Damien Chazelle's "La La Land" (Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone?)

[Greens]

I've seen it twice and I can't wait to see it again.

 

[Incarnadine]

So tempted to give this is a 10/10. Seeing this again this Tuesday, but in "IMAX."

I might see this again on Tuesday as well and make a night of it by seeing it in the VIP 19+ screen. This has the extra large well padded seats and I can order a pitcher of beer and maybe a burger and fries or some ribs and have it all delivered right to my seat.t:

 

[The Riddler]

the middle portion of this film definitely drags, but the start and end are so strong and lively and purposeful. a great movie, and a surprisingly modern spin on the classic musical.

i'm a wistful romantic, and i'm not sure what film is actually trying to say thematically. i'm a little surprised how much i enjoyed it.

 

[Xrated48]

Way better than I expected, I love this film.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

I just want one alternate ending on the blu-ray where Mia asks Seb why he never wrote her and that she waited 5 years for him but now it's too late.

 

[Lasirius]

I've only been reading amazing things about this but been skeptical since I really do not enjoy musicals in general unless it's a Disney movie. I'll go see it since I love the team behind this and the fact that it's getting rave reviews.

 

[David H.]

It's good.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I just want one alternate ending on the blu-ray where Mia asks Seb why he never wrote her and that she waited 5 years for him but now it's too late.

*cues piano music* "It's not over..."

 

[Elayis]

I had a feeling that I wouldn’t care for this film and unfortunately I was correct. I think I’ll have to start watching trailers for films I’m on the fence with. While I enjoy musicals, I’m not a fan of the classic Hollywood extravaganzas. The glitz, glamour and fakeness are not what I want from a movie.

On top of that, the film felt thematically confused and was sending mixed signals. The overall narrative felt contrived, the formulaic nature . This was yet another movie in love with the past without anything new to say.

One of the weaker elements to me was the songs. The selling point for doing a musical is for memorable and standout songs, which I felt this lacked. They were simplistic and trite, more suited for commercials than a real movie. But then the whole aesethic of the picture was like that. I don’t mind color, but the solid primary colors of the costumes felt cheap and uncinematic. The opening number was a very odd way to start the movie, especially when it didn’t feature the main characters.

I couldn’t help thinking Gosling looked like a kicked puppy at the end. And Emma Stone irritated in the first third or so. The overly comedic moments with her making faces just didn’t do it for me.

Overall it felt very similar to Birdman, with a lot of the same problems, which coincidentally also starred Emma Stone. I like her in dramatic roles, but looking at her filmography there’s not a single film I liked of hers other than the first Amazing Spider-Man and that was still a flawed film. In the future I may just skip any film she’s in.

Even though I didn’t care for it, I’d still give it a 6/10. Not a terrible movie, just severely overrated. For comparison, Manchester by the Sea was my favorite film of the year.

Film Crit Hulk also had mixed feelings:

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/12/15/hulk-vs.-the-many-la-la-lands

 

[Poetic Chaos]

*cues piano music* "It's not over..."

It's still not over!

 

[Incarnadine]

LLL is killing it in the UK. The early estimates had it at $6m, the latest estimates are way higher at $7.9m, the 4th highest opening in the UK ever by a Lionsgate film.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/uk-...blocktitle=UK-BOX-OFFICE-NEWS&contentID=40105

 

[Greens]

I had a feeling that I wouldn’t care for this film and unfortunately I was correct.

Elayis... you are entitled to your opinions, but every single time I see one of your posts it's you going against the grain. It's almost the theme of your account

 

[Elayis]

Elayis... you are entitled to your opinions, but every single time I see one of your posts it's you going against the grain. It's almost the theme of your account

I'm not doing it on purpose. It'd be nice to share everyone's enthusiasm and enjoyment when it comes to movies, but I'm a writer & reviewer so when it comes to scripts I'm really picky.

It's nice when I can actually get behind something that's popular (like The Dark Knight), but it doesn't happen too often. I just happen to lean contrarian, although I don't do it just for the sake of it.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[scarlet-witch]

That SNL sketch was the most accurate La La Land defender portrayal I've ever seen.

I about died when Kenan came in and said he didn't like Westworld.

 

[Mysteryman]

I'm not doing it on purpose. It'd be nice to share everyone's enthusiasm and enjoyment when it comes to movies, but I'm a writer & reviewer so when it comes to scripts I'm really picky.

It's nice when I can actually get behind something that's popular (like The Dark Knight), but it doesn't happen too often. I just happen to lean contrarian, although I don't do it just for the sake of it.

Please tell me TDK isn't the lat popular movie that you liked.
That was awhile ago.

 

[StarLord]

I thought I'd hate this but ended up really enjoying it! In fact, I might even buy the soundtrack LOL.

