Let’s be honest, there aren’t many filmmakers out there who can suddenly decide to make a musical and it turn out to be something truly extraordinary. Yet that’s exactly what Steven Spielberg has done with “West Side Story”. Think about it, he’s the man behind the camera for such movies as “Jaws”, “E.T.”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Jurassic Park”, and “Saving Private Ryan”. And now he’s given us the best movie musical of 2021 and one of the very best since the genre’s recent resurgence.

Story has it that Spielberg has wanted to adapt Leonard Bernstein’s 1957 Broadway musical for years. It took a while, but now late in his incredible career he’s given the chance. There are so many ways this could’ve went bad. But Spielberg isn’t simply remaking the well-known Natalie Wood led 1961 adaptation. He and screenwriter Tony Kushner offer a surprisingly fresh take on the story while still capturing that classic movie musical style.

The story is set in 1950s New York City and it’s a time of obvious change. There’s a growing Puerto Rican community in the city’s West Side. Meanwhile poor families are losing their homes to powerful land developers who were buying up blocks and tearing down old apartment buildings with plans to replace them with fancier lofts for higher paying renters. That helps set the powder keg dynamic that simmers all throughout “West Side Story”.

The musical is essentially part romance and part street gang drama. A turf war has broken out in the West Side between the Jets and the Sharks. The Jets are a pack of local kids from poor broken families who’ve been raised on the neighborhood streets. The Sharks are a Puerto Rican gang carving out and protecting a few blocks of turf for their community. Both gangs are pressed under society’s thumb and both are about to be squeezed out by a common threat. But their unbridled animus towards each other blinds them to the reality of their shared situation.

Spielberg does a good job developing what divides the Jets and the Sharks. Both groups of angst-filled young men have been shaped by an assortment of factors – cultural, socioeconomic, domestic, and even racial. “Go back where you came from” yells Riff (Mike Faist), the street-tough yet pained leader of the Jets. “Stick with your own kind” warns Bernardo (David Alvarez), the straight-shooting and protective leader of the Sharks.

But what really brings things to a head is the romance that springs up between Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler is her stunning feature film debut). Tony is best friends with Riff and is a co-founder of the Jets. But he’s fresh off a year in prison and determined to stay clean. Maria is sweet, hard-working and the sister of the overly protective Bernardo. So when their eyes lock at a school-sponsored dance and they immediately fall in love, you have all the ingredients for a combustible situation.

Already hungry to fight, the two gangs use the budding romance to set up a ‘rumble’ – an armed showdown 1950s style. The cops, led by the shady Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll), get wind of the rumble and search from Lincoln Square to San Juan Hill to find it and stop it before the violence erupts. Meanwhile Tony and Maria are caught in the middle; torn between their love for each other and their loyalty to their friends and family.

It may be hard to imagine a story like this in the form of a musical, but Spielberg tells it through a near seamless mix of song, dance, and drama. With its soaring music and energetic dance numbers, “West Side Story” plays like a smile-inducing ode to the classic movie musical. By that I mean it gives a hearty embrace to both music AND dance. The choreography is terrific as is the overall look of the film thanks to the eye-popping production design from Oscar-winner and Spielberg favorite Janusz Kamiński’s lively and immersive cinematography.

As for the performances, Spielberg’s casting is mostly spot-on. Rachel Zegler is a star born, with a deep emotional resonance and a powerful voice that I never expected. Stoll is great in a small role as is Rita Moreno who gets some great scenes playing the owner of a neighborhood drug store who tries to guide Tony down the right path. I also loved Ariana DeBose as Bernardo’s spirited girlfriend Anita. But for me, the scene-stealer is the charismatic Faist. He’s a perfect fit for his role, and both his acting and dancing transported me back in time, both within the story and as a fan of 50s era big screen musicals. It’s some of my favorite supporting work of the year.

