La La Land- Page 8

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 12:33pm

I mean I absolutely think Moonlight would be winning if La La Land didn't exist. After #OscarsSoWhite last year, there's no way they'd award Manchester By the Sea (the only other major competitor for Best Picture) over it when that movie has less passion for it than either Moonlight or La La Land. The backlash would be too much. Carol is a much more inacessible and 'colder' film than Moonlight, audiences seem to respond to the latter much better, whereas Carol was pretty much solely loved by critics and film buffs.

And yeah the presumptive acting nominations for Moonlight make me a bit sad, as I thought Trevante Rhodes and Andre Holland gave the best performances. But I guess they need a representative of the whole cast to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination and Mahershala Ali has the narrative of being a breakout star, thanks to his work on House of Cards etc.

[northlandfan]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 12:50pm

After seeing the movie the other night  and hearing the last song by Emma stone ( I forgot the name )I looked at the person next to me and we both at the same time said the song sounded like the rainbow connection from Kermit the frog. I haven't had time to look through all 170 posts but I was wondering if anybody else also made this connection.

What is the name of the song in the movie and is there any connection with the writers of that song and  this one...... Thx 

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 12:53pm

I'm neither a critic or a film buff, but I thought the "cold" criticism of Carol was ridiculous. That movie was gorgeous and deserved a Best Picture nomination.

I don't think the straight characters of Moonlight getting attention means too much. I adored Andre Holland and all the actors playing Chiron, but they aren't the only ones playing their characters, so I can see how the work wouldn't feel entirely theirs, if that makes sense. Harris and Ali (though he is only in one third of the movie) are the only people to play their respective characters, so it helps them stand out. 

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 1:07pm

The Rainbow Connection did come to mind, tho after I left the theatre. There are some tonal similarities on some lines  and  they are both aspirational  in theme so it's easy to make a connection. I think only a musicologist could really show how similar/different they are. I suspect someone in the wide world will.

EDIT: I just checked  Paul Williams, the co creator of Rainbow Connection, is President of ASCAP. If there is more than a superficial connection between the two songs, I think we'll hear about it soon.

Updated On: 1/2/17 at 01:07 PM

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 1:12pm

wonderfulwizard11 said: "I'm neither a critic or a film buff, but I thought the "cold" criticism of Carol was ridiculous. That movie was gorgeous and deserved a Best Picture nomination."

I do consider myself a bit of a film buff and still thought Carol was rather cold. However, I do agree that it deserved a BP nomination, especially compared to other stuff that managed to get in. But either way, it's clear that audiences respond to Moonlight more. It has an 8.7 on IMDB compared to Carol's 7.2 for example.

I've heard quite a few people compare the song to The Rainbow Connection actually. The song is called Audition (The Fools Who Dream).

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 1:29pm

I adored this film. Beautiful cinematography, a lot of expression, and fun musical numbers. "Another Day of Sun" has become my new morning jam!

I agree 100% with whoever said the final montage was a "what could have been." That is why it moved me the way it did, and why I cried helplessly. Lol...sometimes life just doesn't turn out the way you'd planned.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 3:00pm

Everyone I know said, "Wo what's with using 'Rainbow Connection' for their 11 o'clock spot?"  It was so similar, it conjures "My Sweet Lord" vs "He's So Fine."  We know how that came out.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 3:56pm

I just saw the film today, and I liked it. I thought the two leads were compelling, I thought it was the best directed film I've seen from 2016, and I also thought it had some of the best musical numbers ever staged on film in recent memory.

Though my mother wasn't sure how she felt about it. She thought it was long, and that the singing and dancing wasn't that great. But what the hell does she know? She thought Birdman was the weirdest thing she ever saw.

Updated On: 1/3/17 at 03:56 PM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 1/2/17 at 4:42pm

"boy! could he fake playing piano like a pro.--no wonder his 'piano teacher' was proud of him."

Nope, Sweet Lips, Ryan Gosling really played every note on the piano you see him playing onscreen.

I'm not sure I was convinced he was ever right for Sebastian, but I was super-impressed with his command of the piano.

[bk]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 1:39pm

Some of the best musical numbers ever shot on film?  Have you seen any other film musicals from the classic era?  Because while it's fine to love La La Land (and your mother, BTW, is right about Birdman), you can't possibly compare any of its numbers and especially choreography to the classics - it's not even in the same ballpark as some of the classic musical films - and there isn't a moment in it that even approaches the brilliance of the opening of West Side Story in terms of a number that's brilliantly designed for the camera and film.  And then watch the title song of Singin' in the Rain, one of the most perfectly conceived, choreographed and photographed film musical numbers in history - watch the cutting and the design of it.

