The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Directed by Joel Coen and starring Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, and Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth is the Scottish play stripped down to its very core, defying both modernity and tradition in the process.

You already know the story – goaded by the Witches’ quixotic prophecy and Lady Macbeth’s growing ambition, Macbeth kills Duncan, spiraling into a web of murder intertwined with the enigma of fate itself. With every line of the dialogue already thoroughly iconic, Coen distinguishes his version with a number of interesting choices: the witches are a Schrödingerean entity, both 3 and 1 at once; Ross’ role is greatly expanded; most interestingly, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are in old age, rather than the traditional young and boisterous.

The Tragedy of Macbeth distills the play into the purest possible cinematic representation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece. Fastidious editing, sound, costume, and monolithic set design gives this rendition a technical upper hand; masterful alternations between zoomed-in and macro shots provide the jarring sense of confusion. The performances from Washington, McDormand, and the supporting cast are uniformly excellent, each one at the right time impassioned or subdued. Coen’s use of a soundstage, entirely isolated from reality, gives The Tragedy of Macbeth an ethereal feeling of dreaming a dream, of a dream, of a dream, of Macbeth. Excellent. 

Morbius (2022)

Directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jared Leto and Matth Smith, Morbius is the artless introduction of Marvel’s living vampire.

World-renowned genius Dr. Michael Morbius embarks on an ambitious experimental cure involving the unethical combining of human and bat genes, for the chronic blood illness that afflicts him and his best friend, Milo. Hastily, Morbius injects himself with the cure but finds himself having become an uncontrollably bloodthirsty vampire – an ironic twist of fate to his pacifist, healerly ways. Immediately captured by authorities in connection to the dozens of mercenaries mysteriously drained of blood on the ship, Morbius is horrified to learn of a growing number of similar crimes being committed around the city that were certainly not committed by him. Morbius must face a dilemma between his moral code and the primal vampiric nature that now consumes him.

The largest issue with Morbius is its alarmingly fast yet cumbersome pacing, with major plot points being abbreviated time and time again; ultimately, the movie flies by as a cursory sprint through what seems like a superhero-film check-the-box exercise, rather than the meaningfully told story it could have been. The most frustrating thing about Morbius is its potential: repeatedly, the movie almost understands the nuance its healer-turned-killer dynamic can provide – only to be utterly crushed moments later by brain-shatteringly cringey lines of dialogue, whose presence in the final cut of an $83 million dollar budget movie can only be marveled at. The vast majority of the humor in the movie is an awkward misfire, with entire characters being absolutely contrived, all but worthless to the plot. The visuals of the film don’t help either: Morbius’ vampire face looks half-decent less than half the time, the colorful effects for his superhuman movement become an eyesore when in action, and the drab puke-green sheen that envelopes the movie from beginning to end is entirely tasteless. Jared Leto and Matt Smith themselves, however, give adequate performances using what they have to work with. Morbius is awful. 

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

Directed by Tom Gormican and starring Nicholas Cage and Pedro Pascal, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a hilarious love letter to Nicolas Cage, by Nicolas Cage.

Nicolas Cage is a down-and-out actor whose recent string of mishaps have led him to finally decide to end his career – but not before he receives an impossible offer of $1 million to appear at the birthday family of superfan Javi. Incredulous, Cage offhandedly decides to take up the offer as the final task of his career and discovers that his client truly is a billionaire. Cage and Javi bond over their shared love of movies, but their friendship quickly becomes entangled with the CIA, espionage, and a deadly mission that will put all of Cage’s (acting) skills to the test.

With such a silly premise, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has no right to be as entertaining as it is – but Cage and Pascal’s incredible chemistry carries the film from beginning to end. Unbearable Weight is outright self-referential, containing numerous references to Cage films and Hollywood in general; bizarre meta moments provide much of the tasteful comedy throughout. Underneath the ridiculously enthusiastic and creative performances from both Cage and Pascal, however, lies a heartfelt tale of a man dealing with the burden of decades of glory and expectations. Unbearable Weight is easily one of the most entertaining, if not the best, films of 2022. 

Memento (2000)

Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, and Carrie-Ann Moss, Memento is a mind-bending mystery thriller that brings the concept of an “unreliable narrator” to new heights.

Leonard Shelby is hunting down John G., the man who attacked him and killed his wife – the only thing he knows for certain is true. The only problem standing in Leonard’s way: he forgets everything every 15 minutes, due to a brain injury sustained during the attack. In an attempt to keep track of all the developments on his mission, Leonard develops a convoluted system of self-administered tattoos and cryptic notes scrawled on Polaroids taken of important people and places in his life. However, because of his condition, who he can trust and who he cannot remain a daunting enigma until the very end.

Memento is told through the most clever narrative structure ever devised in a film: it alternates between backtracking from the end and continuing forward from the beginning until reaching a striking climax that occurs chronologically in the middle of the film – allowing all the pieces of the puzzle to fall satisfyingly in place. Through this nonlinear storytelling, Nolan suspends the audience in a confused stupor – not unlike what Leonard himself suffers. Despite being one of Nolan’s first directorial efforts and produced with a significantly lower budget than the films he is best known for, Nolan’s auteurism, sheer intelligence in filmmaking, and obsession with themes like perception, time, and memory are on full display. It’s fascinating to watch Nolan’s genius at work early on with such limited materials, putting together an incredible creation nonetheless. Memento is a film for the ages and a must-see masterclass in editing and storytelling.