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Post by distantcousin on Jan 20, 2017 20:59:50 GMT
Well I'm sorry but it was rather Blah Blah Land for me... Too forced, the emotional change of gear from text to song too manufactured, too obvious the soundtrack was recorded in a studio, average singing and dancing (why does Hollywood cast actors and not singers in musicals anymore?), it had a clunky book and a candy floss simple story about love, chance, fate and serendipity... Emma Stone was great yes, the story was a nice look into the harsh reality of showbusiness - but Ryan Gosling is looking old, he didn't make me swoon and I question if he really did play the piano at all times. Hm.. Overall I don't get the hype, the currency and heart of the piece wasn't authentic, the choreography for 10 year olds and well..... I was bit bored. Give me Moulin Rouge anytime. La La Land is fresh and creative but it tried so hard to be unique fusing the Hollywood from yesteryear with iPhones and yoof culture of today awkwardly. Ultimately I think it was miss cast, it failed to offer the true social comment it tried so hard to find and it never reached its potential. An ambivalent sweet and sticky 6/10. Best review I've read!
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Post by welsh_tenor on Jan 20, 2017 22:48:28 GMT
Just seen this and it was so my type of film!
I started smiling at the opening number and didn't really stop all the way. I love whimsy and heart-warming and it certainly gave me that in buckets. I'm a sucker for a happy ending and so glad we had the montage in the final moments... loved Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling and I'm still whistling the main tune now I'm home...
When it finished I thought there was lots that could lend itself to a stage show but as an earlier poster said, part of the charm of the story were the montages and they just wouldn't work I don't think on stage.
Overall it was a thumbs up from me and also the girl sitting next to me - she cried happiness and sadness all the way through!
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Post by Dave25 on Jan 21, 2017 11:47:51 GMT
I LOVED the pre-recorded tracks. This is what creates some kind of "better than reality" quality, which lifts the scenes and emotions. I cried almost 7 times during the film, just because of the sheer beauty. There is a scene where they sing "live" and that one actually took me out of the film, because suddenly it felt like I saw 2 actors struggling with the material and feeling uncomfortable. That scene was too literal. While the rest of the film is a triumph of the fantasy, which is what this artform should be.
I also loved the moments that has no specific reason, other than just conveying a certain mood/feeling, such as the opening number, the scene in the hills on the bench, certain montages, the scene on the pier, it kind of reminded me of Disney classics like "Sleeping Beauty". Where scenes as Gifts of beauty, I wonder/do you hear that' have the same kind of approach. It was extremely refreshing to see a film that dared to go there and embrace that. Taking a moment to appreciate the beauty instead of constant action, oneliners or throwing every moment away with a joke. This approach really supported the way the pre-recorded tracks worked so well.
It was a triumph of the fantasy and therefore it felt extremely raw, real and emotional. That is how this artform works. I have missed this understanding in most recent (musical)films.
In addition to that, I thought is was very well acted, there were so many clever nuances in their scenes and loved the "could have been" montage and that (spoiler) even though they don't end up together, some bonds in life are different and good in another way. I loved the ending. And then the whole story of the struggle to achieve your career goals, the whole film actually was the opposite of a classic hollywood film.
I really hope other directors of future musicalfilms learn something from this.
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Post by freckles on Jan 21, 2017 11:56:50 GMT
I liked it. Great fun and a marvellous blend of genres, part musical, part rom com, part drama. I don't think it would work on stage because it's not a fully formed musical, and so much of its charm is the clever cinematography and nods to other movies. It wouldn't be impossible to stage it but would lose a lot of its basic essence, for me. Very brave to do the ending as they did. Little touches like that are what set it apart as a great film.
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Post by n1david on Jan 21, 2017 14:16:32 GMT
For those complaining about the studio-ness of the songs, here's an interesting podcast about the recording of the Audition Song, which was done live, in a single take, when it was being filmed. songexploder.net/la-la-landAnd for me, I am firmly on the Love side.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2017 14:48:03 GMT
Well I'm sorry but it was rather Blah Blah Land for me... Too forced, the emotional change of gear from text to song too manufactured, too obvious the soundtrack was recorded in a studio, average singing and dancing (why does Hollywood cast actors and not singers in musicals anymore?), it had a clunky book and a candy floss simple story about love, chance, fate and serendipity... Emma Stone was great yes, the story was a nice look into the harsh reality of showbusiness - but Ryan Gosling is looking old, he didn't make me swoon and I question if he really did play the piano at all times. Hm.. Overall I don't get the hype, the currency and heart of the piece wasn't authentic, the choreography for 10 year olds and well..... I was bit bored. Give me Moulin Rouge anytime. La La Land is fresh and creative but it tried so hard to be unique fusing the Hollywood from yesteryear with iPhones and yoof culture of today awkwardly. Ultimately I think it was miss cast, it failed to offer the true social comment it tried so hard to find and it never reached its potential. An ambivalent sweet and sticky 6/10. Ryan Gosling old just because he didn't make you swoon?! lol. And he has said he learnt to play the piano for the role, although apparently he knew the basics from when he was younger
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2017 14:53:32 GMT
I'm over a decade younger than Gosling and he definitely made me swoon. Not too old at all.
