Look at the image above. Look at how beautiful that color is. The joy and glee. Yeah, not so much. I think Spielberg desaturated the color to make this thing ugly to fit the gritty storytelling. Yes, this is a gritty musical, and has some of the best songs of any musical. The dancing is really well done in this one, but I find Ansel Elgort (aside from his personal problems) a dull Tony and sucks the life out of the show. As with all West Side Story adaptions, I dislike how long it takes from the RUMBLE to the final scene...always felt that the rumble should be nearer to the end. Ultimately a good try, but not one of my favorite of the new musicals that have been coming out in the last few years.
If you have to see one West Side Story, see the original. If you want to see two though, this is an ok one. https://boxd.it/2nHzBb
Spielberg can still make magic with a camera. The cinematography, the lighting… many shots evoked the golden age of cinema, bathing the actors in light that makes them shine or shimmer, conveying emotion as well as their acting does. And the cast, for the most part, are excellent. Zegler is a breakout. DeBose lives up to an intimidating legacy with aplomb, radiant and charming in her highest moments and heartwrenching and righteous at her lowest. Speaking of that legacy, Rita Moreno is a legend who brought me to tears; she takes a song that felt simplistic and sappy and infuses it with decades of hard won experience and worn down hope. And Alvarez and Rivera infuse what were stereotypical roles with humanity.
So much care was taken to update this story. Anita gets a little more closure. The Sharks get more screen time. Class and race are put into sharper focus. And the choreography invokes the original while being fresh. Most of the music and lyrics still don’t stand out for me, but they’re working with what they have. And sequences like the America number elevate them. Most of all, I appreciate the attempt to represent Latinos so fully. In The Heights excluded the darker skinned; this gives them their due. The biggest slight against the film is Elgort. I appreciate the attempt to give Tony more depth and edge, something he lacked in the original. But he lacks the conviction of the other actors, and his crimes make the romance with Maria even more awkward and unhealthy than it originally comes off as. He feels almost predatory, and Bernardo nails him dead-on when he says it feels like he’s using Maria to feel new and better; she’s a fixation, a symbol.
Still, West Side Story is an event, and a great one at that, taking a story with flaws and sanding them out to make it one I enjoy much more.
Probably the worst movie Spielberg ever directed.
A real stinkaroo!
Felt like watching an old movie. Not really sure why they remade this.
What I mean is, I thought they were remaking it to make it more realistic and believable. There is nothing modern or new about it. It"s set in the past and you can't tell you're not watching the old existing movie.
They didn't even get a handsome person to play the lead boy. There is no point for this movie. It's not needed.
Should I go on? I have heard the song "Maria" before. When he sings "I just met a girl named Maria," it should be a hilight of the movie. Lots of people make that song sound good. Just go on YouTube. It's not special in this movie.
I turned the movie off when they sang "Tonight." It didn't make sense that they cast a female who sang so well, and left the other part so lacking.
It seemed like prejudice that the Hispanic person could not be cast without being talented, but the White person could. It takes away any point the movie was trying to make.
In recent years I've made a point to watch all 10 Best Picture nominees. It's a relatively achievable goal that forces me to broaden my horizons from the typical blockbuster fare and prepares me both for water cooler talk and future Jeopardy questions. While on the whole it's a worthwhile endeavor, inevitably there are films in this category for which I am definitively not the target audience. West Side Story (2021) is one such film. I don't seek out musicals. I don't have a deep appreciation for extended dance numbers. Romance is not my favorite genre. And I wasn't a particularly big fan of the Shakespeare unit back in English Lit. Absent the Best Picture nomination, the only other motivation I would have to watch this film is the director, which, admittedly, might have been enough. I mean... it's fucking Steven Spielberg.
