Babylon (2022)

Damien Chazelle (La La Land) directs this epic historical black comedy about Hollywood's rocky transition from silent film to "talkies" in the late 1920s. And particularly, just how difficult an adjustment that was for certain performers.

I thought it was beautiful, in a frenetic, drug-addled way. I love how it tells the evolution of film history in a much darker fashion than Singin' in the Rain ever could back in 1952. It celebrates the wild excesses of a time long gone by as a very entertaining fever dream with great original music (by La La Land's Justin Hurwitz) throughout. It's not as personal a story as The Fabelmans, but it's just as relevant to understanding the ways the world has changed over the past century. It's about those who came before us and those who will be there after us. I found it existential amidst all the crazy orgies and bodily fluids.

4 "it girls" out of 5

LA LA LAND [2016]

Whiplash director Damien Chazelle continues his love for music with his faithful homage to the 1950's Hollywood musicals, La La Land.
It's the simple story of boy meets girl, falls in love and everything in between against the backdrop of a colorfully glamorized version of Los Angeles.
It might callback to such classics as Singin' in the Rain or even more-so Jacques Demy films but La La Land still manages a distinct look and feel all it's own.  Aided by it's two charismatic leads, cool cat musical numbers and brilliant photography, the film's simplistic storyline takes a backseat but never trails off too far to try and bet better than it could.  In this day and age, La La Land is probably what the world needs.  Good, clean fun that wows with it's flamboyancy and outgoing spirit.  

4 traffic jams out of 5

WHIPLASH [2014]

Writer/director Damien Chazelle's Whiplash is far better than what it might initially sound like.
It's about a young jazz drummer who yearns to be the best he can be at a music conservatory where he meets an instructor who will stop at nothing to make sure his students are nothing short of perfection.  J.K. Simmons delivers THE best performance of his career that one can't help but think of R. Lee Ermey's frighteningly humorous drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket.  Aided by some wonderful music, the film asks questions about the creativity, technicality and passion of the arts and what's worth more when it comes to your psychological health.  There's sports movies that aren't as excitingly intense as this, so much that I actually got up and clapped as soon as the end credits started rolling.

5 fucking limp-dick, sour-note, flatter-than-their-girlfriends, flexible-tempo dipshits out of 5