I saw it Sunday and I highly recommend it. If you are a fan of the 1960s version, you will LOVE this one.
The details that follow have been covered in multiple reviews, so I’m not going to spoiler-box them. But if you don’t want to know anything about this new version, stop reading.
Tony Kushner has fleshed out the plot and provided a back story that makes things add up that didn’t in the older version. The Sharks and the Jets are both being run out of their turf by urban renewal, namely, demolition that is going to make way for Lincoln Center. Tony (the Jet) was a dull, anemic character in the older version. Here he is the pivotal figure, and his relationship with his best friend Riff is the fulcrum on which the violence balances. He has been in prison for almost beating a guy to death and that has changed him. So when the rumble reaches a climax between him and Bernardo (the Shark), things are set in motion, compounded by lies and misunderstandings, in a very Shakespearean way.
The singing and dancing is done by the actors themselves, no doubles were used, and holy crap! they are GOOD! (The credits mention doubles, but those were for some child actors, and none was used.) The songs have been put in different places in the action and they make more sense in those places. Somewhere, sung by Rita Moreno (Anita in the original), exudes nostalgia and will make you cry, for sure. I don’t care for most sopranos, but Maria has the clearest, purest soprano I’ve heard in forever. Tony grows in stature as the story progresses until-- tragedy.
I could go on and on. Definitely needs to be seen in a theater. I went alone, and there were only two other people in the auditorium. But the theater was so freakin’ cold that I wound up putting on my covid mask to keep my face warm. Fortunately I had also brought a sweater and a shawl.
P.S. The previews went on FOREVER. Reminded me why I hate going to the movie theater. Did we really need another Matrix movie?
I see that Scream 5 is coming out in January, so I thought I would take a look at the originals. I have seen Scream 1 and 2 exactly one time each…in the theater the weekend the opened. I liked both at the time.
They are really not all that great, to be honest. I’m not all that convinced Wes Craven is that great of a movie maker. They are competent, but very average in terms of quality. As “meta” as they are, I feel like they are actually kind of middling when it comes to being self-aware.
Anyway, I have never seen Scream 3 or 4 and am going to watch those before the new one hits in a month or so.
Saw a weird one last night, The Survivors. It’s a “comedy” from 1983, starring Robin Williams and Walter Matthau as two acquaintances who are being stalked by a hit man (Jerry Reed!) because they saw his face when he tried to rob them. Williams gets all paranoid and goes to join a bunch of gun nuts at a survival camp in the woods. It was weak.
I watched The Man Who Invented Christmas last night. It’s a British movie from 2017, a kind of stylised biopic of Charles Dickens struggling to write A Christmas Carol where he gets help from the book’s characters, basically stepping inside the scenes he writes, as he figures out some of the difficult bits.
It’s surprisingly good. I was expecting it to be dull or annoying, but it’s actually colourful, moves at a clip, and tugs at the heart strings. Great performances all round, too.
We watched “Christmas Vacation” and Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory”. The latter is a good one for the season; you can find it on YouTube in the original color version. I also learned that Brian Doyle-Murray, who played Chevy Chase’s boss, is Bill Murray’s older brother. Tonight it’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
I watched the most fascinating sort of documentary tonight, My Life as a Turkey. It’s a recreation of the true story of a man who had a flock of wild turkeys imprint upon him after they hatched. I will look for the book next. Really, really interesting story and illustration of the ancient instincts in some animals. I never thought I would be interested, but I can’t wait to watch it again tomorrow with my family.
The description is here, but I could not get the video to work.
The new Nightmare Alley. It really grabbed me. Fate! Our hero thinks he’s too sharp to succumb to it, but a turn of the Tarot cards says otherwise. You should have paid attention Stan!
I remember the original film noir from nineteen something-something. This one bumps it up several notches, in art direction alone, with a cast that hits all the right notes - special mention to David Strathairn as the old carny Pete who carries a few regrets at what his con act has wrought.
Lots of great set pieces, as when Stan decides that Molly the Electric Girl needs an upgrade to her shtick, and next thing you know he’s built her a dandy electric chair - oh really, this guy did all that, with the fancy paint job and the huge lever for the dwarf in an executioner’s hood to yank? Never mind, it’s pretty cool.
Stan and Molly eventually split for a higher level of show-biz, and that’s when - oh, I won’t spoil it, but keep an eye out for watches, booze, cigarettes being smoked in a bathtub, and a highly symbolic bunny rabbit.
Crooked House (2017), rented on Amazon. Based on the Agatha Christie novel, this is a serviceable if not thrilling movie. Some of the performances are excellent (Glenn Close) but too many are just ok (the detective is utterly bland). I would not have recommended it, but then it got to the reveal and the end and… WOW, I did not expect that! I won’t say much about it so as not to spoil anything, but the ending and how they did it was quite shocking (in a good way, at least for me).
Watched Red Notice on Netflix last night. It was even more over-the-top ridiculous than I expected, but a silly, fun diversion for a couple hours. And Gal Gadot is one of the most gorgeous women on the planet, so there’s that.
By the way, I looked for Runaway Train, and it seems the only way I can watch it is to pay $11.99 for the privilege. Not gonna do that. So for the foreseeable future it shall remain one vote Ebert, one vote Mahaloth.
King Richard (HBO…but only until tomorrow). The story of how Venus and Serena’s father fought and scratched and clawed until his girls got the recognition they deserved from the tennis world.
Quite good, and the young actress who plays Venus is excellent. They gloss over some essential back story – like, how did he know that his girls were special? He was right, but how?
And it may be the one of the few heart-warming sports story that ends in the protagonist losing the big match. Rocky being another.
Yes, I was a little put off by King Richard, because he was such a severe taskmaster, but his daughters, all six(?) of them, were always so cheery and giggly. And yes, his certainty that Venus and Serena couldn’t fail to be champions, even at a very young age, was not heartwarming. How many fathers are similarly convinced their kids are special? He needed to show just a tiny bit of humility. But if that’s really how things went, fine, but I’m not ready to buy it as the whole story. Maybe when the movie based on Venus and Serena’s own memoirs gets made we’ll get a different picture.
I saw the Serena documentary from years ago and her Dad(Richard) showed up with a boy who was helping out on the court. Someone said, “Uh, that is one of his sons. He’s your half-brother.”
Like, he has so many kids. Serena, Venus, and many others do not know how many siblings they have.
I have not seen the movie, but am a huge tennis fan. Not because of how many kids he has, but because of his attitude and demeanor…he is not popular. Kind of hated. He can be a real jerk, to be honest.
I’m sure there are positives, but I’ve always thought he was a jerk.