La La Land

The Oscar nominations will be announced bright and early tomorrow morning, marking the beginning of the end for the plodding death march that is awards season. But critical groups continue to truck along for the time being, with the London Critics’ Circle the latest body to weigh in with their picks for the best of 2016’s cinematic offerings. Even across the Atlantic, La La Land continues to win over movie types; Damien Chazelle’s bittersweet romantic musical took the Film of the Year distinction, though stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone went unrecognized, as did director Chazelle.

The signature image of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land — the one that adorns all of its posters and trailers, and this post as well — is of its two stars, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, dancing in the hills of Los Angeles. It’s a striking visual: Gosling in his dark wool (not polyester) suit, Stone in her canary yellow dress, each with one arm pointed skyward behind them and the other crossed and pointing to the ground. In this single pose, they’ve essentially diagrammed their characters’ entire journeys over the course of the film: They come from different worlds, meet, and send each others’ lives careening off in new directions, with the city of Los Angeles serving as the glittering backdrop to their romance.

The Directors Guild of America has officially unveiled its 2016 film nominees, a list that boasts very few — if any — surprises. Indeed, the DGA has added its voice(s) to the growing awards season choir, singing the praises of La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea — all but guaranteeing their Oscar nominations for Best Picture. The DGA has also revealed the nominees for First-Time Feature Filmmaker, which include Dan Trachtenberg for 10 Cloverfield Lane and (brace yourselves for this totally un-shocking shocker) Tim Miller for Deadpool.

The list of 2017 Golden Globes nominees had more surprises to offer than the awards ceremony itself — except for that Aaron Taylor-Johnson win (seriously, what was that?). While this year’s big movie winners were relatively predictable, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association continued their annual tradition of throwing a few curveballs in the television categories ( at least we finally know who’s actually watching Goliath). Now that the Golden Globes have come and gone with little incident, we’re officially on the road to Oscar night, but first! Join us for a recap of the Globes’ winners, losers and most memorable moments — okay, maybe just one moment in particular.

It’s the inevitable question money-minded executives must ask when an original movie musical starts to gain traction with the general public: “So,” he asks, bitten-down cigar chomped between his teeth, “we taking this thing to Broadway or what?”

La La Land, duh. Manchester By the Sea, right. Moonlight, you better. Deadpool – excuse me? It’s true, Ryan Reynolds’ superhero movie has just been named one of the 10 best films of 2016 by the Producers Guild of America (via Variety). Many of us thought its Golden Globes nominations were just a result of the HFPA’s always wacky taste, but it seems the Deadpool virus has spread across the nation to multiple voting bodies, from the Writer’s Guild of America to the Producers.

Like it, love it or hate it, La La Land is continuing its major sweep of awards season, unsurprisingly. After winning a record-breaking seven Golden Globes on Sunday night, the Damien Chazelle romance musical has come out on top of the 2017 British Academy of Film and Television Awards with 11 nominations. The surprising bits of the BAFTA announcement though, were the few very nominations given to its main competitors.

La La Land’s backlash arrived a little later than expected this awards season, but that didn’t stop the jazzy bittersweet musical from claiming a top prize at the 2017 Golden Globe awards. In one of the least surprising moments of the evening, Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash follow-up received the award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Next stop: The Oscars, most likely.

Most of the attention in the Oscar race so far has been focused on Moonlight, and with good reason; it is an amazing film. But don’t count out La La Land just yet; the movie is a feel-good crowd-pleaser, and these awards are, after all, popularity contests. Tonight Damien Chazelle, director of La La Land took home the Golden Globe for Best Director, making this year’s Oscar race that much more interesting.

Here’s to the ones who dream, and here’s to the ones who go on to win Golden Globes! Emma Stone took home the award for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical for her role as the aspiring actress Mia in La La Land.