Da'ud Bob's Movie Review
for
  November 2026


This month's re-run review is from exactly ten years ago, in November 2016. I thought that this review is not only appropriate a decade later, but that it might introduce you to a set of movies that you may not have heard about before, and they are well worth knowing about and, ideally, watching! In any event, here is this month's little "blast from the past"!



I was thrilled recently to discover that the BBC had done an extension of their series, The Hollow Crown. The first year of the series had done four plays by William Shakespeare: Richard II; Henry IV, Part I; Henry IV, Part II; and Henry V (this last starring Tom (“Loki”) Hiddleston in the title role), and I have previously reviewed these for you (in three reviews, treating Parts 1 and 2 of Henry IV as a single, extended play). The second season aired in December 2015, and now available on this side of the Atlantic Ocean on DVD, includes: Henry VI, Part I; Henry VI, Part II; and Richard III, all under the title The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses. With another  superb lineup of actors and filming, as with the first series, on and in many historical sites, this set of movies continues the quality set by the earlier one, and really helps to make Shakespeare come alive to the audience. So let me tell you a little bit about the first two movies of the second season, as we combine into one review the two plays (they combined the three-part Henry VI plays into two parts) of Henry VI, Part I and Henry VI, Part II.


Starring Tom Sturridge as King Henry VI, Sophie Okonedo as Queen Margaret, Hugh (“Lord Grantham” of Downton Abbey) Bonneville as Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Sally Hawkins as Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, Anton Lesser as Exeter, Ben Miles as Somerset, Adrian Dunbar as (Edward) Plantagenet, Mac Pietowski as the Earl of Salisbury, Stanley Townsend as Warwick (“the Kingmaker”), Jason Watkins as Suffolk, Samuel West as the Bishop of Winchester, Tom Purbeck as the Dauphin, Laura Morgan as Joan of Arc, Philip Glenister as Talbot, and Michael Gambon as Mortimer, the tale begins immediately after the death of King Henry V, placing his infant son as King Henry VI on the throne under the protection of the Duke of Gloucester. As young King Henry grows up, he is unaware that there are other claimants to the throne whose factions will ultimately cause civil war. Henry tries to unite them in the Hundred Years War, capturing Joan of Arc, before he marries Margaret of Anjou to unite England and France, but there is no dowry, angering the court. Margaret finds the pious Henry a dull husband and has an affair with Somerset as well as crossing Gloucester's wife Eleanor. When Gloucester is arrested for alleged treason because of Eleanor, Henry is too weak to prevent his death or the country from slipping into civil war. In Henry VI, Part II, to avoid further bloodshed Henry agrees to make Edward Plantagenet his heir on his death, effectively disowning his own son and angering Queen Margaret, who shocks her husband with military action. The Yorkists triumph with Edward IV crowned king. Henry, descending into madness, is imprisoned in the Tower of London whilst Margaret and her son seek sanctuary in France. Yet Edward is not without his opponents, led by Margaret, whom he routs at the battle of Tewkesbury, aided by his brothers George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard of Gloucester.

Good points: It’s Shakespeare! The many sites of the filming. The cloak. The genealogical scroll. The tents. The cinematography. The armor. Real chain mail. The banners. The pendent seal. Real, identifiable heraldry (as only one example, Shrewsbury’s son used his father’s arms with a label).

Bad points: Sir William Lucy wearing the Royal Arms. (Unless he were a herald “on duty,” he would never have done this. Carrying a sword in a belt without a scabbard. Much of the fight choreography. There is a lot of graphic violence in this movie, much of which seemed unnecessary to me.

Zero breasts. Seven gallons of blood. 156 dead bodies. (Well, there was a war on.) Arrow fu. Polearm fu. Sword fu. Fire fu. Witchcraft fu. Dagger fu. Waves roll. Heads roll. Hand rolls. Gratuitous illuminated scroll of peace. Gratuitous ominous dream. Gratuitous sheep. Gratuitous heads on spikes. Gratuitous dirt. Gratuitous blood. Gratuitous throat slitting (on-screen!). Gratuitous deer. A 72 on the Vomit Meter. 3½ stars. Da’ud Bob says, “The theme of this series seems to be ‘How many bad decisions does it take to put a psychopath on the throne?’ Check it out!”





Upcoming movies and miniseries to watch for!


The King, the Swordsman, and the Sorceress
Was to be released December 30, 2025, but IMDb says it's still in "pre-production".		 Starring Donna Hamblin, Deborah Dutch, Jeffrey Schneider (who also directs), and Nick Dent, still no plot synopsis has been released. But given the title, surely it must be a Da'ud Bob kind of movie, yes? Well, maybe. AI seems to think it is a remake of 1982's The Sword and the Sorcerer, a movie which featured, as I said in my review of it, "the amazing new [three-bladed] Ronco Rocket Sword.  'It slices!  It dices!  It makes mincemeat of your enemies in minutes!')". If AI is right, we are all in serious trouble.
Highlander
No release date yet, but IMDb says it is in "post-production"		 Starring Henry Cavill, Russell, Crowe, and Karen Gillan, with Dave Bautista as the Kurgan. This is a remake of the 1986 original starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery that no one I know of is asking for. "An immortal Scottish swordsman faces off with other immortal warriors in order to obtain a coveted ability." Director Chad Stahelski confirmed the movie will be using Queen's soundtrack from the original, but "Probably in a different way than you think, but hardcore yes." [Da'ud Bob says, "How about 'hardcore no'?"]
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
A second season of this streaming series is already lined up for a 2027 release		 Set a century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wander through Westeros ... a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends. A(nother) Game of Thrones prequel. Streaming on Max.


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