Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY - News & Discussion Thread — Page 65

There's legit buzz and a ton of press for WWS. Something DEH didn't have. There's evening slots at my local movie theater that are sold out this weekend. Not expecting this to break any records, but I still see it doing well.

Saw the film last night and my first thought was that Ansel should have been dubbed. I think that his performance was held back by his lack of vocal prowess. His performance wasn't bad per se, and the critics are overdoing it a bit. However, he absolutely cannot handle the vocal demands of the role. If someone dubbed for him, he'd have freed up himself to truly embody the part.

This just highlights how difficult a role Tony is to cast. Directors have gotten it wrong in the past. If you really want a Tony that sticks the landing, you need a character actor with leading man appeal and a great voice. In that sense, Mike Faist would have been an inspired choice. I find it baffling that Bobby Conte Thornton wasn't in consideration.

ACL2006 said: "There's legit buzz and a ton of press for WWS. Something DEH didn't have. There's evening slots at my local movie theater that are sold out this weekend. Not expecting this to break any records, but I still see it doing well."

I never even saw a commercial on TV for DEH meanwhile I see WSS every commercial.

Just got out from seeing this. Holy cow, this was absolutely breathtaking. Beautifully shot. The slight changes were well placed. The flaws that the original had, they fixed. DeBose tries her best, but nobody will compare to Rita Moreno(or Chita). Didn't really have an issue with Ansel's voice, but again, nobody will sing this score like Larry Kert. I'd expect a ton of Oscar nominations for this and hopefully one for Moreno for supporting actress.

Dear Evan Hansen is also not fun?

On premise alone was that ever gonna pack a movie theater?

West Side is sad but it's already known that it has incredible dancing and beauty.

There isn't much I can add to the conversation other then saying I loved the film.

I saw it on Imax this afternoon and the theatre was pretty empty. Possibly 8-10 people.

I would recommend seeing it on Imax but would say it loud sound is an issue skip all the movie trailers/coming attractions and walk in when the actual film starts.

I felt at times I was sitting in the middle of the orchestra.

While I enjoyed reading a lot I have to give this one to Ariana. For no other reason than she does her own singing and Rita was dubbed by in part by both Betty Wand and Marnie Nixon. And I think the dancing was more extensive and Ariana nailed it.


ACL2006 said: "Just got out from seeing this. Holy cow, this was absolutely breathtaking. Beautifully shot. The slight changes were well placed. The flaws that the original had, they fixed. DeBose tries her best, but nobody will compare to Rita Moreno(or Chita). Didn't really have an issue with Ansel's voice, but again, nobody will sing this score like Larry Kert. I'd expect a ton of Oscar nominations for this and hopefully one for Moreno for supporting actress."

Having not seen either yet, I wonder what the Venn Diagram of people who don’t like Ansel in this and those who don’t like Lenk in Company would look like. Lol

I really enjoyed it. I definitely had some issues with it, but there were things I absolutely adored and gave me chills. I feel like some of the numbers were staged ingeniously especially in the first half. The dancing is so gorgeously captured. I personally LOVED what they did with Cool, Prologue and Dance at the Gym. Boy Like That/I Have a Love and One Hand One Heart made me sob.

Rachel Zegler walks away with this movie I think. She will without a doubt get an Oscar nomination. It really felt like thought was put into her character. She felt real.

Tony Kushner's script punched up a lot of Laurents awkward dialogue. But dear lord there is some HAM FISTED "this is the message" moments. I felt EVERY single "we're drawing more attention to this to show audiences we have a 21st Century sensibility here". At times, it felt corny, it felt like the Spielberg tropes that have bugged me for the last few years. What Valentina says to the jets after Anita leaves-WOULD someone say that in the mid '50s? It just felt so on the nose.

What I love so much about the original show and film I realized watching this is what ISN'T said or what's alluded to. "You make this world lousy" "We didn't make it Doc" was missed for sure.

As well as Tony Kushner wrote scenes that just felt too long to me. He's a great writer but there's a pace to musical theatre and often times I felt like I was trapped in a stagey book scene as apposed to "this is a movie." The original film has this issue too with some scenes just feeling like "here's a long book scene."

