond their ken, worry not. Branagh and his fine screenwriter, Ben Elton, have made it all perfectly accessible. All Is True is a quiet joy.

From Sony Pictures Classics, the movie, after opening on our cultural coasts, is now expanding elsewhere around the country. Here in South Florida, it opens this Friday, May 24, and will play various theaters in the area, among them the O Cinema Miami, the Classic Gateway in Fort Lauderdale and the Movies of Delray in Delray Beach. Wherever you live, click here and then click on GET TICKETS to discover theaters near you.

Kenneth Branagh's THOR: Thilly, Thexy, Thtupid -- but mostly mediocre

TM plops his tush into a rare, paid-for theater seat to see a current main-stream movie in 3D. Then wishes he hadn't. What a bore is THOR. If you haven't yet plunked down your hard-earned moolah for this one -- save it, please! Or opt for the cheaper 2D version, which is by all accounts brighter and vision-friendlier. If Holly-wood can't do better than this darker-than-need-be (and I am not talking about the content, simply the dark and slightly grubby-looking visual aspect) and almost completely un-thought-out use of its would-be three dimensions, then 3D will simply disappear again, just as it did a few years after its debut in the 1950s.

Audiences, being dumber these days, will take more time to figure out the con, so the decline may take a bit longer. In the old days, there was no extra charge for 3-D; now, bilking us of $5 more (and giving us less), the movie industry seems bent on reaping profits at any cost. On one level, I am happy for director Kenneth Branagh (shown at right, and a man whose work I have long admired) that this movie did not flop. And it certainly is not a disaster on any level. But it is so mediocre on almost all of them. The sense of the secondhand that fairly oozes from the tiresome sets and costumes, the special effects, the "plot" (such as it is) is almost constant. Only the performances (except for one) rise a bit above this, for actors usually give it their best shot.

That one lacking performance belongs to Chris Hemsworth in the title role. Clearly chosen for things (above) other than his acting ability, Hemsworth manages not to embarrass himself, and even has one very nice interaction with a coffee mug during the course of the film. But mostly he just grins or tries to look stern. Get real, Hollywood: When someone has a body this incredible, why cover it up for the entire movie? With the exception of maybe fifteen seconds of screen time when he 's shown with his shirt off, he is clothed in costumes that, in the earth sections, look tatty and in Valhalla look silly.

Natalie Portman is fine, as usual, while Stellan Skarsgård (above, left) and Kat Dennings (above, right) do just fine with very little; ditto Anthony Hopkins. But why cast someone like Rene Russo then give her absolutely nothing to do. (Seeing Ms Russo make a fool of herself on Jay Leno a couple of weeks back was embarrassing to watch.) The find of the film may be Tom Hiddleston (below) as Thor's half-bro Loki. Hiddleston's got presence and fire but the role (in fact, the whole movie) could have used a wittier sense of humor. Wasn't Loki, naughty as he was, always known for that?

Thor (at 115 minutes, way too long) is still playing around most towns. As I say, you won't lose anything by seeing it in 2-D -- or probably even better, wait for the Blu-ray.