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February 13, 2022:

THE PEOPLE WHO PILE ON

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, I’ve been sitting on my couch like so much fish, watching motion pictures. I decided to watch the new West Side Story to see if my initial opinion had changes and I’m afraid to say it hadn’t. I will say that parts of it work just fine, while other parts just fall flat for me. I realize that mine is an unpopular opinion and that most people love the film beyond all others and that includes the original 1961 film. Well, I guess I’ll have to be one of the handful of voices in the wilderness. My main problem is the screenplay by Tony Kushner, which I actually find pretty bad. Everyone raves that he gave the characters back stories, which usually are related in a single line. Who cares? Certainly, I didn’t. His dialogue is not so hot either. Then comes the choreography, which some people think is right up there with Jerome Robbins’ original. Well, no, it isn’t. Mr. Robbins was a supreme teller of stories through dance. This new choreography is just a bunch of random, jerky movement that has no storytelling at all and therefore is just meaningless. This is especially true in the Prologue and more so in America. Setting the latter in the street negates the entire purpose of the number, which, by the way, is the version created for the first film. It’s a challenge number and putting it on the street defuses the boys vs. girls rivalry because, well, there’s two hundred others on the street. The original film’s America is one of the greatest filmed musical numbers ever and it garnered applause at every showing that I attended when the film first played. And I’m just gonna say that I hate the cameraman’s work and have pretty much hated it in every Spielberg movie since they came together. And, for me, it’s especially bad in this film and just weird. I’m a big Spielberg fan but I feel this is really second tier Spielberg, although, again, everyone thinks it’s a masterpiece and his greatest film. I believe most people thought that before they entered the movie theater, but that’s another story for another day. The cast seems fine, and the much-maligned Ansel Elgort is very good, and I have no idea why the critics piled on him and because they did, so did everyone else. Everyone seems to think the songs are very faithful to the stage show, but they really aren’t. There are added vamps, repeated bars, and I don’t think Mr. Bernstein would have been all that thrilled, frankly. Certainly, it’s not a patch on the butt cheeks of the original film, which sounds amazing and always has. And the final twenty minutes of the film carries none of the emotional wallop of the 1961 film, which is heart-wrenching because Robert Wise knew just how to shoot and edit that sequence (from the time Tony hears that Maria is dead through to the end of the film) and Spielberg really blows it in terms of shots and edits. Rachel Zegler’s big speech doesn’t work at all because it’s been eviscerated by Mr. Kushner, had underscore added, and it packs no wallop. The staging of the scene is, for Mr. Spielberg, uncharacteristically bad and again has none of the emotional pull of the original film.

What is most extraordinary about people and this film is the automatic pile-on that happens if anyone dares to say anything that is a criticism. And then they deny they’re piling on, but I’ve seen it happen about fifty times already. No, we don’t all have to love everything and/or the same things. I certainly don’t pile on the folks who love the film to death. Good for them. So, there you have the Minority Report – see what I did there?

Then I watched half of the Don Rickles documentary directed by John Landis. It’s fun and I’m finding I’m not remembering a lot from my first viewing.

Yesterday was fine in its own way. I got about six hours of sleep, was up early, did a few things before she of the Evil Eye arrived, then I went to the mail place and shipped the two big binders to New York, so that’s done and hopefully they’ll send along the check shortly. Then I did the morning errand, which took two hours. For a brief time it looked like I might be able to actually tell you what it’s about, but that didn’t happen and so it will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. Once back home, I had some telephonic conversations pertaining to L.A. Now and Then, and then I went and got Panda Express for food. They no longer have their good almond chicken – that’s been replaced by sesame honey chicken and that was pretty good as was the orange chicken. After I finished that, I did a few more things on the computer and then I sat on my couch like so much fish and you know the rest.

At some point, I got a side of mac-and-cheese from the Cheesecake Factory along with a slice of peanut butter cheesecake. The side of mac-and-cheese was really good – very small portion, but very tasty. I ate half the cheesecake and that was also very tasty.

Today, I’ll be up when I’m up then I have to do one audition at the theater, which will only take ten minutes. I’ll get some food from somewhere then come home, where I will not be watching the Stupid Bowl.

Tomorrow starts a very busy week, most of which has to do with finishing casting L.A. Now and Then (we’re getting closer) and having a production meeting tomorrow via Zoom, then Tuesday or Wednesday will be a good day, I think, there are some meetings and meals and then doing whatever else needs doing.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do an audition, eat, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping there’s no pile on because I have a dissenting opinion.

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