Review - La La Land

We all know the how the showbiz story goes: Boy and girl meet, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl's careers diverge. It's a sturdy formula that the movies have retooled and retold a million times, from the silent escapades of Show People to the melodramatic tumult of A Star is Born (all three of them, and counting) to the worldly post-modernism of Annie Hall to the silent escapades of The Artist – Funny how things come full circle.

Point being, if you want to play that old song again, you need to riff; Improvise; Make it special. Fortunately for hopeless romantics everywhere, 32 year old writer/director Damien Chazelle is indeed a special talent, who has now performed a spectacular riff on the 'Hollywood love story' in La La Land;
A dazzling musical ode to a city, to a genre, and to anyone who ever dared to dream large and love larger.

It was Chazelle's sizzling sophomore feature Whiplash that put him on the map two years ago, snagging a trio of Oscars and topping this critic's 'Best of 2014' list. So when it was announced that his next dream was to make an original movie musical – that rarest of beasts – I was on board. All pretense of objectivity aside, I probably loved this film before the ink was dry on the first draft of the screenplay.

Sound of Music's 50th: Austrian Alps and Julie's Face

In honour of the 50th anniversary of the world premiere of The Sound of Music (and truer to the actual anniversary date than the swell but superfluous tribute belted by Lady Gaga at the Oscars), The Film Experience's Nathaniel Rogers has made the beloved musical the latest subject of his perennial "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series -- always an Oscar off-season treat!

While the last two months of Oscar blogging have sapped much of the life force from my typing fingers, I have strength enough for this. How could I pass it up? The film sits comfortably within my top 20 all time, and is arguably the most durable relic of a now extinct studio culture that used to churn out lavish musical adaptations with a regularity comparable to the production of superhero movies today (I was clearly born in the wrong decade... sigh).

Director of Photography Ted McCord received the final of three career Oscar nominations for this movie, and considering that said movie was a record-breaking, Best Picture winning smash hit boasting breathtaking Alpine scenery as its backdrop, some might find it surprising that he didn't win. Admittedly, it'd be tough for any Academy member not to vote for Freddie Young's jaw-dropping widescreen cinematography in Doctor Zhivago that year, but it isn't hard to imagine McCord's splendid mountainscapes running a respectable second.

The most famous of these high-altitude shots will be, for many, the defining image of not only the film, but of the entire musical genre;

The sight of Julie Andrews spinning around the hilltops -- and trying nobly to avoid being blown over by the downdraft of the helicopter blades -- as the camera pushes in from hundreds of yards away, has rightfully earned its place as the most ravishing entrance in the cinematic headcanon.

And yet as unforgettable as it is, I'm not quite sold on it as the "best" shot of the picture. After all, McCord spun real visual magic with his interiors as well...

Oscar Postmortem Pt. 2: The Host, the Ratings, and the Real Problems

Every time the host is announced for the upcoming Oscars several months in advance, I traditionally write an opinion of the selection and what I hope it means for the show. But this past year, when word came that three-peat producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron had chosen ubiquitous awards show MC Neil Patrick Harris, I just couldn't be bothered. I've seen NPH absolutely crush it on the Tonys multiple times, 'cause the dude's got mad talent, but nothing about this decision excited me.

For years it had been thinly veiled, at best, how desperately Harris wanted to break away from the Emmy/Tony gigs and take on Hollywood's holy night.
He even got to do a random musical intro at the beginning of Adam Shankman's disastrous Oscar telecast in 2010. It stuck out like the sorest of many sore thumbs from that show, making it clear that despite his song-and-dance aptitude, he just isn't enough of a movie personality to fit in with this particular West coast crowd.

NPH at the Oscars in 2010: A bad omen of things to come.

Review - Into the Woods

Often I wish more than anything... more than life... that Hollywood would provide us with more movie musicals than it currently does. We musical theatre lovers are lucky if we can get one live-action song-and-dance film a year. Luckier yet if its a good one.

It puts me in a situation as sticky as pitch when it comes to evaluating the big screen adaptation of a stage musical that I don't love nearly as much as the genre it represents. The show in question is Sondheim & Lapine's Into the Woods, translated into cinematic form by director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Nine) and positioned as Disney's big holiday season draw.

The original production which debuted on Broadway in 1988 could best be described as a revisionist fairytale: The paths of various familiar Grimm characters intersect en route to their storybook endings as they venture through the woods. Among them are Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Jack of eventual beanstalk infamy (Daniel Huttlestone), Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), a baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt), a pair of vain if charming princes (Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen), and a scheming witch (Meryl Streep).

