Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed magical kingdom, the fantasy musical film “Disney’s Snow White” (based on a Brothers Grimm story) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Exiled princess Snow White, with the help of seven dwarfs, falls in love with her future prince and battles against her evil stepmother queen, who wants to kill her.
Culture Audience: “Disney’s Snow White” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movies headliners, the original Brothers Grimm story, and the 1937 animated “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” but this live-action remake is too formulaic and is missing a lot of the original story’s magic.
Gal Gadot in “Disney’s Snow White” (Photo by Giles Keyte/Disney Enterprises Inc.)
Even though Rachel Zegler shines as the title character of “Disney’s Snow White,” the rest of this remake’s live-action performances are mediocre or terrible. No magical spells can erase this cash-grab film’s unconvincing visual effects and other missteps. One of the worst things about “Disney’s Snow White” is the villain is too campy (because of awkwardly hammy acting from Gal Gadot as Evil Queen), instead of being menacing and terrifying. The quality of the movie goes downhill in all of the scenes with Gadot.
Directed by Marc Webb and written by Erin Cressida Wilson, “Disney’s Snow White” is based on the 1812 German fairy title “Snow White,” written by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of their collection “Grimms’ Fairy Tales.” In 1937, Walt Disney Pictures released “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” an animated film version of the story. Although “Disney’s Snow White” admirably doesn’t make the story an exact copy of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” some of the changes look overly contrived, including making the Seven Dwarfs all animated characters instead of having these little people portrayed by live actors.
Another big change (and not for the better): The altered fate of Evil Queen at the end of the movie is not as effective in “Disney’s Show White” as her fate was at the end of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” And for baffling and unnecessary reasons, “Disney’s Snow White” also significantly changes the story arc of one of the Seven Dwarfs, in what seems to be a manipulative way to jerk some tears from audience members. And this live-action version of a classic Disney animated film has the same problem as all of the other live-action remakes that have a Disney princess: Her love interest (in this case, a good-looking future prince named Jonathan, played by Andrew Burnap) is bland as bland can be.
Unlike “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” which only showed Snow White as a young adult, “Disney’s Snow White” shows Snow White’s childhood when she was about 7 or 8 years old. This backstory takes up the first 15 minutes of this 109-minute film. The movie seems to want to silence the controversies over the “ethnic” casting of Zegler (who is mixed-heritage Hispanic and white) by showing (not telling) that Zegler’s Snow White character is also biracial. She was named Snow White because she was born during a snowstorm. In the original fairy tale, the magical kingdom where the story takes place is called Germonia. But since that name sounds too much like Germany, “Disney’s Snow White” simply gives no name to this magical kingdom.
An unseen narrator (whose identity is revealed at the end of the movie) says in a voiceover that Snow White in childhood (played by Emilia Faucher) was the only child of kind and loving parents. These parents are royalty and don’t have names in the movie. Snow White’s father was a king (played Hadley Fraser), while her mother (played by Lorena Andrea) was a queen. Snow White’s mother died suddenly for unnamed reasons. An “enchanting woman from a far-off land” (played by Gadot) then charmed the king and married him.
But this Evil Queen has sinister motives: Get rid of the king and Snow White, so the Evil Queen can be the only ruler of the kingdom. The Evil Queen lies to the king by telling him about an imminent invasion threat in the southern kingdom, so he goes away to defend his people. With the king away, the Evil Queen takes resources away from the kingdom’s residents (causing shortages of food), and she forces a lot of civilians to become soldiers to do her bidding. Snow White’s father has disappeared and is presumed dead.
The Evil Queen also banishes Snow White from living in the royal palace and forces Snow White to become a maid. And if you can believe it, people in the kingdom didn’t notice. Maybe they were too caught up in their own problems. Princess Snow White soon becomes mostly forgotten and presumed dead, as she toils in obscurity.
The Evil Queen has a magic mirror that talks back to her and has a shadowy face that can appear. (Patrick Page is the voice of the mirror.) The Evil Queen asks the mirror, “Who’s the fairest of them all?” to fish for compliments that the Evil Queen is the most beautiful female in the kingdom. The mirror tells the Evil Queen that she is the fairest,
“Disney’s Snow White” changes the “meet cute” moment for young adult Snow White and her future prince, but that doesn’t mean it’s an improvement for the romance part of the story. There is more chemistry between Evil Queen and her mirror, compared to the lack of sizzle for would-be couple Snow White and Jonathan. In the movie, Jonathan isn’t a royal. He’s a commoner who meets Snow White when she catches him stealing potatoes because he says he’s hungry. The Evil Queen finds out about the theft and orders Jonathan to be tied to an outside gate as punishment. Guess who comes to the rescue and frees Jonathan?
One day, the magic mirror tells Evil Queen that Snow White is the “fairest of them all.” This statement enrages the Evil Queen, who orders an unnamed huntsman (played by Ansu Kabia) to find and murder Snow White, who has run away to the Enchanted Forest. The Seven Dwarfs, who are diamond miners, live together in a small house in this forest. One day, when the dwarfs are away at work, Snow White ends up at the house and falls asleep in one of the beds.
Doc (voiced by Jeremy Swift) is the bossy leader of the Seven Dwarfs. The other dwarfs have names that are supposed to be descriptions of their personalities: Happy (voiced by George Salazar), Bashful (voiced by Tituss Burgess), Grumpy (voiced by Martin Klebba), Sleepy (voiced by Andy Grotelueschen), Sneezy (voiced by Jason Kravits) and Dopey (voiced by Andrew Barth Feldman). Dopey is the physically smallest dwarf and is non-verbal, but he can make sounds, such as when Snow White teaches him how to whistle.
Dopey is teased and bullied by some of the other dwarfs for being the misfit of the group. In “Disney’s Snow White,” Dopey is sweet-natured and is supposed to be very misunderstood, in terms of his intelligence. In this respect, “Disney’s Snow White” improves from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” movie has a way of demeaning a non-verbal person that would be considered problematic if that movie were released today.
“Disney’s Snow White” has some fairly good musical numbers, with original songs written for the movie by Oscar-winning “La La Land” songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. “Waiting on a Wish” is the obvious Oscar-bait song from “Disney’s Snow White.” Zegler’s skillful vocal talent is undoubtedly one of the highlights of “Disney’s Snow White,” as she is the cast member who is best able to infuse heartfelt emotions in her singing. (The less said about Gadot’s singing, the better.) As for songs carried over from the original “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the classic tunes “Heigh-Ho” and “Whistle While You Work” get competent cover versions in “Disney’s Snow White.”
The old-fashioned and patriarchal song “Someday My Prince Will Come” (from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”) is removed from “Disney’s Snow White” and replaced by new and original songs where Snow White expresses more independence—just to let the audience know that her life doesn’t revolve around finding a man to take care of her. It all sounds very feminist-forward, but it’s just performative (not genuine) feminism. The big rescue scene in the movie’s climax still has the story’s Prince Charming (in this case, Jonathan) being the reason why the movie ends the way that it does. And the “Princess Problems” duet peformed by Snow White and Jonathan is about Jonathan being snarky to Snow White about her royal status.
The movie’s large budget is certainly seen in the plethora of visual effects. Viewers who like watching cute animated animals will find a lot to like in “Disney’s Snow White,” which has an overload of adorable creatures (birds, rabbits, squirrels and deer) who befriend Snow White and tag along during her journey. However, the movie never lets you forget that these animals are “too adorable to be true” visual effects, making these effects look forced and fake instead of looking believably natural in this fantasy world. “Disney’s Snow White” is missing a great deal of magic that the original story had. And that magic is undeniable charisma for all the characters that need it.