I went into “West Side Story” not knowing what to expect. But Spielberg’s latest swept me away and I left the theater on an emotional high. Some of his points are a little too on the nose and there’s a small underdeveloped side story that never feels true. But those are small things in a movie that put all my reservations to rest. Some have questioned the need for another “West Side Story”. I don’t know whether we “needed” it. But I’m thrilled that Steven Spielberg gave us one. What a rush. “West Side Story” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

When terrorists took down the two towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 it shook an entire nation. But for the families and loved ones of the 2,977 people who died, their lives were forever changed. These families are an essential part of director Sara Colangelo’s new Netflix feature “Worth”. Her film debuted way back at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and finally hits the streaming platform this weekend.

Based on a true story, this absorbing legal drama follows Ken Feinberg (Michael Keaton), an attorney who takes on the daunting task of heading the government’s September 11th Victim Consolation Fund. As Special Master his unenviable job is to figure out how much compensation each victim’s family would receive. It’s a job no one wants, but it’s something Ken thinks he can do to help. He has noble intentions, even insisting on working pro bono. But he’s someone who tends to look at numbers more than people which proves to be the wrong approach.

On the surface the victim’s fund sounds virtuous, but there are other motives at work. The government hopes to avoid crippling civil lawsuits against airline companies that could potentially crater the economy. So the grieving family would get tax-free money from the government in exchange for their pledge to never sue the airlines involved. Ken gets caught in the middle of an array of conflicts he hadn’t accounted for.

Ken’s formula for calculating payments is based on a number of factors. But he quickly learns it isn’t as easy as throwing some figures on a check. Who’s eligible; who gets how much; where does Ken and his team draw the line? The process proves messy and with countless human variables factoring in. It’s made worse by Ken underestimating the still raw emotions. In his efforts to be neutral he comes across as cold and aloof. It quickly puts him in the crosshairs of the rightfully skeptical public.

Colangelo and writer Max Borenstein do a good job of defining Ken as more than some uncaring federal suit. Like all of us he felt the jolt of 9/11. As many did, he sat up through the night after the attack watching the news in quiet shock. He has a compassionate heart, but it’s lost under his by-the-book business-like exterior. He talks more than he listens. He focuses so much on the task at hand that he misses the human component.

While much of the film plays like a captivating procedural, “Worth” is also about Ken’s evolution as a human being. His encounters with various families leaves a lasting impact and causes him to change the way he looks at his process. The biggest influence is Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), an advocate on behalf of the victims whose own wife died in the 9/11 attacks. “Everything about this fund offends me,” Charles says. When their together, the two give us some of the film’s best scenes.

Calangelo impresses most with her ability to balance the enlightening legal proceedings with the heavier emotional elements of the story. She brings a sensitive and empathetic touch while also showing a remarkable amount of restraint. There’s no big “Oscar moment” and the movie never panders to awards season voters the way some weighty dramas tend to do. Instead she trusts her material and her cast led by a stellar Michael Keaton. Brandishing a thick Massachusetts accent, Keaton gives another lights-out performance. And he’s helped by great supporting work from Tucci, Amy Ryan, Shunori Ramanthan and a scene-steaming Laura Benanti.

“Worth” picks out and then leans a little too heavily on a couple of victim’s stories, milking them dry in an effort to drive home certain messages. And there are a handful of odd choices that stick out like a sore thumb (a phone call with then president George Bush is particularly jarring). But those few hiccups are easy to look past when the rest of the movie features such smart direction, a genuinely gripping story and a nomination-worthy Michael Keaton performance. Hopefully Netflix puts some energy into getting this movie out there. It deserves an audience. “Worth” premieres this Friday (September 3rd) on Netflix.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

How can you not be drawn to a movie that’s best described as a ‘small town werewolf horror-comedy’? It’s a fitting description on “Werewolves Within”, a wacky new film directed by Jack Ruben that’s actually based on a 2016 virtual reality game of the same name. The movie isn’t all that interested in the well-worn werewolf mythologies that have been handed down through generations. Instead it’s about communities and the wild potpourri of people that often make them up.

“Werewolves Within” sounds like a horror movie and certainly borrows from the genre. But it’s just as much an uneven yet crafty whodunit with a satirical bite. It stars a terrific Sam Richardson who plays Finn, a forest ranger and all-around nice guy who arrives at the sleepy Vermont town of Beaverfield. He’s been assigned there after some mishaps at his old post. The first person he runs into is a peppy mail carrier named Cecily (TV’s infectiously charming AT&T sales rep Milana Vayntrub) who gives him an introduction to community with consists of a veritable collage of colorful zany characters.

