In addition to the other criticisms, I hope the academy doesn't stiff Sing Street. How do you not even nominate Drive It Like You Stole It?
I'd venture to predict that one of the songs from Sing Street will likely be nominated. Both Once and Begin Again had songs nominated at the Oscars, so Sing Street will definitely be on the voters' radar.
Not the first time Fallon did a Chris Rock impression, guess he didn't have enough time to do it in blackface last night
love dismissive tweets in no way shape or for is la la land a movie about 'white people discovering jazz'
Thoughts: La La Land is simply a love letter to Singin' in the Rain, just as Singin' in the Rain was love letter to silent films in Hollywood. But let's be honest: the music carried this film last night, and it'll carry it to the Oscars it wins. Also, all of the Donald Glover. SO Much. Love. Viola Davis is everything. I cried like a baby once Meryl mentioned Carrie Fisher. Still a speech I can't stop thinking about.
La La Land is a melding of Gene Kelly musicals like Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris, and Jacques Demy musicals. Thematically it's completely indebted to Umbrellas of Cherbourg, it's almost basically a modern remake or reimagining without calling itself one. If you like La La Land, see Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Again, to take nothing away from the quality of La La Land, the Umbrellas of Cherbourg is so much more artful and powerful and nuanced. La La Land is good. Umbrellas is a masterpiece.
Toni Erdmann was nominated for best foreign picture, beat out by Elle. No mention of CoS but I doubt you'd be shocked by that one.
I'm surprised they went with Elle over Toni Erdmann, considering how much of a crowd favorite the latter is. I wonder if the Academy will go the same way. I still haven't seen Toni Erdmann but from what I've heard it is a deserving choice. I would be fine if either film won at the Oscars. Isabelle Huppert winning was one of the best moments of this show and will hopefully not be her last time on the stage this year.
She gets introduced to jazz, but she doesn't get too into it, and it's not what the movie is about. I will absolutely be checking out this Umbrellas business!
Is it a fair criticism of the quality of the film? No. Does the "brave" narrative they're creating invite some snark? Yes.
I get why it's easy for people to criticize the film based on the plot on the surface, I just think people who haven't seen it have this view of Gosling's character that's inaccurate. I think it was deserving of its awards, and I'm glad to have seen Moonlight claim a victory towards the end there. Movie was fantastic.
It is a shame that the history of jazz was brushed over in the film, and there was no mention of its origins and importance in the early 1900's to African-American culture, I wish the film delved more into that for sure. As far as John Legend's character, him being a sellout and having very little depth was annoying, but he's a great actor and I liked his performance for what he had to work with. A lot of the criticism I'm seeing is about Gosling's character. Not once in the film does he say or state that jazz is a 'white invention' or anything along those lines. To me it just seems he was passionate about the music, nothing else. He just loved jazz and wanted to open a bar. Did I miss something?
The "And they say let it die. It had it's shot. Let it die. Not on my watch." invites the "white dude wants to save jazz" critique, I think.
right and J.K. Simmons and whoever turned the jazz club into Samba and Tapas and his sister and Mia didn't care about real jazz, and I don't think it's specifically stated that only Sebastian does but I think it's kind of implied I don't think Damien meant any harm by it, I mean he's a white dude who's really into jazz so of course he's going to have that perspective, but it could still be bad
Good point, remember that scene but forgot those lines. It's a shame because it's clear the film didn't intend for the backlash, I just think it went about a few things in the wrong way. Still loved it, one of my favourites of the year.
Again, it's a fine movie. I don't necessarily agree with the heavy criticism of it, but at the same time I was nowhere near in love with it. I found the story/characters lacking and while the characters were charming, nothing gripped me enough to move me beyond a resounding "eh". It was a bit too cute for me. I have a problem with Hollywood's tendency to pat itself on the back for "Hollywood" films, which this totally was. And Birdman was. And The Artist was. It may have been a struggle to get made in the infantile stages of development, I just don't buy the underdog narrative when Gosling and Stone sign on, it gets an award season release and a ton of publicity. And definitely don't buy it when it sweeps the Golden Globes Of the supposed frontrunners that I've seen, Manchester had much better writing and performances and Moonlight was overall a better film. I have some criticisms with each film, but find myself thinking more and more about the latter two than La La Land, which kind've pleasantly washed over me then vanished.
There are lots of types of films that are hard to get made. A film about the development of a gay black boy, especially one without any movie stars and an unknown director, is a lot harder to get made than something like La La Land, directed by a popular new director and with two big movie stars.