Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed. Though the film is visually modern, the bard's dialogue remains.
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What critics compared Romeo + Juliet to
Not that I'd do away with such funny bits as the homage to Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" or the swan running gag, not to mention the priceless supporting turns by some of the finest actors in the UK (Timothy Dalton, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Steve Coogan, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, etc.).
There's also a most terrible homage to Romeo + Juliet, which might go down as some of the best intentionally bad Shakespeare ever put on film.
Her take on Wuthering Heights feels akin to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) or The Great Gatsby (2013), in the sense that it's a literary adaptation that’s more concerned with theatricality and spectacle than translating a work of classic literature to the big screen as authentically as possible.
…like Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Fennell programmed a series at the BFI IMAX of titles that inspired her version of Wuthering Heights, including Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter, David Cronenberg’s Crash, Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Mervyn LeRoy’s Random Harvest and Catherine Breillat’s Bluebeard.
If someone like Baz Luhrmann, who has previously mixed time periods together in Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, had directed this, perhaps it could have been integrated more smoothly.
Valerian (Dane DeHaan) is a government space agent of some kind who acts like Han Solo and dresses like Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” (hang onto those Hawaiian shirts, apparently they’re gonna come back in style in 700 years).
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Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Directed by Cathy Yan
Visuals
The costuming is equal parts tacky and sophisticated in a way that’s reminiscent of the styling in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996); Sionis’s impeccably accessorized suits, in particular, are a standout.
Shaking up Shakespeare is hardly a new idea, and sometimes an unusual treatment of one of the Bard's works can turn out to be both enjoyable and insightful (such as Ian McKellen's transferring of "Richard III" to 1930s England, or Baz Luhrmann's robust "Romeo and Juliet").
Ten years after "Romeo + Juliet" started the trend of making over Shakespeare in today's teenage world ("10 Things I Hate About You" and "O" followed), teen sensation Amanda Bynes (TV's "What I Like About You") takes a crack at one of the Bard's gender bending roles with bland results.
Ever since her phenomenal debut in True Grit, rising star Hailee Steinfeld has been floundering between good (Ten Thousand Saints, Pitch Perfect 2) and bad (Barely Lethal, Romeo and Juliet) projects, but in this film, she delivers her best performance to date, as well as one of the year’s best.
In her juiciest role since the Coen brothers' True Grit (her Juliet in 2013's Romeo and Juliet is better forgotten), Steinfeld is alive to Nadine's rapidly swinging moods and shifting allegiances, but also to her essential goodness.
When Nadine accidentally-on-purpose runs into her crush, Nick, in the tropical fish aisle, the glow is Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and the soundtrack is Spandau Ballet’s “True,” made famous at the school dance in Sixteen Candles .
I also jotted down William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, Sid & Nancy, and the hail-of-bullets finale of Bonnie and Clyde as spiritual cousins.
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Ultimately, the story is so similar, yet the visuals so different, that it feels like you're watching Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, or any other example in theater or film where a story was kept the same, but put in a very different visual setting.
Combined with Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet , 10 Things I Hate About You makes the bard fun and accessible by giving the story a modern spin.
It's another update of Shakespeare for the MTV generation (whoever the hell they are) and although not as stylized and brilliant as its predecessor, Romeo + Juliet, it still manages to succeed with a charming sense of clumsy cuteness.