La La Land

I finally got to see this yesterday and walked out. I think I can honestly say it's the first film I have given up on and I am an avid cinema fan with access to an art house cinema and university film studies club. But this is part of life and thankfully we do not all enjoy the same things. Hoping to catch Lion and T2 Trainspotting soon. I am pleased to read that some of you enjoyed it.

I met a lady this morning who, with her husband, decided to leave La La Land before the end, the first time they have left a film early in their 53 years together. It was a shame because, by my reckoning, they missed the bit worth seeing.

Overhyped and slow I'm afraid. Very disappointed.

KL: The ending spoke to me. It was 2 hours to get there that were my problem.

Agree, GK!

I'd have liked a different ending too but there were complications!

cunco I agree it is interesting how people's views differ - I didn't like Mamma Mia, thought that it didn't live up to the hype, whereas LaLa Land can be hyped up to the hilt in my view

We both enjoyed La La Land and neither of us are particularly fond of musicals . We went because we fancied a good film and this seemed to be the best on offer. I thought both leads were excellent. As well as the light hearted romance, good music and dance routines, great cinematic effects and views over the city I liked the clothes. I liked the simplicity of the dresses the lead and other women wore and it was good to see young women who didn't have false breasts and overly skinny bodies.
Ryan Gosling was particularly engaging and impressive that he learned to play the piano in preparation for the role.
My daughter and her partner went the other evening, they also loved it though my daughter (like me) would have preferred a different ending.

It is interesting to read different views on musicals. Kittylester picked out Les Miserables as the one she didn't like whereas it is the one I liked most of all. I didn't like the music the first time but after listening to a tape (yes, it was that long ago) on a long car journey, I was hooked and have seen it a couple of times since on stage as well as the film.

For me, at the cinema, Cabaret still stands out while Moulin Rouge was a no-go area.

No idea who DO is, but I'm sure I went with DH

We thought it was great. DO turned to me at the end and said 'That was good!'. Praise indeed. It was really good to hear jazz integrated so much. We're not much into musicals and I thought Mamma Mia was embarrassing, but I'd happily go and see this again

Thanks for the link mawbroon

I did like it - but over hyped (I nearly fell asleep early on - oops) - loved the casting.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088n7s9
If you love traditional musicals (as I do) there is an excellent prog on BBC4 by composer Neil Brand. It started last week and I was transported back to the glory days of Oklahoma, Carousel, Showboat etc - sheer heaven!

DH and I both loved it. We love musicals (apart from Les Miserables!) and thought it was a fresh take on an old fashioned light musical. We were pleasantly surprised at the amount of 'jazz' there was in it.

Interesting comments.

I have been asked if I want to go and see it, I might wait for friends to tell me what they think.

Cheers.

I went to see it last night with DH. He thought it was overhyped though better than he thought it would be. I enjoyed it. I thought it romantic and moving and loved everything about it.

Without giving too much away, the film moves through the seasons from Winter to Winter again. I only became engaged at the Fall. It was moving at the end but I almost didn't make it that far.

To be fair, we went to the cinema as 2 couples and the other 3 people enjoyed the whole film more than I did.

I'm a huge fan of musicals but I'm afraid that this left me cold. The opening scene was stunning, and I liked the observatory scene, however the story line just didn't grab me. I didn't feel the magic and the feel good factor was missing. Such a pity, I was looking forward to it.

Agree about being over-hyped but I can't say what I though was the best and most moving part of it as it would be a spoiler - I was pleased there wasn't too much music, dancing and singing - that's what I wasn't looking forward to. I thought the scene in the observatory was really lovely

I agree it was over hyped but nonetheless I enjoyed it. I did expect more music and dancing-more Momma Mia-but it was enjoyable.
However the (run down) cinema in our town wasn't warm enough and some numpties passed a lot of the time rustling paper! That's why I don't go to the cinema very often!

I saw it last week. I think that the PR dept. deserve a medal for 'bigging it up!'
Apart from Ryan Gosling, who was very engaging, I found it slow and quite boring. I'm not too sure where the feel good factor was, I was expecting to leave the cinema feeling upbeat as I did after Mama Mia, I left feeling rather down. Maybe a little too much hype?

I also saw it last night and enjoyed it, although thougt it was a little over hyped, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were both very good leads, loved the dance routines.

I absolutely loved it. Ryan Gosling is a great actor plus he learnt to play the piano for the role.