Review - Jersey Boys

When I first saw a touring company production of the Tony-winning Broadway smash Jersey Boys several years ago, my first reaction was, “this show would make a great movie!” I know that's an odd plaudit to bestow upon a piece of live theatre, especially a jukebox musical that follows the tired old showbiz & stardom narrative of rise-then-fall-then-rise-again, but there was something about this play's fluid pageantry and explosive musicality that just sparkled with cinematic potential. Naturally, my thoughts went to playing armchair producer as I imagined all the dynamic filmmakers I'd love to see run with this material (Martin Scorsese, Baz Luhrmann, and Bill Condon are just a few that came to mind).

But probably the last name I'd have considered to fill the director's chair on this project was Clint Eastwood. The American journeyman's staid formalism didn't seem like it would jive with the infectious rhythms of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' bustling pop-rock hits, let alone the almost caricatured energy of the stage show's characters. So it's understandable that I was nervously intrigued when it came to light that The Man With No Name himself would be producing and directing the film adaption.

Review - Frozen

Casual moviegoers with kids to entertain for an hour or so can be forgiven for thinking that the latest animated effort from Walt Disney Studios is little more than a slapsticky romp about an impish snowman. That is, after all, the only clue they've been given by the TV ads and movie posters, but those only represent the tip of the proverbial ice berg. With Frozen, Disney actually makes as earnest an attempt as they have in the last 15 years to recapture the magic of their 1990s musical heyday, with a Broadway pedigree cast and not one, but two new Disney princesses front and centre.

The story, written by Shane Morris and co-directors Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck, is based very loosely on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, although its vague Scandinavian setting seems to be all that was retained from Anderson's original 19^th century fable. This re-imagining tells of two princesses in the fictional land of Arendelle. Elsa, the eldest and therefore first in line to inherit the crown, was born with the magical ability to form ice and snow with the slightest gesture. Anna, the youngest, adores frolicking in the indoor winter wonderlands her sister can conjure, until a near-death accident convinces their parents that the girls should be separated and Elsa's powers kept under wraps.

Sunday Top Ten - Animated Disney films

It feels like it's been ages since I last cobbled together a Sunday Top Ten list... because it has. But if I don't do one now, before the heat of Oscar season really starts beating down upon us, then it'd never get done! So here's a top ten list that a number of people have been asking for.

In anticipation of Frozen's imminent release (which I am very much looking forward to), I've finally joined the sizable flock of Gen-Y-ers on the Internet who have their own distinct ranking of the animated features of Walt Disney Studios. No two lists (and there are a ton of them out there) are quite the same, but they all share one thing in common: No one has an easy time making them.

I've discovered that my own relationship with the iconic studio's 52 theatrical releases – needless to say, the works of Pixar do not count – is a conflicted and perpetually evolving one. As a child of the 90s being raised on the miracle of “home video”, I indiscriminately loved Disney films of all ages, from the antiquated Snow White to their most state-of-the-art releases. Frankly, I couldn't tell that some of these films were made 60 years apart, and the notion of systematically ranking them against each other never crossed my mind for even a split second. It was the only phase of my life when what I felt for the movies was pure, unconditional love.

As my burgeoning interest in cinema (and a nettlesome sense of pretentiousness) began to develop in adolescence, I suddenly found that certain toons I had blissfully smiled through not long ago were failing to pass my new-found discernment. At the same time, new charms and nuances that had flown over my head when I was knee-high began to reveal themselves. The magic wasn't gone from these films – not all of them. The magic was simply changing. Letting a movie win you over a second time but for different reasons is a special sensation.

Weighing a combination childhood nostalgia and that unnameable quality that genuinely speaks to me as an adult was the only way I could come close to sussing out a top ten. I'm sure many readers will cry foul that 'this' film or 'that' film was omitted, but I believe it to be an appropriately diverse and personal list that nicely represents the things I love most about the Disney legacy. And no, I did not have an easy time making it (although long-time readers should easily be able to predict my #1 pick). 

So without further ado, my top ten Disney animated features:

Early Oscar predictions - Part 3

We're taking a look at Best Animated Feature and three of the visual craft categories this week; Cinematography, Editing, and Effects. Next week we'll complete the visual crafts with Production Design, Costume Design, and Makeup.

Best Animated Feature

Another unrequested Pixar sequel (well, prequel) doesn't have me all that titillated, but the steadily increasing quality of Disney's output these last few years has me excited for their upcoming musical fantasy Frozen, based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. If Pixar and Dreamworks disappoint, that might also open the doors to GKIDS' art house titles, which this year includes 2012 Cannes entry Ernest & Celestine.

