Exactly How Rare / Precious is "La La Land"?

With La La Land opening tomorrow (go see it) we must discuss it's already combed over reception from film critics and awards pundits and the like. When La La Land took the Best Picture prize from the NYFCC last week, certain pockets of people were outraged. Suddenly it was a "safe" movie, middlebrow, something utterly and completely common. 'Boy meets girls. Boy loses girl. UGH Romantic Dramas, am I right?!' Awards season backlash and contrarianism is a real thing though people try to pretend it's not each and every year and consider their motives solely pure. I know I've been guilty of it myself. I trust exactly no one in the entire talking-about-movies ecosphere who claims they haven't. Awards season is like politics; It affects everyone, even or especially those who rage against it and claim it to be meaningless to them. File that type under "the lady doth protest too much".

Naturally I was quick to jump to La La Land's defense whenever this happened. This was not because I love it (which I do...but keeping it 100 it's not a Moulin Rouge! level masterwork or anything) or even because I am a die hard warrior for the musical form. No, I bristle solely because this stance is ridiculous. La La Land is absolutely the furthest thing from a "safe" or common movie. And how uncommon it is, after further research, was stunning even to me!

Some lists before the revelation... 

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Janelle Monáe's Breakout 2016

Chris here with one of our newest favorites - well, new to the movies at least. Janelle Monáe has already been such an effervescent musician and entertainer this decade, crushing it with ferocious moves and slick style. The leap to movies was only inevitable with all that charisma. This year she's made quite the successful transition, landing right in the middle of Oscar season with supporting roles in two contenders Moonlight and Hidden Figures. Both films and characters are quite different, showing the star's range and excitingly delivering her breakthrough for two black narratives.

But it's not just happenstance of two great projects in the same season. In short order, Monáe proves to be as much of a natural cinematic talent as she is a musical one. Without any of the stunted skills of her pop contemporaries trying out this acting thing, she's already the kind of screen presence you just want to spend more time with. In short order, Janelle Monáe deserves to be a damn movie star...

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Little Shop of Horrors Slated For Big Screen Remake

by Daniel Crooke

Judging by Hollywood’s gluttony with the bottomless box office buffet of remakes, sequels, and reboots, it’s a fair assumption that the average development slate subsists on a diet built purely on previously existing properties. Spider-Mans make for a great snack, Mummys are the perfect midnight meal, and Beauty and the Beast is the latest on Disney’s plate of microwaved leftovers. This week, as Frank Oz’s classic 1986 horror-comedy musical Little Shop of Horrors hits Warner Bros’ menu, the budding beast bellows once more: feed me!

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Podcast: Critics Awards, Elle, Hacksaw Ridge, More...

This week a bifurcated podcast. In the first half Nick, Joe, and Nathaniel continue their discussion of Elle. Then Katey joins us to talk about the recent surge of critics awards. 

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 A little more on Elle, Huppert, and provocateur auteurs
13:00 Bleed For This, The Fighter, Hidden Figures
19:20 Katey joins us & Nick goes to New Zealand
23:00 Critic prizes, Critics Choice Nomination, NBR, the lack of transparency, and Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge
40:00 A bit on Hell or High Water

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments. On the next podcast: Manchester by the Sea and Reader Questions Answered! 

Critics Award Rush...

Kirk Douglas Centennial: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Here's Tim to continue our mini Kirk Douglas fest. The actor turns 100 this Friday.

And now, a little change of pace. I don't think the cinephile lives who'd argue that Kirk Douglas's performance in the 1954 sci-fi adventure 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is his best, or anywhere particularly near his best. It is, however, quite possibly his most fun, as is to be expected from a star turn as the meathead sailor hero in a live-action Disney film.

Douglas gets first-billing in the movie, though he's probably not the first thing you'd think about if you looked back over the film in your mind...

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