It's funny to read all the comments, which, of course, are all opinion and therefore all valid.  Some LOVE it, some HATE it, some are in-betweeners.  As I said elsewhere, it's this year's "it" film - it's not the best film of the year, IMO, but I cannot tell you how much money they are spending to insure their Oscar win.  The really terrific movie that is shockingly never EVER mentioned in any of the Best Picture race mentions is Hidden Figures.  I really liked Moonlight (I have seen no what I would call GREAT movies this past year), but Hidden Figures is a great true story, with great performances from its three leading ladies, and it isn't even on people's radars.  Weird.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 1:44pm

"I'm neither a critic or a film buff, but I thought the "cold" criticism of Carol was ridiculous. That movie was gorgeous and deserved a Best Picture nomination."

I am a film buff, a great admirer of the Highsmith novel on which "Carol" is based, and a big fan of Todd Haynes as a director, and I usually love Cate Blanchett.... so Carol really shouldn't have left me completely cold.    But boy did it ever.

But, hey, people disagree about movies, that's what happens.  

[Big Apple2]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 2:14pm

bk said: "I really liked Moonlight (I have seen no what I would call GREAT movies this past year), but Hidden Figures is a great true story, with great performances from its three leading ladies, and it isn't even on people's radars.  Weird."

Maybe because it is still playing in only 25 theaters nationwide?

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 2:27pm

bk said: "The really terrific movie that is shockingly never EVER mentioned in any of the Best Picture race mentions is Hidden Figures....  Hidden Figures is a great true story, with great performances from its three leading ladies, and it isn't even on people's radars.  Weird."

Well, it's certainly on people's radars now, though probably not in the way you intended:

Janelle Monae Says Homophobic 'Hidden Figures' Singer Won't Appear on 'Ellen'

 

[hork]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 2:58pm

Interestingly, none of the critics at either the L.A. Times or the New York Times put La La Land on their top 10 lists. Good job, critics.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 8:43pm

"Hidden Figures" was the last screener, at least mailed to the WGA. It arrived 4 days before the close of preliminary voting (the last one to arrive that late was Burton's "Sweeney Todd."  It could be late decision.  But even LA LA didn't arrive until just before Christmas.  This year, the field is wide open, perhaps more so than others.  It seems possible that writing, directing and producing awards could split the vote.  Or not. More than any other year, no one seems to know. The public's choice(s) may not remotely line up, as per the year when we had "American Sniper" an audience favorite but no one in Hollywood's idea of a Best Pic. 

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 9:35pm

Beautiful to look at, great opening, great ending, two attractive leads, but  doesn't rate very high on the film musical list. The few songs are mediocre, and while the leads do the best they can, they are neither singers nor dancers. Watching the Garland/Kelly/Astaire/Vera-Ellen/Donald O'Connor/Crosby/Reynolds films during the holidays only makes LA LA LAND pale in comparison.

[mc1227]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 9:44pm

I'm a fan of this movie and think it will do very well during awards season.  While I don't think Manchester By the Sea is the best movie this year, I am pulling for Kenny Lonergan for best screenplay.  I think his writing is superb but his direction can use some polish.  

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/3/17 at 10:23pm

Fully agree. ^

[A Director]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 12:06am

I've seen Moonlight and La La Land, both in their own way are wonderful.  From my point of view, there is no reason to pick one over the other.

Here's link to a review of La La Land where the critic explains why he liked it even better the second time. It is filled with spoilers, so don't read it if you haven't seen the movie.

http://variety.com/2017/film/columns/la-la-land-emma-stone-ryan-gosling-1201950715/#respond

[A Director]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 3:57am

The director talks about his movie.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

Writer and director Damien Chazelle's new movie "La La Land" is very different from his first one, "Whiplash." That was about a jazz drummer's struggles with his abusive mentor. Now, "La La Land" is also about struggle and jazz. But instead of dimly-lit rooms and a gray color palette, it's a neon-bright musical.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANOTHER DAY OF SUN"

UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Should they let you down, it's another day of - get up off the ground. It's another day of - morning rolls around and it's another day of sun.

DAMIEN CHAZELLE: I wanted this movie to be very unapologetic about being a musical and just try to return to that simpler idea that I think really was at the core of the early '30s, '40s, '50s musicals, which is that if you feel enough, you break in a song. If you're in love enough or happy enough or sad enough, then you break into a number. And that's - to me that's what the genre hinges on and all you really need.

CORNISH: His characters sing and dance their way through present day Los Angeles, traffic jammed freeways and all. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling play the two lovers at the heart of the movie, each balancing their showbiz dreams with reality. Gosling's Sebastian is a traditional jazz pianist who asked to join a band with more pop sensibilities to make ends meet. In Chazelle's film, Emma Stone plays an aspiring actress who still hasn't found her big break after six years and countless auditions.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LA LA LAND"

EMMA STONE: (As Mia) Because maybe I'm not good enough.