Oscar Postmortem Pt. 2: Seth MacFarlane

Reactions from entertainment writers in the wake of last Sunday's sweet and sour Academy Awards telecast have been mostly sour. Has nobody anything sweet to say about the show or its controversial host Seth MacFarlane? I'm just searching for some sugar, man.

Not that MacFarlane needs me or anyone else to defend him. He's no martyr. The style of frat-boy humour that so annoyed people at the Oscars is that upon which he's built for himself a small TV animation empire. Having gotten away with – and actually thrived on – far grosser comedy in Family Guy and American Dad for so many years makes the 39-year-old millionaire somewhat untouchable.

So why do I feel compelled to debate the vocal masses who have been quick to deem him public enemy #1? Again, it's not because I feel he needs to be defended. Nor is it because I think he did a particularly great job; his own self-deprecating meta review of himself, “Seth MacFarlane Proves to be Mediocre Oscar Host”, is pretty accurate in my opinion. So no, this editorial is not a defence of the man, and it is not a contrarian stand for the minority opinion. Rather, it is a plea for cooler heads and less conclusion-jumping, which are becoming increasingly rare in this digital age of hasty headlines and instant reactions.

Oscar Postmortem Pt. 1: Overview

Well, the 85th Annual Academy Awards came and went, putting a cap on what has been one of the most unusual awards seasons in recent memory. To no one's surprise, Ben Affleck's Argo was crowned the Best Picture of 2012, also taking expected prizes for Chris Terrio's screenplay and William Goldenberg's editing.

One Category at a Time: Sound Mixing

I feel like the sound categories are due for a split. For three years we've had double sound winners (a couple coming at the expense of superior work), adding evidence to the widely accepted notion that your average Academy member can't really tell the two disciplines of sound editing and sound mixing apart.

But every now and then Sound Mixing will go to something not nominated for Sound Editing, and this year is shaping up that way.

Review - Les Miserables

27 years after taking the world by storm, the international musical hit Les Miserables finally gets the Hollywood treatment its diehard fans have been waiting for, but not everyone will sing its praises as loudly as them. We've already heard the critics singing the song of angry men, while audience reactions seem to be as contentious as the student rebellion around which the melodrama unfolds. Detractors have trained their muskets squarely at the film's in-your-face emotive style, the very appeal of which defenders have made their barricade against such criticisms. It begs the question: Is Les Mis the sort of movie that makes necessary – or for that matter, even makes possible – an objective review? I know I struggle to extract my opinion of the film from my opinion of the source material. Where does my love of the show end and my love of the movie begin?

Despite a butt-punishing 2-hour and 38-minute run time, Les Mis is a fairly streamlined distillation of Victor Hugo's 19th century novel, in which ex-con Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) spends the better part of his life on the run from the law and in search of redemption. Across the years he eludes capture by the overly dedicated Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), raises the daughter of the ill-fated Fantine (Anne Hathaway), fights in the Paris rebellion of 1832, and basically puts up with all kinds of crap (literally, in one instance!) to ensure the future happiness and security of his adopted daughter (Amanda Seyfried). Hugo spins an elaborate web of connections between these and many other characters – including the dashing Marius (Eddie Redmayne), the scheming Thenardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter), and their lovelorn daughter Eponine (Samantha Barks) – through a series of outlandish coincidences that would vex Dickens.

Review - Beauty and the Beast 3D

Aiming to take a load off my awards-addled mind – something I recommend everyone do this time of year – I spent the afternoon taking in the 3D resurrection of an old favourite. Springboarding from the surprisingly profitable release of The Lion King last fall, Disney is giving their timeless musical romance Beauty and the Beast the same treatment in hopes of drawing in audiences over less-than-compelling January fare.

It didn't take much to get my butt in a seat. The film is, in my opinion, a high watermark for Walt Disney Animation. While The Little Mermaid is justly adored and credited with being the game-changer for the struggling studio in 1989, Beauty and the Beast must be acknowledged as the film that refined the new formula to the point of near perfection, approaching the love story with more emotional maturity and the musical format with more sophistication than any of its many predecessors in the Disney canon. It won unanimous critical praise and a cool Best Picture nomination as reward. That it continues to charm new generations of movie lovers to this day is merely a verification of the "instant classic" status that was bestowed upon it in 1991.

