Tag: love story

is a phrase I said to my children on many occasions. It came into heavy use when they thought I was being too strict, or had given them too many jobs to do in a certain time period, or day. Basically, they were living in La La Land if they thought they would spend the day reading, or watching movies, or eating three pieces of cake for dessert.

And now, La La Land is a movie! I don’t claim to be a movie critic. Yes, I am critical of many movies. Too much language, too much violence, too much showing of actions that should be kept intimate, really turn me off. I do understand that when making certain movies, you need to be realistic. A gangster covering his mouth and saying, “Oh sugar!” or slapping his adversary’s hand, probably isn’t going to cut it. But sometimes it seems a bit over the top.

I also don’t act, and I don’t know a lot about that profession. But it seems as though the talents of many actors had become more about what stunts they could do, rather than the dancing, singing, etc. that was once more about glamorous Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong. The training some of the actors go through to play a character is phenomenal, and I wouldn’t want to do it. But millions of dollars of phenomenal? I think it’s a bit over-the-top in my opinion. But let’s get back to La La Land!

My husband and I rarely go to movies. We have streaming and can watch pretty much anything. So to go to a movie and spend that much money doesn’t happen usually. And last night, I went with our second oldest while our oldest daughter took care of five children. Thank you, oldest daughter! My husband would not have enjoyed the movie. War, crime, etc. are more his genre. But he would have loved the theater. It would have made for a terrific nap. Speaking of the theater, you can check it out here: http://www.ovationcinemagrill.com/#locations It’s pretty fantastic if entertainment in the movie and eating area are for you.

La La Land was a surprise for me. As a writer, I loved the little twist at the end. Just the kind of romantic, sentimental gesture I adore. The actors, Emma Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Stone and Ryan Gosling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Gosling didn’t show the typical singing and dancing moves that the old Hollywood was so terrific at, but that could have been intentional. It made it more sweet, in my opinion. Ryan Gosling’s piano playing was a treat, and John Legend…well he is John Legend after all! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Legend. All of this combined with a nice story line made for a really enjoyable couple of hours.

And as I said, that was a surprise to me. I haven’t read any reviews for the movie. A really quick search on Ryan Gosling’s piano playing said that he had actually played the piano in the movie. I hope that is true, my sentimental heart wants to believe that’s true. It was wonderful to see pretty dresses and suits, beautiful scenery, and that song will be in my head forever!

La La Land! It was really special to spend a couple hours there.