January 15, 20178 yr I've interpreted it as her realising that although she loves him, it's for the best that they didn't get together, because that way they both achieved their dreams and found some form of happiness. The ending where she turns around and they look at each other, was perfect, imo. It kind of said to me that they're both "Ok with it" or whatever and there is no love lost between either of them etc.. Ahhh. Need to see it again!
January 15, 20178 yr Author Ok here we go. This really is an utter work of genius. From the eye-catching visuals to stunning work infront and behind the camera to the catchy tracks and the fabulous plot, this film has everything and brings out every emotion from happiness and joy to sad and regret, this is a film for the ages and a film that is surely going to become a cinematic classic in the future. First of all lets start with the acting. Emma Stone is absolutely bloody fabulous as Mia and gives one of the best performances that I have ever seen. She portrays Mia fantastically and she is such a fabulous actress who really adds to her character and is fabulous throughout. She gives a masterclass of a performance, I adored her auditions and her final performance of The Fools Who Dream was so so heartbreaking. She gave absolutely everything to it and I haven't felt that way seeing a song performed in a non-animated movie since Anne with I Dreamed A Dream. I really hope she wins the Oscar! Ryan Gosling is also absolutely fantastic as Sebastian and he is absolutely stunning with all his great piano playing throughout the film despite only learning how to play it during the pre-production! He also gives everything to his role and portrays his character perfectly, I really couldn't imagine anyone but these 2 in these roles so it still feels crazy that this originally starred Emma W and Miles (as much as I love both of them, especially the latter!). Their chemistry is utter fire and they work so perfectly together! The rest of the cast is also great in the few moments that they get to shine, loved Rosemarie DeWitt in her one prominent scene and John Legend and Emma's friends etc were all great also and I loved J.K. Simmons in his scene as the uptight boss! The film is such a beautiful film to look at. From the moment it starts as being presented in Cinema-Scope, I knew this was going to be something special! The colours are fabulous and the dresses are so bloody beautiful in the film! This has to sweep the technical categories such as Costumes and Production Design at the Oscars! I love the old school Hollywood feel that the visuals present and it was spectacular to see on the big screen! And I loved every second omfg! The opening scene was so joyous and I loved it all from Emma and Ryan's fabulous first meeting to the dinner scene and the auditions! It was perfect. Especially the last scene. That montage was so f***ing beautiful and heart-breaking. I was desperate for Ryan & Emma to end up together but them failing to be both together and fulfil their dreams and destinys was so gutting but it worked perfectly. And the 'what if' of showing us what would have happened had they ended up together. Omg. It was heartbreaking and once again complimented with the absolute visual beauty of the rest of the film. The last look at each other, I was in tears at the end. It just completely hits you emotionally and is just so superb. I love how they both achieved their career dreams but the film manages to portray that they had to sacrifice each other to get to where they are.. I loved all the references to old cinema and the references to Casablanca and Rebel Without A Cause etc <3 The relationship was so beautiful and the film was fascinating in seeing everything develop. I also loved when they saw that film being filmed and Stone/Gosling are walking passed it and admiring it, really sticks with me! Chazelle's direction is absolutely fabulous and he has really made himself become one of the hottest directors on the block with the one two punch of this and Whiplash. You can so easily tell the cast and crew's passion in this project and everything always looks so perfect. And onto the songs. Bloody hell I haven't loved a soundtrack this much since Frozen. The songs are fabulous and the score by Justin Hurwitz is as good and is so beautiful! My review by review per songs/score! I also love the constant use of the piano playing throughout the film! Another Day Of The Sun: Such a fun opening, felt like a fun track from a classic musical and the visuals with this are so striking! Love how they all get out of the cars just randomly during traffic and then the eventual beeping at the end of the track! Someone In The Crowd: So so fun! They all slays this and Emma's solo slow part is beautiful and then the track kicks into full gear with that fabulous showstopping jazzy ending *.