Walt Disney Pictures will release “Disney’s Snow White” in U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city from December 31, 1999 to January 2, 2000, the sci-fi/horror/comedy film “Y2K” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A group of high school students and other people battle against machines and gadgets that have become homicidal on January 1, 2000.
Culture Audience: “Y2K” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Kyle Mooney, and silly horror comedies where teenage characters are the main focus.
Fred Durst, Lachlan Watson, Jaeden Martell, Daniel Zolghadri and Rachel Zegler in “Y2K” (Photo by Nicole Rivelli/A24)
The horror comedy “Y2K” is about people versus machines that go on a homicidal rampage during a Y2K electronic crisis. The real haywire mess is this entire dimwitted movie that cares more about resurrecting Limp Bizkit’s old hits than having a good story. Unfortunately, “Y2K” takes what could have been a potentially great concept for a horror movie and squanders it on a bunch of mindless scenes, most of which are neither funny nor scary.
Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kyle Mooney makes his directorial debut with “Y2K,” which he co-wrote with Evan Winter. “Y2K” had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival. The movie takes place in an unnamed U.S. city but was actually filmed in New Jersey, in Ringwood, Chatham Borough, and Clark.
“Y2K” is based on the real-life scare that people around the world had in the late 1990s, when computers and other electronic-operated machines were predicted to malfunction on January 1, 2000, because the machines supposedly weren’t programmed for any year past 1999. That massive electronic meltdown didn’t happen in real life, but the plot of “Y2K” speculates what would have happened if machines didn’t just melt down but also went on a killing spree. The production notes for “Y2K” say that Mooney thought of the movie’s concept “in the haze of a New Year’s hangover.” And unfortunately, the ends results are “Y2K” looks like a movie that was written and directed in a brain-addled haze.
“Y2K” uses a lot of the same, tired clichés that are found in many horror movies where the main characters are teenagers. Cliché #1: A nerdy and introverted protagonist with a more outgoing best friend both want to be accepted by the “cool kids” in their school. In “Y2K,” these two outsiders are shy Eli (played by Jaeden Martell) and goofy Daniel “Danny” Bannon (played by Julian Dennison), who are both juniors (16 or 17 years old) at the same high school. Eli and Danny share a passion for pop, rock and electronica music, so expect to hear a lot of songs that were mainstream hits in the 1990s, such as Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” and Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You.”
Cliché #2: The geeky protagonist has a secret crush on a pretty and popular student, who already has another love interest. In “Y2K,” the characters who are the couple in this love triangle are Laura (played by Rachel Zegler) and Soccer Chris (played by the Kid Laroi), who are supposed to be the “it couple” of the school. Chris (who is called “Soccer Chris” because he’s a star on the school’s soccer team) is predictably an arrogant jerk, while Laura is predictably nice to everyone. It’s all a movie contrivance for audiences to root against Chris and root for underdog Eli to get together with Laura.
Cliché #3: The protagonist and his sidekick are bullied by other students. In “Y2K,” the school bullies are a bunch of stoners who listen to hard rock/heavy metal. They include a loudmouth leader named Farkas (played by Eduardo Franco) and an androgynous follower named Ash (played by Lachlan Watson), who is an aspiring filmmaker and an avid fan of rock band Limp Bizkit. Ash constantly carries a portable video camera, which becomes a source of contention later in the movie.
And here comes another teen horror movie cliché: The teen house party that goes horribly wrong. “Y2K” begins on December 31, 1999, when Eli and Danny plan to crash an unsupervised house party held at Chris’ house. Eli, who is an only child, lives with his parents Robin (played by Alicia Silverstone) and Howard (played by Tim Heidecker), who are in the movie for less than 10 minutes. Eli gets embarrassed and uncomfortable when his parents reminisce about how Robin taught Howard how to French kiss during the couple’s college romance.
Even though Eli and Danny are best friends, Eli is still hurt by something cruel that Danny did to Eli: In a desperate attempt to get attention from the “cool kids,” Danny told a lie to other students that Eli drank Danny’s urine. Danny told Eli that he was sorry for fabricating this disgustng story, but Eli is still being bullied over this lie. It’s a sore spot in the otherwise solid friendship of Danny and Eli.
Before Eli and Danny go to the house party, they visit their older friend Garret (played by Mooney), who is a clerk at their favorite video store. Garret openly abuses drugs (he has a fondness for marijuana and psychedelics) and is a walking stereotype of a spaced-out weirdo. Garret is harmless, but “Y2K” viewers have to sit through many bad jokes that Garret tells in this movie. Danny smokes some marijuana with Garret in the video store’s storage/employee room, while Eli declines the offer to smoke and only seems interested in drinking alcohol.
At the house party, many of the teens are aware of the Y2K scare but are unconcerned about it. Danny tries to liven things up by playing a homemade CD of his favorite songs and dancng to the music. Danny’s fun-loving personality attracts the attention of a pretty girl named Madison (played by Ellie Ricker), and it doesn’t take long before Danny and Madison start kissing each other. Eli somewhat mopes around and tries not to notice how the relationship between Laura and Chris is still going strong. Chris has figured out that Eli has a crush on Laura and angrily tells Eli to not make any moves on Laura because “you’re a dud.”
As the clock strikes midnight for January 1, 2000, all hell breaks loose in the house. Machines and gadgets—such as a microwave oven, a toy jeep and a blender—suddenly turn deadly. This review won’t go into too many details about who gets killed and who survives. However, it’s enough to say that there’s a “chief villain” machine that can best be described as looking like the original “Lost in Space” robot, with a computer monitor for a head.
Some of the teens escape from Chris’ house, including Eli, Laura, Ash and an aspiring rapper named CJ (played Daniel Zolghadri), who says he’s in a hip-hop group called Prophets of Intelligence. And you know what that means: Expect to see a scene in “Y2K” of CJ and his horrible rapping.
The teens spend most of their time outside, trying to hide from the chief villain robot and other deadly machines that could be on the loose. The teens bicker over things such as whether or not Ash’s portable video camera will turn against them as a weapon. And then, they encounter Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst (who plays a version of himself) hiding somewhere by himself, and “Y2K” continues its downward spiral into stupidity and plot holes.
During all of this chaos, the teens don’t think about seeing if they get help from authorities. They also don’t try to get in touch with their parents or other family members. Is it because there’s no electricity or phone communications during this apocalypse? No, because a pivotal scene in the movie shows someone being able to easily use the Internet on a desktop computer. Remember, this movie takes place during a time when accessing the Internet was done mostly by dial-up phone connections.
Because “Y2K” is partially a tribute to Limp Bizkit (Ash’s devotion to the band is a huge part of Ash’s character), it should come as no surprise that Durst performs Limp Bizkit songs from the late 1990s, such as “Break Stuff ” and Limp Bizkit’s cover version of George Michael’s “Faith.” These performance scenes will no doubt have “Y2K” viewers rolling their eyes at the cheesiness of how these scenes are staged. Everything looks forced and phony.
The cast members perform adequately, but the “Y2K” screenplay is so relentlessly sloppy and moronic, there’s almost no suspense or real amusing moments. “Y2K” also has some empty preaching about the dangers of becoming addicted to electronic devices/machines. If this “Y2K” movie were a computer, it would be a computer afflicted with a bug that causes it to repeatedly malfunction.
