West Side Spielberg's Story

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Ben » December 1st, 2021, 7:57 pm

Nah, those earlier posters were much more illustrative than the slightly oily paintings these ones have. And they’re all pretty awful and all over the place, I think! If anything, they’re more like the biblical epics of the previous decade, the 50s (no apostrophe needed!), before the more graphic style tried to make the older-fashioned musical films still feel modern and relevant.

Of course, West Side has always had its own campaign and design style that was baked into the show, the subsequent film, most productions ever mounted since, and the earlier teaser posters for this new one. It’s kind of contractual by this point, if not already officially!

(Oh, and Fox is not marketing this movie…!) :)

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by ShyViolet » December 2nd, 2021, 8:42 pm

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/202 ... side-story


YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

:D :D :D :D :D :D

https://youtu.be/uWxcnl8PL_o



Oh, and so far it’s 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. (59 reviews)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/west_side_story_2021
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Daniel » December 3rd, 2021, 2:59 pm

Very promising review! Hoping it comes to Disney+.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by ShyViolet » December 29th, 2021, 3:33 pm

It will, around late January from what I understand. Apparently it bombed financially, understandable considering the circumstances with Covid and all that. (I ended not going. :( ).


Full story:


https://www.thestreet.com/investing/wes ... r-theaters

Has anyone here already seen it? If so what did you think?
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Farerb » December 29th, 2021, 3:39 pm

I saw it, I thought it was good in terms of craftsmanship, but some of the changes/additions didn't work for me, I prefer the original.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by EricJ » December 29th, 2021, 5:12 pm

ShyViolet wrote:
December 29th, 2021, 3:33 pm
It will, around late January from what I understand. Apparently it bombed financially, understandable considering the circumstances with Covid and all that.
Was it Covid?...Or was it the annually-cursed middle-December WEEKEND OF DEATH?? :evil:
(It's always the week before the third-week/Christmas big-tentpole blockbuster, as Spiderman fans will attest.)

Me, I wouldn't know, I'm sitting down to rent "Jumanji: the Next Level" and "In the Heart of the Sea".

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Ben » December 29th, 2021, 6:45 pm

Yes, it was Covid. The film's biggest audience was always going to be fans of the original and the older demo, and they’re all staying away from crowds right now, as opposed to the younger males that are largely powering Spider———Man.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by James » January 25th, 2022, 11:29 pm

Just saw this. It was fine. It’s the basic West Side Story musical (my second favorite musical) so it’s obviously got good bones. But I just don’t see why it needed to be made. When it’s already been done, and done so well, if you’re not going to bring something radically new, and you’re not going to make something unquestionably better, why remake it at all?

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Randall » January 26th, 2022, 12:47 am

That's my take on it, too, though I haven't seen it for myself.

I like how the director of Ocean's 11 was asked once why he would bother remaking a mediocre film, and he replied that there's no point in remaking a great film; whereas, if you remake a lesser film, you can try to do it better.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Ben » January 26th, 2022, 3:29 am

Xactly. I’m still jazzed to see this, but the original was *so* new and groundbreaking that I’m just not sure one can bring anything new to it. I’m sure it will be "fine", as James says, and maybe even good or great, but it didn’t really need doing. Soderbergh is right.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Daniel » February 9th, 2022, 12:27 pm

Streaming on Disney+ March 2nd! Yay!

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by ShyViolet » February 9th, 2022, 2:44 pm

All right!!! Thanks for the update, Dan! :)
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Bill1978 » February 9th, 2022, 5:55 pm

Yay, I don't have to waste money on watching a movie I'm not sure I totally want to see. Like it looks good, but I jsut find the songs so dated these days that I was worried I'd fall asleep in the cinema haha. Let's see if I can finish this one, unlike Into The Heights which I still need to finish.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Farerb » February 9th, 2022, 8:40 pm

I'm kind of surprised that you don't like the songs in West Side Story cause I thought you liked the more classical sounding musicals. Do you like any musical that is not by Alan Menken or ALW? I'm pretty sure West Side Story inspired both of them.

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Re: West Side Spielberg's Story

Post by Bill1978 » February 9th, 2022, 10:18 pm

I don't mind the songs of West Side Story but I just think they sound dated, they aren't really timeless like some other songs from musicals and therefore come across as a bit stale today. Probably also one of those musicals that suffers from having to sit through 'other stuff' to get to the songs I enjoy. Kinda like Sound of Music that starts off strong with all these well known songs and then takes about 5 hours to get to the next song I enjoy haha.

I think my main concern with this remake is I don't understand the need for it, as it doesn't appear to present anything new to justify its existence. Like why do I need to watch this version, when I can just go and watch the original.

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