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La La Land, the movie critics and the Oscars went gaga over, is now available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD. The film was so popular that it is almost considered uncouth not to like it. Just the other day I read a review by an esteemed critic who said either you get it or you don’t. Well, I get it, but I don’t like it.

I like what it tries to do in binging back memories of those gorgeous looking early 1950s Hollywood musicals, An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, and The Bandwagon and those equally dazzling 1960s French musicals, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. Like those films, La La Land is a celebration of contemporary life set against the background of a fanciful world that exists more in mind than reality. It even evokes memories of those spectacular old black-and-white 1930s musicals like Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dames among others.

Who can forget Gene Kelly dancing down the street in An American in Paris and Singin’ in the Rain or Fred Astaire going for a shine on his shoes in The Band Wagon? Who can forget the palpable romance and heartbreaking breakup of Catherine Deneueve and Nino Castelnuovo in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg or the soulful singing of Jacques Perrin and impassioned dancing of George Chakiris and Grover Dale in The Young Girls of Rochefort?

Nothing could top Busby Berekeley’s inspired productions of The Gold Digger’s Song (We’re in the Money) and Remember My Forgotten Man in Gold Diggers of 1933 unless it was the comedic timing of Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, and Ruby Keeler as they shared an apartment, feebly re-created in La La Land by Emma Stone and her roommates. Nor was there anything in the new film that could approach Berkeley’s crowded subway dreaming manifested in Dick Powell’s rendition of “I Only Have Eyes for You”.

For me, La La Land is like eating a TV dinner and pretending it’s a gourmet meal being served at an elegant restaurant. The one ingredient those old musicals had that this one lacks is real singing. The thin-voiced croaking of Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and just about everyone else in the film except John Legend, was painful to my ears. I wanted to weep, not sing along with them.

In the musicals of old, they either hired actors who could sing or they dubbed them. Sometimes they even dubbed actors who could sing with singers who could sing even better. It didn’t bother anyone even when it was obvious that the actor was being dubbed. Musicals are fantasies anyway.

In my opinion, the year’s best musical was John Carney’s beguiling contemporary Irish musical Sing Street about a 15-year-old boy who forms a band to impress a 16-year-old girl who might otherwise not give him the time of day. It’s a simple story, beautifully executed with excellent performances by a largely unknown cast. It also has the happy ending that La La Land goes out of its way to avoid.

I found the fact that La La Land won so many year-end awards for Best Picture especially astonishing considering there were so many strong alternatives. I thought maybe the Los Angeles critics would go for La La Land based on civic pride, but that the more urbane New York critics would steer clear of it. Instead, the opposite happened. New York went for it big time, awarding it their top award. Los Angeles was a bit more circumspect. They gave their top award to Moonlight, albeit with La La Land coming in second in their voting.

I was heartened by the surprise win of Moonlight over La La Land at the Oscars. The independent film made on a shoestring was my second favorite film of the year after the poignant Manchester by the Sea.

For the record, my top ten list of 2016 consists of Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water, Martin Scorsese’s Silence, Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures, Jeff Nichols’ Loving, Pablo Larrain’s Jackie, Garth Davis’ Lion, and John Carney’s Sing Street.

While there were no foreign language films in my top ten this year, and no films directed by women, both were represented in my next ten, which included four foreign language films, two of them by women, as well as an Australian film which was also directed by a woman. Jeff Nichols is the only director represented by two films this year, one of which is my top ten, the other in my next ten.

My next ten includes Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta, Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, Jocelyn Moorhouse’s The Dressmaker, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans, Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special, Travis Knight’s Kubo and the Two Strings, and J.A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls.

My favorite performances of the year by category were those of Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea, Natalie Portman in Jackie, Jeff Bridges in Hell and High Water, and Viola Davis in Fences. My favorite direction was by Kenneth Lonergan in Manchester by the Sea. My favorite new song was “Drive It Like You Stole It” from Sing Street.

Every one of these fine films has now been released on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

This week’s new releases include the Oscar-winning The Salesman which I haven’t yet seen and the Oscar-nominated animated feature The Red Turtle, which I haven’t seen either.

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