Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Forget the cheesy black-and-white classic Frankensteins with the flat head and bolts in the neck; this is a powerful, dramatic, raw, bizarre, and human story closer to the novel Mary Shelley wrote in 1818.

Kenneth Branagh is a bit (okay, maybe a lot) over-the-top as both director and actor, but, well, that's Branagh, and it is somewhat forgivable for this story. Too many good performances to acknowledge here, but I have two favorites. John Cleese shows us he can set the humor aside, and puts in a wonderfully understated Prof Waldman. Robert De Niro is fantastic as the "monster" -- by the end of the film, his creature has shown more depth and soul than his obsessed creator, but also a brutal, powerful dark side. I love complex, even contradictory characters like this; they are too rare in movies.

(I accidently posted this on the wrong blog some weeks ago)