Throwback Thursday Review: 'West Side Story'

Sorry for the delayed review but this week's Throwback Thursday Review is over West Side Story to coincide with La La Land's minuscule limited release this weekend. I managed to get passes to a screening next Tuesday that I'm absolutely thrilled to be attending and will get my thoughts on the film out on the internet ASAP because La La Land is surprisingly one of the films I've been most excited for this year. Reviews you can expect for the remainder of the year include Rules Don't Apply, Miss Sloane, La La Land, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Collateral Beauty, Passengers, Sing, Assassin's Creed, Fences, and Throwback Thursday Reviews over 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Fast & Furious.

'West Side Story' Review

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, Best Supporting Actor; George Chakris, Best Supporting Actress; Rita Moreno, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and Best Original Score.
Won: Best Picture, Best Director; Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, Best Supporting Actor; George Chakris, Best Supporting Actress; Rita Moreno, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and Best Original Score.

West Side Story spotlights a pair of star crossed lovers from two rival New York gangs, the Jets (New Yorkers) and the Sharks (Puerto Ricans), and the tragic romance that follows in an exhilarating musical. It's essentially a musical adaptation of the classic Romeo and Juliet story but set in 1950s New York. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins co-directed, with Robbins handling the choreography and Wise handling the general film's direction, and the duo certainly crafted a musical masterpiece.

The film's technical elements remain impressive to this day with colorful costuming, sheeny production design, and sweeping cinematography from Daniel L. Fapp that beautifully captures Robbins' poignant choreography. The musical score from Leonard Bernstein features a wide variety of exceptional accompaniment and some sensational songs from Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim including love ballad "Maria", the upbeat "America", dazzling duet "Somewhere", the controlled "Cool", and rousing "Tonight" to name a few. Robbins' sharp choreography makes a perfect match to  Bernstein's refined arrangements and is a wonder to behold.

Ernest Lehman does an excellent job adapting the script written by Jerome Robbins and inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, maintaining the predominant themes while penning a beautiful love story that's only amplified by the film's incredible cast.

Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer lead proceedings as Maria and Tony, capturing captivating chemistry and winning the hearts of every viewer over the course of the film's runtime. I think Marni Nixon deserves appreciation for standing in as Maria's singing voice because she's terrific and ideal vocal company to Beymer's leading man.

The massive ensemble is split into two camps, the Jets and Sharks. The main Jets and their girs are made up of Riff, Ice, Action, A-Rab, Baby John. the wannabe Anybodys, Graziella, and Velma portrayed by Russ Tamblyn, Tucker Smith, Tony Mordente, David Winters, Elliot Feld, Susan Oakes, Gina Trikonis, and Carole D'Andrea respectively. On the other hand, the Sharks are composed of Bernardo, Chino, and Anita played by George Chakris, Jose De Vega, and Rita Morena.

In conclusion, West Side Story holds up as a wonderful musical with tremendous technical elements, majestic music, accomplished acting, and distinguished direction.

Film Assessment: A+

'Brooklyn' Review

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Actress; Saoirse Ronan, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Brooklyn is now the seventh of the eight Best Picture nominees I will have reviewed, leaving just The Big Short for me to see and review. Brooklyn is a 1950's period period piece that follows an immigrant's journey to America based on a 2009 romance novel. Brooklyn is a very well made film but nothing in particular real stood out to me, not to say there isn't any enjoyment to found in the film, but rather the film seemed like a generic romantic period piece. The direction and cinematography are well reserved and so neither stood out and fascinated me. The film's greatest strength is in fact the performances, which are all terrific. In particular, Satires Ronan makes for a great female lead bringing such a great layer of humanity to the role and never seeming too fictional but rather "very authentic". Emory Cohen and Domhnall Gleeson, who portray the two love interests to Ronan's Eilis, are both great in their limited screen time and each have a few moments to shine with some great charisma. In retrospect, I did in fact enjoy the film but probably won't ever feel compelled to watch it again, or purchase it, and I don't quite agree that it should have been nominated for Best Picture when there are so many other films that were released last year I felt were much more deserving of a nod. (ie.  Inside Out, Sicario, Creed, The Hateful Eight, Ex Machina, and maybe even Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Overall, I can say that as a whole it's a very well made performance piece that does have some entertainment value but I wouldn't quite recommend it unless you want to see all the Best Picture nominees or are a huge fan of romantic period piece films.

Film Assessment: B-