I see a lot of grimy, grim-faced actors in medieval garb, but all I’m sensing are sullen 21st Century poses and arch attitudes and echoes of acting classes.

Obviously I need to open myself up to this puppy (Netflix, 11.1) and stop sniping from the sidelines. It’s been playing in theatres since 10.11, and therefore my laziness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet, I have no one to meet, and the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.

“What should be soaring is instead lugubrious; what should be a ripping good yarn is instead dutiful and a little bit dull. There are images and ideas to value in “The King,” especially as a glimpse at the costs of bellicose posturing, manipulative power-seeking and overcompensating masculine pride. But it still feels like a wan copy of something more vital.

“Perhaps the most abiding lesson of The King is that if you come for the Bard, you’d best not miss.” — from Ann Hornaday’s 10.23 review in The Washington Post.