 

[harlequinade]

I thought it was fine, but it's nothing outstanding...gave it 7/10 and didn't even like it as much as Hidden Figures. I thought that the most moving part was the epilogue which was very, very manipulative. You could stick sequence like this in a lot of films to elicit audience's reaction. It's a well made movie but I won't remember much about it in a few days, the last truly amazing film I've seen was Fury Road 18 months ago and I still remember it vividly

 

[BatLobster]

I thought it was fine, but it's nothing outstanding...gave it 7/10 and didn't even like it as much as Hidden Figures. I thought that the most moving part was the epilogue which was very, very manipulative. You could stick sequence like this in a lot of films to elicit audience's reaction. It's a well made movie but I won't remember much about it in a few days, the last truly amazing film I've seen was Fury Road 18 months ago and I still remember it vividly

The thing is, to me it felt so right in La La Land- especially the way it incorporated the key musical themes into that suite and how it was brought to life visually. The movie used the musical genre and how emotionally exaggerated and hyper-stylized it can be to its advantage in the way any filmmaker uses tropes of the given genre they're working in. Given that the whole theme of the movie is the push and pull between love and achieving your dreams, it felt like a natural culmination for the movie rather than something that was just being put in to get a cheap reaction.

For me, the finale is where the movie jumped from a very well-made, engaging film to potential classic that I expect to see plenty of more times in the years to come.

 

[harlequinade]

The thing is, to me it felt so right in La La Land- especially the way it incorporated the key musical themes into that suite and how it was brought to life visually. The movie used the musical genre and how emotionally exaggerated and hyper-stylized it can be to its advantage in the way any filmmaker uses tropes of the given genre they're working in. Given that the whole theme of the movie is the push and pull between love and achieving your dreams, it felt like a natural culmination for the movie rather than something that was just being put in to get a cheap reaction.

For me, the finale is where the movie jumped from a very well-made, engaging film to potential classic that I expect to see plenty of more times in the years to come.

Eh, I thought it was cheap. Especially since it was the only moment in the movie that moved me. The same device was used in much better

Spoiler

Mommy

to far better effect and there it felt far more justified by the plot.

 

[BatLobster]

That's an odd way to look at it IMO. If it moved you, doesn't that mean it was effective? You can just drop the same device in any old movie and it doesn't mean that it would automatically have the same effect on you. I know I certainly wouldn't want to see that particular device used in most films, I just thought it really suited this one and made sense. The way I see it when a film has a great ending that really lands emotionally, usually it did something right in getting there that you care.

To each their own though, not saying everyone has to love the movie- I just don't quite understand that particular criticism.

 

[Greens]

The thing is, to me it felt so right in La La Land- especially the way it incorporated the key musical themes into that suite and how it was brought to life visually. The movie used the musical genre and how emotionally exaggerated and hyper-stylized it can be to its advantage in the way any filmmaker uses tropes of the given genre they're working in. Given that the whole theme of the movie is the push and pull between love and achieving your dreams, it felt like a natural culmination for the movie rather than something that was just being put in to get a cheap reaction.

For me, the finale is where the movie jumped from a very well-made, engaging film to potential classic that I expect to see plenty of more times in the years to come.

Agreed. I don't remember who said it but someone said in their review that the ending montage could have gone very, very wrong (because of the cheese factor) but the director pulled it off. I don't agree with harlequinade, you can't just shove this into a movie and make it work. It takes finesse from the director and engagement from the audience.

 

[BatLobster]

Agreed. I don't remember who said it but someone said in their review that the ending montage could have gone very, very wrong (because of the cheese factor) but the director pulled it off. I don't agree with harlequinade, you can't just shove this into a movie and make it work. It takes finesse from the director and engagement from the audience.

Exactly. It's the fact that it very well could've gone so wrong and been totally cringe-worthy and contrived (the same could be said of the entire movie) that makes it that much more impressive that Chazelle made it feel so effortless and delightful. This movie is a case of a big risk that paid off big.

 

[Xrated48]

I love the ending montage it made the film even better.

 

[Incarnadine]

Another solid weekend has LLL just shy of $90m (amazing for a movie that still hasn't been in more than 1847 theaters). Academy awards nominations come out Tuesday and it should have another expansion next weekend so it will cruise past $100m with good momentum heading to the Oscars.

LLL still killing it in the UK, number one in its first two weeks:

Having crossed £10m during its first week, La La Land continued to shine brightly at the UK box office.
Lionsgate’s awards contender fell only 23% (excluding previews) as it danced to a $5.44m (£4.37m) second weekend for $18.5m (£14.88m) to date, retaining the number one spot for the second straight week as it expanded to 674 sites.
With $5m (£4m) taken during its first Monday-Thursday period, there is no reason to doubt that La La Land will continue to draw big crowds midweek, meaning that it could hit £20m this coming weekend.
Sing will likely prevent it from a third straight week as the UK’s number one, but it should still enjoy a steady hold.