* Definitely one of the best! Mia & Sebastian's Theme: Stunning and loved hearing this throughout the film A Lovely Night: I like the song but this is the song that I loved much more while watching the film as it is Ryan/Emma performing the track that makes this song! I loved all the dancing in the film from the toe tapping to the tap dancing and this was so joyous! Herman's Habit: Another beauty from the score! City Of Stars (Ryan version): Prefer the other version but this is also fab! Ryan's whistling is so good and this is such a fantastic track Planetarium: Love this and is so striking in the film, the visuals during this scene are so spectacular and are up their with the best of the year! Summer Montage/Madeline: More gorgeous score music City Of Stars (Gosling/Stone version): Maybe my favourite from the film! The song is fab and I love how Ryan and Emma's vocals compliment each other on this track. They are so fab and I love the little laughter from Stone throughout this track, really just brings joy and I loved that bit before the end where they are singing together! Start A Fire: Loved this also! John Legend has never sounded better and I love Gosling playing that modern Piano thing during this track, pretty much a fab track and I love the verses! Engagement Party: Also so f***ing stunning Audition (The Fools Who Dream): I think this is my favourite. I still cry even when just listening to it. This is so stunning in the film with the focus just fully on Emma with barely any backing and pretty much no visuals bar Emma herself. Her vocals are so beautiful on this and the song really portrays the entire theme of dreaming with heartbreaking lyrics and Emma breaks my heart during this scene. The last part of the song where her vocals soar is just too much. So so stunning. Epilogue: I think this is already the most I have ever listened to a 7 and a 1/2 minute song. I think this is my favourite piece of score of all time. It is just so incredible and portrays every single emotion that is elicted in the film, from the joy to the pain to the sorrow, it is ugh stunning. Hurwitz's does such a fabulous job here and I think this is in my top 3 from the soundtrack! Spoilering the rest of my review for this track so don't read the spoilers unless you have seen the film as I am spoiling the ending! I didn't think anything could top Arrival's epilogue montage but just two months later this comes on. 7 and a 1/2 minutes that portrays everything from this film. Starting with Ryan realising Emma is in the audience and how this brings all the past emotions flooding back. And then he plays the piano stunningly for the first part of the track before the film goes into one of its best scenes, the montage. I've talked about it earlier but it was so heart-breaking to see how it could have been, how everything could have been perfect between the pair but they would have had to sacrifice their dreams. This is one of the best what if scenes of all time. One for the ages. From the uptempo joy for a couple of minutes to Ryan/Emma's first meeting with them actually kissing like in the trailer instead of him ignoring and shoving past her as we saw in the film!, to the use of the film's wonderful City Of Stars to the gorgeous sets and visuals to Ryan and Emma's stunning ballroom dancing. And then all this hope of kids and being together fades away as they pursued their careers and we just see Ryan playing piano and Emma lifeless in the audience. This is really a scene for the ages. So f***ing epic. So utterly perfect. Both cruel and beautiful, hurt and stunning, just a 7 and a 1/2 minute piece of music and stunning visuals and storytelling creates one of the best movie scenes of all time. The End: May only be 40 seconds but this is still 10/10! Love the way it builds up to that climatic finish and love how it finishes like an old-style classic Hollywood flick. Ugh I love this too much! City Of Stars (Humming Version): Also fab, even if the other 2 versions are stronger. I could probably write more but I'm gonna stop there, I think this is the longest post I've wrote since my rate last year! :lol: I haven't loved a film this much in my entire time on Buzzjack and I am so looking forward to this sweeping the rest of the awards this year! I've had the soundtrack on repeat all day, can't wait to see this again and will be definitely getting this on DVD! Chazelle, Stone, Gosling & the rest of the cast and the crew have created something so spectacular, special and magnificent. As Emma said in her GG winning speech, this is a film to inspire dreamers. And this has inspired me so so much. Perfection. 11/10
January 15, 20178 yr Wow cant follow that review but seen it loved it brilliant I literally felt a smile on my face through it all (apart from the end as wasn't the outcome I expected) but it was such a good film. 2 youngish ladies walked out half way through though think they was expecting something different although what I am not quite sure.
January 15, 20178 yr What I love is how we as the audience root for them as a couple when in hindsight they were only really together for less than a year so for them to not be together isn't a stretch from reality. A very 'Roman Holiday' nod I feel
January 17, 20178 yr It was absolutely perfect. I wanted to watch it again as soon as I left the cinema, I would have happily watched it again that same night when I got home. Don't think I have ever felt that way leaving the cinema before.
January 21, 20178 yr Fantastic film with a great soundtrack and a really unique ending which wasn't what I expected at all. Annoyingly, a few people in the screening I was at hated it, it was infuriating because you could hear them all the way throughout loudly nattering about how awful/slow-paced/waste of money it is. Each to their own but surely if you hate something that much you'd just leave the cinema rather than waste another 1-2 hours on something you don't like, rather than spending the whole time slagging it off and runing others' enjoyment. I'd like to see it again without having to put up with this! Nevertheless though I managed to block it out just enough to come to the conclusion that this is a masterpiece imo.
