"La La Land" (2016) - Director Damien Chazelle's Retro-Hollywood Musical-Romance Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone

[genericeric]

If this movie hadn't been nominated, I probably would have really enjoyed it.  If this movie had a different literal take away toward the end, I may have even loved it.  

But it was, and it didn't.

Not to sound cliche, but they don't make movies like this anymore.  I felt it had the right amount of whimsy and fantasy, along with a story line that was engaging and kept moving.  Interestingly, my wife felt like Ryan Gosling was a star while Emma Stone was lacking - I thought the exact opposite.

But these filmmakers aren't dumb, I will give them that.  Take the nostalgia from a well done example of a dying genre, combined with the blatant love note to Hollywood, and you wind up with a best picture nominee in a year when options were light.

[DIShGo]

I am with Aziz Ansari on this one.  I didn't love "La La Land." I tried to lower my expectations because of all of the pre-Oscar buzz about this film, but I still left the theatre disappointed.

I enjoyed the nods to old films in this movie: the little boy in Paris holding the red balloon, Emma Stone walking in front of the mural of Hollywood legends, and the trip to the Griffith Observatory after viewing "Rebel Without a Cause" are a few moments that stand out in my mind. 

The acting is good, and the cinematography is lovely--bright and colorful like a gorgeous Los Angeles afternoon. But the singing and dancing are ho-hum. The last musical I saw was "Singin' in the Rain." Now that is singing and dancing.

The movie dragged in parts, and the ending was unsatisfying. If this film is the deemed the best of the year, then indeed, the options must be light.

[DonRocks]

On 1/27/2017 at 3:26 PM, genericeric said:

If this movie hadn't been nominated, I probably would have really enjoyed it.  If this movie had a different literal take away toward the end, I may have even loved it.  

But it was, and it didn't.

On 2/4/2017 at 9:43 PM, DIShGo said:

I am with Aziz Ansari on this one.  I didn't love "La La Land." I tried to lower my expectations because of all of the pre-Oscar buzz about this film, but I still left the theatre disappointed.
...
The movie dragged in parts, and the ending was unsatisfying. If this film is the deemed the best of the year, then indeed, the options must be light.

I saw "La La Land" last night for the first time - on a large, very high-definition TV set. I was extremely impressed by just how incredibly life-like the film seemed in high-definition - as if the actors were standing right in front of me. And of course, the opening dance scene on the freeway was memorable.

But the movie is a lot of what I dislike about Hollywood - all fluff, and no substance. Technical wizardry, without a focus on human interaction. Oh, stripped bare, I suppose it's a reasonable love story, but it wasn't stripped bare.

I am *so glad* "Moonlight" won the award for Best Picture - in my mind, there is absolutely no comparison between the two films as to which one is better.

Emma Stone can't sing at all, and if Ryan Gosling really started from "absolute zero" on the piano, then he had himself an excellent teacher - he can play decently, and his technique was surprisingly sound - he plays like someone who has worked hard on the instrument for a couple of years.