The movie really is all about this wild assortment of characters and Ruben along with screenwriter Mishna Wolff unload most of the town’s drama through them, a lot of it revolving around a proposed pipeline. Comprising the small eccentric population is the town’s innkeeper Jeanine (Catherine Curtin) who mutters about her absent husband and makes a mean sandwich. There’s the aggressively weird Trish (Michaela Watkins) and her creepy husband Pete (Michael Chernus). You have the corporate pipeline pusher Parker (Wayne Duvall) and the bone-dry environmentalist Dr. Ellis (Rebecca Henderson). Add in a cartoonish gay couple (Cheyenne Jackson and Harvey Guillén) and the dimwitted redneck husband and wife (George Basil and Sarah Burns). Meanwhile the town hermit Flint (Glenn Fleshler) lives in the woods and pretty much hates them all.

This peculiar bunch is brought together when a snowstorm knocks out the power and closes the roads leading in and out of town. To make matters worse, signs suggest a razor-clawed beast of some kind is roaming around the area. Of course the film’s title lets us know that it’s not a possum as one of the oddballs hilariously suggest. The group gathers in the Beaverfield Inn to wait out the storm. But when people start dying inside suspicion and paranoia sets in. The panicking neighbors begin accusing each other while never passing on the chance to air out some old local baggage.

Through it all the movie never loses its sense of humor. In fact this is very much a straight comedy built upon some familiar horror movie framework. Some of the funniest bits come with watching Finn’s bewildered face as he watches and listens to this motley group of townsfolk. Wolff fills their mouths with some of the most outlandish stuff and the performances relay it with hilarious conviction. The dialogue is full of laughs that range from subtle to wildly absurd.

Unfortunately the movie doesn’t quite hold together in the final act. While attempting to bring everything to a close it loses some of its charm and originality. And as the story locks into a more predictable movie formula, some of the characters fare considerably better than others. It all culminates in an ending that doesn’t exactly satisfy. With that said, the film’s comedy element carries it through. Wolf’s script along with a cast full of game performances had me laughing more than I ever expected. “Werewolves Within” opens June 25th in theaters and July 2nd on VOD.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

“The Woman in the Window” is yet another movie planned for a big screen release, pulled after the COVID-19 theater closings, and then nabbed by a big spending streaming company. Netflix, Amazon, and Apple have all dropped loads of cash to bring high profile movies to their platforms. It’s a practice that has worked out great for both the companies and those of us who have been stuck inside of our homes for over a year. Will it be a long term thing? Who knows?

This Joe Wright directed psychological thriller was originally a 20th Century production. But after early delays following some concerning test screenings and later delays due to the pandemic, the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios sold the film to Netflix. Based on a 2018 New York Times best-selling novel and packing a star-studded cast, “The Woman in the Window” seemed like a good catch. But Wright’s Hitchcockian aspirations are never fully realized and his movie slowly begins to resemble one hampered by re-writes and re-shoots.

A very game Amy Adams stars as Anna Fox, a child psychologist who struggles with agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder that has left her fearful of going outside. She’s spent the last ten months isolated inside of her Manhattan townhouse, slowly losing herself to prescription medication and alcohol. Her deteriorating condition has led to a separation from her husband Ed (Anthony Mackie) who still calls to check on her from time to time. So she’s left watching old movies, fussing at her tenant David (Wyatt Russell) who rents out her basement, and observing her neighbors from her window “Rear Window” style.

Anna takes a special interest in the Russells, a family of three who just moved into the house across the street from Boston. She first meets their lone child Ethan (Fred Hechinger), a simple and inquisitive 15-year-old who takes a liking to Anna and doesn’t mind stopping by unannounced. But she really hits it off with Ethan’s mother, the brash and outspoken Jane (Julianne Moore) who brings a little energy and spirit into Anna’s home.

