Tag Archives: Rita Moreno

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Song of the Day #5,010: ‘Somewhere’ – Rita Moreno

Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2021 movies…

Best Films of 2021
#3 – West Side Story

I’m not a fan of the original West Side Story, something I discovered when watching it as part of my AFI Movie Musicals series in 2020. I don’t know if that made me a harder or easier target for this new take on the source material, but I came out of it convinced I’d seen a new classic.

This movie is such a visual and audio treat from the first bravura shot to the last. Nobody knows how to position and move a camera like Steven Spielberg, and it’s a treat to see him finally try his hand at an epic musical.

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Song of the Day #4,351: ‘America’ – Rita Moreno and West Side Story Cast

With one epic musical directed by Robert Wise under my belt, I turned my attention to another.

West Side Story, with songs by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, adapted for the screen from a classic stage musical, inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, winner of ten Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, #2 of AFI’s list of the greatest musicals of all time… and, sadly, a major disappointment.

This is a case of a movie that simply hasn’t aged very well.

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