Dec 10th
West Side Story** (12A)
(Empire Haymarket)

(US 2021)
Twentieth Century/Amblin/TSG. 156m. ws

The Romeo and Juliet tale set in New York, with it two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.
Accomplished and 'ethnically correct' remake (with Rita Moreno also shoehorned in) of a musical that was almost impossible to surpass visually, even in Spielberg's technically skilled hands,  and some of the numbers (particularly the lighter ones) seem a little mechanical 60 years on, but  emotionally the story is timeless, and the music and choreography are up to the same standard as the original.

Written by: Tony Kushner, based on the book by Arthur Laurents of the musical by Jerome Robbins.
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Kevin McCollum.
Director: Steven Spielberg.
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Josh Andrea Rivera, Corey Stoll.
Photography: Janusz Kaminski.
Music: Leonard Bernstein.
Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim.
Musical Direction: David Newman.
Editing: Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar.

Dec 9th
Silkwood*   
(US 1983)    
Twentieth Century Fox/ABC. 131m.

Oklahoma nuclear plant worker Karen Silkwood helps uncover negligence by her employers, before she is mysteriously killed in a car crash.
Languid biographical thriller set in blue-collar America, which should be more tense than it is, out of earnest sympathy for its real-life characters.

Written by: Nora Ephron, Alice Arlen, from the book by Howard Kohn.
Producers: Michael Hausman, Mike Nichols.
Director: Mike Nichols.
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, Craig T. Nelson, Fred Ward, Diana Scarwid, Ron Silver, Josef Sommer, David Strathairn.
Photography: Miroslav Ondricek.
Music: Georges Delerue.