"...a huge feat in filming".

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2017)

I hated The Sound of Music. I hated Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I hate Mary Poppins. I hated all of the music films from that era. Somehow, in 2016, that format has finally been done right. This movie is great. The whole thing plays out like a stage performance. The colours, the lights, the dancing, the acting. But the thing that ties it all together, and makes it really shine as a stage show is the cinematography. I love the long movement shots, where its obvious that everyone had to be on point for their part. Even just the opening song is a huge feat in filming. The stunts, the dancing, the singing, and then both Emma Stone and Ryan Goslings separate acting parts. The opening scene sets up the entire movie.
The story... I don't have too much to say about it. Its just a story. Its a polished, easy to swallow love story. There's nothing special about it, and thats the only thing in my eyes that could be a let down, but for what the movie is, it works for it. Would the story make me watch it again? No, but the production might.
My favourite part of the whole movie is the stage show recap, while Ryan's character plays "the song". Its confusing throughout the whole thing. I said "she turned their story into a stage show... oh, no its a recap... oh, Ryan is the girls Dad... oh, no its Ryan's version of how it should have gone". I was so confused, but when he finally finished the song, I was spent.
I would watch more movies like this, if only for the production. I hope maybe some day, someone makes one of these films with an edgy story. I want to see heroin, not Coke.