First Man (2018)

I finally decided to give Damien Chazelle another shot. Perhaps the lack of jazz would help my appreciation. And the fact that he only directed and produced rather than wrote this time. Of course, even if he were the writer, he could do only so much to a famous true story.

The pic follows Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) from a 1961 spaceplane flight to shortly after returning from the moon. (I didn't know about the quarantine then; contagious lunar pathogens would be the least of my worries.) Quite a few obstacles occur in between: Cosmonauts have been winning every match in the Space Race, some tests end in disaster, and public opposition to this use of tax dollars is increasing. On a more personal level, Neil mourns a daughter recently lost to cancer but refuses to take time off, and his wife (Claire Foy), while supportive of his career, frets that she'll be the next astronaut widow.

Whiplash (2014)

For years, this had been the highest entry on IMDb's top 250 that I hadn't seen (a distinction presently held by Dangal at #80). Sources had suggested that it was not exactly pleasant to watch, and my dad got the same impression. But I could ignore its many awards and consistent high scores across all major rating sites for only so long.

Andrew (Miles Teller) is a conservatory freshman with a thing for drumming. The jazz band's conductor, Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), is pretty much Drill Sergeant Nasty, only he waits until you mess up to get angry at you. I'm not sure whether he's especially hard on Andrew or our perspective is limited by the spotlight, but Andrew is certainly under a lot of stress -- which drives him to become the drummer Fletcher wants.

La La Land (2016)

Between its record-tying Oscar nominations and its high ratings across the main review sites, you might think this the best movie not just of the year but of the decade to date. I went in with no such assumption. One family member had had high expectations and was disappointed; another had low expectations and was impressed. It seemed only fair that my expectations be middling.

I had heard that it pays tribute to old-school musicals but is not like Glee. Nor, it turns out, is it to musicals what The Artist is to silents. It follows two present-day people who love different aspects of the past: Mia (Emma Stone), a barista who wants to be an actress and covers her room with classic film posters; and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a pianist/keyboardist with little interest in things outside of jazz, which can make it difficult for him to stay employed. As circumstances repeatedly bring them together, they fall in love, but the relationship has an awfully shaky foundation, tested by the dilemmas of whether to follow their dreams or settle....