I thought it as entertaining. The camera work/cinematography was the star of the movie IMHO. No music video jumpy cuts. The camera let the dancing and performances play out with long shots in a lot of the scenes. It was not terribly different than the original so take that however you want. Actors were great but yes it did lack any rawness or edginess to it. It was extremely well rehearsed with seasoned (mostly theatre) professionals. Rita's Somewhere performance was the highlight for me. FYI- If y0u want to watch a sob fest watch A Fault In Our Stars with Ansel in it. It's great but a balled like a baby not knowing anything about the book it is taken from.
My wife watched it and enjoyed it. I caught the last half and thought it was pretty good if unnecessary.
Watched it again, fast forwarded through any Tony/Maria parts and stopped watching after the rumble. I'll just go back and watch the original whenever I want to fill my WSS Jones! After everything is said and done, I hope WSS sweeps the Oscars!
Guilliermo del Toro did an even more elaborate Twitter thread. Samples: If you attempt to really break down the tools and how he uses them - you have to do it in a second or third viewing. You feel like Salieri getting the Requiem dictation from Mozart: ‘Wait- wait- you’re going too fast!'”' Of the dance in the gym: "Pure, masterly clockwork precision and a lot more complex than ‘seamed’ shots or Steadicam-to-crane ‘relay’ shots. Baffling, virtuoso- but one of so, so many shots that make the camera ‘dance’ with each musical number.” Discussing a film purely on its dramaturgy is like describing a Van Gogh as ‘A painting with a bunch of flowers.' https://twitter.com/RealGDT/status/1497625522041352192 Of course the original post that GDT was retweeting was a little more succinct: "This shot from West Side Story is f****** insane!"
My wife and I (who had re-watched the original film recently) watched Spielberg's version two nights ago and we both loved it. It is a superb piece of filmmaking on so many levels and--most critically for me--touched me deeply. An extraordinary achievement. Bill
Tuned into it on HBO last night, shocked actually that HBO was running it b/c their first-run film attractions have dopped off dramatically over the last several years (other than what I'm guessing are B-grade films, they're not usually films I've heard buzz on). I'd been seeing Arianna DeBose & Rachel Ziegler on some talk shows & found them engaging. Ansel Elgort I've enjoyed in Baby Driver & Billionaire Boys Club. Whenever it had been uploaded to youtube, I'd watched a clip of the Balcony Scene (Tonight, Tonight) & thought Ansel & Rachel's performance was superb. So, while I'd been looking forward to seeing the whole film & thinking I would enjoy it, mmmpf, I couldn't watch more than about 5-10 minutes (& the latter part of that was hanging in). ...I do enjoy musicals, but I think it's that I've viewed the original so many times, the story is just too familiar by now, even with a new cast. Or, maybe the opening was extended? I just found it interminable. During that time, I found my mind wandering to thinking it unseemly to have done this partiicular remake @ this particular point in history at all. Upon reflection, I actually haven't viewed the original in quite a long time now, either - I don't think it was ever one of my top favorite musicals. I am disappointed b/c I do like these central cast actors & do feel I would have enjoyed their performances. - Maybe I'll have a go another time.
A reminder that the original film opens up with a static, abstract shot of a bunch of lines, that gradually becomes the NYC skyline while the overture plays. This goes on for over five minutes. So if you found the opening of the new one interminable, even though the new film skips that overture entirely, moving on to the prologue, which is the same length as the original because it's the same piece of music, well, wow, I really think some people will never be pleased. Plus, the new prologue adds so many elements and more dynamic action than the original film's prologue... I should know better than to question someone else's apparently honest opinion, but my honest opinion is that the reactions to this film have baffled me like no other film in my lifetime. The above is a case in point. Criticizing the opening for being too long, when it's half as long and far more exciting? I really just don't get it. And why don't you clarify what you mean, that it is "unseemly to have done this particular remake at this particular point in history at all"? Would could that possibly mean, really?
Instead of the abstract lines that eventually dissolve into a static shot of lower Manhattan, Spielberg does a long tracking shot that starts out overhead and ends with the Slum Clearance sign. The Prologue music itself is the same length as the original, but in the new one it does a lot more to establish the Jets' hostility towards the immigrants, and we don't really see the Sharks until the fight over the Jets vandalizing the flag graffiti. In 1961 the two gangs meet much earlier and the dance focus switches to the Sharks. But no, they didn't extend Bernstein's score. In fact they removed the overture. The changes to the musical numbers which I noticed (feel free to add): Jet Song - The bridge "When the Jets fall in at the cornball dance" is removed. The music from this section later serves as the opening section of the Dance At The Gym, The Dance At The Gym - the mambo section is extended, as is the trumpet solo America - The line "and the bullets flying" changed to "and the people trying". Research for the new version revealed that San Juan's crime rate at the time was lower than New York City's. Gee, Officer Krupke - Diesel is the delinquent, explaining the "system" to Baby John. Taking Riff out of this comic scene makes Mike Faist's version of the character much darker. Somewhere - Obviously the biggest change, as this song is given to Valentina. The ballet dream sequence is removed, with some of the "scherzo" repurposed to an earlier scene. Finale - Tony & Maria sing snippets of "Tonight" rather than "Somewhere", since they haven't heard or sung the latter song like in the play and '61 movie respectively. Edit: Looks like SRC and I posted at the same time, with much of the same commentary
I agree with most of your points but I still think, even though it'll never be better than the original, that it's got a real shot for picture of the year!