Also people had cool back stories but Kushner wrote them in often like clunky exposition

i.e. Remember when I lived here for five years without you before you came Bernardo?

And as for the ending- I could not help but compare it to the Natalie Wood breakdown. Which just endures as masterfully raw in a movie I get, has a lot that hasn't aged well. THAT ending is still why it's Best Picture. Spielberg also made a mistake by underscoring Maria's monologue with music. It's quiet for her entire gun moment in the original and the stage play. What they did wasn't terrible. But it just was hard to not go "wow, that was done so much better in the other."

Songs like Maria, Something's Coming and Tonight- I don't know how to explain it but they're odd to see in this type of realist film making. They're so old school in sensibility (Going mad shooting sparks into space felt strange coming out of their mouths.) that I just wasn't sure if they translated.

I thought Ansel was inconsistent. I thought he had really charming moments and some wooden disconnected ones usually during song. Even though I think his singing voice is lovely.

I think it will grow on me with re watches. And I absolutely teared up several times. I think we are lucky to have two versions of this beautiful piece of art and I think neither film fully eclipses the other. Some things here are much better handled than the original and then some things in the original are untouchable. (Ariana was fabulous but there was something about Rita's Anita that just is so definitive. I don't know if anyone could yank that role from her completely.)

I hope it's loved and I'm glad it's loved! When you love this material for so long sometimes it's hard to let go of certain things.

babyjunegem said: "Saw the film last night and my first thought was that Ansel should have been dubbed. I think that his performance was held back by his lack of vocal prowess. His performance wasn't bad per se, and the critics are overdoing it a bit. However, he absolutely cannot handle the vocal demands of the role.If someone dubbed for him, he'd have freed up himself to truly embody the part.

This just highlights how difficult a role Tony is to cast. Directors have gotten it wrong in the past. If you really want a Tony that sticks the landing, you need a character actor with leading man appeal and a great voice. In that sense, Mike Faist would have been an inspired choice. I find it baffling that Bobby Conte Thornton wasn't in consideration."

I have to disagree. I felt Ansel's vocals were excellent. His singing was exactly right for the character he was playing. If anything, his height was a disadvantage to his characterization and he LOOKED Polish!

Dollypop said: "babyjunegem said: "Saw the film last night and my first thought was that Ansel should have been dubbed. I think that his performance was held back by his lack of vocal prowess. His performance wasn't bad per se, and the critics are overdoing it a bit. However, he absolutely cannot handle the vocal demands of the role.If someone dubbed for him, he'd have freed up himself to truly embody the part.

This just highlights how difficult a role Tony is to cast. Directors have gotten it wrong in the past. If you really want a Tony that sticks the landing, you need a character actor with leading man appeal and a great voice. In that sense, Mike Faist would have been an inspired choice. I find it baffling that Bobby Conte Thornton wasn't in consideration."

I have to disagree. I felt Ansel's vocals were excellent. His singing was exactly right for the character he was playing. If anything, his height was a disadvantage to his characterization and he LOOKED Polish!

"

I saw the film today in IMAX and thought it was fantastic ... planning on seeing it again on Sunday. I too don't find Ansel's performance a "weak link" ... I think he was spot on considering the backstory they gave him of having been in prison for the past year and realizing during that time that he wanted his life to take a different path than what he had been on ... one not so filled with anger and aggression ... I think he longed for a calmer, quieter future ... filled with love, not hate ... something that became all the more real to him the moment he laid eyes on Maria.

I swear I read somewhere, after Sondheim pass away, that the studio was sending the theatres a clip to add on to the film dedicating it to Stephen Sondheim but I sat thru all of the credits until the screen when blank and the house light came back up and I never saw it ... did anybody else see if their presentation included that?

And yes, the screening I attended also had 25 minutes of trailers before the actual feature started it was ridiculous ... and most of those trailers were not something that the majority of the "West Side Story" audience would be interested in ... they were obviously placed there because they were upcoming IMAX presentations.

Updated On: 12/10/21 at 10:38 PM

This is without question the best movie musical I have seen in nearly 20 years. I was greatly impressed all the way around.