RYAN GOSLING: (As Sebastian) Yes, you are.

STONE: (As Mia) No. No, maybe I'm not.

GOSLING: (As Sebastian) Yes, you are.

STONE: (As Mia) Maybe I'm not.

GOSLING: (As Sebastian) You are.

STONE: (As Mia) Maybe I'm not.

GOSLING: (As Sebastian) You are.

STONE: (As Mia) Maybe I'm one of those people that has always wanted to do it, but it's like a pipe dream for me, you know? And then you said it, you change your dreams and then you grow up.

CORNISH: You change your dreams and then you grow up. That was a tough line to hear I think probably for a lot of creative types in the audience.

CHAZELLE: It's a line that, you know, I think floated through my mind a lot when I was, you know, first moving to LA. It's funny how those first - I'd say five years or so in Los Angeles where, you know, I remember being very excited the first time I got any kind of amount of money at all to do, like, a writing-for-hire rewrite job on, like, a script. You know, just the idea of having any kind of entryway into making movies was very exciting to me. But it sort of felt the entire time like that's as far as I was going to get. And what I was really doing was spending most of my time writing scripts of movies that I dreamed of one day making.

You know, I wanted in this movie hopefully to say something about that state of mind, you know, of being in a city like LA, this sort of dream factory city, living in your head a lot, living in your dreams a lot and having to reconcile those dreams with the sometimes not so pleasant realities of, you know, the life you're actually living.

CORNISH: It's interesting to hear you say that because there's a key moment in the film where the couple has an argument and she essentially asks her boyfriend, do you like the music you're playing? Are you really, you know, are you doing what you really wanted to do? And it sounds like you had that moment.

CHAZELLE: Oh, yeah. And I've wanted to make movies since I can remember. I've never wanted to do anything else. So my whole life has kind of been defined for me by this desire and this dream. And so, you know, as a kid I had kind of ideas of what sort of movies I would make.

And, you know, as a kid kind of anything seems possible, you know, so it's all kind of far off. So you just sort of enjoy the dream. And then it becomes somewhat more difficult to handle when you have to start compromising, when you have to start doing things that adults do, when you have to start paying the bills, when you have to start dealing with people's responses to your art. When you're an adult, it's hard to kind of sustain that. Yeah, that was something I think especially with Ryan's character in the movie that was personal to me, for sure.

CHAZELLE: Before he moved to Los Angeles, Damien Chazelle played in competitive jazz bands in high school. As a screenwriter, he never let go of his love of jazz.

(SOUNDBITE OF JUSTIN HURWITZ SONG, "HERMAN'S HABIT"

CORNISH: "La La Land" has the verve of a Jazz Age musical, but it also questions any one person trying to be the gatekeeper of the tradition. Jazz is dying, Ryan Gosling's Sebastian declares at one point. And it's up to him to save it. Not so fast, says John Legend. He plays a successful bandleader in the film who asked, how are you going to save jazz if no one's listening?

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LA LA LAND"

JOHN LEGEND: Jazz is dying because of people like you. You're playing to 90-year-olds at The Lighthouse. Where are the kids? Where are the young people? You're so obsessed with Kenny Clarke and Thelonious Monk. These guys were revolutionaries. How are you going to be a revolutionary if you're such a traditionalist? You're holding on to the past, but jazz is about the future.

CORNISH: Damien Chazelle, which person have you been in that conversation?

CHAZELLE: (Laughter) More often than not, I feel like I'm Ryan, you know. I'm Sebastian, sitting there somewhat uncomfortably, taking it all in, listening to John and yet understanding that in a certain very fundamental way, John is right. I sort of jokingly think of that scene as, like, it's like my, you know, the two angels on my shoulder kind of arguing about what it means to, you know, not just be a jazz musician. That's what they're talking about specifically there, but the, you know, just being an artist. At what point does preservation of what you love about, you know, older art forms become encasing something in amber? And at what point does trying to modernize something start to corrupt it?

CORNISH: It's fascinating because this does feel like a jazz musical. It, like, it definitely has that sensibility even though it is so modern LA in its look.

CHAZELLE: I mean, again, the thing with jazz is that jazz is and in some ways always will remain a modern music. That's why, you know, there's a moment in the movie where Ryan's character I think makes an argument earlier that jazz is dying, which I don't entirely agree with, actually. I don't think jazz is dying in any way. But I think Ryan is talking about a specific kind of jazz, a specific, again, somewhat in his mind encased in amber type of jazz that was played in the jazz clubs or on the big band stages in the '30s, '40s, '50s, maybe into the '60s.

