Movie Review - La La Land

MegaSoulhero Well it's April 25th which means La La Land is now on DVD and Blu Ray. Also, according to the internet, the people over in Los Angeles decided to make today La La Land Day. I'm not kidding. I really hate when people give movies their own holiday. It doesn't make sense. Even Star Wars Day doesn't make sense to me. I get that May the 4th is a play on May the Force but still. Anyway, La La Land was a movie that I had no interest in seeing. But when I saw that it was nominated for Best Picture, I decided to give it a watch. And I must say, I loved it!

I might get some hate for this but I truly think this is an excellent movie! It's about an aspiring actress named Mia, played by Emma Stone, who meets a jazz pianist named Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling. They're both struggling in achieving their goals. While they go chasing after their dreams, they end up falling in love in the style of a musical. And this is definitely a great musical! The movie is directed by Damien Chazelle who directed the 2014 film, Whiplash. It was an amazing movie and to be honest, I like La La Land a lot more than I like Whiplash. La La Land is definitely a perfect homage to classic musicals! It kind of reminds me of Singin' in the Rain a little bit. I'm not saying it's as good as Singin' in the Rain, but it's close. There are also references to other classic Hollywood movies. Even though it's a modern musical, it doesn't entirely feel like one. The characters in this film are very relatable. They both want have a dream of being successful and try very hard to accomplish their goals. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling give excellent performances. They actually feel like they are really in love. Unlike a certain couple in a more recent musical. Sorry, I promise I won't bring that up again. Gosling learned to play the piano specifically for this film. And he does a really great job! I also play the piano by the way. Stone's acting in this is very incredible! Although, her singing voice isn't really that great. But I'm glad they just had her do her own singing instead of relying on auto tune or dubbing her voice.

There's a total of 7 songs in the movie. My favorite song in the film is City of Stars, which won an Oscar. But if I had to choose a favorite musical number, it would be Another Day of Sun. That entire beginning scene was enough to get my attention! It's a very strong and very well choreographed number that pretty much comes out of nowhere but is a very strong way to start the movie! And the best thing about is that it looks like one continuous shot! Throughout the whole scene I was waiting for an obvious jump cut to happen, but I couldn't find one. It's edited in a way to make it look like it was done in one take! And the camera work is brilliant! The cinematography in this movie looks fantastic! Not gonna lie, this is some of the best cinematography I've seen in a film. The scenery is amazing! It really makes it feel like I'm watching a musical from the 50s! Justin Hurwitz is such an excellent composer and his musical score is perfect! There's this whole montage scene at the end, which I won't talk too much about, but it is a very creative montage. And the way the entire movie ends isn't a 100% happy ending, but still a great way to end the film.

I'm just gonna say it. La La Land should've won Best Picture. I know people are going to hate me for this since I know how much La La Land is hated on this site, but for me, this was the best movie to come out in 2016. This shows that Damien Chazelle has a great appreciation for musicals. I guess I can understand why there are people out there who didn't like it. It's not a perfect movie but it just has this sort of charm that really stood out for me. People have different opinions about the movie but in my opinion, this is one of the best musical films.

Score: 10/10

Comments

Great review, it just shows how you can see the same movie and see it from a positive or negative light. I enjoyed seeing this different perspective which was contrary to my own. - DCfnaf

Such a good movie. Best Musical Ever. Chazelle is such a good director, the best of this decade so far. I cannot wait for First Man, he will unleash more incredible filmmaking and good attributes to the audience. Ryan Gosling is a great actor, while I like Emma Stone, she was so good and would have been much better than Emma Watson. A very overhated movie, really don't know why. - iliekpiez