And really, that idea is my big takeaway from this movie. Spielberg doesn't make bad movies, so even though this one isn't my type, I can still recognize how incredibly well made it is. The direction, cinematography, and production design are absolutely top notch. And even as an uncultured layman, I couldn't help but be impressed by the dance numbers. Unfortunately, the music still didn't do anything for me, even though I'm sure it was also well done. I'm used to musicals full of pop sounding tracks that are trying to (and sometimes succeeding) in becoming radio hits. This certainly isn't that. I heard someone explain that the soundtrack/lyrics are more operatic in nature, which makes sense to me, as they generally seemed to be overly dramatic and on the nose. That said, some songs/sequences still landed quite effectively, with Tony and Riff's fight over the gun being a standout for me.
Finally, regarding the story, I was surprised to find that it kept me invested despite the film's length. Having never seen any previous rendition of West Side Story, my only prior knowledge was that it was a take on Romeo and Juliet. This ended up adding to the experience, as I was kept curious as to how certain story elements would be handled and was pleasantly surprised by the ending.
Infuriating; I would love to speak Spanish, but alas I do not.....so would have greatly appreciated the subtitles to say more than 'speaking Spanish'. If you are doing a remake at least change it from the original.
I haven't found my appreciation for musicals yet, and this adaptation of West Side Story does nothing to change that. As a follow on from my viewing of Tick Tick Boom (which I really enjoyed), this felt technically great, but somewhat lacking emotional depth? I didn't believe for a second that there was any chemistry between Tony and Maria, with this relationship feeling more shotgun-wedding than timeless love. That makes it very hard to buy into the rest of the movie when the main pull is lacking that spark. That being said, the support characters in this outright outshine the main duo, most notable being Ariana DeBose. She was the highlight throughout with her scenes being the most emotive and engaging of the lot. As I said, this movie is technically very well made, as expected from Spielberg & Co, but it felt hollow and devoid of all the things that make musicals so captivating. Definitely not a Best Picture contender, not even close.
:heart:x5
Well, once again a remake that didn't need to be remade. You're much better off going back and watching the original version from 1961. The original did win 10 Oscars after all. Again, I say, go watch the 1961 version.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
Sure, it’s a pretty well made musical, but is it better than The Muppets (2011)? The answer is absolutely not.
Like an NFT of a classic musical: it was technically well-made and looked really good but I got no emotion from it.
This is one of the greatest movies ever made! PERIOD!
what a wonderful surprise of 2021 my godss
- I won't lie, when I heard that Spielberg was going to direct this musical I was afraid it would be a complete disaster, that's because I'm only used to Spielberg's side in Lincoln, Jaws, Shindler's List and saving private ryan, the melodragon, baby.. ..so when I was directing I was intrigued that I hadn't seen him in this kind of film
- the choreography, the songs reinvented in new voices, the lighting, the colors from the movie, the choreographiesssss EVERYTHING ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! Is the 1961 classic a classic?? without a doubt, but here we have a quality remake that knows how to do justice to its primary work.
- about the acting I NEED to mention Mike Faist (who had not won me over on the Panic series) who left me completely attracted to his Riff, Ariana DeBose as Anita is sensational, she is extremely competent in bringing a character to life already so well played in 1961 by Rita Moreno, David Alvarez is a Bernardo much better and more fun than the one in 1961 and Rachel Zegler is beautiful beautiful beautiful like Maria... Ansel, despite bringing a Tony with a predominantly sweeter side, passionate and doesn't show so much his ''gang leader'' side, badboy etc... I really loved to see him completely surrendered to his heart and his love
- I was completely in love with this new version and how it became necessary 10\10 without fear of being happy
better action sequence than Matrix 4 fr
One of my favourite musicals updated and brought to a new audience, largely successfully. True, I found Spielberg's "channelling" of a 50 year old cinematic style somewhat distancing, and didn't think much of Ansel and Rachel's acting (though their singing and dancing was great). On the other hand Ariana DeBose stole every scene she was in with magnificent acting, singing and dancing, and Rita Moreno's return was not just a cameo but had real heft. The updating of the plot to give the Puerto Rican side of the story more weight was well judged (though the wider socioeconomic forces at play were still touched on a little prefunctorily).
The rest of the film is pretty great, but the center of it all, the romance, just isn't believable. I don't mind insta-lust/insta-love, as long as you sell it to me. And this didn't. Also, they should have recast Elgort.