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Post by confessor on Jan 21, 2017 21:03:20 GMT
Saw it this afternoon, I enjoyed it but just not as much as I hoped I would. Really enjoyed the songs that were in it, could have done with more though, and I agree with others that the studio recorded numbers were missing something.
And despite Ryan trying his best to woo me with it, I still hate jazz.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2017 21:56:17 GMT
I came out singing 'Rainbow Connection' from the muppets.... im not sure if it was because one of the songs sounded familiar or because Ryan Gosling sounds like Kermit when he sings.
I wished they had changed the scene where she is auditioning for the not intrested casting people. She showed how easy it was for her to well up in tears, then everytime she did it for the rest of the film, i thought, oh shes acting, its not real. it took me out of the film for a while.
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Post by Stasia on Jan 24, 2017 8:07:57 GMT
Lots of my friends agreed with me on this one having something common with Once. Which is obviously the "I believe in you and will make you to believe in you, too", and the bittersweet ending, and a bit moody male character (I immediately imagined a stage version with Arthur Darvill playing that part)
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Post by Nelly on Jan 24, 2017 13:54:42 GMT
14 Oscar Noms! Amazing! Loved this film a lot, have had all the music stuck in my head since I saw it a week ago.
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Post by CG on the loose on Jan 24, 2017 14:06:34 GMT
I enjoyed it... but 14 Oscar noms worth? Not sure I'd go that far!
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Post by welsh_tenor on Jan 24, 2017 14:08:11 GMT
14 Oscar Noms! Amazing! Loved this film a lot, have had all the music stuck in my head since I saw it a week ago. I loved this and also keep singing the themes! I can see it doing well and fingers crossed it's a clean sweep!
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Post by Nelly on Jan 24, 2017 14:09:01 GMT
I enjoyed ... but 14 Oscar noms worth? Not sure I'd go that far! Which would you remove? I think the only one I'm surprised at is the screenplay one.
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Post by CG on the loose on Jan 24, 2017 14:12:52 GMT
Good question... I haven't thought about it that deeply, and even if I had, I haven't seen enough of the other contenders to judge individual worthiness. I just didn't come out of the cinema feeling like it was a 'sweep the board' kind of film!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 14:30:15 GMT
One of the recurring musical themes sounded enough like the Godfather theme that I spent a fair bit of time trying to work out what they were implying with the Godfather referencing before realising that they were actually playing a cut back version of one of the La La Land tunes. So with that and the underwhelming vocals in mind, although it's fundamentally a musical, I'm not keen on it winning any of the music awards. And with the underwhelming vocals in mind, it's a flipping joke that it's got nominations for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 18:01:03 GMT
I enjoyed ... but 14 Oscar noms worth? Not sure I'd go that far! Which would you remove? I think the only one I'm surprised at is the screenplay one. I'd remove screenplay, sound mixing and sound editing. The sound in the first song was awful.
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Post by Nelly on Jan 24, 2017 18:03:45 GMT
Which would you remove? I think the only one I'm surprised at is the screenplay one. I'd remove screenplay, sound mixing and sound editing. The sound in the first song was awful. Think I can agree with that. I did find the vocals a bit low in the mix a lot.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 18:06:31 GMT
Nominations I'd be happy with it winning in bold, with the deserving winners of the others in brackets:
Best Picture (Moonlight) Best Director Best Actress (Natalie Portman - Jackie) Best Actor (Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea) Best Original Screenplay (Manchester By The Sea) Best Cinematography Best Film Editing Best Costume Design (Jackie) Best Original Score (Moonlight) Best Original Song (How Far I'll Go - Moana) Best Production Design Best Sound Editing (I don't really care but definitely not LLL) Best Sound Mixing (I don't really care but definitely not LLL)
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Post by distantcousin on Jan 24, 2017 18:28:03 GMT
Lots of my friends agreed with me on this one having something common with Once. Which is obviously the "I believe in you and will make you to believe in you, too", and the bittersweet ending, and a bit moody male character (I immediately imagined a stage version with Arthur Darvill playing that part) Another musical that I found pretty boring and washed over me for the most part...
