Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY - News & Discussion Thread — Page 67

The box office is disappointing but to be expected. I am a little surprised it apparently won’t draw more of an audience than In the Heights and is barely beating out Encanto in its third weekend but it’s a tough time to open a movie whose target audience is older women in blue states. As my wife points out, those women are shopping for holiday gifts.

In the SF Bay Area, I have been going to movies in theaters since May and there are rarely more than a handful of people there (even for the one Marvel movie I saw.) COVID-19 concerns can’t be underestimated. I was hoping to see the film tonight, and the 6:50 showing currently has two people going.

While I can imagine West Side Story may hold up better through the holidays, it is unlikely to have Greatest Showman type of legs. There’s no new pop hit to save it. The movie isn’t about comic book characters or horror, and isn’t the sequel to a popular franchise. Its target audience lives in blue state cities. (OK, the true target audience is people like us.)

West Side Story, like In the Heights, was budgeted and filmed in a pre-pandemic world. Expectations were different.

Everyone is going to have to adjust their expectations for films aimed at adults. They are all losing money. They will continue to lose money until the budgets are adjusted. Most people will wait watch films like Belfast, C’mon C’mon and King Richard when they’re available on TV. (I did see the first two in theaters because they’re not available to stream yet and I’m more of a movie buff.)

That is likely the fate of West Side Story once the holidays pass. People will wait to stream it. Unless it performs very well overseas, it will almost certainly lose money - probably a lot, even if it wins a bunch of awards.

My aunt Irma saw the film this afternoon. She was moved and at the same time, it was extremely painful for her because she resided with my uncle Fernando and my 2 cousins in San Juan Hill before they were evicted and wound up in the South Bronx. She told me that every time she has to go to the Lincoln Center area all she sees is the pain it caused to build it.

While those numbers are poor, it is not unlikely that this will still come out with a respectable result. I wonder if a platformed release plan might have been wiser, but most successful musicals in recent years have opened very small and held tight.

Wow. Just one big wow.

There isn’t a lot to be said, other than this is a f***ing masterpiece. It played me like a fiddle from beginning to end. My face was absolutely soaked with tears.

Bravo.

Updated On: 12/12/21 at 06:46 PM

Mike Faist (as Riff) turning to Ansel Elgort (Tony) and looking into his eyes during that pivotal moment in the rumble, destroyed me. A cinematic moment I’ll have forever. Wow!

broadwaybabywannabe2 said: "BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR!!...i saw it in IMAX...i suggest that is the way to see this magnificent musical movie...it is seamless in every way...not one false note in the acting, choreography or direction...plus the score NEVER sounded better...i started tearing up during the opening dancing and never stopped until the lights came up in the theatre...here in the Palm Springs area theatre there were maybe 20 people in total in the theatre...and most clapped when it was over...if this doesn't make a ton of box office, then i give up on the movie going public..."



I, too, saw it in IMAX but I guess there are different sizes of IMAX screens. The one in Deer Park NY wasn't much bigger than the ordinary multiplex screen. It didn't affect my enjoyment of the film, though.

The twitter trolls have their knives out and are already proclaiming WSS a bomb. It makes me sick.

If it wasn't Ansel in the film, I think Antonio Cipriano would've been a great Tony.

Add my voice to the chorus of hosannas proclaiming the glories of this film. The first 2/3 is about as perfect as a film can be, gorgeous, funny, heartbreaking, magical, everything we go to movies to find.

Why is the last third something weaker? Oddly as a result of moving “Cool” back to Act 1 (though differently sequenced than on Bway), Act 2 gets one big production number in “I Feel Pretty” and then nothing much else for the balance of the film. Sorry to say, I found Rita’s “Somewhere” a misstep that takes you away from the lead characters just when you care most about them. The duet “A Boy Like That/ I Have a Love” is beautifully sung but basically a book scene, without much of a movie transformation. Instead of musical theater, we mostly get a lot of dialogue to finish the story. And the film sadly fails to stick the landing in its final moments.

But for 2 hours, I could not be more thrilled at the brilliance of this show. The women deserve all their accolades, but for my money, Mike Faist and David Alvarez are the true MVPs of this cast. Heartbreaking top to bottom.

Updated On: 12/11/21 at 11:27 PM

''Mike Faist (as Riff) turning to Ansel Elgort (Tony) and looking into his eyes during that pivotal moment in the rumble, destroyed me. A cinematic moment I’ll have forever. Wow!''