If DeBose doesn't have a speech ready, she's got some 'splainin' to do. And if she somehow doesn't win, they better put her on suicide watch after these expectations. WSS won Best Editing at the Critics Choice Awards, while not even being NOMINATED for it at the Oscars. In fact, only two movies overlapped in the Editing category between these two. Is it that hard for people in the industry to agree on what good editing is? I'm with the critics on this one. I think the cinematography and editing go hand-in-hand to give WSS its great visual style. I think there are, in theory, 100 different ways to improve every movie scene you see. The trouble with a remake of a known film, is that you've already been handed an example of one possible way to improve each scene. You're relieved of the challenge of having to imagine the improvements yourself. So if you're in the mood to compare and despair, you'll have an easy time of it. But a movie deserves to be evaluated as an independent piece. Holding it up to something else to make a direct comparison causes an undue level of scrutiny that no film deserves to go through. The viewer needs to have a more open mind than that. You should be evaluating whether a scene works on its own terms, not whether it works better or worse than an alternative version you're picturing in your head. It's out on physical disc now, with three different store exclusive 4K versions: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/west-s...y-only--best-buy-2021/6496898.p?skuId=6496898 West Side Story (2021) (target Exclusive) (4k/uhd + Blu-ray + Digital) : Target Walmart with fabric poster There is also a Korean exclusive with the same steelbook as Best Buy but with a slipcase and some extra goodies added in: [Blu-ray] West Side Story Fullslip(1Disc: BD) Steelbook LE > PRE ORDER | weetcollection.com
LOL, Rachel Zegler mentioned on Instagram over the weekend that she hadn't been invited to attend the Oscars. On Tuesday, they finally gave her an invite, as a presenter. Can never go broke underestimating the incompetency of the Oscar ceremony producers. Disney may be at fault too. They were likely in charge of allotting a batch of tickets for West Side Story. And some people speculate they may have denied Rachel a ticket because they didn't want to take her off the set of Snow White for a day and possibly cause a delay in filming. Which seems shortsighted considering how often stars of current and upcoming films show up at the Oscars as part of promoting them. Rachel Zegler Invited to Be Oscars Presenter After Ticket Complaints – The Hollywood Reporter
"I'm starring in the upcoming live action Snow White but after flying in for the Oscars, Disney is casting me in a live action Dumbo as well! Anyone got a fat suit I can borrow?"
Love Terry Gilliam to bits but his Spielberg aversion always struck me as silly and, honestly, a bit envious. The aggressive creativeness - in the best sense - that Spielberg is able to summon is nothing short of mesmerising. Always been baffled that this huge element seems to get lost on him.
Got the vinyl (finally) to the Spielberg OST - the rich orchestration sounds better than the 4K Atmos mix (that they modify of course in theatrical mix to emphasize the vocal performances). Alas, it's a poppy/crackly mess, even after multiple cleanings. Got spoiled by the Analog Spark WSS! Anyway, we'll either live with it, or find out from one of you brave souls if there's a particular pressing that's less egregious.
i sat down and convinced myself to watch the new west side story..........i lasted about 20 minutes (or less). i guess i just don't get musicals. i'm proud of myself, at least i tried.
I enjoyed it. It was a different take on the play and while there were some elements I preferred from the original (school dance) there we’re other things I liked about the new one (the Rita Moreno character). Despite that, I fall in the opinion category “nice but unnecessary.” If anything I’ll revisit the original, definitely the soundtrack if not the film itself.