A24 released “Y2K” in U.S. cinemas on December 6, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on December 24, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in fictional country of Panem, the fantasy/action film “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” (based on the 2020 novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asian) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Future villain Coriolanus Snow is tasked with making singer Lucy Gray Baird fail in the brutal life-or-death Hunger Game battle, but he and Lucy Gray unexpectedly fall in love with each other.
Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of fans of “The Hunger Games” franchise, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” will appeal primarily to viewers of fantasy action films that have battles over power, love, and moral ethics.
Tom Blyth and Viola Davis in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” (Photo by Murray Close/Lionsgate)
“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is not the type of movie that’s best appreciated by those who have prior knowledge of “The Hunger Games” fantasy books and/or movies. It’s not terrible or great, but this “Hunger Games” prequel has enough thrilling action sequences and interpersonal drama to satisfy most “Hunger Games” fans. Viewers who are unfamiliar with the franchise might be confused or feel disconnected from the story. “The Hunger Games” movies are based on Suzanne Collins’ novels of the same names. These books are geared to a young adult audience.
Directed by Francis Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is an origin story for chief “Hunger Games” villain Coriolanus Snow (played by Tom Blyth), the movie’s protagonist. Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt faithfully adapted the movie’s screenplay from Collins’ 2020 novel “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” It’s an epic book of more than 500 pages, so making it into a movie was certainly a challenge. It’s why “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” movie clocks in at 157 minutes.
Lawrence also directed the the second, third and fourth film in “The Hunger Games” movie series: 2013’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” 2014’s “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” and 2015’s “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.” Gary Ross directed 2012’s “The Hunger Games,” the first movie in the series. Donald Sutherland portrayed Coriolanus in those movies.
With a lengthy running time for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” there are some parts that somewhat dull, but most of the film is engaging enough to maintain viewer interest. In the fictional country of Panem, the Hunger Games is a fairly new barbaric game, where two young people (who are called “tributes”) from each of Panem’s 13 districts have a life-or-death fight until the only person left alive is declared the winner. Spectators from all across Panem witness this brutality, which has large, enthusiastic audiences who enjoy the carnage.
In the beginning of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” Coriolanus is about 8 years old (played by Dexter Sol Ansell), and his cousin Tigris (played by Rosa Gotzler) is approximately the same age. They are raised more like brother and sister than like cousins. The Snow family is a prominent and wealthy, but their fortunes change when they get the tragic news that Coriolanus’ single father General Crassus Snow was killed in combat during a civil war. Now orphaned, Coriolanus is raised by his beloved grandmother Grandma’am (played by Fionnula Flanagan), who is kindhearted and compassionate.
The movie then fast-forwards about 10 years later. Tigris (played by Hunter Schafer) and Grandma’am say goodbye to when 18-year-old Coriolanus, since he is moving out of the family home to go to a live-in academy. The academy is led by a dean maned Casca Highbottom (played by Peter Dinklage), who is addicted to morphling (a morphine-like drug) that he likes to drink in a small vial. At this point, Coriolanus is no longer wealthy, and he is trying to restore his family’s prestige. Casca does not like the Snow family, for reasons that are explained in the movie.
Coriolanus has been tasked with being the mentor for Lucy Gray Baird (played by Rachel Zegler), who is a tribute from Panem’s 12th district. Dr. Volumnia Gaul (played by Viola Davis) is the callous and authoritarian Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games. Lucky Flickerman (played by Jason Schwartzman) is the first master of ceremonies for the Hunger Games. Sejanus Plinth (played by Josh Andrés Rivera) becomes Coriolanus’ best friend at the academy.
Lucy Gray is a talented singer (she performs songs, often on acoustic guitar, that are best described as country-tinged pop), so expect to see parts of the movie look almost like a music video with these performance scenes. The songs are generically bland, but Zegler performs these tunes with gusto. It’s not a secret (since it’s revealed in the movie’s trailers) that Lucy and Coriolanus fall in love with each other.
Snakes (including Lucy’s fondness for small snakes) are recurring parts of the story. And the songbird mentioned the most is the mockingjay. There’s also a quick reference to what inspired the first name of Katniss Everdeen, the protagonist of the first four “Hunger Games” movies. (Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss, is not in this movie prequel.)
“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” (which was filmed in Poland) has impressive production design in the world of Panem is presented. The acting performances are very good, with Davis playing her villain role to the hilt. Blyth also capably handles his role as the complex Coriolanus, who has a believable personality metamorphosis with this performance.
The chemistry between Blyth and Zegler never feels completely convincing, but considering that Coriolanus eventually becomes corrupt, and Lucy Gray is a good person, these characters were a mismatched couple from the start. action scenes and struggles over loyalty and betrayals are the fuel that keep “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” going when other parts of the movie get dragged down in some monotony.
Lionsgate will release “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” in U.S cinemas on November 17, 2023.
Ross Butler, Adam Brody, Grace Caroline Currey, Zachary Levi, Meagan Good and D.J. Cotrona in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
Culture Representation: Taking place in Philadelphia, the superhero action film “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” features a racially diverse cast of characters (white, Asian, African American and Latino) portraying superheroes and regular human beings.
Culture Clash: Billy Batson, who transforms from being a teenager to an adult superhero named Shazam, leads his teenage foster siblings (who have similar superhero transformation abilities) in battling against three daughters of the god Atlas who want to retrieve the powers that the Shazam family has.
Culture Audience: “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, movies based on DC Comics, and the 2019 movie “Shazam!,” but “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is yet another sequel that is inferior to the original movie.
Ovan Armand, Jack Dylan Grazer, Asher Angel, Faithe Herman, Grace Caroline Currey and Ian Chen in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” loses much of the charm of 2019’s “Shazam!,” by overloading on bad jokes, cluttered storylines and formulaic action scenes. It’s a failed attempt to be a wisecracking, high-quality superhero movie. This movie sequel’s visual effects are also unimpressive, as several scenes make it too obvious where the “green screens” were located to put the computer generated imagery (CGI) in post-production. Much of the movie’s dialogue is cringeworthy, most of the performances are trite, and the cliché-ridden story has no surprises.
The movie didn’t have to be this disappointing. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” features many of the same team members who made “Shazam!,” including director David F. Samberg, screenwriter Henry Gayden, producer Peter Safran, film editor Michel Aller and most of the principal cast members. However, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” added a screenwriter—Chris Morgan (“Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” “The Fate of the Furious”)—and changed cinematographers, production designers, and visual effects supervisors. The changes did not result in a better movie.
The “Shazam!” movies are based on DC Comics characters. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has all the qualities of a dull and mindless sitcom, thereby making the forced comedy look very awkward in what’s supposed to be an exciting superhero movie. And for a movie with such a simple plot, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” keeps muddling the story with unnecessary subplots and pointless scenes. There are simply too many underdeveloped characters in this movie. Most of these characters don’t have memorable personalities; they have forgettable soundbites.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (which takes place in Philadelphia) picks up three years after the events of “Shazam!” Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel) is now 17 years old. He is still living with a secret that most people don’t know: He can transform into an adult superhero named Shazam when he yells the word “Shazam!” Billy is living in a foster family with other teenagers, whom he considers to be just like siblings. As shown in “Shazam!,” these foster siblings have similar abilities to transform into adult superheroes. Billy is the leader of this group.
