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The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
The Green Knight does it better
I'm an admirer of Coen brother's work & was looking forward to Joel's vision of this classic. As most have stated, the eccentric cinematography indeed works & makes for a unique experience. But, slightly disappointingly, that's as far as the movie veers from the original play.
When movies adapt well known literature the most interesting aspect, in my opinion, is how the director takes some liberties & reimagines the events of the story, something akin to David Lowery's The Green Knight. Similar to that movie, Macbeth has fantastical elements that Joel could have applied his own interpretation to conjure up something more surreal & impactful.
Regardless, it's still a unique movie & a good time.
The Last Duel (2021)
Lacks the intrigue and conflict of a story told from multiple viewpoints by unreliable narrators
There are definitely things to like about this movie. Throughout the duration you feel like you're in the hands of a capable director (surprise, surprise). All the acting is top notch led by the excellent Adam Driver. And the final duel is pretty damn good.
However for a movie that makes the audience invest their time in watching parts of it 3 times it just doesn't create the adequate intrigue or make you conflicted enough for that investment to pay off. As soon as we see Le Gris's account, there isn't much doubt as to how things went down besides some subtle differences. And from that point onwards instead of being conflicted about who to believe and who not to, instead of being afraid that someone might be wrongly punished, you're left no choice but to root for just one party.
That lack of complexity and doubt means the movie just ends up being a simple story of crime and justice with Jodie Comer's character's courage in a male dominated time the only thing to appreciate narrative wise.
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
Disappointing for Sopranos fans, forgettable for others
Personally, I came away quite disappointed. Besides some on-the-nose fan service, the movie didn't build on any of the Soprano's lore.
Tony's character was just sprinkled around without convincingly developing his motivations to get into the mafia game. There weren't any remotely pivotal character moments for him.
On the positives, Vera Farmiga as Livia was excellent, most of the casting was on point, though John Magaro was playing a caricature of Silvio which was a bit of cringe, and of course Junior's "never had a making of a varsity athlete" taunt got a big laugh from the audience.
So overall it just ended up being an average mafia movie which was nowhere as good as the pioneers of the genre, whilst flirtatiously winking at the original series without doing anything substantial with its characters.
As one other reviewer rightly noted, prequel attempts like these makes you appreciate Better Call Saul even more.