I've seen some pictures of her performance, but I've yet to see the movie. Is it any good?

I'm in two minds about it (as I am about most of Julie Taymor's work -- that I know, anyway). Helen Mirren is spectacular, of course, once you've gotten over the fact that Prospero has changed sex, and by and large the other cast is also pretty good. I'm just not sure I like the sex change to begin with -- Shakespeare had a reason for making Prospero a man, and that reason isn't solely that we're talking about a deposed ruler -- and the movie also looks a bit too CGI for my liking; supernatural story or no. I'm afraid I want my Shakespeare adaptations to be firmly analogue ...

Normally I also like my Shakespeare to be very much Shakespeare, however recently I saw a (for Globe standards) rather modern adaptation of A Midsummer's Night Dream in the Globe and I liked it better than I had expected. So, I'll give Helen Mirren as Prospera a chance and watch the movie...

I don't mind "modernized", and certainly not in a stage production, particularly one done by the experts (Globe, RSC, etc.) -- love Ian McKellen's "Richard III" movie and the McKellen / Dench / Trevor Nunn modern(ish) dress "Macbeth", and one of the, if not *the* best stage production of "Richard II" I ever saw was the 2005 modern dress Old Vic production starring Kevin Spacey as Richard, directed by Trevor Nunn. When I said CGI, that's precisely what I meant. Taymor's "The Tempest" is just incredibly glossy -- it *looks* so glossy and computer-edited / computer-generated perfect you almost notice its looks more than the acting, which is a shame, because the acting is really good.

I'm trying to get the 2005 production of "Richard II" starring Kevin Spacey as Richard, directed by Trevor Nunn. The last time I checked it was out of stock.

Are you saying there's a DVD version of that???!! Wow! You just made my day! Well, almost. Now we only need to find a place where it's *not* out of stock ...

Yes, I remember that review!

Great review!