When the movie musical La La Land went seven for seven earlier this month at the Golden Globes, naysayers predicted the sweep would result in a backlash. Well, not exactly. This morning, the Damien Chazelle-directed contemporary song-and-dance romance received 14 Oscar nominations, tying the all-time record high held by Titanic and All About Eve. The Los Angeles-based … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Dec. 16-18
Music: George Frideric Handel premiered his oratorio Messiah in April of 1742 in Dublin, where it was put on for a hospital benefit. It was an Easter piece, but over the years it’s become an indelible part of Christmas in the English-speaking world. There are several places this weekend to get your Messiah fix, with performances tonight at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in … [Read more...]
‘La La Land’: A love letter to the movies, with a painful P.S.
In R.E.M.’s visionary music video for “Everybody Hurts,” a familiar traffic jam becomes an unfamiliar act of protest. Connected by their shared pain, commuters of all creeds and colors begin an exodus from their cars: first one, then a few, then everyone, until they just disappear. I can’t think of a more appropriate post-11/8 song. The opening of Damien Chazelle’s La La … [Read more...]
2016-17 Season Preview: Film (winter)
With a winter season that includes a Marvel Comics flick and a couple of science fiction yarns, the summer still seems to be with us. Still, if the past is any indication, the Oscar winners are embedded somewhere in the list below. Can you find them? The Birth of a Nation (Oct. 7) – The sensation of this year’s Sundance Festival is this biopic of slave/preacher/rebel Nat … [Read more...]