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Dec. 11th, 2021
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Dec. 11th, 2021 05:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petzipellepingoReview of the soundtrack for Steven Spielberg's West Side Story. In a nutshell, it's great!
**SPOILER: CONTAINS SONG CLIPS** -- Don't listen if you want to see the movie without hearing the soundtrack.
**SPOILER: CONTAINS SONG CLIPS** -- Don't listen if you want to see the movie without hearing the soundtrack.
(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2021 05:34 ampetzipellepingoSteven Spielberg’s West Side Story is a radical act of fervent fandom
The little details of his remake matter as much as the big strokes
By Tasha Robinson
For fans of the classic 1961 filmed version of the stage musical West Side Story, the initial trailers for Steven Spielberg’s 2021 update weren’t necessarily inviting. The first images made it obvious that Spielberg was drawing heavily on the ’61 version, with very similar staging, choreography, costuming (from designs to cuts to colors), and even specific shots and sequences. The question was why the world needed a new version of the story, if Spielberg was just planning to play copycat. Remaking a classic is a dicey bet for anyone, even a filmmaker of Spielberg’s stature, because every remake needs a reason to exist.
But the film itself provides an answer, with supreme passion and killer confidence. Spielberg takes a great deal of inspiration from original director Jerome Robbins, and he holds to a lot of the specifics that made the ’61 version so indelible. He’s clearly a fan of the original movie, but that doesn’t prevent him from making this story his own, in a variety of ambitious and compelling ways.
[Ed. note: This review notes some of the notable changes to West Side Story that some may consider spoilers.]
( Read more... )
The little details of his remake matter as much as the big strokes
By Tasha Robinson
For fans of the classic 1961 filmed version of the stage musical West Side Story, the initial trailers for Steven Spielberg’s 2021 update weren’t necessarily inviting. The first images made it obvious that Spielberg was drawing heavily on the ’61 version, with very similar staging, choreography, costuming (from designs to cuts to colors), and even specific shots and sequences. The question was why the world needed a new version of the story, if Spielberg was just planning to play copycat. Remaking a classic is a dicey bet for anyone, even a filmmaker of Spielberg’s stature, because every remake needs a reason to exist.
But the film itself provides an answer, with supreme passion and killer confidence. Spielberg takes a great deal of inspiration from original director Jerome Robbins, and he holds to a lot of the specifics that made the ’61 version so indelible. He’s clearly a fan of the original movie, but that doesn’t prevent him from making this story his own, in a variety of ambitious and compelling ways.
[Ed. note: This review notes some of the notable changes to West Side Story that some may consider spoilers.]
( Read more... )
(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2021 05:39 ampetzipellepingoWest Side Story Review: Steven Spielberg's Musical Sways To Its Own Beat
Steven Spielberg presents the film exactly as what it was meant to be - a song and dance tragedy set in a milieu where two gangs divided along racial lines fight each other.
Written by Saibal Chatterjee
A heartfelt homage to an American cinema classic, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story is a fabulously lensed and robustly choreographed musical that stands apart from the original not merely in time and cinematic sensibility. Its heightened realism, contemporary resonance and fluidity of spatial dimensions and depth of field also palpably liberates it from what Jerome Robbins had conceived for stage and screen.
( Read more... )
Steven Spielberg presents the film exactly as what it was meant to be - a song and dance tragedy set in a milieu where two gangs divided along racial lines fight each other.
Written by Saibal Chatterjee
A heartfelt homage to an American cinema classic, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story is a fabulously lensed and robustly choreographed musical that stands apart from the original not merely in time and cinematic sensibility. Its heightened realism, contemporary resonance and fluidity of spatial dimensions and depth of field also palpably liberates it from what Jerome Robbins had conceived for stage and screen.
( Read more... )
(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2021 07:08 pmpetzipellepingoWest Side Story (2021) vs. West Side Story (1961): What Are the Differences?
We examine the big and small changes Steven Spielberg made with his West Side Story remake, including where he surpassed the original.
By David Crow
This article contains spoilers for both screen versions of WEST SIDE STORY.
( Read more... )
We examine the big and small changes Steven Spielberg made with his West Side Story remake, including where he surpassed the original.
By David Crow
This article contains spoilers for both screen versions of WEST SIDE STORY.
( Read more... )