Hit Me With Your Best Shot: WEST SIDE STORY (2021)

by Cláudio Alves

A beautiful shot, full of carnality and color!

Re-watching Spielberg's interpretation of the classic musical made me realize that, beyond the mournful tonalities of Rita Moreno's Valentina, the new West Side Story works mainly as a tragedy of two gang leaders, what they symbolize, and the clashing communities they represent. So, logically, my best shot would have to feature Riff and Bernardo while also showcasing the best aspects of the picture's photographic strategy. Hopefully, it'd also hide some of my personal misgivings with it, too – namely, the overabundance of glaring lens flares...

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Almost There: Mike Faist in "West Side Story"

by Cláudio Alves

While the role has been shortened compared to the 1961 Best Picture winner, Mike Faist's Riff feels exponentially more complex than Russ Tamblin's take on the same character. So much so that he became one of the standouts of West Side Story '21 and won our Almost There poll, trumping the likes of Lady Gaga and Cate Blanchett. As it was the reader's choice, I'm obliged to explore the performance in an appropriate deep-dive. Though, truth be told, it's less obligation than plasure. Maybe the great surprise of the season, Mike Faist steals the musical remake from his co-stars, running away with the picture. 

From innate charisma to a cornucopia of curious acting choices, Mike Faist's Riff is worthy of gold, regardless of the Academy's indifference…

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Best Director - "How'd They Get Nominated?"

The Best Director Oscar chart is fully revamped with a poll, lots of stats, trivia, and information. If we fused all five directors into one Mecha-Director we'd have a 59 year-old 5'9" Sagittarian living in California who has New Zealand, Irish, and Japanese roots. This fictional Mecha-Director has made 15 movies and been nominated in this category 3 times.

The chart also contains our annual thought experiment: "How'd they get nominated?"...

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New Oscar Trivia via the new set of nominations

Add to this list in the comments if you'd like. Refresh your screen for updates as we find more trivia...

Bradley Cooper scored his 9th nomination, this time for producing Nightmare Alley

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-With Nightmare Alley Bradley Cooper received his fourth nomination for producing, tying his Oscar nomination stats for acting. You know who else has four nominations for producing and four for acting? Warren Beatty! Of course Warren Beatty also has multiple writing and directing nods and an actual statue so he's still ahead of Cooper in the stats book.

- With his nomination for producing and writing Belfast, Kenneth Branagh now holds an Oscar record...

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Oscar Volley: Those DGA Nominees (and more) in Best Director

Our Oscar Volleys series is down to our last two categories. Here are Tim Brayton and Eric Blume to talk Best Director. (This volley was recorded before the BAFTA announcement but since those nominations are juried they probably won't have much bearing on Oscar outcomes.)

Eric Blume:  Tim, I'm thrilled to talk shop about the Best Director category. Let's start with Jane Campion, Denis Villeneuve, and Kenneth Branagh who all seem unlikely to miss.  I'm personally thrilled that Campion might ride her crest all the way to a win. Nobody else could have made The Power of the Dog work so layered and subtle, or told that story without it seeming heavy-handed, obvious, or silly. The film gives Campion the chance to do her specialty: embroiling us in a narrative and in character motivations so intensely strange yet fully human that we're transported by our own confusion and curiosity.  She has that special ability to deliver a rare grounded sense of whatthefuckery in her movies. There are moments where so much is happening psychologically, where so many meanings are transpiring simultaneously, that you can't even fully process it until it's passed you by.

I'm also a huge fan of Villeneuve, a natural-born filmmaker if there ever was one...

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