A Few Words About A few words about...™ La La Land -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray & LaLaVision (1 Viewer)

[Rick Thompson]

Watched La La Land last night, and I liked the picture, but can't say I loved it. It was refreshing to see a film that used long takes for the musical numbers (the leads obviously practiced their dance moves hard and long) with no MTV cutting, but the picture seemed too mannered and afraid to break out in a musical moment despite coming up to the brink a couple of times. The one exception was the opening number, but that was hurt by the balance between orchestra and singers. Many lyrics got lost as singers were overpowered by the orchestra. That balance problem continued throughout the picture (except for the John Legend number). It didn't help that the two leads have small singing voices.

I liked it, but love it? 'Fraid not.

 

[Eric Vedowski]

I had issues with the sound too. I saw it at a very well run "state of the art" theatre and the sound was flat. Music overwhelmed the singing. I heard complaints about the sound from almost everyone I know who saw it. I enjoyed the movie so I got the Blu from the library and we started it last night and the sound was just as bad as at the theatre. Turned it off after the opening number. I had streamed the soundtrack from my library, via Hoopla, a week before it opened and that sounded fine.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I love (big time) the song Another Day of Sun which opens La La Land. But I have to admit I hate the sound mix of the theatrical version of the song. While the song sounds better on the OST, I think it could be better still.

In fact, my only complaints about the film were the music mix and the lighting (I thought the outdoor scenes were pretty poorly lit--along with some indoor scenes).

Regardless, the film is now a family favorite which has been watched many times over. There's way too much good which easily outweighs the few things I question.

 

[Matt Hough]

I finally got around to watching La La Land last night. A few observations:

It's dazzlingly directed. I can certainly see why he won Best Director from both the Directors' Guild and the Academy.

I really appreciated the "what if" fantasy at the end of the movie. It made the very bittersweet ending a bit easier to take.

I enjoyed both leads, but I do wish they had been just a bit more accomplished as singers and dancers. That beautiful song score deserved to be sung by more experienced and talented vocalists.

Yes, I got all of the "borrowings" from The Young Girls of Rochefort, An American in Paris, The Belle of New York, Lovely to Look At, and yet they were nicely utilized here to enhance certain scenes.

Kudos for letting the musical numbers be shot with the full figures of the dancers on display and without the frenzied cutting and multiple take manipulation to achieve a complete number that most modern film musicals today now utilize.

I still think Manchester by the Sea would have been my choice for Best Picture, but I would have put this second.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I'll be curious, Matt, to see if/when you ever give La La Land a second look you will find your appreciation for the film to grow exponentially (like so many of the rest of us). It's almost a "thing!"

 

[trajan007]

A rip off of ONE FROM THE HEART?

 

[Matt Hough]

I'll be curious, Matt, to see if/when you ever give La La Land a second look you will find your appreciation for the film to grow exponentially (like so many of the rest of us). It's almost a "thing!"

Oh, it will get multiple views to be sure, and I'll be curious too what things I see on a second, third, or fourth viewing, what I appreciate more or less, and what stands out to me each time I watch. I love doing that will all the films I watch multiple times. The best films always reveal new facets to discover and savor.

 

[davidmatychuk]

I've been to Poznan, and it's pretty much like this:

 

[Mike Frezon]

 

[Mark Booth]

They did a great job on that one!

I recently got a handheld steadicam gimbal for my iPhone and GoPro. Now when I watch scenes like that I too often find myself thinking about how I could recreate the videography with my gimbal. I know they used a crane cam for that sequence in the film, but a steadicam rig could get really close to duplicating it.

Mark

 

[Mike Frezon]

Right. But with your steadicam you could pull off a LOT of the shots from Another Day of Sun when the dancers are walking directly at you and you're backpedaling!!

There's a TON of copycat videos on YT I have come to find out!

 

[Tino]

That was terrific.

 

[Mark Booth]

We watched 'La La Land' for the umpteenth time tonight. But this time the musical score was performed live by the San Diego Symphony while the film was projected behind the orchestra. The San Diego Master Chorale sang the ensemble crowd numbers. Individual singing performances were the original artists. It was fantastic! The pianist's sync with the onscreen playing was perfect.

Mark

 

[Edwin-S]

I don't really get the overweening love for this flick. I thought it was okay, but pretty well a one watch for me. It probably would have worked better for me if it had been a period piece set when these types of musicals were a big thing. The modern setting didn't do much for me and I've never been much for Hollywood navel gazing. The one interesting thing about this film was how it ended. It was unexpected, considering how everything before it went.

I might try watching this again sometime as long as it doesn't cost me any money. I wouldn't pay to see this again. As far as modern musicals go, I still prefer "Moulin Rouge".

 

[Mike Frezon]

It appears to be "one of those films." It evokes a strong positive interest or hardly any at all.

My wife and I have watched it dozens of times. No kidding.

 

[Tino]

Ya know what I don't get? The "I don't get the overwhelming love for XYZ film".

Obviously if you had loved it, you would get it.

 

[Edwin-S]

Ya know what I don't get? The "I don't get the overwhelming love for XYZ film".

Obviously if you had loved it, you would get it.

Must be something going around. A lot of confusion manifesting itself all of a sudden.

 

[Mark Booth]

It's difficult to take seriously the comments of a person that admitted to sleeping through half the movie. Just sayin'

Mark

 

[Edwin-S]

It's difficult to take seriously the comments of a person that admitted to sleeping through half the movie. Just sayin'

Mark

LOL. I had forgotten that I did do that when I watched it, so you may have a point. On the other hand, I don't fall asleep very often during movies, so the fact I did so may be a statement about the interest that the film ultimately had for me.

The parts of the film that I did watch were okay to me, but nothing that I would call memorable.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't know, if I didn't care for a film or didn't think it was all that, I wouldn't continue to participate in a thread about it. Anyway, maybe, that's just me. With that said, Mike Frezon watching this fine film dozens of times in this short period of a time is kind of interesting to say the least.