La La Land and Rogue ONE

Two movies that are now both in my All-Time favorites open on the same weekend. Crazy.

I fully believe La La Land to win or be a huge contender for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Song, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Art Direction

If Katherine Hepburn/Debriah Kerr and Paul Newman were closer in age and did a musical together in 2016...they would be Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. It's first and foremost a great story and movie about two people that happens to be a superb musical.

Rogue ONE surpasses Star Wars, which was nominated for Best Picture in 1977, and is my co-favorite Star Wars movie with Empire Strikes Back. And honestly with more viewings - this is easily the most rewatchable of the franchise, will likely become my favorite. This movie makes the Star Wars universe and the originals much more special. The space battes were mind-blowing. The characters, while relatively thin like all war movie characters, are very charming and empathetic and played superbly by the cast. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are terrific. The best popcorn movie you can imagine with the impact of great war movies.

Rogue ONE should be nominated for Best Picture (seriously), Best Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, maybe even Best Director. It's that good and I think the Academy voters will love this movie.


Other strong movies I saw this year:

Hell or High Water
Everybody Wants Some (Linklater)
Love and Friendship (Beckinsale meets Austen)
Deadpool
Allied (loved this movie)
Sing Street


I still need to see Manchester by The Sea (probably La La Land's biggest competitor for Best Picture) and Hacksaw Ridge.

Great year for quality movies.

 

I saw this too (at IPIC heh, with coffee and egg quesadillas)
I am not a big Star Wars guy -- but I think this is the best one.
And if it did have angry anti-Trump messaging as some allege, it was too subtle to notice

 

Anti-Trump? I did not notice. Everyone wants to make something out of the election.

What was also great is that Jyn Erso, played by the lovely and charmig Felicity Jones from Theory of Everything, was a superb character that could have been a man. In other words, she wasn't this ridiculous perfect feminist Mary Sue character that was Rey in last year's Force Awakens.

After that sick space battle, Gareth Edwards needs to be on Cruise's short list for director's chair on Top Gun 2.

No agendas, at least polarizing ones, hitting you like a bat...just A+ storytelling and moviemaking in Rogue ONE.

 

Rogue One was excellent. You'd have to try real hard to tie current politics to that movie.

 

Well, Kathleen Kennedy (Disney Lucasfilm President) has said her goal is to bring more women characters and directors to the Star Wars franchise and doesn't need to cater to male Star Wars fans. To most people, that's pushing feminism which has nothing to do with Star Wars. Last year's Force Awakens, IMHO, had many problems, I wasn't a fan. And one of the biggest problems was a thinly written feminist Mary Sue character.

Star Wars has had great female characters and heroes in the movies, TV shows, books, etc. Princess Leia may be one of the greatest movie heroines of all-time. To me, unlike feminist Mary Sue Rey in Force Awakens, it's because Leia is relatable.

While Star Wars ultimately is about fatherhood and a quest from boyhood to manhood, I do not mind strong female characters at all as long as it's written well and the character makes sense. Felicity Jone's character in Rogue ONE, Jyn Erso, is superb. Her character makes sense and she feels real. I'm first and foremost a movie fan, so even movies with an obvious feminist message I'll like as long as they're well made and written. Good example Hunger Games and Leauge of Their Own...very entertaining. A craptastic feminist movie...Eat Pray Love. I wanted to kill myself after that one.

Rogue ONE is supposed to be the "war movie" anthology movie for Disney. Man did it deliver. And the upcoming Han Solo movie will be the fun "western/pirate" anthology movie. They could do a "strong female character" movie a la Hunger Games (or the upcoming Wonder Woman movie that looks great) explore what it means to be a woman in that time and it could be very entertaining. But feminism shouldn't be in the Skywalker saga episodic main story.