West Side Story's Oscar journeys (then & now)

by Nathaniel R

3 of West Side Story's Oscar wins: SUPPORTING ACTOR (Chakiris), DIRECTOR (Robbins & Wise), SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Moreno)

The original West Side Story, which premiered on October 18th, 1961, and which we've discussed in great detail here, was a true four-quadrant blockbuster. It was not only the top-grossing film of its year but an all out Oscar smash. By the spring of 1962 West Side Story was so popular that it did a near complete sweep at the 34th annual Academy Awards ceremony, losing in only one of its categories: Best Adapted Screenplay (which went to the Holocaust courtroom drama Judgment at Nuremberg). But that wasn't all in terms of West Side Story mania. The very next month it competed for "Album of the Year" at the 4th Annual Grammys Awards (it had to settle for winning Best Soundtrack Album since "Judy at Carnegie Hall" took the top prize) and stayed at #1 on the Billboard album charts for almost an entire year (no joke).

How well will the new West Side Story fare? That's a difficult question because a lot of things have changed since West Side Story's initial movie run 60 years ago, including the popularity of musicals within mainstream culture, the number of Oscar categories, the nature of both Oscar campaigns and moviegoing, and even one role within the famous musical...

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Review: "The Tender Bar" Is Sweet, But Slight

Ben Affleck becomes a surrogate Uncle in George Clooney's latest directorial film, "The Tender Bar."

By: Christopher James

Can two movie stars squander each other’s talent? George Clooney directs Ben Affleck in Amazon Prime’s latest movie, The Tender Bar, a navel-gazing tale that takes every cheap shot possible to drum up emotion. Lucky for it, cheap shots can still be effective. Parents around the world will be charmed by the ‘70s set, decades spanning family drama. After all, Ben Affleck and director George Clooney are front and center in the movie’s marketing. Though effective in fits and starts, the wistful sentimentality curdles with time. 

Once they run out of money, single mother Dorothy Moehringer (Lily Rabe) returns to her Long Island home with her tail between her legs and her son, J.R. (Daniel Ranieri), in tow...

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Review: "Nightmare Alley" only in theaters

by Matt St Clair

Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro’s anticipated follow-up to The Shape of Water, is quite a risk for the Oscar-winning auteur. Del Toro ditches the phantasmic monsters he’s known for in favor of human monstrosity, the beasts within all of us that drive our carnal needs. As with the original 1947 noir, Nightmare Alley is an exemplary exercise on the folly of man and what happens when the line between man and beast becomes blurred. 

The main anti-hero who toes that line is Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), a carny with a knack for manipulating people. His subjects include fellow carny and eventual love interest/accomplice Molly Cahill (Rooney Mara), Paul Krumbein (David Strathairn) and his fortune teller wife Zeena (Toni Collette), and a wealthy fearsome widower Ezra Grindle (Richard Jenkins). Cooper's piercing eyes and bewildering smile make him a perfect casting fit for the manipulative con man. He is a man of few words which is just as well; the words when they come are lies and deceit. It is in Cooper’s expressive face where we see Stan’s constant fear of his troubled past resurfacing...

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Streaming Review: Sandra Bullock in "Unforgivable"

Please welcome new contributor Catherine Springer

Sandra Bullock has something to prove. No matter how beloved she may be as a performer, she’s never really been taken seriously as a dramatic actress. Her Best Actress Oscar win for The Blind Side (2009) is widely considered to be one of the weakest, as many feel she won more as a nod to her popularity and successful career than for the performance itself. Bullock has always had a healthy perspective on herself and her career, and has taken all the criticism in stride. And yet, there must be a place deep inside that wants to prove to the world that she deserves her Oscar, and that she is so much more than the funny, affable girl next door. 

Bullock’s starring role in Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity (2013) went some of the way to proving she is more than the feel-good funny girl. But the question still remained: can Sandra Bullock deliver in a dramatic role, with no CGI or alien buffers? She's never truly played an unlikeable character, either. Can she change her brand this late in her career, and prove she can deliver in a serious and not loveable role?

The new Netflix film, The Unforgivable, proves the answer is an unequivocal yes. Unfortunately, few may hear that answer because anything she’s doing in this film that’s right is offset by everything else that is so, so wrong...

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Streaming Review: Apple TV+ 'Swan Song'

By Ben Miller

Delicate and sentimental, Benjamin Cleary's Swan Song gives two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali a showcase performance in this adult drama.  Featuring strong supporting performances and a cleanly futuristic setting, the film is an easy watch - just make sure to have the tissues ready...

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