La La Land was quite realistic for an original musical but also fantastic in some sequences

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2017)

Just watched this with my movie theatre-working friend who saw it before and said it was okay. The movie seems to want to be both realistic and fantasy-laden as evidenced by the location shots for the former and the more imaginative set designs for the latter. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are the leads and they both seem believable enough playing a real-life couple trying to live their dreams and also to please each other but it seems they can't do both. The original songs are pretty entertaining and their voices are, well, serviceable for their characters. Part of me did wonder if the praise was worth it but by the end, it brought a smile to me face even if the ending was not a "happily ever after" one. So that's a recommendation for La La Land. Oh, and glad it just got 14 Oscar nominations!