It’s only logical: after cleaning up across the board with city-specific critics’ groups far and wide (ceding the occasional prize to La La Land, its closest awards-season competitor), Moonlight was awarded the distinction of 2016’s finest film from the National Society of Film Critics. In a decision stunning exactly nobody, Barry Jenkins’ heartfelt triptych about a young gay man’s coming-of-age in Miami took the Best Picture prize as well as the Best Director for Jenkins. Left in the runners-up column were all-but-certain Oscar nominees La La Land and Manchester by the Sea. In fact, Damien Chazelle’s crowd-pleasing musical got kind of skunked by the NSFC; Chazelle landed the runner-up Best Director spot behind Jenkins, the film shared the runner-up spot for Best Cinematography with Silence, and star Emma Stone was shut out entirely.
We’ve already got on our dancing shoes for La La Land star Emma Stone to make her SNL return this weekend with musical guest Shawn Mendes, but what of the other December slots? Studio 8H may need to widen its doorways, as John Cena has now booked his SNL debut, with Manchester By the Sea star Casey Affleck closing out 2016.
The traditional SNL promos of a week’s host paired with a cast member may be no more, but do we at least get a big La La Land-style musical number in exchange? Almost! Emma Stone returns to SNL in the first December 2016 promos, but … well, something’s in the way.
Kristen Wiig marks the final SNL host of November 2016 (next week is Thanksgiving weekend, after all), so who starts us off in December? Get on your dance shoes and open your heart, as Emma Stone is bringing La La Land to Studio 8H on December 3.
Pretty much since the first moment I saw the first teaser for La La Land, Damien Chazelle’s amazing new musical hitting theaters next month, I’ve been waiting for the soundtrack. Sometimes I’ve put on one of the film’s trailers to hear the music again. Other times I’ve caught myself humming some of the tunes while walking down the street, particularly the earworm “City of Stars,” sung by Ryan Gosling’s character. Via Variety, I now know when my suffering will end with the release date of the La La Land soundtrack (December 9) and, in the meantime, I can now listen to a duet version of “City of Stars” by Gosling and co-star Emma Stone, which is available on YouTube (and embedded above).