Billy/Shazam’s superhero pals are goofy Freddy Freeman (played by Jack Dylan Grazer), who can transform into Super Hero Freddy (played by Adam Brody); sweet-natured Darla Dudley (played by Faithe Herman), who can transform into Super Hero Darla (played by Meagan Good); intelligent Mary Broomfield (played by Grace Caroline Currey), who can transform into Super Hero Mary (also played by Currey); introverted Pedro Pena (played by Ovan Armand), who can transform into Super Hero Pedro (played by D.J. Cotrona); and earnest Eugene Choi (played by Ian Chen), who can transform into Super Hero Eugene (played by Ross Butler). These friends/foster siblings have made a pact not to perform any superhero duties without each other.
In most teenage superhero stories, these superheroes are orphans or have at least one deceased parent. The guardians of these teen superheroes usually don’t know about the teenager’s special powers, but they eventually find out. After all, there are only so many times that it can be believable that a parent or guardian does not notice that their teenager isn’t around at the same time a superhero is on live television committing an act of heroism. In “Shazam! Fury of the Gods!,” there are six teenage superheroes in the household. It stretches the bounds of credibility that their foster parents Victor Vasquez (played by Cooper Andrews) and Rosa Vasquez (played by Marta Milans) would take so long to notice.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” brings some Greek mythology to the story, by having three daughters of the Greek god Atlas (the Guarder of the Tree of Life) on a revenge mission to get back the mystical powers that were stolen from them by an enigmatic sorcerer named Wizard (played by Djimon Hounsou), who is shown in a prison in the beginning of the movie. The three sisters are Hespera (played by Helen Mirren), who has the power of the elements that can affect the weather; Kalypso (played by Lucy Liu), who has the power of chaos that can affect mind control; and Anthea (played by Rachel Zegler), who has the power of axis that can affect the rotation of Earth.
Near the beginning of the movie, Hespera (who is the leader of this trio of sisters) and Kalypso are seen invading a museum, where they use their powers and steal a wooden staff that was locked in a glass case. Hespera and Kalypso then pay a hostile visit to the Wizard in his prison cell. The sisters have brought the wooden staff, which they force the Wizard to hold while he says, “Shazam!” This act is supposed to lead the sisters to the keeper of the stolen powers. And it leads them right to Shazam.
And where is Anthea? It just so happens that there’s a new student at the high school attended by Billy and his pals. Her name is Ann (also played by Zegler), who appears to be kind and compassionate. Freddy is instantly smitten, but there are repetitive scenes where Freddy (who uses an arm brace) is brutally attacked by school bullies Brett Breyer (played by Carson MacCormac) and Burke Breyer (by Evan Marsh), two brothers who also want Ann’s attention. Brett and Burke humiliate Freddy by physically assaulting him in front of Ann. The movie weirdly has Freddy accept this abuse with a smile, because Freddy says that all that matters to him is that Ann likes him.
Meanwhile, Billy/Shazam has his own crush: Wonder Woman. There’s another misguided scene where Billy is having a fantasy that he (as Shazam) is on a dinner date with Wonder Woman, who is not facing the camera. (In other words, they didn’t get “Wonder Woman” movie actress Gal Gadot for this scene.) All of sudden, when she is facing the camera, she has the face of the Wizard, who has an important message for Billy/Shazam. This scene is supposed to be amusing, but the visual effects just make everything look bizarre and misplaced.
Billy/Shazam is also going through an identity crisis. As Shazam, he is seen in the office of pediatrician Dr. Dario Bava (played by P.J. Byrne) and treating this appointment like he’s in a a psychiatric therapy session. While lying down on a couch, Shazam whines, “I feel like a fraud.” He also says that he feels rejected by his parents, rejected by the system, and rejected by the city. Shazam also has an inferiority complex because the Flash superhero (another DC Comics character who wears a red superhero suit with a lightning bolt) is more famous than Shazam. When Dr. Bava tactfully reminds Shazam that he’s a pediatrician, not a psychiatrist, Shazam keeps whining.
Not long after this not-very-funny scene, the superhero pals go to rescue people from a collapsing Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It’s a scene where Bonnie Tyler’s 1984 song “Holding Out for a Hero” is playing, and the characters joke about it in a meta way that is not very cute. Fortunately, there are no fatalities during this disaster, but the bridge has completely collapsed. The news media and the general public blame Shazam and his superhero friends for not being able to save the bridge, so the superheroes are called the Philadelphia Fiascos. It doesn’t make any sense that the superheroes would be vilified for not saving the bridge when the superheroes chose saving people’s lives as the top priority.
The Philly Fiascos label is just another excuse for the movie to make Billy/Shazam feel sorry for himself. He also thinks he’s losing the respect of the superhero group of friends. There’s a useless subplot about Freddy going out on his own to fight a crime as Super Hero Freddy. Billy/Shazam finds out about it, so there’s more pouting, whining and complaining from this character, as he lectures Freddy about team unity and not breaking their group pact.
Billy is about to turn 18 soon. Victor and Rosa will lose foster care government funding for each child that turns 18, also known as aging out of the child welfare system. These foster parents have told Billy that they can’t financially afford to have him in the house after he’s legally an adult. Billy feels even more insecure about losing his home, because Victor and Rosa have decided to let Mary stay in the household after she turned 18.
The foster parents made an exception for Mary, because the foster parents say they can afford to have only one other adult in the household. Mary just happened to have the luck of turning 18 first out of all six foster kids. And because Billy/Shazam is somewhat competitive with Mary (because he’s insecure about her being smarter than he is), you know what that means: More pouting, more whining and more complaining from Billy/Shazam.
What happened to the fun-loving Shazam from the first “Shazam!” movie? He can be seen occasionally in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” but he’s mostly turned into a neurotic annoyance who tells so many horrible, unfunny jokes, it would embarrass even the most amateur stand-up comedian in a low-rent, obscure nightclub. There’s a very unoriginal joke about “The Fast and the Furious” movie franchise, which seems like more like a shameless plug from “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” co-writer Morgan, who’s been a screenwriter for a few movies from “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. When Billy/Shazam isn’t fretting about not being perceived as an “alpha male,” he’s fixated on the idea of dating Wonder Woman. This movie is not subtle at all about why Wonder Woman is mentioned so many times.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” also has tone-deaf, sexist jokes about women’s ages. Someone insults Hespera by saying she looks too old to be Kalypso’s sister, and questions if these two sisters are even from the same family. The dolt who makes this asinine remark apparently doesn’t know that gods and goddesses in Greek mythology can live for centuries and can therefore become parents of children with significant age gaps. There’s also a stupid crack that Billy makes about how Wonder Woman will no longer be too old for him when he turns 18.
