LA LA LAND Review

What is worth more? Where does ambition measure when compared to reflection? Or...how does one know when to quit? When that ambition outweighs or cannot be met by the pure skill or natural talent possessed? La La Land is a movie about Hollywood and the Hollywood system and how it all flows in and out of making and breaking stars, but La La Land is also a movie about dreams and the ugly side of those dreams no one likes to talk about when they tell you to chase them-compromise. Compromise is what must be obtained if one is hoping to have their cake and eat it too. There is compromise in life no matter what professional or personal route one may choose to take, but when dreams are big enough to take you around the world and on extended stays in places away from home that require long or odd hours such as, say, when someone is a musician or film actor-compromises are unavoidable and typically made by the half of the relationship not actively participating in such a career. With La La Land director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) follows up his Academy Award-nominated feature debut with an out and out musical in the vein of those golden age Hollywood musicals from the forties and early fifties that personified stardom, celebrity, and a certain type of lifestyle most could only hope to obtain. This goes well with the plight of the story as we follow two young aspiring artists-the girl an actress and the guy a jazz pianist-as they navigate modern Los Angeles in hopes of achieving their dreams even if the odds seem stacked against them and despite their closest friends and family not exactly holding out hope for success to find them. The standard structure of boy meets girl combined with that of a few song and dance numbers that pay homage to those aforementioned golden days of Hollywood aren't enough for Chazelle though. The writer/director isn't simply looking to recreate images and feelings afforded him during his youth as he watched Gene Kelly dance across the screen, but more he is interested in exploring the consequences of having such aspirations; the dark side of fame that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with addiction or other harmful habit forming activities, but more with the decisions such individuals have to make without knowing the answer as to what they'll regret more twenty years down the road. Can I be the person I want with the person I want? Is it worth more to make a life as I so desire or with the one I desire? La La Land doesn't prescribe to know the answers to these heavy questions, but its musings on the subject are infectious and reaffirming in that they capture the struggle one in a handful experiencing the film will have come face to face with at some point in their past.

Teaser Trailer for LA LA LAND Starring Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone

It's a little ironic that we've received the first trailer for director Damien Chazelle's follow-up to Whiplash on the week it was originally scheduled to open. La La Land was and still is my most anticipated film of the year so it only hurt when distributor Summit Entertainment pushed it from the middle of summer to a more awards friendly December release date, but at least they finally gave us something. For me, Chazelle directed what might be one of the best movies of the past fifteen years with his 2014 feature debut and whatever it was the thirty-one year old director chose to do next there was sure to be a great amount of anticipation around it. Working again from an original screenplay that he penned La La Land tells the simple story of a jazz pianist who falls for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles-the catch is that Chazelle and stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone will be conveying this love story via musical. Taken from a screenplay Chazelle wrote before writing and directing Whiplash, this first trailer for his sophomore effort very much elicits the magic and music of old Hollywood that feels both inherent to the story and supremely executed. While it was originally planned for Miles Teller to reunite with his Whiplash director, that the lead male role eventually went to Gosling seems more of a perfect fit as Gosling is already a singer and musician on his own terms and that Chazelle and Summit have chosen to set the first footage audiences will see to a song sung by the actor can only suggest they made the change for the better. It doesn't hurt that Gosling and Stone have magnetic chemistry together as has been displayed in their two previous films together (Crazy Stupid Love, Gangster Squad). I was in from the get-go and after seeing how lush the visuals are and how keenly Chazelle has seemed to capture what I can only imagine he was going for I'm only all the more excited for Oscar season to arrive. La La Land also stars J.K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock, Rosemarie DeWitt, John Legend, Jason Fuchs, Callie Hernandez, Sonoya Mizuno, Jessica Rothe, Tom Everett Scott, Josh Pence, and will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 31st before opening in NY and LA on December 2nd, in limited release on December 9th, and wide on December 16th.

DRAFT DAY Review

Since first catching a glimpse of the trailers for Draft Day a few months back I pretty much dismissed it as the least in a line of attempts by Kevin Costner this year to prove he still had the ability to anchor a film. While he's made a notable contribution in what many would agree were the best moments in last summers Man of Steel he has since not been able to really anchor a box office success where he was closer to the forefront of the action and the marketing. It is unlikely we will see another incarnation of Chris Pine's Jack Ryan where Costner served as a strong crutch and Three Days to Kill was more or less Costner trying to prove he could be Liam Neeson if people wanted him to be and while that flick likely turned a better profit than it will ever receive credit for (and has still yet to open overseas) audiences still seemed to be on shaky ground as to whether Costner is still that "face on the poster" kind of star that could usher a film into general audience favor and while the outcome of Draft Day's box office run will likely be mediocore at best it is at least reassuring to know that this is the better of Costner's two leading roles this year and that there is some real investment here not only because it serves to function as one big commercial for the NFL but because there is genuine drama to be had in the dynamics of a teams general manager and every other point of contact that is to be made throughout the course of what is no doubt the busiest day of these guys year. As its title would suggest, Draft Day takes place over the course of twenty-four hours and in that seemingly short time span writers Rajiv Joseph (a short list of TV credits) and Scott Rothman (no previous writing credits at all) are able to evoke a multitude of storylines and layers within those stories to give us a game of politics with a backdrop most of the movie-going public is at least vaguely familiar with. It mostly goes without saying I didn't expect much from Draft Day, but as the film nicely paces itself and builds up to its final scene I became increasingly intrigued in the outcome of these characters lives and couldn't help but to wonder how Costner's Sonny Weaver Jr. might find a way to please everyone and despite the fact the bow is tied a little too neatly in the end I would be lying if I said Sonny and his movie didn't satisfy me and instead actually exceeded any expectations I might have held for it.