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The Tragedy of Macbeth 2021
A gift to English teachers everywhere! What a groovy, groovy film. The perfect blend of cinema and theatricality. I’d love to see every Shakespeare play adapted this way.
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Don't Look Up 2021
It did succeed at giving me a sense of existential dread and the ending was effective (at least before the terrible post-credits scenes), but it absolutely should’ve been no more than 95 minutes at most.
Some other scattered thoughts:
—Nice to see Leo having fun post-Oscar
—The Chris Evans cameo was incredible, although I’d be fascinated to hear what he thinks he’s mocking there
—Jennifer Lawrence kissing Timothée Chalamet felt like a real passing of the “hot young critically acclaimed star” torch moment
—Streep, Blanchett, Rylance, and especially Hill are shockingly bad. Like, almost unwatchable
—Where were the jokes??
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In the Heights 2021
It really can’t be overstated how ambitious, creative, and exuberant this is. Jon Chu’s background as a dance director is a huge asset when it comes to staging big production numbers like “96,000” and “Carnaval del Barrio.” And I was incredibly impressed by his commitment to abstract theatricality in “Paciencia y Fe,” a number most directors would’ve filled with standard flashback montages. It feels like Chu is the first director since Rob Marshall to really set out to push the…
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The Mummy Returns 2001
Making Evelyn and Rick a happily married couple instead of splitting them up to retread the arc of the first movie is the single greatest decision any sequel has ever made.