It goes on and on with simple-minded dialogue and unimaginative action scenes in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” A lot of it is actually quite boring, compared to the abundance of better superhero movies that exist. Viewers will learn nothing that’s new or interesting about Billy/Shazam, unless you think it’s fascinating that he sure knows how to complain a lot if people don’t treat him like a rock star. Levi and Asher are just treading in shallow waters with the Shazam and Billy characters in this movie, when the filmmakers could have given them a deeper and more adventurous dive.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” also missed several opportunities to have more character development for supporting characters Mary, Darla, Pedro and Eugene, who are all written and portrayed as generic as generic can be. Finding out that Pedro has a crush on a baseball outfielder named Marshall Wade (as briefly shown in one of the movie’s early scenes) does not count as character development, since it’s already well-known among DC Comics fans that Pedro is gay. Freddy, who is supposed to be the funniest character in the “Shazam!” movies, just kind of drifts along, while Grazer does his best to make the weak material work in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”
As for Mirren, Liu and Zegler, they are perfectly satisfactory in their roles as the vengeful daughters of Atlas, but they are not outstanding in the movie. Mirren looks a little bored. Liu is a little too campy in her role. Zegler just looks happy to be there, since “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is only her second movie, after she made an impressive movie debut with a starring role in the 2021 remake of “West Side Story.” Simply put: The performances of Mirren, Liu and Zegler in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” are not going to be considered iconic in the DC Extended Universe.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has a blockbuster movie budget but all that money is wasted on a story that has the quality of a third-rate kiddie cartoon. The movie’s plot is stretched out to nearly 132 minutes when it could have easily been 90 minutes or less. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” gives the impression that the filmmakers from 2019’s “Shazam!” were so impressed with themselves because “Shazam!” was a hit with most fans and most critics, so the filmmakers didn’t bother to make a better sequel and are just coasting on the success of a “Shazam!” movie that was made several years ago.
Movie audiences have come to expect a certain level of cinematic quality for these superhero movies, which don’t always have to be super-serious. But the superhero movies that want to be comedic should at least fulfill the basic requirement of being funny and entertaining. In that regard, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” misses the mark by a long distance.
The movie’s mid-credits scene is a reference to HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” series, while the movie’s end-credits scene features a character who was in the 2019 “Shazam!” movie. The DC Extended Universe is undergoing a massive overhaul under DC Studios’ co-chairmen/CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, including recasting of several major DC Comics characters. In other words, this incarnation of the “Shazam!” franchise is going out with a whimper (and a lot of whining from Shazam), because the next “Shazam!” movie is getting a much-needed revamp with a new team.
Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” in U.S. cinemas on March 17, 2023.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1957 in New York City, the musical drama remake “West Side Story” features a cast of white and Latino people representing the working-class.
Culture Clash: A young Puerto Rican woman and a young Polish American man fall in love with each other, despite having people close to them who are in rival, warring gangs that are opposed to this romance.
Culture Audience: Besides the obvious target audience of fans of the original “West Side Story” movie musical, this 2021 version of “West Side Story” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of director Steven Spielberg and movie adaptations of Broadway musicals.
Ariana DeBose and David Alvarez in “West Side Story” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios)
The 2021 remake of “West Side Story” is exactly the glossy spectacle that you might expect from director Steven Spielberg. The movie is a bonafide crowd-pleasing epic that makes some interesting changes from the 1961’s “West Side Story” movie, a classic that was directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. In the 2021 version of “West Side Story,” some of these changes work better than other revisions to the original movie. The original “West Side Story” movie was based on a Tony-winning musical that debuted on Broadway in 1957. The Broadway musical was written by Arthur Laurents, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay to the 1961 “West Side Story,” while Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay to the 2021 “West Side Story.”
The original “West Side Story” movie starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno and George Chakiris as four young people in New York City who are caught in the middle of gang warfare, ethnic bigotry and risky romance. Moreno and Chakiris won Oscars for their supporting roles in the movie, which won a total of 10 Oscars, including Best Picture. (Moreno’s Oscar victory was groundbreaking, as she became the first Latina to win an Academy Award.) Is the 2021 version of “West Side Story” worthy of 10 Academy Awards? No, but there are some standout performances that should bring more attention to some very talented cast members. They do all their own singing, unlike some of the stars of the original “West Side Story” movie.
Most fans of musicals already know the basic premise of “West Side Story,” which is set in New York City (specifically, in a working-class area of Manhattan’s West Side) in 1957. It’s a story inspired by William Shakeapeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” In “West Side Story,” a sweet and innocent Puerto Rican woman named Maria, who’s in her late teens, falls in love with a slightly older, streetwise Polish American man named Tony, who is an ex-con trying to start a new and reformed life away from an all-white gang that he used to lead called the Jets. Maria’s domineering older brother Bernardo is the leader of an all-Puerto Rican rival gang called the Sharks. Bernardo is dating Maria’s sassy best friend Anita. Needless to say, the romance of Maria and Tony sparks a war between the Jets and the Sharks.
In the original “West Side Story” movie, Wood was Maria, Beymer was Tony, Moreno was Anita and Chakiris was Bernardo. In the 2021 “West Side Story” remake (which also takes place in 1957), Rachel Zegler is María, Ansel Elgort is Tony, Ariana DeBose is Anita and David Alvarez is Bernardo. Unlike the original “West Side Story” movie, Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake avoids any criticism of “whitewashing” racial casting, by casting the people of color characters with actors who are also people of color. Zegler is a Latina of Colombian heritage. DeBose is multiracial; in interviews, she sometimes identifies herself as African American. (DeBose’s father is Afro-Latino, and her mother is white.)
Perhaps the biggest and best change to the “West Side Story” remake is the clever idea to cast original “West Side Story” movie co-star Moreno in the role of a new character: Valentina, the no-nonsense but kind-hearted owner of a drugstore called Doc’s Chemists, where Tony works. In this version of “West Side Story,” Valentina is the widow of Doc, the store’s owner in the original “West Side Story” movie. (Doc was played by Ned Glass.) Considering all the racial discord in the story, the Valentina character gives the movie added poignancy because a Latina woman has given Tony a chance to redeem himself and start a new life.
Valentina represents the bridge between the divides caused by racism and xenophobia in the community that’s depicted in the movie. And there’s an extra layer of female empowerment/solidarity in a pivotal scene in the movie, when Anita defends herself from being attacked in the store by members of the Jets, and Valentina intervenes to put a stop to the assault. This scene has a greater impact than in the original “West Side Story,” when the upstanding but somewhat wishy-washy Doc was the one who stopped the attack.
Rather than putting the scene in a stereotypical context of a man coming to the rescue of a woman, this “West Side Story” movie has a woman in charge (Valentina), who is the unflinching moral compass in a maelstrom of hate and chaos. The scene is also symbolic of all the racism and sexism that women of color have had to experience and what happens when women help each other in moments of distress and pain. Moreno has talked extensively in interviews about how this scene was the most emotionally difficult one for her to film in the original “West Side Story,” and she has said it was a surreal experience to film it again in the “West Side Story” remake—this time, as the rescuer instead of the one being attacked.
Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake stays true to the main elements of the story. The movie opens with the Jets in a rubble-filled area that’s undergoing reconstruction to make way for higher-priced homes. The Jets, led by Tony’s best friend Riff (played by Mike Faist), are hoodlums who come from dysfunctional families and are hostile toward non-white immigrants whom they feel are taking over the city. Since 1917, Puerto Rico has been a U.S. territory, and people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. But that doesn’t stop people like the Jets (and many other xenophobic and racist people) from thinking that Puerto Ricans aren’t “real Americans.” If Tony had any past racism when he was in the Jets, it’s not directly mentioned in the movie. What’s clear is that Tony is now a reformed person and very much against racism.
Meanwhile, many of the Sharks, including Bernardo, dislike white people, whom they see as racist oppressors. Puerto Ricans such as Bernardo, María and Anita are U.S. citizens but feel like immigrants in the United States, where English is the dominant language and there’s open hatred and discrimination against people who aren’t white. Bernardo feels that the Sharks are superior to the Jets because, as he tells Riff in one of their many confrontations, at least most of the Sharks have jobs. The Jets—who are U.S.-born, mostly unemployed descendants of white European immigrants—are fueled by anger in their perception that the American Dream has been ripped away from them.
