La La Land

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
It must be December because finally a great movie comes along

We saw this movie on opening night and played to a full house in the middle of a rain storm.

Simply put, for me this so far is the Best Movie I have seen this year (with Moonlight a close second)

Written and Directed by the brilliant 33yo Damien Chazelle who at the age of 30 directed Whiplash one of my favorite movies that year

Rated high by MRQE.com at 86%

The story of Mia, an aspiring actress, and Sebastian, a dedicated jazz musician, struggling to make ends meet while pursuing their dreams in a city known for destroying hopes and breaking hearts. With modern day Los Angeles as the backdrop, this musical about everyday life explores what is more important: a once-in-a-lifetime love or the spotlight.

Release date: December 9, 2016 (USA)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Budget: 30 million USD
Featured songs: City of Stars, Audition
Producers: Marc Platt, Jordan Horowitz, Fred Berger, Gary Gilbert

The movie isn't great but yet we loved it

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were absolutely fabulous and so far this year for what I've seen Emma Stone would be my winner of the Oscar for Best Actress but still many more good ones to see before the end of the year

This movie is not only going to be nominated for many awards but it is going to walk away with many awards

Best Picture
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay

The story is beautiful to watch these two young actors and both striving for the limelight at the cost of a great love

The ending is absolutely superb and will leave a lump in your throat. One of the best movies I have seen in years


Not to be missed if you want to see a wonderful PG-13 film that will have you leaving the theater smiling

Bravo. I predict this to win the Oscar for Best Picture

Here is a good review...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/movie...ain-5-stars/story-tzqmp0Sd13eqJnhd5PnGYK.html

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/en...izzying-la-la-land-years-best-movie/95470826/


 

KeithR

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great review. yeah, my friends said last week its a solid 8. that said, the subject material certainly lends itself to winning best picture. Manchester by Sea seems a bit higher rated by critics so should be interesting.

looking forward to seeing La La Land, Manchester by Sea, and Fences over the next two weeks
 

still-one

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Looking forward to seeing "LA LA Land" soon. I am sure that it will leave us in a better frame of mind than "Manchester By The Sea" which I posted elsewhere was very disappointing even with some good acting parts.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I am seeing Manchester this weekend but La La Land is so uniquely different that I just can't see it losing as Best Picture. The last film I saw that gave me the same feeling was The Artist from 2012 when it too won Best Picture
 

still-one

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I am seeing Manchester this weekend but La La Land is so uniquely different that I just can't see it losing as Best Picture. The last film I saw that gave me the same feeling was The Artist from 2012 when it too won Best Picture

There are a few others coming out between now and early January that could be good. Collateral Beauty, Hidden Figures, and Fences.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
There are a few others coming out between now and early January that could be good. Collateral Beauty, Hidden Figures, and Fences.

Collateral Beauty looked interesting to me as well. Checking on MRQE.com it got a resounding 36%
 

NorthStar

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I'm motivated. I'm gathering info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Chazelle ? This young film director/screenwriter went to Harvard.

'Whiplash' (2014) I really liked...with J.K. Simmons.

* 'La La Land' is a cool title. Emma (Stone) and Ryan (Gosling, and Reynolds too) I like; J.K. Simmons I like even more.
You guys also mentioned 'Manchester by the Sea' ... that one too I'm motivated.

But 'La La Land' is the main "musical" of this thread. The young director is interesting from his previous work.
The movie critics are enthralled with 'La La Land', in vast general.
The theatrical release is limited, not playing in my area. But 'Nocturnal Animals', yes.

The best is yet to come ... :b I love movies.
 

853guy

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Aug 14, 2013
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Warning: Opinion alert.

I’m really on the fence about seeing this.

On the one hand… I bet my wife would love it, and the reviews and awards-buzz are deafening. I like Gosling, and I like Stone.

On the other hand… Damien Chazelle.

I hated Whiplash. As a musician, and especially, as a drummer, not a second of it rang true. When the musical notions of sensitivity, touch, imagination, expression, creativity and collaboration are replaced with the self-referential narcissism of the idea of the drummer as body builder (louder, harder, faster), you’ve lost me (aside from the bloody calluses, and even then, they were gratuitously overexploited). And as a movie-lover, Chazelle’s command of character and story is defined by much of what we’ve witnessed in the ascension of the DJ as the arbiter of taste in popular culture.

Whiplash, to me, was essentially David Fincher’s Mark Zuckerberg character (gifted obsessive, awkward and intense with girls - the scenes of Miles Teller’s date are dead ringers for the opening scenes/character arc of The Social Network) squeezed into the first six minutes of Full Metal Jacket in which the plot revolves around a young novice driven to suicide (Simmonds, for all the intensity of his performance is R. Lee Emery’s Drill Instructor Hartmann given a jazz makeover). Of course, that premise in-and-of-itself isn’t actually sustainable over 90 minutes, so we get an extended remix in which the constituent character/narrative arcs are stretched beyond the limits of plausibility.

The problem with a premise that can’t sustain itself beyond the time it takes to articulate it, is that you need to fill it with stuff to convince the audience there’s something worth watching. So we get a lot of intensity (Teller’s approach to his kit, Simmond’s approach to his students), one-dimensional character motivations that are designed only to meet narrative beats (Teller’s perfectionism ala Buddy Rich (a showman but no musician), Simmond’s repressed rage/guilt), and contrivances that defy narrative integrity (a well-timed car crash following a convenient car rental, a third act drum solo finale - ala Silver Lining Playbook - that tries to offer us a climax to distract us from the reality that these characters would never be permitted to perform under the circumstances, let alone win everyone over).

Like a lot of crushed-to-hell in mastering remixes, when a character’s motivation doesn’t extend beyond the surface mechanics of the plot, we end up with a narrative arc that’s dynamically compressed and a bunch of characters responding in kind by turning themselves up to 11. In the attempt to avoid cliche, we’re left with instead with caricature; instead of artistry, we’re left with artifice.

It’s clear Chazelle is talented. But giving us convincing characters and narrative integrity that don’t merely recycle pre-loved tropes via cinematic eye-candy in the casting of Gosling and Stone reprising their roles from Crazy, Stupid, Love and re-enact the doomed romance from Whipash; and literal allusions to Singin’ in the Rain, Rebel Without a Cause, An American in Paris, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Swing Time, Top Hat, Sweet Charity, Broadway Melody, Sleeping Beauty, Funny Face and The Red Balloon?

Like the other DJ masquerading as auteur, JJ Abram’s cloying and uninventive remake of IV: A New Hope entitled The Force Awakens, offered us nothing we'd not already seen before, and the fact is, no amount of remixing can disguise it.

But y'know, opinion being what it is - especially one from someone who has only watched the trailer - mine's not worth much more than the effort it took to type this.
 

NorthStar

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Feb 8, 2011
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Great post, and J.K. Simmons is a terrific actor. 'Whiplash' is a science-fiction film, it's a great film for that. It's a way of speech of course, it ain't no sci-fi; only to say that if J.K. Simmons was my drum teacher, I would have fired him as soon as he stepped out of bound. In real life he would be sued and jailed, from a cell phone video posted on youtube. The young director exploited (abusive music teacher) that aspect of pushing overboard. ...A great performance by J.K. Simmons who made 'Whiplash' what it is. And the last scene was cool; the solo drum recording...just the sound, for the fun of it.

* I've yet to see La La Land, then I'll be commenting in greater depth.

I'm in a Christmas spirit. :b
______

You mentioned David Fincher's "The Social Network", and Facebook's grand daddy founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
Today Facebook is the world's largest multi billion dollar social media industry, and it's great! It is so great that everyone's having fun with Fake news.
Yeah, you can make good money @ it, and some people would believe any title they read without checking the rest. It has become a dangerous zone, one that was supposed to be about families and friends... A bit like Twitter and CNN shoveling down our throats their diseases. Lol this is a crazy world we have become, and the Russians and the Chinese and the Spaniards and the Irish and the British and the French looking @ us in the Americas like a bunch of zombie slaves. :D


'La La Land' ... I like that title, a lot.
______

Bonus:



http://mfm.by/en/y-gallery/падзея-9/ :cool:
 
Last edited:

853guy

Active Member
Aug 14, 2013
1,161
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38
Great post, and J.K. Simmons is a terrific actor. 'Whiplash' is a science-fiction film, it's a great film for that. It's a way of speech of course, it ain't no sci-fi; only to say that if J.K. Simmons was my drum teacher, I would have fired him as soon as he stepped out of bound. In real life he would be sued and jailed, from a cell phone video posted on youtube. The young director exploited (abusive music teacher) that aspect of pushing overboard. ...A great performance by J.K. Simmons who made 'Whiplash' what it is. And the last scene was cool; the solo drum recording...just the sound, for the fun of it.

* I've yet to see La La Land, then I'll be commenting in greater depth.

I'm in a Christmas spirit. :b
______

You mentioned David Fincher's "The Social Network", and Facebook's grand daddy founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
Today Facebook is the world's largest multi billion dollar social media industry, and it's great! It is so great that everyone's having fun with Fake news.
Yeah, you can make good money @ it, and some people would believe any title they read without checking the rest. It has become a dangerous zone, one that was supposed to be about families and friends... A bit like Twitter and CNN shoveling down our throats their diseases. Lol this is a crazy world we have become, and the Russians and the Chinese and the Spaniards and the Irish and the British and the French looking @ us in the Americas like a bunch of zombie slaves. :D

Hi Northstar,

Yeah, I mean as an exercise in pushing things overboard in the name of exploitation it works really well, as you say. As to Facebook, I think I am one of the few living members of the human race who is not on Facebook. Or Instagram. Or Twitter. Or Snapchat. But that’s hardly surprising when you consider I have Ebay alerts looking out for Nakamichi CR-7A’s. I mean, who in their right mind wants a big, black cassette deck in the age of the digital server? Me. I do.