Finally watched this. In fact, I showed it in my class with the caveat that we'd be watching a film I hadn't personally vetted. Consequently, it was broken up over two weeks though I'm usually loathe to watch a movie (for the first time) in multiple sittings. It didn't suck. And that's as high as I'm going with it. One issue was that the dialogue was completely changed while the lyrics were completely untouched (using either the original Broadway version or the 1961 movie version). Now if you remake a movie, naturally you change the dialogue to a great extent. I expect that. The problem is that I spent the whole movie alternating between focusing my attention to all-new words and resting in the comfort of well-known (if still great) ones. I could never just kick back and enjoy the film. Every time a song started, and every time a song ended, I had to transition between these two states. I also felt the changes in the settings of the individual scenes were distracting and sometimes contrived. Wait. We're in a police station? Why are we in a police station? Then 'Gee, Officer Krupke' starts and now I know why. (And, even in the alternate reality of a musical, the whole locking the Jets up inside the police station while the cops ran out was beyond contrived.) On top of it all, the song didn't particularly benefit from the new setting. Why is there so much ado about Riff buying a gun? Wait, why am I hearing the intro to 'Cool' so early? Oh, that's why. So they can recast it as a Tony song. That itself was a very distracting change, one motivated more to put a personal stamp on it than because it was necessary. So then we're in the salt shed for the rumble. Wait. Why a the salt shed? And that's the problem. It never paid off. I kept trying to figure out which lyrics were going to tie in with the salt and none of them did. What a bizarre, meaningless replanting. And Tony and Maria even travel out of the West Side for the marriage scene. Back to Krupke. I had heard about Sondheim's opinion on the switch, that he insisted it always be performed in the original Broadway sequence, after the rumble. I mostly only know the movie version and various audio recordings. I did see a staged version once but that was before I'd even seen the movie. So I wanted to see it in the restored order to judge it with Sondheim's objection in mind, and this film still put it earlier, and then the recasting of 'Cool' made it impossible to judge the sequencing issue. The cast was a decent mix of actors-who-can-sing and singers-who-can-act. I may modify this if I watch it again, but Anita was probably the best and Tony the weakest. Anybody's, to no one's surprise, was given a modern gleam, less tomboy and more genderqueer. And then there's the change of Doc to Valentina. Look. Rita Moreno is special. Where I come from, we didn't run around the playground imitating Daleks. We imitated her 'Hey you guys!' from The Electric Company. I love her in the original movie, and I love her on the One Day at a Time remake. I know that one day this may sadly change, but no matter where I've been in my life, she's never seemed too far away. And I'm not going to say anything bad about her in this movie. She played the role as well as any other in her career, and giving her 'Somewhere' made perfect sense, even better than changing it to yet-another-duet for the lovebirds as the previous movie did. But she--not Moreno herself, mind--was perhaps the biggest problems with the movie. Call it a remake if you will. (I do not. It's a second attempt of filming a Broadway musical.) But Spielberg could have, and should have, created something completely new. In geeky terms, this should have been a completely different universe than the '61 film. But it wasn't. They wrote her into the fabric of the film specifically to link it to the original movie. The existence of Valentina was like some sci-fi leakage from a parallel universe, a constant, a character whose very existence prevented this film's universe from ever establishing its own reality. But she's a big star. She was in the original movie and she's willing to be in ours! And then they f-ing auto-tune her??? It's bad enough they hired all these other singers and auto-tuned them, but Rita Moreno? Was very glad to see the vocal counterpoint reinstated in 'A Boy like That.' It's the perfect musical depiction of an argument, and the original movie completely blew it. The original film's admonishing of the Jets by Doc, though, is still the bigger emotional punch. Again, I watched this one in multiple sittings, but the pacing seemed less climactic. I would like to watch it again at home to hear it in proper surround sound. Although it's not too uncommon a thing in movie musicals, the orchestra was much too low in the mix compared to the singers. That could be a result of the downmixing into the uni's stereo speakers though. A subsequent reviewing may change my mind about the movie as a whole, and I'll be open to that. I won't, after all, have to adjust my expectations the way I did this time. Who knows? Could be.
EDIT: Deleting my long defense of the film. There's no point. Those who have decided to dislike the film and endlessly, needlessly, and at times inaccurately compare it to the original from sixty years ago are doomed to disappointment. I loved it, Spielberg's masterpiece IMO. Cheers all.
Yeah, same. Couldn't believe some of the stuff above. I adore both the original Broadway cast recording and the original movie and I have to say I was absolutely floored by Spielberg's version the first, second and now third time I've seen it My one major gripe is that I wish they hadn't toned down the choreography. The ballet moves have always seemed like an important functional language of the musical to me. (Also not very big on the prevalent blue color palette that Spielberg chose for the movie, it's so stark in contrast to the vibrant and colorful world of the 1961 movie. In fact, that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the original) EDIT: I'll add this again because I'm just so happy about it - the soundtrack album is superbly done, it's honestly one of my best sounding albums I have. Beautiful recording, amazing soundstage too. I wish they'd released a hi-res version.
Wow you think West Side Story is Spielberg’s masterpiece. You seriously need to check your judgment on that as that is no way true . Besides musicals suck big time and West Side Story best lies in the past where it belongs .
I saw a video of "America" where they kept flashing between the 2 films. Forgetting about the video differences, what amazed me was that the orchestras from both flicks were playing perfectly in sync! Made me think that the music of WSS is written and played in as controlled an environment as any classical work!