January 21, 20178 yr Author I'm about 90% sure I'm seeing this again tomorrow and I am so so excited! <3 Glad to see so many of you are loving it also! :wub:
January 24, 20178 yr It will sweep the Oscars, for Cinematography, maybe Director, editing, set design, and possibly the two leads, choreography. Beautifully made, a real love for the history of Hollywood, and some of the set routines are fab, notably the opening one. I like that the leads were good enough at singing and dancing without being perfect like the olden musicals, or flawed like some of more modern ones (Mamma Mia). On one viewing I'm less of an all-round enthusiast - I still love old-fashioned musicals like The Sound Of Music, where the songs are genuinely memorable and there's loads of them. The songs here were classy, but not stand-alone standards. Overall 7 or 8 out of 10 for me, and she COULD have been a bit more bloody grateful to him at the end, he did after all make her a star through his enthusiastic insistence in her talent when she had given up! The ending should have been him shouting out "You're welcome! Thanks for checking out how I did when you got rich and famous....Plus - she hasn't told her husband about her ex and how she owed him a lot. Not a healthy relationship!" :P
January 28, 20178 yr Finally saw this, had to be first on my list of Oscar films to watch just to see what all the hype was about even if I don't really do romance or musicals. Visually it was absolutely stunning, the ending montage and the planetary dance in particular, as for the music, it felt well spaced out (which is MUCH preferable to musicals which insist in bursting into song every ten minutes), I didn't think the songs were especially memorable City of Stars aside, but I loved the retro jazz sound. I was more impressed by the story though - it had considerable depth for a romance, and felt refreshingly normal and realistic about how dreams can change your stance on life and honestly any movie of this genre that doesn't end in the couple being together happily ever after is instantly doing a lot better than most for actually being in touch with reality (just realising how clever and appropriate the title is in this respect as well), was a bit far fetched that they both made it big that quickly but I'll allow it that~. It felt a little bit bloated and some sequences dragged, but never enough to quell it's joyfulness. Totally get the hype and expecting it to win pretty big in February. Edited January 28, 20178 yr by Chez Wombat
February 1, 20178 yr Saw it last night and thought it was fantastic. I'm indebted to my wife for telling me it was written and directed by the guy who did Whiplash as that's probably my favourite film of the last decade. Otherwise I might have overlooked it. I thought the ending was perfect. The montage was fun and was a clever way of giving the audience the "happy ending" and then making them realise both endings are happy...but realistically there was only one way for them both to achieve their goals. By going their separate ways at that time. It's sadly very true to life - you meet someone at the wrong time and you do wonder what might have been...but often you do that from a point of happiness...just with someone else. It also lets you know why there were so many references to Casablanca. Except, in this case, they won't "always have Paris". Quite the opposite and, as the perfectly timed smiles at the end show (here's looking at you, kid...and you, kiddo), they're all the better for it. As for the songs, I can't remember any of them apart from their main theme he plays on the piano. But, so what? I enjoyed them and they added to the magic of the film.
February 5, 20178 yr I've seen this twice now and it is a really lovely film. It's funny, heart-warming, has some wonderfully joyful musical numbers and it really pulls at the heartstrings too. It's a romantic comedy without being off-puttingly soppy. It's also choreographed and filmed so well - some of the scenes are really beautiful to watch.
April 11, 20178 yr Author Yep this was just as perfect the 4th time! (and probably last time I'll see it in cinemas :( ) . Most I've ever seen a film in cinemas in ages, I also saw Frozen 4 times in cinemas so this is my joint highest this decade for rewatching the same film in cinemas!! I saw it in town (as not showing anywhere locally anymore!) and it was sfg! The audience was fab and the screen was like formatted to how it was filmed *.* Also Emma's performance really just gets better & better, I am so glad she won the Oscars! And well the songs and everything are just so perfect <3 <3
April 11, 20178 yr I just watched this again too, it's now available on demand! Looking forward to actually owning it myself! Still as perfect as I remember <3
April 16, 20178 yr Author Lol guess who is seeing this again tonight!! (Though on demand and not cinema! And it's not even my choice to watch it!! 😂😂)
Create an account or sign in to comment