[7.4/10] I have high expectations when I go to see a Steven Spielberg movie. I have higher expectations when he’s adapting one of the most iconic and well-known American musicals. I have higher expectations still when people I know and trust rave about what he and his collaborators have done with this classic piece of Americana.
And Spielberg’s West Side Story is...quite good. He finds great performers who can sing and dance and emote with aplomb. There’s some boffo sequences that champion the movement of his performers or find the comedy amid the scruffiest of situations. The changes made do an excellent job of updating the classic without disrupting it. He’s a good director. He made a good movie. It’s what he does.
But then there’s the expectation game. I walked into it expecting to be wowed. I walked away pleased but thoroughly whelmed. It’s hard not to be a little disappointed by that.
What’s funny, though, is that it’s hard to point to anything particularly wrong with the film. The most you can say is something that’s true for the original film adaptation, and the original play, and even Romeo and Juliet and the other influences for each -- the young lovers are kind of boring and random.
So many of the revisions introduced by Spielberg and screenwriter tony Kushner are to flesh out parts of the characters and setting that give them more depth and resonance. But the core of the film remains Tony and Maria, and they are still a couple of teenagers who see each other once from across the room and declare their undying devotion to each other.
You don’t have to have been their age in 1961 to have grown tired of cinematic insta-love. Anchoring a story around a romance of the utmost importance that unfolds in a couple of days by two kids who have nothing in common beyond thinking the other is cute is building a house on sand. But that’s not Spielberg and Kushner’s fault; that’s just in the manual for West Side Story.
There’s only two things you can really slate the modern team for here. One is that Ansel Elgort feels miscast. He’s not bad necessarily (though his singing is a little off now and then). But so many of the performers the movie deploys have this irrepressible charisma and magnetic on-screen presence. In a crowd of actors who snap, crackle, and pop, Elgort has a tendency to fade into the woodwork in his simple competence, which doesn’t help the always-present but still underdeveloped young romance at the heart of the film either.
The other is that there’s an air of artificiality which permeates the film. Spielberg is a master at making the outlandish and stylistic seem real, but at times, in West Side Story, you can see the proverbial strings. Sometimes, that’s a feature, not a bug. Musicals are, by their very nature, at least a touch fantastical, and leaning into that is a good thing. But something about the aesthetic in particular can come off plastic and manicured despite an effort to play as hard-scrabble and imaginative, which detracts from some of the more dramatic or intimate moments in the film.
That doesn’t mean Spielberg and legendary cinematographer Janusz Kamiński are slouches here. They and an expert team of choreographers and other creatives reimagine the iconic “America” with tremendous communal flair. They find unique, self-contained stagings for the “Gee Officer Krupke” number. And the use of color and shadow catches the eye. There’s still a ton of great images to enjoy here.
Likewise, aside from Elgort, the casting here is superb. Mike Faist injects a self-immolating sadness to Riff, replete with a low-simmering affection for Tony, that makes a potentially flat character feel more well-rounded Ariana DeBose has rightfully collected plaudit after plaudit for her electric turn as Anita, with self-possessed sass out the wazoo but also a wounded heart that comes through in the right moments. And Rita Moreno hasn’t lost a step since the original, becoming the heart and soul of the piece as a new character, Valentina, who’s a reinterpretation of an old one, given new life via the script and the performance.
Best of all, Spielberg and company recognize and reinterpret West Side Story as a tale of corruption -- not in the sense of money changing hands amid the venal -- but in the sense of poverty and tribal strife grinding up beautiful, hopeful things under the wheels of progress. The turf our heroes are fighting over is soon to be demolished anyway, making the war for a diminishing slice of the pie seem even more futile. The real enemies of the piece are unseen and out of reach, driving home the senselessness of why the Jets and the Sharks choose to turn on one another.
