In blurb copy about the new international trailer for Macbeth, Variety‘s Maane Khatchatourian wrote that Justin Kurzel‘s film “premiered to rave reviews at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.” Really? The people who went nuts are entitled to their opinions, of course, but you have to take guys like Variety‘s Guy Lodge (a.k.a., the King of Dweebs) with a grain of salt. “The emphasis, no question, is on blood, venality, gray skies, gunk, grime, authentic Scottish locations and general grimness,” I wrote on 5.24.15. “If the toenail-fungus, sweat-covered scrotum approach turns you on, great…have at it. Kurzel’s film isn’t an adaptation as much as an extended riff. It mines much of the basic text but seems more concerned with the atmospheric canvas. Everyone is miserable in this thing, and so were a good many members of the audience, I’ll bet. I haven’t sat through a Shakespeare film that made me feel this badly since Peter Brook’s King Lear.”