María, Bernardo, and Anita (who all pay rent and share the same apartment in this “West Side Story” remake) represent the American Dream of people whose first language is not English, which they’ve had to learn in order to get certain opportunities. María, Bernardo and Anita also represent Puerto Ricans who come to the United States in search of a better life while the majority of their families still live in Puerto Rico. Coming to a place like New York City—where the cost of living and is higher and the living spaces are smaller than most other U.S. cities—can be a rude awakening that can be handled with optimism or pessimism. This dichotomy is represented in one of the musical’s most famous song-and-dance numbers: “America,” with Anita taking the lead for the optimistic side, and Bernardo taking the lead for the pessimistic side.
A noticeable difference in this “West Side Story” remake is that the Puerto Ricans speak a lot more Spanish—and there are no subtitles. It’s a clear indication that Spielberg (who is one of the movie’s producers) wanted this version of “West Side Story” to be more inclusive to Spanish-speaking audiences and present a more realistic depiction of people who speak more than one language. Although the 2021 version of “West Side Story” has no subtitles for the Spanish-language dialogue, it’s easy for people who don’t know Spanish to figure out what what’s being said, based on the cast members’ tones of voice, body language and facial expressions.
In this movie remake, the Puerto Rican characters are less concerned about assimilating in English-speaking America than their counterparts were in the 1961 version of “West Side Story.” Valentina even says so, when she makes this comment about her interracial marriage: “I married a gringo. He thinks that makes me a gringo. I ain’t.”
“West Side Story” was ahead of its time for having the androgynous Anybodys character, who is presented in both movies as a young transgender man, during an era when the word “transgender” did not exist. In the “West Side Story” remake, Anybodys (played by Iris Menas) is a lookout for the Jets. Anybodys is sometimes referred to as a “girl,” but Anybodys would rather be just one of the guys.
There’s a point in the movie where people start using male pronouns to describe Anybodys—and that makes Anybodys very happy. In the 2021 “West Side Story” remake, Anybodys has less screen time than the Anybodys in the first “West Side Story” movie. The character is depicted with more subtlety and less-exaggerated mannerisms in the remake.
Just like in the original “West Side Story,” the movie begins with the introduction of the Jets, followed by the Sharks, and the tensions between the two gangs. The Jets are first seen emerging from the rubble with paint cans, which they use to commit vandalism on an outdoor wall mural of the Puerto Rican flag. (This vandalism of a Puerto Rican flag mural is new to the remake.) The Sharks see this vandalism, are offended, and a brawl ensues between the two gangs until police arrive to break up the fight.
On the scene is Officer Krupke (played by Brian d’Arcy James), a “regular Joe” cop who would like nothing more than for the Jets and the Sharks to stop fighting each other, even though he knows that’s not very realistic. Krupke’s swaggering boss is Lieutenant Schrank (played by Corey Stoll), who’s even more impatient with these rival gangs than Krupke is. Schrank gruffly insults the Jets by calling them “the last of the can’t-make-it Caucasians,” and he barks this order: “Evict yourself from my crime scene, Bernardo!”
The Jets and the Sharks don’t trust each other, but both gangs have even less trust of the police. It’s why no one in either gang will snitch when the police try to find out who started the violent fight. No one is arrested this time, but the fight’s not over. As soon as the cops leave, Riff and Bernardo agree that there should be a rumble to decide which gang will come out on top. Anita and María openly express their disapproval of Bernardo’s gang activities, but he doesn’t pay attention to them, and there’s not much María and Anita can do to stop him.
Riff is somewhat of a reluctant chief of the Jets because he became the default leader when Tony was sent to prison for attempted murder of a young man during a gang fight. Now on parole, Tony is keeping his distance from the Jets because he truly wants to turn his life around and no longer be a criminal. Tony will not rejoin the Jets, despite Riff’s constant pleas.
Faist’s version of Riff has an insecure scrappiness to how he handles his gang leadership, indicating that Riff craves and fears power. He looks like he’s got a more fascinating and harrowing story to tell than Russ Tamblyn’s version of Riff in the first “West Side Story” movie. Tamblyn’s Riff looks like a frat boy gone bad. Faist’s version of Riff looks like a real street survivor who’s had a rough life and has the facial scars to prove it.
Riff has a platinum-blonde girlfriend named Velma (played by Maddie Ziegler), who is loyal and loving to him, but she disapproves of him getting involved in violent crimes. It’s a change from the Velma in the first “West Side Story” movie, where Velma was much more of a gang moll who looked the other way or encouraged Riff to be a violent thug. Ziegler became an actress after years as a professional dancer. Her dance expertise shows in Velma’s feisty and eye-catching dance moves.
In this “West Side Story” remake, Tony goes into more details about his life in prison in ways that weren’t in the original “West Side Story” movie. He still talks more about how prison changed him and made him determined to lead a law-abiding and productive life, but he expresses more guilt about the crime and more remorse about how he hurt the victim. After he was released from prison, Valentina gave Tony a job and a place to stay. (He lives in the store’s basement.) Valentina has known the members of the Jets since they were children. She has become a mother figure to Tony, who is estranged from his parents.
Just like in the original “West Side Story,” Tony and María meet and have a “love at first sight” encounter at a dance attended by local young people, including the members of the Jets and the Sharks. The dance’s chaperone announces at the dance that it’s a “social experiment” to better integrate white people and Latinos who live in the area. “And then you can all go back to your feral lives,” the chaperone cynically adds. However, racial segregation is still a fact of life that the attendees find difficult to change at this dance. They still congregate in groups according to race, including the inevitable dance-off where Anita and Bernardo outshine everyone else.
As an example of how much slicker this version of “West Side Story” is, the dance is held at a shiny-looking, well-lit school gymnasium, compared to the somewhat dark and grimy-looking dancehall in the original “West Side Story” movie. It’s a setting that looks a little too polished and well-kept for an area that’s supposed to be populated by people who are struggling financially and has public schools that are more run-down than they should be.
Tony has come to this dance reluctantly, after much persuasion from Riff, who wants to use the dance as away for Tony to see all of his former gang pals again. But once Tony and María lock eyes, meet cute behind the gym bleachers, and exchange some smitten dialogue, Tony can’t think of anything else but being with María. Tony and María couple up immediately by dancing together and having their first kiss just a few minutes after meeting that night. They agree to meet the next day at a museum.
Tony and María’s attraction to each other doesn’t go unnoticed. Bernardo orders Tony to stay away from María . Bernardo would rather that María date someone who’s Puerto Rican, such as his mild-mannered best friend Chino (played by Josh Andrés Rivera), who is not a member of the Sharks, although Chino would like to be. Chino was sort of Maria’s date at this dance, but Chino and María’s relationship has always been about platonic friendship only.
At the dance, Bernardo gets a little rough by pushing Tony away when he sees that Tony is interested in María. Riff and the rest of the Jets come to Tony’s defense, which leads the Sharks to get in on the dispute. María and Anita are disgusted with all of this seemingly never-ending fighting between the Sharks and the Jets, so they leave the dance. However, Tony doesn’t join his former gang cronies in this fight and instead runs out of the dance to look for María , but she is long gone.
The next day at Doc’s store, Tony has told Valentina about this new romance. He asks Valentina how to say, “I want to be with you forever” in Spanish, so that he can make this declaration of love to María on their first date. These kids move fast. Even Valentina notices how quickly Tony wants to commit to María, by cracking this joke: “You sure you don’t want to ask her out for coffee first?” Because this movie is set in the 1950s, when it was more common for people in the U.S. to get married in their late teens and early 20s, this swift courtship is easier to believe than if the movie had been set in the present day.