Review - The Muppets

It's been a fair deal of time since we last saw the Muppets in action, but it's clear from their new film that Jim Henson's felt funnymen haven't lost a beat. The script, cowritten by star Jason Segel, isn't always focused and doesn't always keep an even keel, but it's a sidesplitting comedy/variety mash-up that clearly demonstrates an understanding of these characters and what they're all about. Sure, some of the jokes are easy gets, and maybe they throw in one self-referential gag too many, but silly though it may be, it consistently draws roars of laughter (the third best gift a anyone can give, according to the film), and the Muppets shouldn't have it any other way. Nostalgics won't be able to help but adore the dozens of classic Muppet homages, the most affecting of which is a brief but beautiful new recording of “Rainbow Connection”.

It's too bad they won't get to host the Oscars this year, but if we're lucky we'll get to see them perform one of the film's songs (assuming one gets nominated).

**1/2 out of ****

Sunday Top Ten - Fred Astaire dance numbers

The Golden Age of the Hollywood musical introduced a number of song-and-dance stars to the movie-going public, but the greatest of all of them is Fred Astaire (with Gene Kelly coming in a close second). The man was the very personification of grace. His hugely entertaining dance routines were as difficult as they come, but he had a way of making it look so easy – the mark of a consummate professional. Here are ten numbers of his that always brighten my day.

Review - The Lion King 3D

It's become all too fashionable these days to hate on 3D movies. And not completely without good reason. Many films use the technology merely as a vacuous gimmick to jack up ticket prices, and just as many more employ a relatively inexpensive post-production conversion process that can result in an image that's dim and/or distractingly cluttered. I don't consider myself an advocate of 3D movies, BUT I do make a point of championing those of them that use their medium effectively. To that end, if you must pay the extra three bucks to wear those silly glasses to any movie this year, make sure it's for The Lion King 3D, a magnificent exemplar of the potential effectivity of the post-conversion process, and indeed, for 3D in general.

Sunday Top Ten - Musicals from the 60s

As the studio system of decades prior started dissolving in the late 1950s, the Golden Age of the Hollywood musical, an era ruled by versatile song-and-dance men like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, came to end. By the mid 1970s, the screen musical was all but dead, but what of those tumultuous 1960s years? Despite a proclivity for grasping at already popular shows from Broadway, the death throes of the movie musical marked an interesting and oddly ripe transition period – one that adopted a newer style which would inform some of the 70s' more experimental musical flare.

These are my ten favourites.

Best of the Decade #1: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

No film this decade embodies the passion, excitement, innovation, power, and sheer magic of cinema quite like Moulin Rouge!, Baz Luhrmann's spectacular spectacular reinvention of the movie musical for the 21st century. It is an unparalleled triumph. Taking a simple premise of star-crossed lovers and a seemingly random collection of pop music hits (featuring everything from the "Can-Can" to "Like A Virgin"), Luhrmann gives us a work so original and unforgettable, to compare it with any other film would completely defeat its purpose. This is a movie to treasure and experience for the pure joy, sensuality, and romance with which it drips. Not to mention that incredible eclectic score! This is why we go to the movies.

Where other films would buckle under the weight of such stylistic excess, Moulin Rouge! thrives off of it. The sets and costumes are more dazzling than you could even conceive in your imagination, so vibrant and colourful that they can survive Luhrmann's quick-moving camera and wild editing and come out just as sparkly on the other side. Even more importantly than the visual design, it's the performances that really light up the screen. Nicole Kidman is sassy yet heartbreaking, the tragedy of her character cracking through her sexy exterior more and more as death slowly overcomes her. As her fresh-faced and idealistic lover, Ewan McGregor bursts forth with an enthusiasm that, had it not been as overacted as it was, could have sabotaged the whole project. But McGregor knows the exuberance his part calls for, and he and Kidman play beautifully off each other, making their fairytale love seem real and believable in an unbelievable film. The supporting cast members are all aces, with special mention to Jim Broadbent as the gargantuan showman Harold Ziegler.

To claim the decade's best film is perfect would be false, but its imperfections are its charms, its eccentricities are why we love it. We love it for its frenetic humour, its energy, its ingenious use of music, its utter beauty, but most of all, for its tear-jerking and indelible love story, the least gimmicky and most beautiful thing any film could boast.

A Masterpiece.

Here's my favourite scene not only from Moulin Rouge!, but from any movie of the decade:

Thus concludes my year-long countdown of what I considered the best movies from 2000-2009. I'll officially wrap things up on New Year's with a specialawards ballot indicating the decade's greatest achievements in all the usual categories (I'm just geeky that way).

Review - Burlesque

The musical purist inside my brain warned me that Burlesque would be little more than a loud, saucy cheesecake of a film that reeks of self-indulgence.
My response: “As well it should be.”

