A few “West Side Story” reactions have leaked online. Steven Spielberg’s remake of the 1961 original screened for SAG members last night. There will be additional screenings for press all throughout the week.
This comes to us from BillCipher from Awards Worthy:
"Anita and Bernardo are fantastic, But also Rita Moreno is Lovely- probably an oscar nom coming her way. Maria is really great but doesnt hit the ending scene the way natalie wood does. Tony is great, has some emotional moments where he really goes for it. The guy who plays Riff is a real stand out, just brings so much more to character. America is a killer sequence, my favorite. Just beautiful direction and cinematography too, its really dirty and gritty"
BeijingBicycle has this to say:
“Well, it will most likely get some Oscars, although I have some reservations… There are some amazing moments, absolutely great cinematography by Janusz Kaminski & great direction of course. It opens with a bang, with the best musical numbers that are shot on NY streets. Apparently they shot it during a heat wave and they were all dying of heat. They also talked about working with Steven Sondheim, how he was on the set sometimes trying new lyrics. However, the second half is too long for me and thus looses some of its energy, i wish they cut 15 minutes. Still, very worth seeing for sure. The cast is great. Everyone is fabulous, I think Rita, Rachel or the lady who plays Anita could get nominated. But also loved Mike Faist as Riff and David Alvarez as Bernardo, not to mention Corey Stoll who plays lieutenant Schrank. Unfortunately he has too small a role to be nominated, but he is just great in every scene he's in.“
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.