(SOUNDBITE OF JUSTIN HURWITZ SONG, "CITY OF STARS"

CHAZELLE: And that's a sort of preference or viewpoint of a lot of, you know, of a whole sector of people. And then John Legend's character comes from a completely other side of the equation.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "START A FIRE"

LEGEND: (Singing) Oh, I just know I feel so good tonight.

CHAZELLE: I guess I, you know, I hoped with this movie, both with the Jazz within it but also just with the entire approach to the movie, that it would have a little bit of old and new in it. That it would sort of at the end of the day almost make the case for what John's character is saying, not - maybe not literally but just that idea that sometimes it's OK to adapt to modernity a little bit. I think in some way...

CORNISH: (Laughter).

CHAZELLE: ...That's what the characters learn a bit, that it's - you have to preserve what you believe in. You can't compromise too much. But sometimes it's not compromise. Sometimes it's actually, you know, finding a way to push something forward, whether it's a musical or a - or an idea of jazz you might have.

CORNISH: Well, Damien Chazelle, thank you so much for talking with us about this film. It was really fun.

CHAZELLE: Thank you.

CORNISH: Damien Chazelle. His new film "La La Land" is out now. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

[Big Apple2]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 9:29am

It is still early in the awards season. But here is where one can keep track of nominations and wins. It's a close race between Moonlight and LaLa Land. 

http://www.metacritic.com/feature/2016-film-awards-and-nominations-scorecard

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 1/4/17 at 9:53am

Really enjoyed this, Gosling and Stone had great chemistry and the fantasy sequence at the end was breathtaking. It did feel a little underdeveloped - the fight scene is well written and nicely shot but it feels kind of perfunctory, and their actual issues feel frustratingly generic. I also wish there had been more musical numbers, and the ones that were in the film felt kinda flimsy. But it all pays off so nicely in that final sequence. It's all about the beauty of the what-if, which is a theme that's underlined nicely throughout. Gorgeous cinematography, too.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 1/7/17 at 3:36am

Loved the visuals - thought the music was pleasant but often not memorable. The opening was stunning and I enjoyed "Someone In the Crowd" but much of the rest felt rather bland and general (I loved "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" and thought it was the standout). My major problem with the score was that none of the songs actually told me more about who these people were. Song never led to introspection or realization, they just sang about the stars or other (often pleasant) generalities. I thought Miss Stone's performance was the film and while Ryan Gosling was very good, he was more easily replaceable (I also thought it would make more sense to have a black actor play the role). The dance numbers came more easily to the actors and elevated their overall performances. I wish there had been more numbers, but the songs were enjoyable enough and the soundtrack is great.

I went along with the story and didn't have a problem with the dinner argument like so many others. I enjoyed the concept, I just thought many things would have translated much better onstage than onscreen. For example, while the final dream sequence is arguable the best moment of the film, would it not have come across just as well (maybe not to us musical enthusiasts) with a close up of Miss Stone's face? On stage, the ballet is the only way to do it. On screen, film can capture so much with a single shot the sequence felt redundant. But in a musical film, when you have characters that don't cry out for musicalization, that's a problem.

I liked the film and I'm sure it will grow on me during repeated viewings. However, still having the haunted Jackie in my head from last week, I can't imagine Emma Stone besting Natalie Portman for best Actress. I actually think Jackie deserves to be a front-runner for Best Picture, but perhaps I'm alone in that. I certainly thought it was a better constructed film than La La Land.

I still haven't seen Moonlight, so I'll make that a goal once I get back in Manhattan.

[astromiami]

Posted: 1/7/17 at 12:21pm

wonderfulwizard11 said: "I just saw this tonight and - as a big old nerd about musicals- really? That's what everyone has been going gaga over? I didn't hate it at all, but it was the most thoroughly "fine" movie I've seen in a while. Spoilers below, for those who care.

My main issues with the film are plot ones- I think Damien Chazelle understands how to film a musical, but I don't think he's written a very good one. Mia and Sebastian's first dance in the parking lot is charming, but it's completely unearned. These characters have exchanged a total of what, five lines at this point?

If you see the film, this dance comes at the end of an extended sequence (probably close to 10 minutes) in which Stone encounters Gosling at a party and mocks him before using him to help her escape from a bore.

Part of the reason this sequence works better than most of the numbers in the film is because it comes out of an extended "book" sequence that creates enough of a relationship that can then be transformed in the dance.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 1/7/17 at 2:03pm

"The beauty of the what-if" is an accurate description, and the reason why I cried during this film. That notion came along at a pivotal point in my life- and I feel my experience is a prime case of what art can do for the human spirit.