Three 2021 Oscary films

The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, 2021)

King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2021)

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

It's difficult to determine what Coen thought he was adding to the Shakespeare warhorse by subtracting so much. His Macbeth takes place in severely minimal Los Angeles sound stages...the better to highlight the words (or, more precisely, the screenplay by Coen based on Shakespeare's words)? If that's the case, then why make a film? My ancient Signet Classic edition does the trick quite nicely. And why did he choose Shakespeare at all as his first project without the input of his brother Ethan? Is it some postmodern acknowledgement of the vexed nature of authorship and individualism? 

 To be blunt, I don't have the emotional energy to answer such questions. I've wasted so much time trying to determine whether or not the Coen Brothers were making fun of me for choking up during, oh, Raising Arizona that I skipped many, many of their titles. I won't say which because I cannot bear the thought of someone telling me that I just gotta see Miller's Crossing (oops). I will tell you that I loathed No Country for Old Men (aka Halloween in middlebrow Oscar-baiting drag) with a purple passion. So I'll just deem this outing as Masterpiece Theatre-adjacent with good performances (if you care about such stuff) and a hot Ross in Alex Hassell and move on with my life.

I have less to say about the other two films despite preferring them both. I expected to hate King Richard and have trouble figuring out why I ridiculed Belfast but have affection for this biopic about Richard Williams, the father and recalcitrant coach of tennis icons Serena and Venus Williams. I certainly couldn't care less about tennis (or any sports ever). Maybe it's unconscious (but now conscious?) American chauvinism that endears me to it. But it's essentially an exhibit for Will Smith as the titular patriarch in an intermittently comedic role perfectly tailored to his talents. He's my pick to win the Best Actor Oscar next month. 

I also expected to hate del Toro's remake of Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding, 1947), based on William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel which I hear I need to read stat, assuming del Toro's penchant for fantastic imagery would overwhelm a rather unwieldy story. But the dreary third act I was promised never materialized. This is a solid piece of filmmaking in the classical tradition and its 150 minutes rushed by me and my better half. In fact, it may come off as a bit too classical since it's lost buckets of money, occasioning Martin Scorsese to pen a curious entreaty in the Los Angeles Times to stimulate box office. No masterpiece but, yo, neither was the original. 

The Tragedy of Macbeth: B

King Richard: B+

Nightmare Alley: A-minus