Spielberg's annoying use of lens/light flares almost ruins the movie

Lens/light flares have sort of become Spielberg's trademark, as most of his later films have them, and the directors who claim Spielberg as their inspiration also include them quite a bit (witness JJ Abrams SUPER 8 as an example). But in the past, light flares have been used by Spielberg sparingly; they were used to emphasize a shot or to give an otherworldly sensation (as in the spaceship shots in E.T.). But in WEST SIDE STORY he really goes overboard!! They start when Tony and Maria meet behind the bleachers and are almost non-stop after that. I found them annoying as hell. I have two major problems with them:

1. They do not appear in nature but are the result of light interacting with the camera lens, thus they announce the existence of a camera alongside the actors, which I would think you'd want to avoid.
2. They are completely avoidable which means they are there because the director wants them to be there, so they are essentially the director shouting out his/her presence to the audience.
Every time I saw them in WSS they took me right out of the film.