I saw Lion yesterday. Very good, and very emotional, especially if have a child who was adopted. And Dev Patel is a real bonus. Really like him with long hair and a beard!
I saw Fences and Wow was Viola Davis good. She really made the movie. That one big scene that they tease in the commercials was a tour de force. And of course some of the dialogue was excellent. One peeve I had was that for the first half of the movie, I felt like I was watching a play they had video taped. Just the way it was edited and framed, it seemed not very movie like and I wanted the movie version. Toward the end, the editing did change. Also thought that while I loved how it was written, they could have trimmed down some of the conversations, especially in the 1st background scene to start the movie. And because Viola and Denzel were so good, the Actors playing the 2 sons seemed very thin. But definitely worth seeing.
@mathmom - John Glenn might have wanted a woman running the figures, but he did NOT want them inside a space capsule or on a mission, that’s for sure:
You all have inspired me! Consequently, our family is leaving the house in ten minutes to see Hidden Figures. Figure it’s a great outing for MLK Day. Unfortunately, Fences was at our local theater for only a couple of days and passed us by.
My husband and I just saw La La Land for the SECOND TIME–this time in Imax. I can’t remember the last time we saw a move in twice in theaters. Loved it just as much as the first time–maybe even more, because we were able to recognize, for example, how the wonderful score tied the movie together so beautifully. Still my pick for best picture.
We’ve also seen, and really enjoyed Hidden Figures, and also thought Fences was an excellent film. Jackie, not so much…although Natalie Portman was masterful–but I just couldn’t find myself engaged with Jackie or any of the characters.
I
Saw LaLaLand, and also thought I could have just sat in the theater and watched the 2nd showing. Fun, happy, sad… Somehow uplifting. Also saw Fences and Manchester, also very good, but both depressing, though I appreciate the fantastic acting . Was glad to see LaLaLand after the other two.
Saw LaLaLand, and although I enjoyed the singing/dancing (if imperfect), overall, I thought the story was depressing. Thinking about it left me with a sad feeling for days.
Wow! Hidden Figures was riveting, amazing, suspenseful, and surpassed my expectations. I think it’s a movie everyone should see, and I’m so glad my 14 y.o. daughter went and loved it too. So fascinating on so many levels…history of the space era, civil rights, women’s issues, and just a darn good story that needs to get out. Can’t believe the story of these women hasn’t gotten into school textbooks.
The film captures the excitement of those times that I remember strongly (from a child’s viewpoint.) My dad was an engineer with Brown Engineering/NASA at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama from 1960 until the moon landing. I grew up feeling the earth shaking regularly with missile testing, and watching launches on TV at school (at a time when few schools had TV in every classroom…installed specifically so students could watch developments on the space front.) Werner Von Braun used to bicycle around the neighborhood. I remember very clearly, people talking about John Glenn during my 4th birthday party (in May, 1961.) Tonight, I realized during the movie that John Glen’s first foray into space was in…May, 1961. So grateful for the movie for bringing it all back, and telling the backstory that needs to be told.
The different reactions to La La Land 's ending are fascinating. I more or less liked the movie, on balance, but I hated the ending – which more or less took for granted that it was the right thing to do for neither of them to make any compromise to preserve their relationship, including simply enduring 6-7 months of separation. Sure, there was a bittersweet quality to the end, but both parties were presented as happy and having achieved their “dreams.”
As we left the theater, I thanked my spouse for never having thought that she needed to be thousands of miles away from me to pursue her dreams. (She couldn’t have said the same thing to me – I disrupted the relationship to pursue a dream job on the other side of the continent, having already disrupted it once before by choosing to go to graduate school on the other other side of the continent in large part because I thought she didn’t like me as much as I liked her.) We had long stretches of living far from one another at the equivalent stage of our relationship (and equivalent age), and we were not a whole lot less ambitious than the La La Land characters, either. But neither of us ever thought being together would take anything away from either of us. As far as I was concerned, the characters’ choice reflected back through their whole relationship, and rendered it tinny and shallow. That ain’t love.
It also reminded me that the director/screenwriter made (and valorized) exactly the same choice in his previous film, Whiplash. There, it’s also basically taken for granted that the main character is doing the right thing when he drops his girlfriend because he can’t accommodate any distractions from his art. Fooey!
I’m pretty judgmental about that. I’m glad my daughter never got involved with Damien Chazelle.
Relationships end. Long distance relationships are more likely to end. Life goes on. Mostly both people go on to have happy lives.
The entire theme of La La Land is well expressed in the first few lines:
What she had to do was leave the boyfriend, go to Hollywood and try to become a star.
And then later in the movie, the four roommates sing about finding “Someone in the Crowd.” They’re not looking for love; they’re networking.
I haven’t seen many parents here advising their kids or other posters to turn down opportunities in order to stay around for their boyfriend/girlfriend. If a kid posts here about turning down Yale to go to Hometown State and stay with their boyfriend, even though Yale is their dream school and they have a full scholarship, not one poster is going to tell them love is more important than their academic career. Nobody will say that.
no spoilers folks.
Not in a theater, but yesterday we saw the documentary 13th on Netflix. Very powerful and thought provoking.
@“Cardinal Fang” I would agree with you if it were a movie about teenagers, but it isn’t.
And just as there is no one here who would tell a child not to go to Yale in order to stay with his or her high school boyfriend, I doubt there are many people here who would tell a child in his or her late-20s not to take a strongly felt relationship into account in making career plans. That doesn’t mean you necessarily turn down the unique job opportunity – I certainly didn’t – or that you always succeed in overcoming obstacles. It does mean you try. It also means that you don’t fall prey to judging yourself by how much money you make, or how many Twitter followers you have.
You’re right that the theme of La La Land is encapsulated in its first lines. But it’s clearly ironic there – no one in that traffic jam is a star – and at the end of the movie it’s not ironic at all. Public success justifies anything.
There have been dozens of books, plays, films dealing with these issues, of course. Over the weekend, my son pointed out that Woody Allen’s recent Cafe Society is practically the same story as La La Land, just fifty times more honest and more emotionally resonant. Or, if you want a musical, Stephen Sondheim’s Company.
The reason I didn’t like the La La Land ending, was that I thought the character of Mia changed to much. She just wasn’t as sweet and like-able.
Could people please put “spoiler” in their posts before they discuss details of any movie?
“And just as there is no one here who would tell a child not to go to Yale in order to stay with his or her high school boyfriend”
Hah, I turned down Berkeley to stay with my high school girlfriend. My aunt lost her mind.
Been with her now for 15+ years, married for 6 years, have a kid. Granted, I turned down Cal for UCLA, but… meh. Best choice I ever made.
Very disappointing that people have given away the ending of La La Land… I saw it without that info and glad I did.
@UCLAri You sound as if you made a big sacrifice at the time you had to turn down UCB for UCLA!? Many do that without any excuse!
Oh, Lord no. I didn’t-- it was just funny how much my aunt lost her mind. I was very happy to go to UCLA, but rankings are rankings… 
Saw Hidden Figures today and it is a wonderful movie. Everything @inthegarden said in the first paragraph of #287. Glad I spent my free time today on something inspirational and uplifting.