When it was announced that Steven Spielberg was mounting a new film adaptation of the classic Broadway musical WEST SIDE STORY, it was entirely reasonable to ask, "Why?" Why a new film adaptation and why Spielberg. The 1961 "West Side," directed by Robert Wise, was a Best Picture-winner and is regarded as one of the great movie musicals of all time. Also? Spielberg has never directed a musical. And yet, as revered as that 1961 adaptation is, it is not without its faults, notably the casting of white actors as Latinx characters and a pair of romantic leads (Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer) who don't sing and are arguably the weakest members of an otherwise ace cast. Adam and Josh make the case that with his thrilling new adaptation, Spielberg more than answers the why, without necessarily fixing all of the earlier film's weaknesses. Plus, a review of Sean Baker's latest, RED ROCKET, which has Simon Rex's former adult film star making an ignominious return to his Texas hometown. 0:00 - Billboard 1:06 - Review: "West Side Story" "Cool" ("West Side Story," Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 41:44 - Next Week / Notes 47:22 - Polls 57:02 - Review: "Red Rocket" 1:14:36 - Outro  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Tis the season for awards-bait movies based on real lives, so for this week's holiday review roundup, Adam and Josh discuss Ridley Scott's true-crime drama HOUSE OF GUCCI (aka House of Accents), the Lin-Manuel Miranda biographical musical drama TICK, TICK...BOOM!, Kristen Stewart's turn as Lady Di in Pablo Larrain's biopic-as-horror-film SPENCER, and the new bio-doc KURT VONNEGUT: STUCK IN TIME. Plus, the final list of nominees for the 2021 Golden Brick Award, including recommendations for THE KILLING OF TWO LOVERS, TEST PATTERN, SHIVA BABY, and NINE DAYS. 0:00 - Billboard 1:03 - Review Roundup Original Broadway Cast, "Rent" 31:36 - Next Week / Notes 44:25 - Massacre Theater 51:39 - Golden Brick Nominees 1:12:29 - Outro / Outtake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For her debut as a director, actor Rebecca Hall takes Nella Larsen’s 1929 novella about race and identity and turns it into a meditation on the many ways that people “pass” as a means of denying or disguising the truth. Adam and Josh praise the film as a showcase for stars Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, and for Hall's emergence of a gifted new filmmaker. Adam wasn’t able to make the weekend’s big release, Marvel’s ETERNALS, but Josh did and was pleased to find plenty of director Chloé Zhao in the film’s bloated running time. Unfortunately, Zhao’s Malickian instincts are forced to compete with the leaden necessities of the franchise. Plus the final film in the Jane Campion Oeuvre-view, 2009's BRIGHT STAR, with Campion bringing an uncharacteristic gentleness to her story of the great love and last years of poet John Keats. 0:00 - Billboard 1:15 - Review: "Passing" Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne" 30:23 - Josh: "Eternals" 37:02 - Next Week / Notes 47:51 - Polls 57:36 - Jane Campion #7: "Bright Star" 1:21:38 - Outro / Outtake  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edgar Wright's latest, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, is another opportunity for the director of "Baby Driver" and "Shaun of the Dead" to bring his visual panache, comic verve, and impeccable musical taste to a genre he clearly adores. Like the films that inspired it, Wright's time-hopping giallo picture – set in both contemporary London and the city in its swinging '60s heyday – takes some nasty turns. But Adam and Josh disagree about whether Wright's film is a thrill-ride that continually upends expectations—or an incoherent jumble of influences. And the Jane Campion Oeuvre-view arrives at the director's own divisive genre film, the 2003 erotic thriller IN THE CUT. Largely dismissed at the time, Adam and Josh make the case that the Meg Ryan-starring film deserves another look. 0:00 - Billboard 1:07 - Review: "Last Night in Soho" The Kinks, "Starstruck" 26:29 - Chicago Critics Film Festival Preview 34:06 - Next Week / Notes 41:42 - Massacre Theatre 47:13 - Campion #6: "In The Cut" 1:09:45 - Outro  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Wes Anderson deep end. Adam and Josh sit down to discuss Anderson's latest, THE FRENCH DISPATCH, the densest, most intricate, and maybe most melancholy of his career. There's also that cast, with standout performances from Jeffrey Wright, Benecio del Toro, and Bill Murray. Adam and Josh also share their Anderson Ranked lists and revisit their 2017 Sacred Cow review of RUSHMORE. 0:00 - Billboard 1:03 - Review: "The French Dispatch" Sex Bob-Omb, "We Are Sex Bob-Omb" 35:43 - Polls 50:24 - Next Week / Notes 59:47 - Wes Anderson Ranked 1:15:53 - FS Revisited: "Rushmore" (Sacred Cow, 2017) 1:47:13 - Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices