La La Land

It's Oscar season again!!

And with most years, it seems that I miss out on movies that get nominated for everything when they were originally in the movies. Then La La Land got nominated for everything and I got a second chance! So I'm pulling a Stoplight and a Revenant on this one. My theater got it back, and here I am watching it. Cause a friend told me to. Also I had nothing better to do. I'm procrastinating aren't I?

Yes, let's get the obvious out of the way...I don't really like musicals. It's not that I hate musicals, there are some, like West Side Story and Wizard of Oz, that do have a special place in my heart. But I hate what makes a musical a musical. I hate that suddenly everyone on screen knows exactly what's going on...they're having a serious conversation one second and the next everyone's dancing around like this is an everyday routine. You can't keep a suspension of disbelief when you're watching a musical...you KNOW this has been choreographed, and it's annoying. That's why I never saw La La Land before now.

I knew that Whiplash director Damien Chazelle was behind it. I knew that Ryan Gosling, one of my favorite actors in Hollywood right now, was in it, AND starring with Emma Stone, a gorgeous guilty pleasure of mine. But the singing and the dancing just kept me away. Then the award nominations came out...and the peer pressure, and I finally caved. So what the hell is the buzz all about?

Well, La La Land is pretty much a typical loverbird story. A boy and a girl who both have differing dreams find each other and fall in love. But as one begins their dream and the other seems to fall behind, they start to find cracks in their relationship and wonder if there's any chance of reprimanding it. Wrap that up in some nice jazz and such and you've got the basic plot of the whole film.

So after I gave that half-assed attempt at a summarization and the ragging on musicals in general, it must mean I hated it, right? You'd be absolutely fucking wrong. La La Land was a surprise, a nice surprise, that I really was not expecting at all. And the music wasn't even the worst part of it.

Let's start off with how the movie looks. Damien, my man, don't stop what you're doing. You managed to hit the 40s-70s pop aesthetic just right that it didn't seem too overbearing but you still saw the colors right where you wanted to see them. Everything just popped right out of the screen and literally had generous coitus with my eyes. I loved looking at this movie and I'd watch it on mute if I could.

Next, the acting. Absolutely superb, every single casting choice, from the big names like Gosling and Stone, to the small parts like J.K. Simmons. I started to fall in love with these characters way more than I should have. And when the movie ended...and I just...fuck, no spoilers...

And the music is so jazzy and gorgeous and the story is so solidly done and fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I love this movie. Absolutely amazing, such a superb surprise. Everything is fantastic. I'm sorry I doubted this movie...forgive me please. No beating around the bush, 9.8/10 stars. That's all I can say. It deserves everything it gets.