West Side Story has received 7 Academy Award nominations including best picture and best director.
I am most disappointed that Mike Faist was not nominated for best supporting actor. I guess an actor who is a triple threat does not fit into the academy's profile for an award.
No surprise Ariana DuBose is nominated for supporting actress.
Congratulations to the academy award nominees.
Well deserved nominations. I predict Ariana DeBose will win supporting actress. I don't think it can win picture or director, but the film has a reasonable shot in a couple other categories too.
shareI don't know. I love the original movie to death and adore the stage show. But this movie just didn't do it for me. I just can't stomach Ansel Elgort. That is not to say this movie didn't have it's merits because it did.
However real talk is that this movie doesn't get any nominations if a certain directors name wasn't attached to the project. Tick Tick Boom was far more deserving than this IMHO
I hear you, Snoopy828. I didn't see the entire new West Side Story film version, but I did see parts of it on a TV program not long ago that emphasized the comparisons between West Side Story 1961 and West Side Story of 2021, and listened to the soundtrack of the new West Side Story on youtube.
The fact that I never thought that doing a reboott/remake/readaptation of such an iconic classic film (i. e. the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story) that won ten well-deserved and well-earned Academy Awards, including Best Picture when it came out into the movie theatres in October of 1961 was re-enforced, if one gets the drift.
I've always been rather resistant to the idea of reboots/remakes/readaptations of great older classic films to begin with, especially something such as the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, by anybody, including Spielberg.
Whoever nominated this failed pointless SJW-infested remake of a classic film should feel ashamed of themselves.
Still, DUNE got nominated for TEN Oscars (more than this failure and certainly UNPRECEDENTED for a sci-fi flick), so I'll cut them some slack.
Hopefully they come to their senses when voting for the winners, and Woke Side Story comes home empty-handed on Oscar night.
They only voted for Dune because they were told it was woke, but the odds are none of the old fart that pick the movies even saw it.
shareI hear you too, ReelReviews14. I, too, pray that the 2021 film version of West Side Story comes home empty-handed. One can only hope! :)
shareAn unrealistic film...of course,,always was meant to be Romeo and Juliet a 16th Century fantasy. But the acting of Ariana de Bose is fantastic and almost all actors superior to 1960s version( except Russ Tamblyn). Yea it is Romeo and Juliet but is also a modern morality film which clearly vets the immorality of those who judge all by one or judge by color, culture and language. I felt like you the first time I sw this version but the singing, de Bose and the dancing (never saw a gang member dance like they did in the street though I did attend a couple big Chicano dances on the Near Southside at the invitation of one of the gang's leader). No they were not doing the Mambo but dancing to 'Santana, War, Malo, El Chicano, Azteca. As the young gringo there from the East Coast it seemed like every mamacita wanted to "try me out". At first I thought this was my inventive thinking until I woke up the next morning in bed with a young rubia and her amiga, a striking morena. The smoky refreshment and tequila that night completely dissolved any memory after 10 PM. Not sure how the other 300 or 400 people from the gang-sponsored dance felt the next day but I felt good.
WSS had a lot to do with the woman I have been married to for 30 years (yes, what they say about marrying a Latina is all true!). However you never hear them mention the loyalty, the incredible family auras , and the ability to take life on life's terms. My wife's 18 year old 'Salvadoran niece, besides being fluent in English, attractive in almost a singular manner and smart was incredibly mature and tough (but not masculine) for an 18 year old young lady.Not even honeys I have known from West Baltimore and Northeast DC had the edge she does.
Thank you for your reply to my post, BR1dOON. I'm admittedly a devout fan of the original 1961 film version of West Side Story, but if I ever did see the new film version, I would not pay to see it in a movie theatre, but maybe figure out now to see it online if and when it becomes possible. I've always been extremely resistant to remakes of great older classic films, because they tend to lack the charm, charisma and personality of the original.
As a baby-boomer, I've heard some of Santana's music. It's rather cool. I'm a woman from an upper middle-class secular(meaning non-religious) Jewish family, and both my younger sister and younger brother are married to Asians who are very cool, intelligent and nice, and both couples have 2 beautiful kids, who are now fully grown, intelligent and cool, also.
My whole family is very accepting of the fact that I'm a big fan of the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, and I never hesitate to go and see it when it's playing in a movie theatre, either in our general area, or even to neighboring states, just to see it on a great big, wide screen in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low. I've actually made special road trips for that purpose.
Mike Feist gave us a completely different take on Riff than Russ Tamblyn. I always LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Russ Tamblyn as Riff in the original West Side Story. I was enamored by his athleticism which Robbins certainly, very smartly, used in his choreography for Riff. Tamblyn gave us a "jokester" Riff, a fun loving Riff with no serious dark side to him.
Mike Feist gave us a more realistic Riff with a dark side and so much more depth to the character. Feist's Riff was anything but a "jokester". He was all business and was out for blood from his rival gang. This is the realism the original movie lacked.......big time. Mike Feist deserved an academy award nomination for his gritty portrayal and I'm so disappointed to see he was "snubbed". His performance as Riff is a standout in Spielberg's film. Feist, a trained dancer, is a triple threat and deserved to be recognized by the academy.
The fact that Mike Fiest's Riff was all dark anger and no fun or lightness to him, as were the gangs generally, and the fact that the reboot/remake of the film version of West Side Story was so heavy, and without any lightness to it is part of what made Spielberg's film version of WSS not feel like West Side Story, at all, to me.
shareThe fact that you don't feel like this is West Side Story could be, in a way, a good thing. Right? I've read so many comments/complaints that Spielberg's adaptation did not need to be made because it is so similar to the 1961 original film. I don't see much similarity other than the impeccable score and songs, and the story. I like the differences and feel this adaptation was very necessary. Spielberg said in an interview that he hopes there will be another adaptation of this classic show in another 50 or 60 years. He feels it is necessary to give new life to this classic.
To each their own, but to me, Spielberg's film version of WSS really does not feel like West Side Story to me, at all, which re-enforces my determination not to see the 2021 film version of WSS in its entirety. There are no similarities to the original 1961 film version at all in Spielberg's film version of WSS, and I still think that the reboot/remake/readaptation of the film version of West Side Story was unnecessary. To me, it seems way overdone, too bombastic, too heavy, and it feels forced and totally unnatural to me, and something totally different from West Side Story. To be truthful, I've always had a gut reaction against reboots/remakes of older classic films, generally, especially something such as the 1961 film version of West Side Story.
shareMike Feist's performance was fine. He was let down by the writing.
share