West Side Story (Steven Spielberg)

[Philip J. Fry]

Trailer:
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IMDb / wiki / RT / Metacritic

Official website:
20th Century Studios / Amblin / West Side Story

[transmogrifier]

Looking forward to this, even though Ansel Elgort is a charisma vacuum.

[megladon8]

Looking forward to this, even though Ansel Elgort is a charisma vacuum.

What ever happened with the crazy rape-y stuff he was accused of?

[Lazlo]

Best movie of the year (still more to see, of course, but whatever). Move that camera! Shine those lights! Do those dances!

[Philip J. Fry]

Best movie of the year (still more to see, of course, but whatever). Move that camera! Shine those lights! Do those dances!

Can't wait to watch it. I even watched the 60's one yesterday in preparation!

[Ivan Drago]

This was sublime.

[transmogrifier]

This was sublime.

Come on, spill on the Licorice Pizza score, you tease!

The three films I want to watch right now above all others: Licorice Pizza, Red Rocket, West Side Story.

[Ivan Drago]

Come on, spill on the Licorice Pizza score, you tease!

The three films I want to watch right now above all others: Licorice Pizza, Red Rocket, West Side Story.

Not till my review for it drops. So it literally cannot be opened until Christmas.

[Mal]

This was sublime.

gonna needs some details here... are you a prior WSS fan, etc.

[transmogrifier]

Not till my review for it drops. So it literally cannot be opened until Christmas.

Bah humbug!

[megladon8]

Seriously asking, though, were the accusations against Elgort swept under the rug in service of this movie?

They didn't seem like they could really be challenged by him - the accusers went ahead and posted screencaps of conversations and pictures from him.

Is he getting away with it to save a Spielberg movie?

[Ivan Drago]

gonna needs some details here... are you a prior WSS fan, etc.

Yes, but it's been years since I've seen the original film.

From Letterboxd:

Where to begin with this? The timeless music and lyrics of Broadway legends Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim respectively are made new again as they retain the old Hollywood spirit of breathtaking choreography and singing while merging it with the sensibilities of modern filmmaking; resulting in some of the most dynamic and beautiful images to grace the silver screen this year. Examples come when Anita and Bernardo’s silhouettes reflect in the laundry hanging on their balcony during a private conversation, and again when the lights of the city behind Tony reflect in the water he’s leapt into while singing about the girl he just met named Maria. And Maria’s fiery personality, naiveté and exuberant youth are portrayed with unbelievably powerful vocals and impeccable range by Rachel Zegler, whose breakout performance here is poised to make her a star to watch going forward. In addition to the visuals, the modernization of the source material extends to its thematic ideas in this iteration; from its exploration on gentrification and the outcomes it has on all the subgroups it effects to its melancholy truths about the polarized state of America today; proposing that the only way our disagreements can be settled is for one side to understand the other’s pain. There may be spots where a certain lead actor’s off-screen allegations make his performance feel disingenuous, but those are few and far between in what is a wondrous epic about the majestic power of love’s refrain, racial tensions and class struggles, as well as a film that reminds us of the spectacle of cinema, its power as an art form, and Steven Spielberg’s genius as a filmmaker.

[Philip J. Fry]

Just watched it. Oh. My. God. Loved every single minute of it. Elgort is a bit bland, but wasn't as bad as I thought he'd be. The rest was just magical. Riff guy was great.

[DFA1979]

Good movie, I should really see the original sometime. The musical numbers were pretty cool and I liked the cast. Elgort was really blah in this movie though. Rachel Zegler was fantastic.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Peng]

Only real, not really significant flaw for me is that a bit more naturalism at this version's margins works against the story's larger-than-life framework and romance slightly, but otherwise a spectacular reprise of a film. It helps that every member of the 2021 cast is an improvement over the 1961 one (arguably with Anita as maybe the only lateral move, and that's just because of how great Moreno was than everyone around her then) -- even Elgort, who looks so modern that he's sometimes out of place in group scenes, but still works one-to-one with Zegler and preferable to Beymer.

And of course there's Spielberg, reverent to the original but with the full power of his cinematic gift propelling this version towards coming off as thrilling and new in its own right. No other film this year may conjure up images that feel "pure movie magic" so consistently and constantly, even without the benefit of musical numbers to stage his masterfully gliding direction around in -- Tony and Maria approaching each other for the first time with the gym's light behind them; him standing in that puddle dazzlingly at the end of "Maria"; him instinctively realizing her Spanish vows. Certainly there's none I feel more on the verge of levitating out of my seat every other moment from pure overwhelming emotions. 9/10

[Ezee E]

I've never liked the comparison of a movie's visuals to a designer perfume commercial, but I feel this is the time I'll use it. Spielberg goes all out in production for this in a way I haven't seen him do in quite some time. You can tell he wanted to do this movie. But I feel that's where this stops. Outside of DuBose's performance, I feel like everything's so manufactured and perfectly timed that there isn't anything genuine.

Granted, this is how it goes for most musicals because it is so important to hit queues, but it felt more like a stage play then anything.

West Side Story just isn't' for me.

[Wryan]

Is he getting away with it to save a Spielberg movie?

Probably.

[Pop Trash]

Seriously asking, though, were the accusations against Elgort swept under the rug in service of this movie?

They didn't seem like they could really be challenged by him - the accusers went ahead and posted screencaps of conversations and pictures from him.

Is he getting away with it to save a Spielberg movie?

I'm so confused by who gets cancelled and who doesn't. Armie Hammer seems to be fully cancelled (for now) and dropped by his agents, but Ansel Elgort isn't? Is there some cheat sheet that says why or how one gets cancelled? Maybe we should just go back to people being innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

[Philip J. Fry]

[Grouchy]

Amazing fucking remake. In these times of nostalgia-fueled cinema Spielberg went ahead and made a new version that feels distinctly contemporanean and alive while keeping the spirit of the original - which I admit I'd never seen before, I got to it recently for preparation. Film of the year? Not sure but it's fully on the ballpark.

I loved the original too but there are so many moments and scenes where Spielberg actually makes a significant improvement - chief among them the "A Boy Like That" song. In the original Anita's reaction seems so inappropriately tame for someone who is seeing her husband's murderer make out with his sister.