In the process, Riff’s near-death-wish and Bernado’s prize fighting dreams blend together in one pointless, accidental gesture that wreaks havoc in the shadow of impending destruction. It turns Anita’s belief in the American dream into a curdled resentment for the cruelty her countrymen are capable of. It takes away Chino’s bright future apart from such sectarian violence and turns him into a vengeful killer. It pulls Tony back into the muck he’d tried so hard to move on from, reducing his second chance at a better life to ash. And it transforms Maria’s hope and belief that there’s no reason someone from her neighborhood shouldn’t fall in love with someone from his into a burning hatred.
In brief, Spielberg’s rendition of West Side Story isn’t a simple romantic tragedy or even a story of racial strife brought to the doorstep in bloody terms. It is a story of hope and optimism filed down to a piercing point, the bright and idealistic crushed amid so much rubble from wrecking balls which exist high above such personal dramas and losses. There’s added nuance that makes the tale salient again sixty-five years after the musical’s debut.
And still, I walked in expecting something extraordinary and found something that is, merely, very good. There’s no shame in that. Maybe it’s simply a combination of overfamiliarity and consistent quality to the point of raised expectations. Leonard Bernstein’s music and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics are as good as ever, but are practically burned into the American psyche by now. Spielberg’s skills as a filmmaker are so polished and perfected by now that they seem effortless. At some point, the known good doesn’t seem good enough anymore for whatever reason. West Side Story finds novel new spins on the familiar and deploys them well, but like two teenagers fawning over one another as though it’s true love, doesn’t quite live up to the hype.
It's not easy to me to like musicals, i don't know why but "bad boys" dancing seems awkward and the dramatic scenes looked like comedy to me, but like i said before i'm not a fan, but i don't think it's a bad movie so go for it anyway.
I watched the original movie before I watched this remake to make sure I could make a fair comparison. I understand now why it flopped at the box office ; no built in audience. Lovers of the original will be disappointed. Haters of the the original won't find it a huge improvement. Fans of Disney musicals will find it visually and emotionally depressing. Haters of musicals who came for the social justice story may find it dated. I didn't find a single improvement over the award-winning original, and the washed-out colors and realism depressed me. Glad I waited for streaming.
Choreography and photos are advantages of this movie. It is good that the whole thing was faithful to the original and did not succumb to the fashion of remake placed in modern times.
I was afraid that I would hate this remake of the 60s movie (since I had really enjoyed the original—and especially love the music in general), but I really enjoyed this version. Obviously there were some minor changes and up until a certain point I was a bit annoyed by the trans person (until they revealed that it was about acceptance and he was not just randomly added for diversity points).
All in all, Spielberg did a fantastic job and the movie die result in some tears shed.
The remake of West Side Story is beautiful. I think AOC plays Maria. All the teenagers look like 30-year-old ballet students. https://t.co/Rc0KCNdZ0r
Maria is played by AOC.
Even though I love musicals, I'm not a diehard fan of the stage show or the original movie. The show has some great songs but the "quick, obsessive, teenage love" theme of Romeo and Juliet (which is the source material for this one) has always bugged me. It falls especially flat here because the two leads have absolutely no chemistry. They're both physically beautiful and have lovely voices but there is no spark there. Frankly, I struggled to find much emotional depth from either of them, period. The star here, and the reason you should watch this one is DeBose, who plays Anita. Wow! She sings, she dances, she acts circles around the leads, and when she emotes you feel it. I found myself wishing she and the guy playing Bernardo had been cast as the leads because they understood the assignment when it came to chemistry. Yes, I realize that wouldn't have worked for several reasons but you hopefully got my point.
Anyway, I would definitely suggest this to anyone that enjoys musicals. The singing and dancing is fantastic. The cinematography is beautiful. And it's a Spielberg, so you know it's well directed and made. Plus, you may see the spark between the leads that I missed, which I honestly hope you do because that's the only thing really missing here. But even if you don't, just watch DeBose tear the screen up as Anita and enjoy!
Musicals aren't really my thing but with Spielberg at the helm, this one was worth watching. It's visually stylish and shot as a throwback to movies past. The man can do no wrong.