María and Tony are blissfully happy together in the short time that they’ve known each other, but their romance is threatened by the growing hatred between the Jets and the Sharks. The “West Side Story” remake keeps the sentiment that María and Tony have a pure love for each other. It’s a love that borders on obsession, especially in a scene where María gets some very bad news about something Tony did to hurt one of María’s loved ones, and her priority is to comfort Tony. However, there’s a slight but noticeable difference in how the remake presents this scene, which is in a better way than the first “West Side Story” movie.
The “West Side Story” remake has no drastic revisions to the songs’ tempos or arrangements. The movie also doesn’t add any original songs that were written specifically for this remake, in an attempt to get awards for new and original movie music. The song placements mostly stay true to the original, with some notable exceptions.
“I Feel Pretty,” Maria’s joyous ode to romance and self-confidence, has a different setting. In the original “West Side Story” movie, Maria sang “I Feel Pretty” in a private room with three seamstresses. In the “West Side Story” remake makes this musical number a much more public spectacle.
María works as a cleaning woman at a boutique. She sings “I Feel Pretty” while dancing through the rooms of the boutique with several other cleaning women during after-hours. This setting gives the scene a more aspirational tone to what the characters do, as they let loose in a boutique where they work but probably can’t afford the clothes that are sold in the boutique.
Fans of Moreno will have to wait until the last third of the movie for Valentina’s big musical moment: the show-stopping tune “Somewhere,” which she performs solo. It’s an absolute exquisite rendition that might make some viewers more than a little misty-eyed. All of the cast members rise to the occasion to make this “West Side Story” very entertaining and emotion-filled. There isn’t a mediocre performer in the movie’s principal cast.
Zegler carries her scenes as María with an eager-to-please demeanor. She doesn’t have the star power of Wood, but Zegler and Elgort have nice chemistry together as María and Tony. Elgort doesn’t always sound like the working-class New Yorker that he’s supposed to be as Tony when he speaks, but Elgort gives Tony the type of heartthrob charm that makes it easy to see why María falls so hard and fast for him. Elgort and Zegler have singing voices that are very good, but not particularly distinctive.
DeBose lights up every scene that she’s in and is the breakout star of the movie. Her version of Anita has a commanding presence and the flashiest dance movies. Debose’s larger-than-life portrayal of Anita is ideal for this type of splashy movie musical. Anita has a big personality, but she also has a more realistic view of life and love than starry-eyed María. And that’s why, for adults with enough life experience, Anita is a more relatable character than María.
Alvarez’s Bernardo has more machismo, as well as a little more emotional depth, than the Bernardo of the original “West Side Story” movie. Bernardo uses his arrogance to cover up his insecurities over feeling like he’s someone who’s “not good enough,” so he over-compensates. What he sees as being over-protective of María is really being over-controlling. What he sees as pride in being a Shark is really an endorsement of violent racism.
In the original “West Side Story,” Anita and Bernardo were an attractive couple, but you never got the impression that they had much romantic passion for each other. There’s more believable sexual heat with Anita and Bernardo in this “West Side Story” remake. DeBose and Alvarez seem to have natural chemistry with each other as Anita and Bernardo, who sees himself as the ultimate alpha male. Sex in the movie is hinted at but not explicitly shown. For example, Anita and Bernardo kiss passionately before slamming a bedroom door behind them; María and Tony wake up together half-dressed in bed.
As for the dazzling dance numbers, “West Side Story” movie remake choreographer Justin Peck brings his ballet background to the movie, with dance moves that are more complicated but a little more graceful, enhancing the stellar work by choreographer/director Robbins for the first “West Side Story” movie. DeBose is a standout in the dance scenes, which have a more sensuous and unbridled energy than the original “West Side Story” movie. (And that’s probably because depictions of sexuality in movies had more restrictions in movies released in 1961, compared to 2021.)
For the “West Side Story” remake, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and production design make things look bigger and more over-the-top in scale. An overcast night can’t just be an overcast night. It looks like a fog-filled, full-moon scene out of a horror movie. A crumbling slum area can’t look like a crumbling slum area. It looks like a bombed-out war zone. It’s all very impressive, in terms of visuals.
And yet somehow, this more ambitious, bigger-budget version of “West Side Story” loses some of the neighborhood intimacy that the original “West Side Story” movie had. Everything looks professionally done in the remake, but just a little too staged and calculated. And maybe that’s because the movie was filmed and built on soundstages. (The “West Side Story” remake was filmed at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn.) Sometimes bigger isn’t always better.
The ending of the “West Side Story” remake doesn’t end as abruptly as the first “West Side Story” does. Without giving away too many details, it’s enough to say that the remake has a more melodramatic ending with some preachiness. It’s a revision that some “West Side Story” fans might like, while others won’t. This slightly new ending doesn’t take away from the overall spirit of “West Side Story,” which is a celebration of life and love, with the knowledge that both can be precious, fleeting and experienced with a lot of heartache.
20th Century Studios will release “West Side Story” in U.S. cinemas on December 10, 2021.
BTS at the 2021 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on November 21, 2021. (Photo courtesy of ABC)
With three prizes each, BTS, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion were the top winners at the 2021 American Music Awards, which were presented November 21 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Cardi B was the host of the ceremony. ABC had the U.S. telecast of the show. The American Music Awards are voted for online by fans.
BTS won the American Music Awards for Artist of the Year; Favorite Pop Song (for “Butter”); and Favorite Pop Duo or Group. Doja Cat received the prizes for Collaboration of the Year (for her “Kiss Me More” duet with SZA); Favorite R&B Album (for “Planet Her”); and Favorite Female R&B Artist. Megan Thee Stallion won the awards for Favorite Trending Song (“for Body”); Favorite Hip-Hop Album (for “Good News”); and Favorite Female Hip-Hop Artist.
Several artists won two awards each, such as Olivio Rodrigo, Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Cardi B, Carrie Underwood and Gabby Barrett. (See the complete list of winners at the end of the article.) Rodrigo went into the ceremony with the most nomnations (seven), followed by The Weeknd with six nods. The Weeknd ended up winning the award for Favorite Male R&B Artist. New categories this year were Favorite Trending Song (with nominees from TikTok on the year’s most viral songs); Favorite Gospel Artist; and Favorite Latin Duo or Group.
According to a press release from ABC: “Nominees are based on key fan interactions—as reflected on the Billboard charts—including streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partner MRC Data, and cover the time period September 25, 2020, through September 23, 2021.” The 2021 American Music Awards ceremony was produced by MRC Live & Alternative and Jesse Collins Entertainment.
The following is from an ABC press release:
Show performance highlights included:
Multiple Grammy Award winners Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak, who just dropped their debut album as Silk Sonic, kicked off the night with an energetic opening performance of their recently released hit “Smokin Out The Window.”
It was a night of AMA debut performances, with Olivia Rodrigo taking the stage for a powerful performance of “Traitor,” the fourth single from her record-smashing album, “Sour.”
Pop megastars BTS joined legendary British band Coldplay for the world television premiere performance of “My Universe.”
Tyler, The Creator performed “Massa” off his sixth studio album, “Call Me If You Get Lost.”
This year’s new “My Hometown” segments included spectacular performances byCarrie Underwood and Jason Aldean and an epic “Battle of Boston” as iconic boy bands New Edition and New Kids On The Block shared the stage together for the very first time and had everyone on their feet.
