filmlover

Won tickets to see an advance screening for this tonight after eagerly anticipating it for months on end, and it completely lives up to the hype. Damien Chazelle has expanded on the promise he showed with Whiplash here, and in a way, La La Land feels like a natural follow-up with its themes of ambition. The movie is a marriage of color (the movie is a cinematography lover's wet dream), song, and fantasy that serves as a magical love letter to both Los Angeles and a time when Hollywood made movies they seldom do anymore while also very much creating a new classic of its own. This is very much a two-hander between Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, and both actors are more than up to the challenge and deliver bonafide "movie star" performances that make Sebastian and Mia one of the more endearing movie couples in history. These two have so much chemistry with each other that it should be written into their contracts that they appear together in every movie they sign on for going forward. Gosling, continuing to show off his considerable charisma that has been mostly suppressed by the stoic parts he's taken on for the better part of the last several years, has probably never been better and proves surprisingly capable of carrying a tune. But the heart of La La Land is Stone, who has been a favorite of mine for years now, who gives Mia the vulnerability and likability that makes her easy to root for. The actress has never been more luminescent, and her final number ("Audition") recalls Jennifer Hudson's "And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going" in Dreamgirls and Anne Hathaway's "I Dreamed a Dream" in Les Miserables in that this could very well be her ticket to an Oscar. This is a total crowdpleaser that will make all of the money, and I will definitely be seeing it at some point again over the holidays. A

Saw an advance screening of La La Land tonight and have zero problem with it winning Best Picture whatsoever. Currently my #2 of the year behind Manchester by the Sea. Kinda funny, just two months ago Love & Friendship was my #1 film of the year since seeing it in May and now it's all the way down to #5.

A Arrival La La Land Love & Friendship Manchester by the Sea Moonlight A- The Edge of Seventeen Eye in the Sky Finding Dory Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water Moana Zootopia B+ 10 Cloverfield Lane Bridget Jones's Baby Captain America: Civil War Deadpool Doctor Strange Don't Breathe Everybody Wants Some!! Ghostbusters Hello, My Name is Doris The Jungle Book The Nice Guys Nocturnal Animals Sausage Party B Bad Moms Central Intelligence Deepwater Horizon Eddie the Eagle Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them How to Be Single Kung Fu Panda 3 Me Before You Money Monster The Secret Life of Pets The Shallows Star Trek Beyond Sully B- Allied Florence Foster Jenkins Jason Bourne The Magnificent Seven Nerve Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping War Dogs Whiskey Tango Foxtrot X-Men: Apocalypse C+ 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi The Accountant The Boss The Girl on the Train Hail, Caesar! The Legend of Tarzan Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Swiss Army Man C Alice Through the Looking Glass Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Snowden Triple 9 C- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Now You See Me 2 D+ Suicide Squad D Independence Day: Resurgence Next Collateral Beauty (December 16) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (December 16) Passengers (December 21) Sing (December 21) Why Him? (December 23) Fences (December 25)

To quote God Shannon: it's time for the urn.

Even Satan himself will be charmed by this movie.

Even @Grand Moff Tele and @Christmas Baumer will find themselves submissive to this movie's infectious charm. Holy moly.

Screening just ended. This movie. It's blasting past $100M with ease. This is a movie we'll still be talking about in 30 years, people.

His appearance is gonna hurt him in the long run when he begins aging and it begins to show.

Now up to 30 people waiting in line with 100 minutes to go. This is so exciting.

Or Trump? Build the wall, remember?

I just arrived at the theater in hopes of getting a good seat. Popcorn for dinner, anyone?

I will see this even if it gets a 0% RT score just because I saw them filming close by lmao.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson should really play nothing but creeps forever after Nocturnal Animals.

Already topped $100K in advance sales at the Archlight alone. Coming to kick ass and take names. http://deadline.com/2016/12/office-christmas-party-la-la-land-moana-weekend-box-office-1201865842/

24 theaters. The movie is not expected to be a major awards player so perhaps they figured it was best to hit the big cities first and then go everywhere else after the holiday madness ended.

I just went to check the website for Hidden Figures and it's opening at both the Cinemark Palace and Aventura Mall on Christmas Day. Looks like it won't be that limited and will be opening exclusively in metropolitan areas first. Yet another movie I need to catch over the Christmas holidays lol.

Where's it opening other than NY/LA? Link?

I wish Universal was giving Split a qualifying run for future Best Actress winner James McAvoy.

The book series is more akin to something like Narnia (aka there's really only one book that everyone knows about or has read and the others just exist) than to something with a truly passionate following like Twilight did (plus the first Twilight movie found a bigger following on DVD while Fifty Shades had a gimmick- "the dirty sex book has been made into a movie"- which won't apply to the sequel). Sex and the City 2 is a better comparison.

To be fair, Christmas Weekend this year has: Assassin's Creed Fences La La Land (going wide) Passengers Sing Why Him? That's 6 wide releases so it's still a lot, just looks more manageable than usual.

Patriots Day will also be opening in Boston (shocking, I know) in addition to NY/LA.

The first movie actually had some really well-edited trailers, this just looks so boring.