Movies

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

I've never watched "Chicago" and I'll probably never watch "La La Land" unless someone convinces me it's worth watching by people who don't like musicals.

 

[TS9]

Not even the best Emma.

Well it's not like I'd turn either one of them down.

 

[DukeNukem05]

I've never watched "Chicago" and I'll probably never watch "La La Land" unless someone convinces me it's worth watching by people who don't like musicals.

I'll wait for your recommendation.

 

[deepdarkblue]

I've never watched "Chicago" and I'll probably never watch "La La Land" unless someone convinces me it's worth watching by people who don't like musicals.

I'll wait for your recommendation.

After the two of you reach a consensus on it's excellence, I'll jump right in.

 

[dkst0426]

I've never watched "Chicago" and I'll probably never watch "La La Land" unless someone convinces me it's worth watching by people who don't like musicals.

I don't, and I wasn't impressed. Doesn't help that I don't like that jazzy style either.

"Loving" was good, and having only seen Ruth Negga in tv series based on comics, I was really impressed by her. That being said, I thought that a case this significant in US civil rights history deserved a more rousing retelling. Maybe it was in keeping with how humble the couple was in real life, I guess.

 

[rome8180]

Certain musicals are really cheesy and stupid. Overall, I love the idea of combining music and story. And I like the level of composition that you see in many musicals. The writing is far more sophisticated then you find in contemporary pop music, except in the cases of things like that terrible song from Frozen or all of Moulin Rouge (where it's just cover songs).

My favorite musicals are ones that circumvent the cheesiness by either being tongue in cheek -- like Little Shop of Horrors or Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog -- or updating the form radically, like Hamilton. The latter is my all-time favorite musical, even though I've never seen it staged. But I listen to the soundtrack obsessively.

 

[dkst0426]

I'm not super-impressed by Emma Stone in La La Land, but based on hype and award shows, she looks like the prohibitive Best Actress favorite. I still think Amy Adams should've been nominated and would've been my favorite.

I say that as a preface to chime in that Natalie Portman was fantastic as Jackie Kennedy. Quite a different angle on past depictions of that time in history.

 

[Topher]

Man, I thought La La Land was great. City of Stars is a truly wonderful song.

 

[TS9]

FWIW, I fucking despise musicals and I'm indifferent about jazz (which actually turns out to be as in the background as it can get for a movie with a jazz pianist as a main character).

For the most part, the traditional "musical" aspects of La La Land occur early and late – there are huge swaths in the middle when it's just a movie with music in it. But it's not particularly dorky about any of it, and the faux-single-shot opening number is pretty impressive.

I thought Stone and Gosling were great together (and I'm admittedly a sucker for well-done romantic movies), but I agree that Stone's performance perhaps isn't quite worthy of all the awards she's going to rack up. But, like Birdman, La La Land is a big old love letter to actors and Hollywood, so obviously Hollywood is going to over-honor it.

Apparently La La Land was influenced to some degree by That Thing You Do!, to the point that there's a major That Thing You Do! cameo. For those reasons alone, I refuse to be too critical of it.

 

[JohaadDBC]

I love That Thing You Do!. I initially watched it because Adam Schlesinger did a lot of the music for it, and I love his stuff. But that's a really fun movie and never seems to get old. Now I'm curious about La La Land.

 

[TS9]

La La Land is far from That Thing You Do! Part 2, but there are definitely similarities in tone and spirit. And some overlapping themes about stardom vs. artistry, etc.

 

[dkst0426]

Denzel Washington was simply incredible in Fences. I've got to consider him a frontrunner for that performance.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

John Wick 2 is at 97% on RottenTomatoes. The Lego Batman Movie is at 98%. Probably going to see both in theaters.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

John Wick 2 has settled in at 90%. This will be a fantastic use of 2 hours and $50.

 

[DukeNukem05]

I finally watched John Wick (1) this week. Looking forward to what the extra 5% brings in number 2.

 

[NOD]

Finally gave in and watched 'Gleason' tonight.

Can't stop crying.

 

[Rollins]

watched nocturnal animals.

good acting but the ending was underwhelming. can't say i think amy adams is aging greatly

 

[physicsfactor]

Agree about Nocturnal Animals. When it ended, my reaction was basically "Ok..."

 

[ZackM]

I watched The Nice Guys last night. I enjoyed it.

 

[physicsfactor]

I finally got around to The Invitation. Man, that was good.