We saw two movies. Only one was good.

God I love going to the movies. It’s such a great past time for me, especially as someone who is constantly writing and archiving photos when they’re not at work. To be able to physically be away from a computer and phone (at least put away) and immerse yourself in a story for two hours is just so relaxing. Thankfully December brought me a bunch of movies to spend my time watching!

So for the December 2021 bonus episode of the podcast, Spencer and I decided to single out two films that had a good bit o’ menswear in them: Ridley Scott’s The House of Gucci and Stephen Spielberg’s take on West Side Story. One was touted as an epic drama while the other was expected to be a lazy redux. Oh how wrong we were!

You’ll obviously have to listen to the episode (well, it’s fully available for patrons), but Gucci was a bit of a disappointment. The story and editing were meh and the costumes certainly echoed that. They weren’t bad, but after all the inspo from The French Dispatch, this flick felt sorely lacking. Driver’s Maurizio gets a few good Euro Trad and Yuppie looks, but everyone else falls short especially when you compare them to the source material.

West Side Story on the other hand was a triumph. Not only was the plot altered to give focus on the real struggles of all the residents of San Juan Hill, but the clothing was done exceptionally well. Instead of the slim, mod-continental-ivy looks of the original film, Spielberg brings back the Boldness of the late 50s with pleated trousers, leather jackets, and Hollywood jackets. Despite the modern focus on the complicated drama between the groups, WSS retains its identity as a musical, with it’s trained theatre actors performing soaring melodies and campy choreography. It’s truly a movie-going experience; I watched it in Dolby to get the full effect!

Anyway, listen to the preview below or join the Patreon if you want to get the full effect. You might want to make sure you’ve seen Spider-Man: No Way Home first though.

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The Podcast is produced by MJ.

Always a pleasure,

Ethan M. Wong

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