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Thursday, February 2, 2017

La La Land is a magical musical, A

Above: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in 2016's La La Land.
La La Land breathes life into an old genre and sparks a new plug. It's beautiful scenes, direction and storyline however is out shadowed by Emma Stone, who just pulled off the performance of her career.

The thing that might draw your average movie goer into La La Land isn't that it's just a musical, but something magical. Each scene from the beginning to the last has a breath of it's own. It's wonderfully directed, the story line is fantastic, and you never get tired from looking at the screen. Above everything else, La La Land highlights what's life is like in Los Angeles today for up and coming middle class people. It's Moulin Rouge but in the city of stars, it's La La Land.

The film has eerie connections to 2014's Whiplash, and that's because it's done by the same newcomer director Damien Chazelle who's taste in jazz music is obvious seen throughout his films. With just two films under his belt that's over 90% each on Rotten Tomatoes, he's proven he's a new heavy weight director who has a lot in store for us. He also helped with 2016's 10 Cloverfield Lane, another film that's over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In La La Land, he beautifully does a perfect job with the story, the scene and the characters. You could tell that the team behind the film took great care in each and every one of the scenes, especially the dancing and singing ones.

And of course, La La Land is by far a musical. While there's almost singing and dancing throughout the entire film, it's actually entertaining to watch, even when it's now Ryan Gosling or Emma Stone.
Ryan Gosling does a wonderful performance as jazz pianist Sebastian. However, he almost over plays the part a little bit, and although he did a great job in La La Land,  some of his previous work deserves much higher praise.

That being said, La La Land isn't really about anything but one woman. Like it's said in the film several times, she's a one woman show.

Emma Stone is so brilliant that she'll bring you to near tears halfway through the film. La La Land is her baby. This is her break away performance,  the one people will be talking about for years to come.
When you watch La La Land, it's almost entertaining enough if you subtract all the other characters and just focus on Emma Stone.  She puts everything she has into this performance, and it's by far the best this year has to offer in acting.

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