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Post by Jon on Jan 24, 2017 18:28:55 GMT
I think most of the nominations are justified, I'm annoyed Amy Adams got snubbed for Meryl!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 18:38:08 GMT
I can't see how it got a nomination for costume design. Modern colourful clothes are hardly Oscar worthy.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 18:39:24 GMT
I loved the costumes, except the hideous baggy jumper Emma wears for her final audition. Not a patch on Jackie's costumes however.
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Post by poster J on Jan 24, 2017 19:40:38 GMT
I think most of the nominations are justified, I'm annoyed Amy Adams got snubbed for Meryl! I'm annoyed but not surprised, and when you put it in context it's also hilarious (as is Meryl's reaction!). That category was always going to have a "shock" omission even if Meryl hadn't been nominated according to all the critics as Taraji P Henson was also tipped for a nomination for Hidden Figures. I expect La La Land will win Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Production Design and Editing, and possibly Original Score and Best Actress (I think Huppert is more of a threat to Emma Stone in that category - Natalie Portman doesn't seem to have much momentum).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2017 19:45:10 GMT
I think most of the nominations are justified, I'm annoyed Amy Adams got snubbed for Meryl! (I think Huppert is more of a threat to Emma Stone in that category - Natalie Portman doesn't seem to have much momentum). It's hard to say at this point. Her movie doesn't (unfortunately, as it is an incredible film) but her performance has been raved about a lot. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't matter how good your performance is if they don't care about your film. So far we've had these winners from televised awards: Critics Choice: Natalie Portman Golden Globes (Comedy/Musical): Emma Stone Golden Globes (Drama): Isabelle Huppert Portman and Huppert have also split the awards from the critics groups. However, Stone is in the Best Picture frontrunner and is exactly the type of actress the Academy likes to award (under 30, never won before). She's easily the weakest of the three though, even if I did enjoy her performance.
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Post by madsonmelo on Jan 24, 2017 20:31:41 GMT
It will win 11 or 12 Oscars, it's not winning actor and has two songs at the same category, but I guess pic, director, actress, editing, cinematography, production design, costumes, score, song and both sound editing/mixing are in the bag. It will fight for screenplay to break the record and has a slight chance to lose sound editing to Hacksaw Ridge (but the voters don't know the difference so they will vote for LLL in both categories), but even losing in sound editing, I would be really surprised if the movie doesn't take, at least, 10 Oscars.
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Post by mistressjojo on Jan 25, 2017 2:05:20 GMT
Lots of my friends agreed with me on this one having something common with Once. Which is obviously the "I believe in you and will make you to believe in you, too", and the bittersweet ending, and a bit moody male character (I immediately imagined a stage version with Arthur Darvill playing that part)
Thank You! I was trying to tell my friends it reminded me of Once but they weren't having it! No imagination some people!
I imagine Arthur Darvill quite a bit....and sometimes on stage too.
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Post by Nicholas on Feb 2, 2017 4:14:41 GMT
Well I just thought this was absolutely blooming wonderful and I loved it to pieces. I’ve already seen it twice and heaven knows how often I’ve heard the soundtrack. It’s just such a wonderful piece of work, heartfelt, heartbreaking, honest. What makes La La Land work so well for so many people is yes, Jacques Demy’s clearly inspired a lot about this, and more crucially Gene Kelly’s ballets have clearly inspired a lot about this, but it’s not twee, it’s not tacky, it’s not reverential, it’s not pastiche. Through and through and through and through this is a Damian Chazelle movie – the product of a singular vision and extraordinary talent. It’s so crowd-pleasing because of how wonderfully individual it is.
It’s the most beautiful film I’ve seen in some time. Frankly it’s all I could think at moments (which isn’t to say the rest of it was lacking – I just thought it was so beautiful). Even in its most incidental moments of quiet conversation, the costumes are so elegant, the colours just that bit more vibrant, the shots so well framed – and in its least incidental moments, the glitz! The glamour! The colour! The life! Looked like a million dollars, whether looking into the stars themselves or Emma Stone’s eyes. What’s particularly wonderful is how it manages to make the most mundane moments so beautiful – a traffic jam, high-street clothing, a simple piano duet – and because the visual beauty comes from these moments, moments mostly based in believable character, the beauty actually matters, the beauty actually means something, and that makes the less beautiful moments hurt, and the more beautiful moments even more beautiful. With its own visual identity too – I didn’t feel it was references galore, I felt it was Chazelle’s vision infused with influences. Truly beautiful.