The Washington Post's profile of Mike Faist says Faist landed the role because of his electric rapport with Ansel Elgort. In a roundtable with Entertainment Weekly, Faist noted that Riff didn't have any family; he really only has Tony. Faist said: ''What's amazing about this particular story is [the] love story between [them].''

Dollypop said: "mailhandler777 said: "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!

"

Pretty sure he is Polish and there is literally a line in the movie about his height. My bad he is Russian."



I just read that Rachel is the one who's Polish! Mom's Columbian. Dad's Polish.

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Yes Rachel is half Polish half Columbian. 100% gorgeous.

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Oddly as a result of moving “Cool” back to Act 1 (though differently sequenced than on Bway), Act 2 gets one big production number in “I Feel Pretty” and then nothing much else for the balance of the film. Sorry to say, I found Rita’s “Somewhere” a misstep that takes you away from the lead characters just when you care most about them."

Rita's SOMEWHERE feels a little disjointed...it probably would have landed stronger if she started it, then it was sung by Maria and Anita. And of course missed the Somewhere Ballet.

Structuring the film so the Rumble comes at the end of "act 2" of a 3-act film works better for a movie and keeps things moving through the end of teh film. Similarly, the juxtaposition of I FEEL PRETTY is a bit jarring after what has just transpired. But it's a lovely moment of young love, and the scene out of it where Chino gives the reveal works.

Zegler was heartbreaking and so raw in the last moments of the movie.

My West Side Story review: First off, my humble apologies to Miss Natalie Wood. One of my standard lines about the notion of a remake was that the 1961 original was a flawed masterpiece, and that two of the main flaws were the leads. And while I still believe Richard Beymer's Tony left something to be desired, I now realize that Natalie Wood's Maria was quite good. Rachel Zegler was, for me, serviceable. Lovely voice, for sure. The thing is, I've seen the 1961 WSS at least a dozen times, and every time, the final scene makes me tear up. Tonight, when Zegler did it, I wasn't even close. There wasn't a wet eye in the house. Plus, Wood just had an undeniable star quality that Zegler lacks.

However low a bar to clear, Ansel Elgort is an improvement on Beymer. Let's face it, playing Tony was always something of a thankless task. And in 2021 it is very difficult for any actor to pull off convincingly. Elgot acquitted himself quite well in the acting and singing department. Not an unattractive dudebro either. It has to be believable that Maria goes crazy for him on first sight. It is. He's hot as ****.

Mike Faist was a fantastic Riff. I loved writer Tony Kushner filling out his backstory a bit. This Riff is clearly troubled, and there's a certain danger to him. Ariana DeBose and David Alvarez were both wonderful as Anita and Bernardo. No complaints about those supporting performances.

As for Rita Moreno, it was ALL about the novelty of seeing a spry 88 year old woman in a remake of a movie she originally did 60 years ago. I'd heard beforehand that she sang Somewhere in the movie, but as I was watching the poignancy of her singing it suddenly hit me. The things the characters were longing for, the societal problems that existed when the song was sung in the 1961 version when Rita was 30 are still exist. They have not abated in Rita's long life time. The tears that didn't come later in the movie came upon that realization.

For me, the biggest issue was the choreography. When you see Jerry Robbin's original, it still feels fresh, exciting and vibrant. Anything else can't help but be "eh." Justin Peck's steps might be very good, but I can't even judge it. Watching WSS without Jerry Robbin's choreography is like kissing your sister. It was a major misstep on Spielberg's part to discard it. I would've liked the movie much more had he used it for most numbers.

I didn't like how they moved the songs at all. Cool or Krupke work just fine after Riff and Nardo are killed as is done in the 1961 movie and the stage play respectively. To put both before the rumble deprives the second half of something. I don't know, it just didn't work.

The biggest shock of the movie was when Tony started singing Cool (!) That was a Spielberg change that really did work, and one place where I'm ok with new dance steps. This scene was edgy. It popped. The Rumble did away with most of the dance steps altogether. Another change that worked in Spielberg's favor.

I'm happy this movie was made because I think it may expose the brilliant work of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein to a younger audience. And there was some beautiful cinematography.

tl;dr : While this aesthetically gorgeous remake contains a few improvements, surprises, and wonderful performances, the 1961 West Side Story remains the one to watch. Still, a worthwhile endeavor that may bring the timeless classic work of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim to new audiences.