Christina Aguilera (cast more for her ferocious set of pipes than her “acting” ability) plays a hopeful young talent from Iowa who makes the trek to Hollywood where she starts off waitressing at a burlesque lounge run by a sardonic impresario played by Cher (the movie's real attraction). In typical rags-to-riches fashion, Aguilera eventually kick-steps her way to the stage where she floors the crowd with her killer singing voice, finds improbable romance, and helps save the club from total rack and ruin.

The beginning skips along at a mostly enjoyable clip, but suffers from major arrhythmia, mainly propagated by the immiscible interlacing of abrasive pop songs and traditional burlesque staples on the soundtrack, and by writer-director Steve Antin's poor grasp of montage. The musical numbers are expectedly glittery and randy, featuring plenty of sequins, ostrich feathers, flashy lighting, raucous editing, and enough boobs & booty shots to fill a 14 year-old's hard drive. Clearly it's been influenced by the likes of its older cousins Chicago and Moulin Rouge!. If that's all you came for (guilty), the first half will serve you reasonably well.

Aguilera is undoubtedly a talented musical performer, but her acting could use a lot of work, as she just can't strike a convincing balance between naïve farm girl and brassy go-getter. Her costar Cher acts with much more conviction, and her big entrance number “Welcome To Burlesque” is the best part of the film.

The second half starts to drag. Big time! Less sexy hip-thrusting and more contrived drama that simply grinds the whole thing to a halt. Had I but known! I'd have had no problem leaving after 60 minutes.

As for Oscar, I'd venture that the original song “You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me” by six-time nominee Diane Warren could be nominated. There's also an outside chance the bling-bling costumes and sets could find room, but I wouldn't count on it.

** out of ****

Review - Tangled

The trailers and TV spots may have you believe Tangled is a snarky fairytale parody akin to Dreamworks, but don't let the sub-par marketing fool you; it is, in fact, an absolutely charming treat of a movie that keeps more in line with vintage Disney than its contemporary competitors.
As we learn in the film's prologue, Princess Rapunzel (voiced with convincing enthusiasm and naivety by Mandy Moore) has magical locks of golden hair with the power to heal and keep people eternally young as a result of the rare life-giving flower that saved her mother during pregnancy. No wonder the ancient Mother Gothel (witchily played by Broadway's Donna Murphy) burgles this flower child from her royal cradle and keeps her locked up in a tower where only she can exploit Rapunzel's gift. The poor dear is pretty cooped up, but days before her 18th birthday, professional thief Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) ducks into the stolen princess' tower to evade capture, and being no match for her frying pan or her flexible strands of hair, is coerced into escorting her across the land and to the city where floating lanterns are sent aloft each year on her birthday in the hopes that one day she might return.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the opening prologue, narrated by Flynn, had me worried that the whole picture would suffer from common self-aware humour, but it didn't take long for the film to get me smiling. Credit directors Nathan Greno, Byron Howard, and writer Dan Fogelman (all of 2008's Bolt) for managing a combination of traditional cartoon sight gags and modernized verbal jokes that almost always had me grinning and chuckling, and only rarely had me shaking my head. Still, they also ensure that heart is the driving force of the story, not simply need to amuse. The story itself is nothing new. It follows a formula to be sure, and is kinda skimpy on thematic meat, but it settles into a nice pace that's just right.

Kudos to all the voice talent involved, with special mention to Donna Murphy's sly comedic delivery each time her villainous character lies through the teeth in order to manipulate her blissful captive.

The real stars of this show, however, are the animators. The character animation is outstanding. All characters are given a unique physicality and terrific facial expressions that match the actors' every vocal inflection. I won't even get into how mind-boggling the animation of Rapunzel's hair is to fathom, other than to say it's incredible. Someone had better win an Annie Award for it!

I'd be remiss to say nothing about Alan Menken's music. With lyricist Glenn Slater, he's fashioned a number of catchy ditties that, while not equal to his best work, fit in nicely with the film. The best of them is “I See The Light”, sung by our two romantic leads during the utterly gorgeous floating lantern sequence, possibly the most beautiful scene you'll see on film this year.
An Oscar nod for Original Song should be assured. I'd venture multiple nominations there if it weren't for the fact that Disney is strategically submitting only "I See The Light" for consideration, so as to remove the threat of vote splitting. Smart move if you ask me. It's a darkhorse for Animated Feature as well, but with only three slots, and all of them presumably taken already, it'll probably be left out. Unfortunate, that, because I actually like it more than How to Train Your Dragon.

*** out of ****

Had a video for this one, but my computer crashed and I lost it. Sorry.