Tribute to a classic musical that does not avoid the theatricality, but at the same time is completely cinematographic (that neighborhood in the process of extinction), bringing breath to the musical numbers. There are some strange decisions, like changing "I feel pretty" after the ramble, but also beautiful tributes like Rita Moreno performing "Somewhere". Tony Kushner updates and honors the work of Jerome Robbins.
While I had a rough understanding of the story I had somehow managed to avoid seeing either the original movie or the stage production. Just about everything about the movie was fantastic to this guy's untrained eye: the sets were incredible and the dancing was spectacular. The only thing that took me a little bit out of the film was (unfortunately) Ansel Elgort. While I have liked a couple of his movies I have never been particularly taken by his abilities. When he sang I found myself holding my breath because the part seemed to be too big for his singing ability. I don't see why they had to case a name - nobody was watching this for him so why not get another actor that could sing on the level of the rest of the cast. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Let's start by saying that I am not a musical fan, and that "West Side Story" could be mentioned as the exact opposite of what I like in movies. It's as technically remarkable and masterfully choreographed as it feels bloated and mannered in all its aspects. Definitely not enough to sell you the same naive story and old-school musical numbers fifty years after the previous adaptation. There's no doubt that themes that lay underneath are still actual today, but unfortunately, they struggle to emerge in a way that could leave an impact on the new generation of movie-goers.
Strangely enough, the support characters happen to be the most likable and realistic.
Spielberg did his magic and I am grateful for it!! :star_struck::see_no_evil:
The musical classic.
I'll start by saying that Romeo and Juliet is my favorite Shakespeare play and I enjoy seeing the countless adaptations of it. West Side Story is the adaptation of this literary classic brought to the United States of the 50's with a wonderful musical touch. Sure, the Shakespearean story is wonderful and the songs from the musical are great, but how relevant is this particular film? Steven Spielberg is one of the most recognized directors in Hollywood and everything he does generates great expectation. On this occasion, he did not disappoint, as he presented a film with careful attention to every one of its elements: the production design is stupendous (although some failure due to the presence of a pinball machine has already been mentioned on the Internet), the photography by Janusz Kaminski (recurring in Spielberg's filmography) is beautiful, the choreographies are taken care of down to the smallest detail, the performances are solid, the sound is very lucky. However, there was something that bothered me at times: that everything was so perfect, in each scene the characters looked perfect, without a single mistake, without a single speck of dust out of place, without a drop of makeup wrong, and that led me to think that everything was too perfect to be true. Nonetheless, I quite enjoyed it, it was worth catching up with at the theater even though it was the last showing and I came out at midnight.
Gorgeously elevated. I was scared it’d be missing the glow 50s and 60s Hollywood brings, but Spielberg’s passion for this project is clear in every shot and sequence - some really breathtaking cinematic moments in this one. An incredible show-stopping performance from Ariana DeBose, works wonders paired with Rachel Zegler’s sweet demeanour.
This is one to rewatch countless times without ever getting bored (the music is as fantastic and iconic as always, and so is the dancing of course!).
(We’ll ignore Ansel Elgort is even a part of this. He looks, acts and sings in a manner so generic that you won’t have a hard time imagining him to be literally any other okay actor in Hollywood)
the introducing rachel zegler as maria threw me for a loop
This movie is a prime example of remade movies that stink. The original was perfect in every way, cast, dance, music, story. This remake is the opposite. Hollywood should learn “don’t fix what’s not broken”
Better actors could have conveyed the strong emotions better. Could have easily been very cheesy, but, makes for a passable interpretation.
Another unnecessary remake that tries to sneak into the Oscars of 2022, it is a shame to see how Steven Spielberg now only dedicates himself to creating soulless cinema, like the vast majority of modern films in Hollywood. If you want to see this story well told, just watch the original movie from the 60's.
Really bad. I could not get past twenty minutes. Pretty clear that Spielberg knows very little about New York in the fifties.
I never saw the musical or the original movie so I was looking forward to seeing the new version by Steven Spielberg. It is definitely a very well-made film but for some reason I was not at all captivated by the story nor the music.
This film is an insult to the original. CASTING terrible, SINGING terrible. IF you wanna see how this film is at its BEST watch the ORIGINAL. gave it 1 Star which is 1 to many........
