La La Land Review

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons

By now, you've probably heard of all the praise for La La Land. It's been called the "Best Movie of the Year", "Best Musical of All Time", "Academy Award Front-Runner", etc. A week ago, La La Land won a record SEVEN Golden Globes, winning in every single category that it was nominated for. It's been a box-office machine, becoming a massive hit for the indie market, and it's rapidly expanding. It has been on my radar for months as the "leader of the pack" when it comes to all awards predictions. When I entered the theater, I was anxious to see the masterpiece I had been promised. The lights dimmed and the movie began. La La Land opens on a traffic jam on a highway into Los Angeles. Everyone is listening to their own music and in their own world, until one by one, they exit their vehicles and join one another in a new song. The brilliant opening set to the feel-good anthem "Another Day of Sun" sees people of all colors and all backgrounds sharing their stories and their optimism for the city that they're about to enter. In this time of year, tensions are high and there is so much hate filling our country. It seems that every day there is a disappointing headline or stories full of hate and anger. Seeing an opening so full of spirit and fun instantly put a smile on my face. And that is without mentioning the incredible direction and choreography that make it one of the greatest opening scenes I've seen in my life. People literally clapped as the opening concluded, and how often does that happen? La La Land transports the viewer to a musical land in which we can all escape for a few hours. Yet it still possesses realism. You cheer with the main characters when they succeed and feel their pain when they cry. You feel the optimism and hopelessness as they do. La La Land is a true cinematic experience, and one that feels both fresh and nostalgic, and one that touches the heart.

There are really only two characters in La La Land. There is Mia, played by Emma Stone, and Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling. Both of them are outstanding and have an irresistible chemistry. Mia is an aspiring actress struggling through seemingly hopeless auditions. Sebastian dreams of opening his own club where he can keep traditional jazz music alive. They meet in the opening scene and continue to find each other throughout the first half of the film. They share a kiss and soon fall in love. Gosling brings so much charm to Sebastian that it's no wonder why Mia fell for him. In contrast, Stone brings stability to her performance. Mia is the rock, she's the one who has the rhyme and reason, while Sebastian has these grand ideas for both of them. As the movie progresses, we see where both of them are flawed. Mia's constant reasoning causes her to be cynical. She doesn't have the spontaneity of an artist. When she has opportunities right in front of her, she lacks any faith in herself. Sebastian's dream of playing music turns him into a corporate sellout, and causes him to lose sight of what he really wants to do with his life. It takes Mia to set him on track, and it his urging to get her to let loose. I won't spoil the ending, but what happens between these two is one of the most realistic depictions of "love at first sight" and romance in general. La La Land may feel like a fairy-tale sometimes, but it doesn't hesitate to show you that love and heartbreak are two sides of the same coin, and that happiness isn't always shared with who we expect.

Every song is incredible. Upon listening to the soundtrack, I learned that the songs themselves are amazing, but when paired with the powerfully directed visuals, they're something much more. Each song has its own special technique to separate it from the others. In "Someone in the Crowd", Mia wanders through a party, where all the guests are frozen in place until suddenly, on cue, everyone breaks out in dance. "City of Stars" sees Mia and Sebastian just sitting at a piano in a reserved manner not seen in the other numbers. "A Lovely Night" has Mia and Sebastian bickering and mocking each other, and gradually moving into a stunning tap routine. It seems ripped out of Singin' in the Rain, yet also feels authentic. The costumes are gorgeous and show a progression in the characters. In the beginning, Mia wears bright colors to signify her concern with fame. Her actress friends stay in these bright colors throughout the film, while Mia's clothing becomes less extravagant. As the film progresses she learns to be herself and doesn't care about her appearance. As she does her final audition, she is only wearing a simple white top and black pants, a stark contrast to the vibrant dresses she and her friends wore at the party. The sets always seem to blend with the costumes, and the two work in symbiosis. The costumes accentuate the sets and the sets accentuate the costumes. There is a breathtaking scene in which Mia and Sebastian ascend into the stars, while really they're just dancing in the planetarium. This is not the only time that the film bends reality and imagination, but the trick never comes off as cheesy. The ways in which it makes imagination seem realistic is beautiful and poetic. It has the magic and whimsy of a dream, yet stays grounded in reality.

