Books @ the Movies: Chita Rivera on "West Side Story"

by Nathaniel R

Memoir alert! For those of you who love showbiz biographies, take note that "Chita: A Memoir" is now on sale. The legendary dancer and multiple Tony winner Chita Rivera, turned 90 earlier this year. She was spurred to write the memoir (with the help of Patrick Pacheco) during the pandemic when there was so much down time.

Rivera and Pacheco are smart and know to drop the goods immediately; The very first chapter is on how she landed the legend-making role of "Anita" in Broadway's original incarnation of West Side Story... aka the greatest musical ever written. "Anita" is one of those roles. If you deliver, your career will never be the same again (just ask Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose) but it all started with Chita.

Having just started the book, we can't speak to how often the memoir will return to the iconic musical but we wanted to share a couple of tidbits...

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Review: "80 For Brady" is a winning comedy

by Matt St Clair

Good timing! 80 For Brady is opening the week before the Super Bowl but it's also opening in the thick of Oscar season, the Super Bowl for movie lovers.  Making it feel yet more timely is the fact that its main quartet consists entirely of actresses with Oscar pedigree. As unlikely as it is that this’ll make any dent next year at this time, 80 For Brady is still a winning comedy...

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A hard push for "80 For Brady". Will you see it?

by Nathaniel R

Photo by Phillip Faraone / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Though the talk this time of year is mostly around Oscar, the new comedy 80 For Brady claimed some space of its own this week in the media as it gears up to open in theaters. The movie "inspired by the true story offour best friends living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl LI to see their hero Tom Brady play"  premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It's gorgeous quartet of superstars (pictured above) were there "FONDA! MORENO! TOMLIN! FIELD!" Between them they have 12 Emmys, 8 Golden Globes, 5 Oscars, 2 Grammys, 2 Tonys, and numerous other awards, nominations, special honors, and lifetime achievement prizes.  But that's not all in 80 for Brady news...

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SXSW: Rita Moreno Stars in ‘The Prank’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 
We should all aspire to be as active as Rita Moreno when we turn ninety years old. The legendary actress had her own documentary, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, premiere at Sundance last year (it’s now available on Netflix), and co-starred in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, the film that won her an Oscar back in 1961. While her latest film, The Prank, isn’t anywhere near the caliber of her previous work, it’s great to see her still at it and enhancing any film she’s in…

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Oscar Volley: It's a Best Supporting Actress lovefest!

Our Oscar Volley series continues with Cláudio Alves and Nick Taylor doing a deep dive on a category near and dear to their hearts...

NICK: First, quick introductions! What drew us to this category, you ask? The Supporting Actress category was one of my favorite fields to rummage through when I was initially exploring the Oscars. Tilda Swinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandy Dennis, Thelma Ritter, Mo’Nique, Dianne Wiest, Agnes Moorehead - all led me to new ideas about film and performance I hadn’t dreamed of before then. Watching talented actresses carve out whole worlds from the corners of their films became one of my favorite things to search for in movies.

I have a very specific memory of discovering the Supporting Actress Smackdown after watching Kramer vs Kramer for the first time only a few weeks after the podcast on 1979 dropped and listening to the discussion with rapt attention. And then the 1948 episode came out like, the next day! Gave me wild misconceptions on how fast things updated, lemme tell you...

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