Following 2025’s scintillating spy thriller “Black Bag” Steven Soderbergh’s “The Christophers” blazingly brilliant duet, between artists “Julian Sklar” (Ian McKellen, is born for the role and takes flight in every provocative scene) and “Lori Butler” (superior Michaela Coel, perpetually taunts Julian); nearing death Julian’s children (“Barnaby”, James Corden, and “Sallie”, Jessica Gunning) hire Lori to complete his unfinished canvasses and …

Shakespeare is pulsating throughout the present day in filmdom; proof in last year’s stunningly heart-wrenching movie “Hamnet” earning Jesse Buckley an academy award for playing Will’s wife. The ubiquity of Shakespeare’s enticing appeal throbs through modernity: Kenneth Branagh’s acuity gifted audiences in 1993’s  “Much Ado About Nothing” & 1996’s “Hamlet”; 1996’s “Romeo & Juliet” directed by Baz Luhrmann; a favored …