La La Land is a phenomenal movie. Every single facet of the film is brilliantly executed. It has the striking ability to make you feel both hopeful and nostalgic. I'm nineteen years old, and yet I felt twinges of nostalgia towards times I haven't even lived in. I felt the film pulling me towards that light and the wonder of a simpler time. However, sometimes in the same musical number, I was pulled in the opposite direction. The optimism was pouring out of the screen and I felt hope. My toe was tapping and I thought: "What if the future could be this happy?" La La Land has the profound capacity to make people of all ages feel something, whether its from the past or towards the future. And along with the music numbers, the dialogue and story share the same levels of depth. I've seen La La Land twice and I'm convinced it's a movie that everyone should see. Whether or not you fully appreciate the art you're witnessing, I still urge you to see this film. We all have our own problems, and we all have our own stories. Let's just revel in a film about life, love, and the pursuit of dreams.

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Fences Review

Starring: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson

Fences immediately had my attention as soon as I looked at the casting. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis? Sign me up. They are two of the most dependable actors of this generation. Even in Suicide Squad, Viola gave a pretty commanding performance to prove that the atrocity of the film could not be blamed on her. In Fences, they're front and center as a couple facing some seriousmarital problems. The less you know about this film, the better. Fences takes place in the 1950s, post-Jackie Robinson, but before the Civil Rights Movement really started taking shape. Troy and Rose Maxson are a couple that married late in life. Troy dreamed of being a baseball star, but never got the chance to play in the big leagues, as they were still segregated at the time. He works now as a garbage man and just really hates his life. In his own way, he tries to help his wife and their son, but he ends up hurting. Troy is NOT a sympathetic protagonist. If you don't end up hating his guts by the end of the movie, there's something wrong with you. He is such a monster that it is infuriating to behold. It is a true testament to how good of an actor Denzel is, because of course, he's not a monster. Fences is not a perfect movie, and it actually annoyed me. But its heart is in the right place and the acting is top-notch, so it's worth every penny.

Fences' biggest fault is that it really doesn't feel like a movie. The film is adapted from August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play. In the Broadway revival, both Denzel and Viola both won Tony Awards for their acting. The screenwriter credit is given to Wilson, who has been dead for a decade. I assume that they must just be using the play script. All of this makes Fences feel like a play. I love theatre, but I also love to see how the mediums can be transferred. With a film version of Fences, Denzel could add some really interesting scenes not able to be explored on a confined stage. Only Denzel really doesn't direct here, even if he's credited as the director. The camera angles aren't anything special, and the whole film feels confined. The opening scene is also very assaulting. It's just Troy going on and on, and I felt very overstimulated. I just wanted him to shut up so I could get some background and setting. I felt like the movie didn't feel enough like a film, and as a film critic, I have to give it a few strikes for that. However, it is clear that Denzel and Viola just wanted to get this play the biggest audience possible, and making a play/film in movie theaters is the best way to do this.

I said earlier that both Denzel and Viola had won for their roles. If their stage performances were anything like their film ones, those awards were well deserved. Viola has been picking up awards left and right for her role as Rose, and she owes it to one scene that made my breath hitch in my throat. The scene feels so intimate and private that I didn't want to breathe or make any mistake. I watched as she just screamed at her husband, ripping him to shreds and falling apart in the process. In the trailer it almost seemed as if she was just giving an Oscar-bait performance, the kind I'd expect from How to Get Away with Murder. Rose has so much depth and so many layers that she often steals the show from her husband. And if you have ever seen Denzel act, you know how much of a feat that is. As for Denzel, he's as good as he always is. Most of the tension is seen in his abusive and menacing nature towards his son. The sheer amount of consecutive lines Denzel spits out at his son is incredible. The quantity of his speaking is something that is just a wonder to behold. He has no control, and this contradicts the amount of control that Viola has in her speaking.

You may have noticed that I haven't really described the plot to Fences. The movie is full of interesting twists and turns that I cannot articulate. If you've seen the trailer, you know that the selling point is just Denzel Washington and Viola Davis acting incredibly. That is all you need to know to see Fences. I didn't like the theatre feel to the film, but that may not bother some people. If you love good acting, and especially if you like either of the two actors, this is a must-see.