But after that – which is impossible to get over (when you think it can’t look more lovely they only bloody go to space! It takes real chutzpah to get away with that sincerely, and this absolutely did) – I think, like with his Whiplash (which I also loved) and Guy and Madeline (which is fully of fun and hugely enjoyable in its own way), Chazelle makes films which use music as much as a starting point for uncompromising arguments about reality. Whiplash had a more complex argument – that of how far is too far, that of what makes a genius a genius, that of how tight is too tight a T-shirt for JK Simmons – but I don’t think La La Land is any less serious about its music or its characters or its reality either. Chazelle doesn’t skimp on the realities of compromise. I don’t think literature students will be pouring over essays about it, true, but I think what’s made it hit such a nerve is it’s not just lovely – it’s realistic too. It’s willing to make its characters professional failures and live difficultly, it’s willing to depict the reality of paying the rent and working hard for what you love. It’s got that ending too. It has bittersweetness, it has melancholy, it has a real edge when it comes down to it. But it’s tempered with such absolute loveliness, such love for its characters (and such beauty, did I mention its beauty?) that it’s sweet, it’s lovely, it’s life-affirming, it’s honest, it’s wonderful. And they’re just great. Gosling channels Brando in Guys and Dolls in his singing but that’s no bad thing when he’s as committed as he is here – I also can’t get my head around the criticism of his character because of how wonderfully deadpan and self-mocking he plays it, more like Brando meets Buster Keaton. But it’s Stone’s movie. It’s Stone who’s got the raw honesty and physicality of a young Brando. She’s got that rare gift of being able to honestly show two emotions at once, or to outwardly hide an emotion but communicate her feelings somehow. She’d dance away with the movie, were it not that their chemistry is so strong it’s a beautiful double act. It’s not Fred and Ginger, but it’s Stone and Gosling, and thank goodness for that. It's an unsentimental delight, a great film from a great writer/director, and I think it's absolutely brilliant.
Extra points, too, for an extra pointy JK Simmons.
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Post by rumbledoll on Feb 2, 2017 20:00:39 GMT
Great review, Nicholas! Makes me wanna see it again! And again.. I absolutely adored it and at times it felt like it was shot just for me alone so much it brought home and rang true about in my own view of life. They certainly don't make films like this anymore! Maybe that's why it's so joyful. It has everything my cinema-loving soul can ever wish for.
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Post by Dave25 on Feb 2, 2017 23:42:22 GMT
Wonderful review Nicholas. That's very well written and exactly how I felt.
This film is sheer beauty and sheer tragedy, and the beauty lies in many different things.
There are just too many moments to mention.
It's just that this film clicked with me in so many ways, I recognized the view of the director in almost every scene, as how I see life. Even the first scene got me teary-eyed, because of the positive feel created in a silly thing like a traffic jam. I also think this film is a great homage to the struggling actor (artist), I completely recognize the struggle Mia goes through, the fight, the strange feeling at parties, like it feels as if you don't belong, like everyone around you is moving in slowmotion (brilliant scene, so simple and yet so effective), to the way casting directors treat you, the impossible situations at castings, side-jobs with people who don't care, people in the business bragging about how successful they surely will be, to hearing the technicians/stage guys speaking about her in a very disrespectful way about her solo performance (that she should shoot herself), really, I have heard things like that that happen. many times. Then the struggle to convince herself to go on or to quit the business. And all the little moments in between, such as her roommates/girlfriends attending her performance as one of the few people there and clapping really hard to encourage her, to the moments that just convey a feel/emotion, such as the walk on the pier and the evening dance in the hills.
Now, the other story line is so wonderful too in my opinion because it is anything but cliche. Sometimes you meet people in your life that you are fond of, and you share something amazing with, but that does not necessarily mean you should end up in a relationship whatsoever. There are more ways in life to be fond of someone. We can only guess what happened in those 5 years and why she had a child with the other guy, but in the end, what I saw in that final scene were 2 people who hold a very special place in their heart for eachother, both fully understanding and respecting eachothers journey. Respecting eachother for life. There is more to life than meeting someone and staying together forever.
This whole film is nothing like the montage at the end, and yet it makes it even more beautiful to show it and make yourself question what life is really about. This film is very tragic and very beautiful.
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