But the more she spies on the Russells (who are firm believers in leaving every curtain in the house open) the more she begins noticing signs of an abusive household. It culminates in Anna witnessing a particularly violent argument ending with Jane being stabbed to death. She immediately calls the police who investigate but find no evidence of foul play. Adding to the confusion, two detectives (Brian Tyree Henry and Jeanine Serralles) come to visit Anna with an agitated Alistair Russell (Gary Oldman) from across the street and an entirely different Jane Russell (now played by Jennifer Jason Leigh).

With all of its pieces nicely in place, the gnarly story (written by Tracy Letts) begins to uncoil in an uneven mix of interesting imagery and on-the-nose exposition. Nearly all of the story’s twists, turns, and revelations are told to us rather than shown. Characters spell out practically everything to the point where we’re left with little to figure out for ourselves. It’s frustrating considering the film’s first half weaves together a fairly compelling mystery. But it’s undone by a second half that relies too heavily on a series of surprisingly pointed conversations accompanied by an ending that offers no believable payoff.

It’s also amazing to see this many big names given so little to do. I’m not sure if they owed the filmmakers a favor but Oldman, Moore, Leigh, and Mackie each pop up in a scene or two and then they’re gone. It’s not a dealbreaker, but in a movie that’s struggles to reveal its mystery in a unique and interesting way, a few more scenes with some key players might have helped. Instead everything falls on Adams who is both committed and convincing. If only the same were true for the material. “The Woman in the Window” premieres today (May 14th) on Netflix.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

When it comes to action stars Jason Statham just has “it”. I can’t clearly define what “it” is, but you know it when you see it. It’s a healthy mix of charisma, grit, and physicality. Since Statham’s leading man breakthrough in 2002’s “The Transporter”, he has shown over and over that his anti-hero brand is more than enough to carry an action flick. Even more, he often brings a sharp wit and a surprisingly disarming charm to his usually hard-nosed characters.

That being said, you won’t see a glimmer of that sly humor or charm in his new film “Wrath of Man”. This action thriller directed, co-written, and co-produced by Guy Ritchie is darker and edgier than any of Statham’s lighter, albeit violent affairs. The film (a remake of 2004 French film “Le Convoyeur”) marks the fourth collaboration between Statham and Ritchie, their first since 2005’s “Revolver”. And it seems they already have another movie in the can that we’ll probably see sometimes in 2022.

If you break it down “Wrath of Man” is part revenge film, part heist flick, part hard-boiled crime thriller. Its time-hopping narrative is built around two interwoven stories with Statham’s character being the connecting tissue. He plays the cold, stone-faced Harry “H” Hill who we first meet as he’s interviewing for a position with Fortico Securities, an armored truck company who transports money for banks and businesses all across Los Angeles. It’s a dangerous line of work as evident by a recent robbery that resulted in two company drivers and one civilian being gunned down. Here’s the catch, the dead civilian was H’s son and now the vengeful father is determined to find out who pulled the trigger.

H gets the job and is immediately put under the wing of Bullet (Holt McCallany), a chatty seasoned driver who shows him the ropes. Later H is paired with the big-talking Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett) and immediately proves his value by single-handedly thwarting an armed robbery, killing all six of the thieves. Just like that, the other drivers learn H can carry his own weight and he’s not somebody you mess with. At the same time he’s still a mystery both to them and to us. So Ritchie jumps back in time, dedicating a chapter to unpacking H’s backstory. And then you get more time-jumping as Ritchie tells a second story about a group of disgruntled military vets (led by Jeffrey Donovan and a very good Scott Eastwood). Andy Garcia even pops up as a crime boss fittingly named The King.

All of this could have turned into an indulgent convoluted mess, but to Ritchie‘s credit he along with co-writers Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies keeps everything coherent and engaging. He still packs the movie with many of his favorite ingredients – a meaty ensemble cast, snarky dialogue, offbeat nicknames, non-linear storytelling. And to add a little extra flair Ritchie tosses in some fun and fitting chapter titles like “dark spirit” and “scorched earth”. At the same time, the macho wisecracking does wear a little thin (particularly in the first half) and there are a handful of plot holes that left me shaking my head.

