Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

La La Land

Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to Whiplash is a big, bold musical in the style of Hollywood musicals of the Golden Era. These musicals had plenty of dancing; simple, but evocative songs; and a sense of place and style that made them feel otherworldly. La La Land, to a greater extent, does all of this, while discussing the fleeting vitality of said productions and the reality of romantic comedies and their ultimate rewards.

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as two Los Angeles creatives seeking careers that have eluded them. Stone is a barista who dreams of becoming a world renowned actress. Gosling plays a soulful jazz pianist who can’t escape the aged realities of his most beloved of musical genres. As the two cross paths, their lives take new twists, some for the best, others for the worst. They find out just how much in sync they are and how far apart they could become.

For their part, Stone and Gosling are magical together. The palatable chemistry drives their relationship in unexpected ways. Like Gosling and Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine (except a significant bit more happy), there’s always an underlying tension that belies their emotional happiness. They have solid voices that blend well together, much like their characters. Several actors play bit parts, but none of them significantly enough to merit attention.

As director, Chazelle has a sense of perspective that keeps his film buoyant even when it struggles with antiquated concepts and a song score that, for the most part is strong, but doesn’t impress in nearly every outing. The opening number is vibrant, but the song isn’t particularly catchy; “City of Stars” is a wonderful thematic backdrop to the film; and “Audition” is a strong turning point. This is a film for cineastes who love to see their stars dance on screen rather than watch as the dance numbers are chopped up by the editor or cut in close without drawing on the beauty of an expansive long shot watching the dancers’ movements.

Sing

A joyous celebration of differences, Illumination Entertainment understands how to create audience-friendly animated films that please in many ways. Although they haven’t always been successful in terms of quality, there’s no question they understand how to please their viewers. Sing is a continuation of that legacy and may be the best film they’ve offered up since the original Despicable Me

As his theater is starting to crumble around him, both physically and financially, Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) struggles to find that one great idea that will draw audiences into his aging theater and make him the success he always promised his dad he would become. When he comes up with the grand idea of a singing competition, his dreams begin to fly, but a flyer typo sent to the entire city endangers his plans as the prize money he’s putting up is far less than what he’s promised.

Among the talented stars that try out for his American Idol-like contest are Reese Witherspoon as a pig who gave up her teenage dreams to marry and have 25 children; Seth MacFarlane
as a crooning mouse who plays sax on street corners and longs for a luxury lifestyle; Scarlett Johansson as a hard rock/punk porcupine dumped by her boyfriend (Beck Bennett) when she decides to compete without him in the competition; Tori Kelly as a self-conscious pachyderm urged to compete by her pushy grandfather (Jay Pharoah); Taron Egerton as a mountain gorilla with musical dreams that don’t involve being lookout for his criminal father (Peter Serafinowicz); and Nick Kroll as the sparkly pig forced to be Witherspoon’s performance partner.

Other prominent voices include John C. Reilly as Buster’s sheep friend Eddie; director Garth Jennings as Buster’s elderly iguana assistant; Leslie Jones as Kelly’s mother; Jennifer Saunders as the elder Nana Noodleman, Reilly’s grandmother and once star of the very theater Moon now owns; Jennifer Hudson as the young Nana; and Rhea Perlman as the llama from the bank who wants debts paid or will foreclose on the theater.

What makes this film so exciting is its use of old and new music to sell the story, hand-picked tunes that evoke a sense of environment and theme in ways that haven’t been so effectively done since Moulin Rouge! The vocal work is mostly astounding, with Reilly and McConaughey the most consistently frustrating.

The film suffers from a script that’s largely predictable, sometimes a bit too precious, but surprisingly well constructed. There are twists that make absolute sense, but they all twist together in a compelling way.