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Manchester by the Sea Review

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, Kyle Chandler

Manchester by the Sea has been pegged as one of three of the Academy Award front-runners this year. Along with La La Land and Moonlight (which I previously reviewed), Manchester by the Sea has a lot of awards buzz, and has been doing very well in a semi-wide release over the past few weeks. The most attention has been directed towards Casey Affleck's mesmerizing performance as a man struggling with grief. Lee Chandler has a horrible past that is following him. After traumatic events, he has split from his wife Randi and become the black sheep of the Chandler family. When his beloved brother (the only one who still cared for him) dies suddenly, he must go back to Manchester and take care of his nephew Patrick. He has to face the town and wife he left behind, and learns that his brother named him as Patrick's guardian. Manchester by the Sea is a raw film. It does nothing to try and sugar coat the tumultuous feelings of grief and how it affects us all. It does not try to pretend that grief ever goes away. Manchester by the Sea feels like this decade's Good Will Hunting, in which it presents a specific situation that applies to life. In that film, it was a story of two men: a cocky genius and a soft psychologist who shows him how to open up, and their friendship teaches both men things about themselves. In this film, it's a man and his nephew, and how their unlikely partnership helps them both live with the different sorts of grief and loneliness they feel.

Instead of addressing the acting, I'm going to delve into the characters. All the acting is top-notch, but it doesn't feel like acting. Each character feels like an everyday person. Every single one of us could become Lee Chandler. Whenever something bad happens, there is always the option to pack a bag and leave. Manchester by the Sea is evidence that you can never escape your past. Lee sees his nephew Patrick and sees himself. He sees a cocky little kid in denial about death, that just wants to move on. Throughout the film we see Lee teach Patrick that it's okay to cry, to yell, and to be angry at the world. In return, Patrick shows Lee that he's never really gotten over his past, and that makes it even harder to try and take care of a boy and accept a new loss. Lee tearfully tells Patrick: "I can't beat it. I can't beat it", and I feel that is incredibly true of grief. It never goes away. Speaking of never going away, Lee's ex-wife Randi comes and goes like the tide. He's cut all ties with her, yet she suddenly calls him to tell him she's pregnant, and wiggles her way into his brother's services. She looks at him across the church and her face is unreadable. You cannot see if her eyes are hiding hatred or sorrow, or possibly a blank expression. In one of the final scenes, she meets Lee and confesses that she still loves him. It's possibly the best scene in the movie. The first time I saw this movie I hated Randi. I thought she lacked respect for Lee's grief. On my second viewing I saw how realistic her pain was. She has been dragged through hell with him, and what she does is a rational thing someone with a broken heart would do. She and Lee are so similar, but they both have suffered too much to ever have a realistic future. Pain and loss have marred both of them permanently. 

Manchester by the Sea unfolds in an unusual fashion. Last year, the Oscar-winning Room met its ultimate climax in the middle, rather than the end. The mother and child escaped their prison in a tense and moving moment, and the rest of the movie's pace went down from there. It was so unusual that I had trouble wrapping my head around it. We're so used to seeing movies peak at the end. Manchester by the Sea also finds its climax in the first third of the film. The pace is slowly increasing, and the stage is set for the reveal of what happened to Lee Chandler and his family. We see in backstories that they're all one big happy family...so what happened? The revelation is heartbreaking. Every viewer's heart will be in their stomach at the horrifyingly real depiction of loss. Manchester by the Sea lives by the motto of "show, don't tell." The script is so brilliant in this sense, as you learn of events by seeing them firsthand, rather than hearing them through dialogue. Instead of seeing someone explain that Lee's ex-wife is telling lies about him, we see him struggle around town, as everyone sides with what we presume is Randi's story. The "show, don't tell" method also works for the attempts at humor in the film. Don't get me wrong. This film is an emotional spiral downwards, and one of the saddest films I've ever seen. But it is those few lighthearted moments of awkward humor between uncle and nephew that make you feel like there is hope for these suffering people.