Still “Wrath of Man” is an all-around solid effort from Guy Ritchie and a return (of sorts) to his earlier form. It’s also a lot different than your standard Statham beat-em-up. It trucks along with a relentlessly grim tone, never winking at the camera, and leaving none of its characters with completely clean hands. And it’s centered by Statham, whose stoic, hard-as-granite exterior fits perfectly in Ritchie’s bloody world where crime thrives and violence begets violence. “Wrath of Mine” arrives in theaters on May 7th.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Over the last few years we’ve seen an emergence of new young action stars. And while many of them cut their teeth playing Marvel superheroes, they’ve also ventured out to make more grounded old-school action flicks. Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, and now Michael B. Jordan are (thankfully) too talented to be confined to one category. Yet they’ve shown themselves to have the physicality and steely presence to carry these kinds of movies and they are helping to breathe new life into the action genre.

Jordan’s latest film “Without Remorse” lands on Amazon Prime this weekend and it packs a formulaic old-school feel. It’s based on a 1993 Tom Clancy novel and is co-written for the screen by Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples. It’s helmed by Italian director Stefano Sollima who (along with Sheridan) also made the underrated “Sicario: Day of the Soldado”. Original slated for a theatrical release by Paramount, the distribution rights were sold to Amazon after multiple COVID-19 delays.

Image Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Jordan plays Senior Chief John Kelly, a member of an elite Navy SEAL team who we first meet in war-torn Aleppo, Syria. Their team is called in to carry out a cut-and-dry hostage rescue, but during the mission John’s unit are surprised by Russian military forces protecting a secret arms depot. An exchange of fire results in Russian casualties which sets in motion a series of events that will forever change John’s life.

Back home in Washington DC some three months later, John is contemplating leaving the military for a new job in private security. He and his pregnant wife Pam (Lauren London) are only a few weeks away from welcoming their first child and John is ready for life as a family man. Sadly that’s a pipe dream for lead characters in these types of movies. The past comes back to haunt John when armed Russian assassins, in retaliation for the Aleppo encounter, murder his wife and leave him for dead. John’s life is saved but all that he loved is gone.

After a lengthy and painful rehab, a tortured and revenge-thirsty John is determined to find the people responsible for the death of his wife and unborn child. “They crossed the line. They brought their war to my house” But he finds himself caught in the gears of bureaucracy as the CIA and Department of Defense hash out a ‘proper’ response. Guy Pearce plays a frustrated Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay who is willing to slightly step outside the lines to get answers. Jamie Bell plays the perpetual fly in the ointment Robert Ritter, a weaselly CIA agent who always knows more than he’s letting on and is constantly handcuffing any progress in the name of government protocol.

John’s quest for vengeance thrusts him head-first into a world of shady geopolitics, where heads of power secretly move their pawns around the global stage with impunity. At first John takes matters into his own hands, but that comes with consequences and proves to be too big for him to handle alone. So despite the concerns of his commander and close friend Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith), Jack is put on her team to go behind Russian lines to extract an ex-Spetznaz agent linked to the killing of his wife and others on American soil. But for him it quickly becomes a battle of personal payback versus mission integrity.

Image Courtesy of Amazon Studios

“Without Remorse” has a broader and more sprawling story than you might expect. Not just in terms of global scale, but in its telling of John’s story. It covers a lot of ground with the character and Jordan’s gritty determined performance carries us through. The political side of the story can get a little muddy and at times is too thinly written for us to be invested. But the meat and potatoes of the story is Jordan embodying a character driven by anger and pain yet trapped within a dubious yet powerful system that calls the shots.

And of course there is the action, consisting of several fiercely kinetic gun fights and a couple of exhilarating set pieces (my favorite being a superbly shot plane crash in the Barents Sea). Jordan sells it all with intensity and ferocity to spare. He leaves us wanting more which is a good thing considering the mid-credits scene we get. It not only hints at a franchise but teases a specific something that will leave a certain segment of entertainment fandom chomping at the bit. “Without Remorse” premieres Friday (April 30th) on Amazon Prime.

VERDICT – 4 STARS