I wasnt a huge fan of the musical itself, so i was a little weary of the movie. Especially with the longer runtime. Its a beautiful movie, shot wonderfully and colored fantastically. Rachel killed it in her first role, i really cant believe this was her film debut. I do think that something about it wasnt quite hitting where i wanted it to, the first half drags a fair bit for me. Maybe it only dragged because i knew what was coming and i was excited for it. I forgot just how much of the action is really in that last half hour.
I've never seen the original West Side Story in any format, but I'm questioning why this was even made. Things such as the numerous dance numbers feel very dated. I hear the original is good and to my knowledge this doesn't bring anything new or different to the table. Ariana DeBose wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but I feel her performance and her role were just okay. Ansel Elgort continues to be a charisma vacuum. Rachel Zegler in her first role is impressive.
What surprised me, as someone who is a fan of musicals, how boring these songs are. Other than the renowned "I feel pretty" number (which is clearly the best number by a mile), none resonated with me.
This is another miss from Spielberg and real head scratcher as to why this got made other than maybe a passion project. This is a low 6.
I am not too into musicals, nor the old timey feel, but I do love Steven Spielberg. This has almost none of the staples of Spielberg content (at least that I enjoy), but it is nice to see him make an objectively good movie that is outside his wheelhouse in a different form of film.
Rating: 2.5/5 - 70% - Worth Watching
Big disappointment, turned it off pretty quickly. Cast doesn’t match the story.
Bernstein was a great musician and Spielberg is a great filmmaker, but this is not for me. Turned it off one hour and fifteen minutes in.
It isn't bad, especially if you like musicals. Since I don't and haven't even finished it, I won't even rate it.
This is one where I think it definitely got better as t went on. Is it the best remake I've seen? No. I think the acting was decent, the choreography and cinematography was exquisite, and the singing for the most part was good. However the girl who played Maria, if she doesn't already she needs a spot on Broadway.
I think the writers did a good job of paying homage to the original film but giving it an original spin.
I’ve just clicked play, but why are these white people fighting each other? What the hell? What’s going on?
Overhyped, cash grab garbage. Stop making these things!
Review by Nancy L DraperVIP 8BlockedParent2021-12-21T15:36:52Z
Full disclosure, I was and am a HUGE fan of the 1961 WEST SIDE STORY. I know it’s every detail, every word of every lyric, every emotional cue. Rita Moreno was the iconic Rita. So, I went to see this new Spielberg directed, Moreno produced, 2021 version with more curiosity than expectation. Not forgetting that WEST SIDE STORY was inspired by Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET, the general structure of the movies is the same yet contemporary and musical. The 2021 version is grittier. The context of the drama is more developed, setting it in a disappearing New York neighbourhood, which makes the rivalry of the street gangs more a matter of life and death that either the play or the first movie. Rita Moreno is very much celebrated in this new film, with a newly created character and a reallocation of a song. Two musical numbers in the 2021 version paled when compared to the 1961: (1) the dance at the gym didn’t have the battle fever of the original (probably solely due to the incomparable Rita Moreno in 1961) and by moving Tony and Maria’s first meeting from the actual dance to behind the bleachers it lost the transcendent quality of their love at first sight; and (2) Maria’s “I Feel Pretty” scene being moved from a Dress Shop (where the girls worked) to a department store (where they were but a small part of a cleaning crew), despite the clever use of store displays, changed the context from dreaming of a wedding to dreaming of blending into Americana. I also felt that 2021 suffered from the loss of (a) priest, which stripped away marriage vows in a church for promises in a museum (??), and (b) the the loss of the potion separated the lovers and the tragic death of love at the end. HOWEVER, ALL COMPARISONS OR DISAPPOINTMENTS EVAPORATED when Rachel Zegler’s soaring soprano lifted Maria’s first note. It was so beautiful I had to remind myself to breath. Her duets with Amsel Elgort were transporting. What would have been a rating of 7 (good) was made 9 (superb) by Zegler’s performance, making this a must see film. [Musical Drama]