Discussing our favorite movies of 2021
Ahead of The A.V. Club's list of the best films of the year, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife talk about the ones that mattered to them most.
Film Features Maria
December is fast winding down, and here at The A.V. Club, that means one thing: We’re looking back on the pop-culture we loved these past 12 months. The site’s big staff list on the best films of 2021 goes up early next week. Before we unveil that, however, two of our contributing critics have sat down to discuss their own personal favorite films of this rapidly elapsing year. On the final, extra-long episode of Film Club before we all break for the holidays, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife run down their respective top-10 lists, seeing where they align and where they diverge, and waxing rhapsodic on the 18 different movies represented across both.
You can hear the entire conversation in the episode above, or read a lightly edited excerpt about Dowd’s number three pick, West Side Story, down below.
A.A. Dowd: Spielberg just throws himself into staging this as a musical. The musical numbers are just beautifully, brilliantly staged. He uses some of his signature tracking shots. He also uses wide takes. He doesn’t do the thing where he holds on the dancers for too long. I think one philosophy about modern musicals is that we should be given a good look at the dancing. Spielberg cuts a little bit, but he also doesn’t cut it into ribbons. We can always tell what’s going on.
Katie Rife: I like the “watching the choreo” approach. In The Heights did that a little more. They lingered on the choreo longer.
A.A. Dowd: But you still do get a sense of it in this. It’s not like you’re never seeing the choreography. He just also keeps it moving with editing as well.
Katie Rife: I thought the costume design in this film was fabulous.
A.A. Dowd: Yeah, for sure. And he rethinks how he can stage a few of the numbers as well. “Cool,” which I think is generally considered one of the lesser songs in this amazing songbook, is reinvented as this game of keep away with a gun that’s urgent, and I think a really successful reimagining of that number. “Tonight,” we get Tony and Maria, singing it to each other through the gates of a fire escape, sort of emphasizing their barriers.
Katie Rife: Yeah, they’re like jail bars.
A.A. Dowd: Yeah, exactly. You know, I love West Side Story. I think it’s one of the great musicals. I’ve loved it since I was young. I think these songs are timeless and enduring, and I think that what Spielberg has made here is a really reverent version. It’s not one that, despite its updates, really changes West Side Story. It mostly keeps the essence of West Side Story.
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7 Comments
I look forward to this podcast every dang week – thanks for so many great eps, especially the horror movie ones. If you two decide to go do something on your own I will be there day one!
The camera movement during the big dance numbers in West Side Story was the one mistake Spielberg made in an otherwise very strong movie. It just kind of undermined the spectacle of the choreography to be constantly tracking and cutting through it like that.Which is not to say you need to stick to master shots with little or no editing like the original WSS did. In the Heights had some really great dance numbers where the camera movement worked with the choreography to enhance the dynamism of the number.
I hope you guys are able to bring the show back in some shape or form next year. I’ve felt really alone and alienated these last two years – for some obvious reasons and some personal ones – and in lieu of actual human connection, it has meant so much to hang out with you guys and nerd out about movies for a couple hours every week. Here’s hoping we’ll see you again in 2022. If not, I hope you know how much the show has meant to me during a sucky couple of years.
Thank you, Stephen. For listening and for sharing.
Is Bill Murray’s character really based on the founder of the New Yorker. I’ve heard mixed things on that, since Harold Ross died before most of the time periods depicted here. William Shawn succeeded him as editor and was in charge then.
I will be very, very bummed if things pan out in such a way as to make this the last episode of Film Club. When I used to write for the AVC (when they had a Minneapolis branch), I always looked up to the movie critics. Still do. Dowd, Katie, I wish the best for you both (and for Ignatiy) and I hope you’re able to find a way to continue to keep me company on Friday afternoons in the future. Also, was anybody else SUPER distracted by the anachronism in The Green Knight where the lady takes a fucking PHOTO of Dev Patel???
Chiming in now that it’s been two months since the latest episode, I just have to say that I miss you guys and your excellent podcast. Dowd, Katie, you really had a special thing here, and I sincerely hope that it will come back! If not, know that me and many others won’t soon forget it.