Steve Williams said:
Personally I think Damien Chazelle is a gifted director with great vision. I loved Whiplash and I liked La La Land even more

Hi Steve,

I think that’s what I find quite frustrating. I think he’s very gifted. Some of the sequences of Whiplash are so well choreographed from a composition/framing/editing point of view, it’s clear to me he really understands how to stage action and tell a story visually (I do think Tom Cross was very deserving of Best Editor that year). And from the raves La La Land is getting for its opening sequence, it certainly suggests a director whose vision is ambitious. But the story of Whiplash itself, and especially the characterisation, still feel secondary to the surface pleasures Chazelle concerns himself with as a director, and the conveniences of Gosling and Stone’s characters here don’t especially inspire hope in me he’s matured as a writer. Perhaps he’s the sort of filmmaker that’s going to be best working on material of which he is not the originator, or at least, decides to allow someone more proficient in story/character dynamics to assist in the shaping.

This, from someone who went to film school and dropped out. So that probably tells you everything you need to know.
 

still-one

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We are a couple of weeks behind on seeing new movie releases due to my wife having slipped on black ice and breaking her wrist. Headed out today to finally see La La Land. I enjoyed it, my wife wasn't impressed and my sister-in-law disliked it. I liked to directors vision and the way he mixed "old studio spectacular" with the new. If you watched this movie a couple of times you would probably pick-up new nuances with each viewing.

As Steve mentioned earlier this is not like any movie you have seen in a while and that does make it special similar to "The Artist". It is not a genre you want to see often but when done correctly, a. lot of fun.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
We are a couple of weeks behind on seeing new movie releases due to my wife having slipped on black ice and breaking her wrist. Headed out today to finally see La La Land. I enjoyed it, my wife wasn't impressed and my sister-in-law disliked it. I liked to directors vision and the way he mixed "old studio spectacular" with the new. If you watched this movie a couple of times you would probably pick-up new nuances with each viewing.

As Steve mentioned earlier this is not like any movie you have seen in a while and that does make it special similar to "The Artist". It is not a genre you want to see often but when done correctly, a. lot of fun.


For me it's Best Picture (so far)-- a few more to see
 

YashN

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Jun 28, 2015
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As a musician, and especially, as a drummer, not a second of it rang true. When the musical notions of sensitivity, touch, imagination, expression, creativity and collaboration are replaced with the self-referential narcissism of the idea of the drummer as body builder (louder, harder, faster), you’ve lost me (aside from the bloody calluses, and even then, they were gratuitously overexploited).

I viewed the second as a way to ensure consistency in performances during important events, so it doesn't preclude the musical notions you refer to.

I loved Whiplash, although I am not a fan of this type of music. I was able to tell exactly whether he was lagging or leading in each sequence too. Much fun.

I think the movie can help people appreciate the drumming nuances of that type of music as well. I sure did after watching the movie.
 

marty

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For me it's Best Picture (so far)-- a few more to see

Totally agree. I saw it at the Telluride film festival last September and knew, as did a pretty savvy audience right away, that it was something special. If Manchester wins best pic over this, I'll plotz. I fell asleep 3 times during Manchester, and although it was an interesting character study, La La Land is in a different league. Manchester has you reaching for prozac. La La Land has you reaching for champagne to celebrate this joyous, inventive piece of filmaking. I certainly have new respect for Gosling and Stone., although I am curious as to exactly how much piano Gosling played himself. As far as "dark" movies that are hard to watch, I thought Moonlight was actually much better than Manchester.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Moonlight is my number 2 so far this year. Cathy found it difficult to watch

So far IMO Emma Stone is Oscar Winner Best Actress. She was mesmerizing

Ryan Gosling was terrific as well but as Martty questions, how much piano did he play himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he played it all as IIRC he was a musketeer way back when in the Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera era and they all had a lot of talent

La La Land as Marty says makes you feel joyous. I have yet to see better this year and I will also say that so far Damien Chazelle gets my vote for Best Director
 

marty

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BTW, if you want to see an excellent film that nobody ever heard of, do try and see "Hell or High Water". It opened in wide release in August and may have generated about $200 bucks in sales, so it went to video quickly. It's really a very good, enjoyable movie. Chris Pine is outstanding but will be overlooked for an Oscar nod. However, I think Jeff Bridges will get nominated as best supporting actor for his iconic role as the Texas Ranger who pursues the bank robbers.
 

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