Italian rock band and first-time AMA nominee Måneskin made their U.S. awards show debut when they performed their global No. 1 hit “Beggin.’”
Three-time AMA winner Jennifer Lopez delivered a magical performance of her newly released song “On My Way” from the soundtrack of her upcoming film “Marry Me.”
Country music star Mickey Guyton wowed audiences with her performance of her newest single “All American.”
Chlöemade her AMA performance debut from the Xfinity Stage with her debut single, “Have Mercy.”
Walker Hayes marked his AMAs debut with a fun performance of his viral song “Fancy Like.”
This year’s “AMA Song of the Soul” segment honored German singer/songwriter Zoe Wees for her powerhouse performance of “Girls Like Us.”
Five-time AMA winner Kane Brown performed his hit “One Mississippi” at Tennessee State University (TSU), a notable HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). Brown also gave fans a look into his Tennessee and Georgia roots leading into his performance.
Diplo took on a special role and served as the first-ever AMAs musical curator, DJing his iconic tunes throughout the night.
Winner Highlights of the “2020 American Music Awards”:
Tonight, BTS made history at the AMAs as the first Asian group to win in the Artist of the Year category and won Favorite Pop Duo or Group and Favorite Pop Song for their record-breaking hit “Butter.” The group now has nine AMAs.
Now 34-time AMA winner Taylor Swift took home the awards for Favorite Female Pop Artist and Favorite Pop Album for her No. 1 album “Evermore.”
Following her breathtaking debut performance on the AMAs stage, Olivia Rodrigo won her first-ever AMA with New Artist of the Year.
Bad Bunnywas named Favorite Male Latin Artist at this year’s AMAs and won Favorite Latin Album for “EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO.”
Kali Uchis, now first-time AMA winner, won Favorite Latin Song with her hit single “telepatía.”
Presenters included Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Anthony Ramos, Billy Porter, Brandy, JB Smoove, JoJo Siwa, Liza Koshy, Machine Gun Kelly, Marsai Martin, Madelyn Cline and Winnie Harlow.
The following is the complete list of winners and nominees for the 2021 American Music Awards:
*=winner
ARTIST OF THE YEAR Ariana Grande BTS* Drake Olivia Rodrigo Taylor Swift The Weeknd
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR 24kGoldn Giveon Masked Wolf Olivia Rodrigo* The Kid LAROI
COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR 24kGoldn ft. iann dior “Mood” Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez “DÁKITI” Chris Brown & Young Thug “Go Crazy” Doja Cat ft. SZA “Kiss Me More”* Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar & Giveon “Peaches”
FAVORITE MUSIC VIDEO Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak) “Leave The Door Open” Cardi B “Up” Lil Nas X “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”* Olivia Rodrigo “drivers license” The Weeknd “Save Your Tears”
FAVORITE MALE POP ARTIST Drake Ed Sheeran* Justin Bieber Lil Nas X The Weeknd
FAVORITE FEMALE POP ARTIST Ariana Grande Doja Cat Dua Lipa Olivia Rodrigo Taylor Swift*
FAVORITE POP DUO OR GROUP AJR BTS* Glass Animals Maroon 5 Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak)
FAVORITE POP ALBUM Ariana Grande “Positions” Dua Lipa “Future Nostalgia” Olivia Rodrigo “SOUR” Taylor Swift “evermore”* The Kid LAROI “F*CK LOVE”
FAVORITE POP SONG BTS “Butter”* Doja Cat ft. SZA “Kiss Me More” Dua Lipa “Levitating” Olivia Rodrigo “drivers license” The Weeknd & Ariana Grande “Save Your Tears (Remix)”
FAVORITE MALE COUNTRY ARTIST Chris Stapleton Jason Aldean Luke Bryan* Luke Combs Morgan Wallen
FAVORITE FEMALE COUNTRY ARTIST Carrie Underwood* Gabby Barrett Kacey Musgraves Maren Morris Miranda Lambert
FAVORITE COUNTRY DUO OR GROUP Dan + Shay* Florida Georgia Line Lady A Old Dominion Zac Brown Band
FAVORITE COUNTRY ALBUM Chris Stapleton “Starting Over” Gabby Barrett “Goldmine”* Lee Brice “Hey World” Luke Bryan “Born Here Live Here Die Here” Morgan Wallen “Dangerous: The Double Album”
FAVORITE COUNTRY SONG Chris Stapleton “Starting Over” Chris Young & Kane Brown “Famous Friends” Gabby Barrett “The Good Ones”* Luke Combs “Forever After All” Walker Hayes “Fancy Like”
FAVORITE MALE HIP-HOP ARTIST Drake* Lil Baby Moneybagg Yo Polo G Pop Smoke
FAVORITE FEMALE HIP-HOP ARTIST Cardi B Coi Leray Erica Banks Megan Thee Stallion* Saweetie
FAVORITE HIP-HOP ALBUM Drake “Certified Lover Boy” Juice WRLD “Legends Never Die” Megan Thee Stallion “Good News”* Pop Smoke “Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon” Rod Wave “SoulFly”
FAVORITE HIP-HOP SONG Cardi B “Up”* Internet Money ft. Gunna, Don Toliver & NAV “Lemonade” Lil Tjay ft. 6LACK “Calling My Phone” Polo G “RAPSTAR” Pop Smoke “What You Know Bout Love”
FAVORITE MALE R&B ARTIST Chris Brown Giveon Tank The Weeknd* Usher
FAVORITE R&B ALBUM Doja Cat “Planet Her”* Giveon “When It’s All Said And Done… Take Time” H.E.R. “Back of My Mind” Jazmine Sullivan “Heaux Tales” Queen Naija “missunderstood”
FAVORITE R&B SONG Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak) “Leave The Door Open”* Chris Brown & Young Thug “Go Crazy” Giveon “Heartbreak Anniversary” H.E.R. “Damage” Jazmine Sullivan “Pick Up Your Feelings”
FAVORITE MALE LATIN ARTIST Bad Bunny* J Balvin Maluma Ozuna Rauw Alejandro
FAVORITE FEMALE LATIN ARTIST Becky G* Kali Uchis KAROL G Natti Natasha ROSALÍA
FAVORITE LATIN DUO OR GROUP Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga* Calibre 50 Eslabon Armado La Arrolladora Banda El Limón De Rene Camacho Los Dos Carnales
FAVORITE LATIN ALBUM Bad Bunny “EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO”* Kali Uchis “Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios)” KAROL G “KG0516” Maluma “PAPI JUANCHO” Rauw Alejandro “Afrodisíaco”
FAVORITE LATIN SONG Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez “DÁKITI” Bad Bunny x ROSALÍA “LA NOCHE DE ANOCHE” Farruko “Pepas” Kali Uchis “telepatía”* Maluma & The Weeknd “Hawái (Remix)”
FAVORITE ROCK ARTIST AJR All Time Low Foo Fighters Glass Animals Machine Gun Kelly*
FAVORITE INSPIRATIONAL ARTIST CAIN Carrie Underwood* Elevation Worship Lauren Daigle Zach Williams
FAVORITE GOSPEL ARTIST Kanye West* Kirk Franklin Koryn Hawthorne Maverick City Music Tasha Cobbs Leonard
FAVORITE DANCE/ELECTRONIC ARTIST David Guetta ILLENIUM Marshmello* Regard Tiësto
