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During the Oscar campaign for Whiplash (2014) I was able to meet its breakthrough writer/director Damien Chazelle a few times and he even dropped hints to me about his plans for La La Land. I couldn't believe my ears that we would get a real musical from him. Given that both of his first two films centered around musicians, it shouldn't have been such a surprise.
Here we are nearly two years later with the first teaser trailer and what sounds like a surefire Best Original Song nominee in "City of Stars" (now available to download) have emerged and we're already yes yes gimme.
The film's synopsis (which we hope is just an excuse to hang swoony scenes and musical numbers on) goes like so:
Jazz musican Sebastian and his girlfriend, aspiring actress Mia, struggle to cope with the pressures of trying to make it big in Hollywood.
But can she actually act? Golden Globe or not, American Horror Story: Hotel was not much to go on in that regard...The Ringer the No Strings Attached vs Friends With Benefits war of 2011 revisited THR We'll believe any new version of A Star is Born when we see it because someone is always trying to remake it. The latest proposal is Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga (with Cooper debuting as a director) DeadlineCaptain America: Civil War is first title of the year to hit $400 million domestic. It just happened. Playbill Phillipa Soo, currently starring in Hamilton, will play Amelie in the Broadway musical version of the Oscar nominated french film next year The Guardian celebrates Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring 2) with five memorable moments Tracking Board Vera Farmiga's next co-star gig is with Liam Neeson in The Commuter as a mysterious woman who propositions him. /Film Hollywood is so desperate for franchises they're even going to try The Saint again. Remember that Val Kilmer movie from the 90s? No? Don't tell Hollywood
It's a Wrap Coming SoonGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has wrapped - expect it to thoroughly demolish the box office next May. Viola DavisFences is also a wrap. Looks like it'll be ready for Oscar after all. Viola tweeted a cute pic from the set
Oscar Hopeful? /FilmTheStory of Your Life, the Amy Adams Denis Villenueve sci-fi drama on our Oscar charts has a new super generic title The Arrival. (sigh) It arrives on November 11th Coming Soon welp, it looks like Judi Dench still wants that Best Leading Actress Oscar. She's playing Queen Victoria for a second time (after her nomination without a win for Her Majesty Mrs Brown) in a forthcoming Stephen Frears film called Victoria and Abdul. Abdul (a young clerk from India) has not yet been cast though if we know Hollywood they won't even bother looking beyond Dev Patel. But it'd be cool to see someone else get a shot at leading a film.
...and it turns out Hozier wrote an original song for The Legend of Tarzan. Here's the video which just came out
Manuel here. During last night’s joyous Tony Awards, many of us got the first look at a Disney film that is sure to crash what’s looking like an already crowded Best Animated Feature race. Between Kung Fu Panda 3, Zootopia, Finding Dory, and the upcoming Sausage Party, Trolls and The Secret Life of Pets, there’ll be no shortage of films to round out a competitive category. And that’s even before we begin taking seriously the foreign productions which often leapfrog over the American CGI spectacles to worthwhile nominations (fingers crossed for Kubo and the Two Strings and The Red Turtle). Enter Moana:
As is become custom with female-driven Disney properties, the marketing team at the Mouse House is looking to play another bait and switch—remember how all those early Frozen teasers looked like Ice Age ripoffs by focusing on playful scenes of what we all assumed would be that annoying snow man? or those Tangled ones which put Flynn Ryder at the center of the action, barely making mention of the film's fairy tale leanings? This first teaser is all about Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) while giving us very little sense of what the first ever Polynesian Disney princess story will be about.
We’ll wait for a full on Yes No Maybe So when the full trailer drops, but in the meantime, enjoy the teaser where you can see that Ron Clements and John Musker (they of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid fame) have stayed true to the Disney formula and given Moana a delightfully adorable pet.
Immediately, I'm already won over by the beautiful use of color—those sky blues and ocean hues look sumptuous to say the least. Also, I can't be the only one having Hercules flashbacks with that tattoo intro bit but anything that reminds me of those hilarious muses is fine by me.
But perhaps I'm burying the lede here: Moana may be the film that gets Lin-Manuel Miranda his EGOT. After winning two (more) Tonys last night for Hamilton, having won Grammys for both his Broadway shows, and an Emmy for the "Bigger!" Tonys opening number a few years back, Miranda may nab his first Oscar nomination (even a win?) for the music he's written for this Disney flick. It'd be a heck of a way to cap off a great year for the ever entertaining Broadway superstar and perhaps a way to further welcome him to Hollywood ahead of his next big film project, a little movie called Mary Poppins Returns.
Sing Street, the latest film from our most musician obsessed auteur John Carney, has been expanding with more theaters each week at a fairly strong clip. Six weeks in, there's no expansion (a very crowded weekend) but its fanbase keeps growing exponentially as more people "discover" it. Like Carney's previous music-based indies, the Oscar winning, transcendently low-fi Once and the more mainstream but surprisingly rewatchable Begin Again, whatever you might want to say about Sing Street an adjective that could safely and accurately describe all three films is "endearing"...
We've never even discussed Zootopia! What's wrong with us? (Don't answer) What follows is an off the cuff top ten. But consider this intro a number eleven plus: the joy of the movie is that it's not frontloaded at all continuing to offer delights all the way up to its concert finale in its fleet 108 minutes. So don't let this list feel complete: share your favorite things about it in the comments.
(This is assuming you loved it because everyone seems to)
TOP 10 DELIGHTFUL THINGS ABOUT "ZOOTOPIA"
10 Size Matters (in Comedy) Lt. Judy Hopps, our heroine, would argue that it doesn't but it does. The animators and writers and filmmakers spin multiple jokes from the disparity in size of so many of the characters. And they've really worked the scale out. Few images in the movie radiated more comic bliss then watching a parade of conformist lemmings lining up for hundreds of miniature sweets made from one elephant sized dessert scoop.
09 Bunny Jokes That throwaway line "your 275 brothers and sisters" and Judy's sly math joke later on "we're good at multiplying!"
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 10:35AM 
During the Oscar campaign for Whiplash (2014) I was able to meet its breakthrough writer/director Damien Chazelle a few times and he even dropped hints to me about his plans for La La Land. I couldn't believe my ears that we would get a real musical from him. Given that both of his first two films centered around musicians, it shouldn't have been such a surprise. 