I predict that Manchester by the Sea will be one of the biggest awards contenders this year. If you have been following the awards circuit, you have seen that Casey Affleck has deservedly won nearly every award for his performance, with Williams and Hedges also getting recognized for playing Randi and Patrick respectively. It's a hard movie to swallow, but it is one that demands your attention. The characters are not subtle references to any aspect of the human experience, and Lee is not a window into the mind of a man with grief. These are just ordinary people whose worlds have been shattered.

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Rogue One Review

Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendolsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, James Earl Jones

Everyone loves Star Wars, right? Of course I know that is not true, but when you're dealing with one of the most beloved and long-lasting series of all time, you can pretty much assume it's going to be successful. The Force Awakens broke almost every record, and while Rogue One didn't soar to the heights as its predecessor in its first week, it's still guaranteed a pretty hefty amount of dollars. What I love about Star Wars is that I can rely on George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy (the president of LucasFilm and longtime collaborator) to produce good movies. They know the audience is there, and they know they don't have to "sell" tickets to the masses, they will sell themselves. With Rogue One, the story is a little different. This isn't a sequel to The Force Awakens. It takes place in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope and is considered a spin-off. I walked into the film hoping it would contain the same level of excitement and nostalgia that The Force Awakens had. I wanted a Star Wars experience. I read some early reviews and reactions and saw some very divided critics. After seeing the movie myself, I think that it does live up to my expectations of a Star Wars film. If you're a fan, you'll love this movie just as you have loved the rest.

As far as the cast, everyone does well. Felicity Jones is always a convincing lead, and her performance really grounds the film. I was worried she would just be another Rey, but her character's confidence really separated her from Rey's sense of wonder. Jyn Erso is a conditioned veteran. She knows how to fight, and she has nothing to lose. Diego Luna provided an interesting counter to Jones, but I didn't find his character particularly compelling. He had no backstory to get invested in. I am glad that the two of them never had a romance. After many "will they, won't they?" moments, I'm glad that their was no kiss. Donnie Yen's performance as a blind force-sensitive man was my favorite human character, and I was surprised at the amount of depth they gave his character. He was the stand-in Jedi for the film. I also really liked K-2, the robot sidekick. He had the kind of sarcasm that you know R2-D2 has, only he was able to articulate. And he had the best lines of the film. As far as Mads Mikkelsen and Ben Mendelsohn go, they really didn't give big performance. Jyn's father really didn't do anything, and Director Krennic was a Tarkin stand-in (more on that later). The only sub-par performance was given by Forest Whitaker. Was his name Saul? Saw? I could not care less. I felt that that entire scene was throwaway. From the trailers, it is clear that most of Whitaker's scenes were deleted, but they had to keep him in the film. I don't know. I haven't the slightest clue why he spoke like he couldn't breathe. I know he had an apparatus, but why not just take it off him and let Whitaker really speak? The whole scene was underwhelming and unnecessary.

Of the thematic elements I enjoyed, the score was my favorite. This is the first non-John Williams score, so you can imagine the interest. Michael Giacchino (Up, Lost) does a wonderful job interpreting Williams' iconic scores of Star Wars films past, but adds his flare to it. I wouldn't be surprised if it wins the Oscar. It truly is that impressive. As far as Darth Vader goes, his first scene is pretty standard. It's not amazing, and it's not disappointing. I imagined that would be all the Vader I would get. But lo and behold, the ending scene is the crazed, ballistic Darth Vader I've always wanted. You imagine he must be good with his lightsaber, but we've never really seen him fight.

SPOILERS: One of the big things I was not a fan of were the visual effects. They created Grand Moff Tarkin using visual effects. In Life of Pi, they create a tiger. In Rogue One, they literally bring a dead actor back to life and it really freaked me out. I was suspecting that he would be back, but not in that capacity. I'm just worried about what this means for the future of films. It makes death mean nothing, and actors may have to sign their likeness over to companies like Disney. Franchises could never grow old. I appreciate the vision and scope, but the whole idea really leaves a negative feeling. I was also not a fan of Gareth Edwards' directing. I enjoyed how the film was more stark and real, and depicted wartime in the galaxy, but I felt like his pacing was off. There was a section in the middle where he was really losing me. All in all, if you haven't seen Rogue One, go see it. You'll probably really enjoy it. It may not be as great as The Force Awakens, but it's an interesting expansion on the formula.

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