Oscars 2022 Watch Guide

The Dispatch staff (and friends) on this year's Best Picture contenders.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences convenes next Sunday to announce the winners of its annual awards. The big award for the night is, of course, the Oscar for Best Picture. Ten films have been nominated this year, but as anyone who has ever watched the Oscars can attest, a nomination isn’t always proof of quality. Fortunately, The Dispatch staff is here to break down the nominees for you (with some help from some friends), and help you figure out what’s actually worth watching.

Sarah Isgur shares her thoughts on West Side Story, available to stream on HBO Max and Disney+.

I love musicals. Before iPhones or even iPods, my best friend and I would while away the hours seeing how much of Rent we could sing from memory. And Into the Woods. And Chess. I say all of that to explain how much I was looking forward to Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story and how utterly disappointed I was. It wasn’t bad. The cinematography and choreography was mesmerizing at times. Ariana DeBose’s talent can’t be contained. But there was so much that was tragically mediocre and limited. 

The reason the story has endured for more than 2,000 years—from Pyramus and Thisbe to Romeo and Juliet to Tony and Maria—is that it is about the tension between time and timelessness. It is at its core about youth—itself a factor of time—and the arrogance and naiveté of two young people believing that they can escape the world they were born into and being inextricably drawn back into it. For sure, the original movie had serious flaws. The original musical did too. After all, it was supposed to be a story about Jews and Catholics that was too hastily turned into a story about Puerto Rican immigrants. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    KAM

    "Don't Look Up" is really funny. I don't care if it failed as satire.

    Or if you must, I think it works as parody of denialism on OTHER, ACTUAL crises, while completely misrepresenting our climate alarmism.

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    Ben Connelly

    Shoutout to Waking Ned Devine!

    “ But that’s no problem here: The Academy can award Dune: Part Two Best Picture as well.”

    Jack is correct here. Sadly, the Academy will probably not acquiesce to that request.

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  3. Mjc1982

    I wanted to hate West Side Story so much. Seriously everything about it seemed pointless--the original movie is spectacular. But 10 minutes in I was sold and when I saw the new version of "America" I was floored. The movie looks like a million bucks, the singing and dancing is great and many of the changes they made actually improved the film ( I really enjoyed how the set it in a neighborhood being destroyed for new development--these gangs were fighting over rubble and the Jets' anxiety really was the anxiety of the lower classes). Not sure what movie Sarah saw!

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    Scarlette Tarte

    And I agree with everyone on this thread...Sarah is wrong about West Side Story. This remake is fantastic. And the tomboy character was in the 61 version as well. We knew it even if we didn't say it that she was either lesbian or trans.

    The dance numbers were divine. And it is not the white supremacy that the Jets are about...they are scared. They feel they are losing their place in this country by yet another immigrant group. It comes off as racism, but we all know what is driving it. It isn't because they think white people are better...it's because they are scared the Puerto Ricans ARE. Better fighters, dancers, lovers, workers...what have you. I am surprised Sarah missed this.

    And while I am rooting for Belfast for best picture, I have a feeling Power of the Dog could be the dark horse. That movie had a lot of powerful undercurrents in it and they were almost violent. Campion did a great job on this one, as did all the actors. Cumberbatch continues to amaze.

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    Scarlette Tarte

    I loved Belfast too but I also loved Dune. However between the two, I hope it goes to Belfast. This was a great and original movie, with superlative camera work.

    In it's joy and sorrow, it reminded me of Hope and Joy, the movie about kids coming of age during WWII. The scene where the kids come out of the school that has just been bombed running with joy and shouts and laughter because now they won't have to go to school is still one of the best in cinematic history.

    Yes, Belfast was joy and love and sorrow. All the things that make life great.

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    Alain

    I pretty much agree with all the criticism. I saw all the movies except Drive My Car. For me Belfast and Dune were the best, followed by Coda. WSS was impressively shot, probably deserves a best director Oscar, but the movie was a little hollow and although I didn't catch all the liberal pandering the inclusion of the trans character was wrong for the era.
    I used to watch the Oscars religiously but I gave it up a few years ago, I think it was when Moonlight won. I also gave up American Idol when Adam Lambert lost.

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  7. Asher

    Belfast was incredible, I know it's viewed as 'your grandparents' favorite movie of the year' but I'm 17 and it was mine.

    I wish The Tragedy of Macbeth had been nominated.

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    CVS

    Hey Sarah,

    You're wrong about the "woke" trans character in the new West Side Story. There was a nearly identical character in the original 1961 film.

    https://westsidestory.fandom.com/wiki/Anybody%27s

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  9. Madison P.

    I have to strongly disagree with Sarah (my fellow musical lover!) on this one. West Side Story strikes the perfect balance between grandiose and intimate. As Sarah notes, the choreography is mesmerizing. Stellar performances (Zegler, DeBose, Alvarez?? come on!) by true "triple threats". I loved every song and left the theater humming, which is what you really want in a musical.

    I'm baffled by the white supremacy criticism. The dialogue (as well as a truly superb performance from Mike Faist as Riff) makes clear that the Jet's antagonism is born from existential fear-- which is justified but tragically misplaced, as the backdrop of the Lincoln Center project reminds us. The details are humanizing for the Jets, not distracting.

    I know not a lick of Spanish and was not bothered at all by the lack of subtitles-- which, imo, is a compliment to the actors' performances. In my view, this decision was a subtle overcorrection from the truly terrible unawareness of Puerto Rican culture in the 1961 version. (No brownface in this adaptation.)

    Can't speak to whether the film is award-worthy-- the Oscars are kind of dumb-- but I will happily re-watch West Side Story many times.

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    Michael Darwin

    Just left West Side Story. The original is one of my favorite films and was the thing that told me I liked musicals. I very much enjoyed this adaptation. As for layering on modern themes, well, yeah. That's one of the reasons for a remake, but "Officer Krupke" already laid out the psychological underpinnings of the Jets. That hasn't changed. Its also clear to me that the Jets' racism isn't white supremacy so much as generic working class fear of the next group that's immigrated to America. The hispanic language I didn't mind because at no point was I unable to understand what was being said, even though I know maybe five words of the language. As for the trans character, Anybodys has been there all along. Anybodys was a tomboy in 1961, but it was also, you know, 1961. Since then the character has been embraced by gay and trans communities and other than the one time the character shouts "I'm a boy!" I thought they handled it well. I think I still prefer most of the original choreography (with the exception of Officer Krupke), but this is a terrific update. I love them anchoring the film very specifically in the Lincoln Center project. It puts a ticking clock over all the characters from the start, a reminder that for good or ill, all of them will be washed away in the tide of history and making their turf war even more tragically petty.

    I co-host a horror movie podcast, so Nightmare Alley (while more dark drama than horror) should be right up my... well, you know. And it is, but it isn't my favorite film of the year. Definitely deserving of the nomination.

    The only other one I've seen thus far is Dune, which we did review on the podcast (a bit off brand, but we can troll for listens), and I'll repeat what I said then: It is very good but incomplete. Forget the fact that they didn't even have the guts to advertise this as part 1, which could have led to a rude surprise for some film goers, it wasn't really a great place to end. One can an episode of an ongoing story and still have a satisfying beginning, middle and end (Fellowship of the Ring certainly did IMO). I don't think they got that here. Not a bad movie by any means, but I have to give it an incomplete for now.

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