I did see La La Land and can say it is well deserving of recognition from the Academy. Great film. Nostalgic yet innovative. As a fan of acoustic jazz I had great appreciation for Gosling's character. Typically, musicals aren't my thing. But La La Land was a reminder of what makes movies great. It really captured the magic of the cinematic experience. It was a hearkening back to the glory days of Hollywood, yet placed the story in a modern context.
Often I haven't seen many of the nominated movies before the Oscar show. I had seen Arrival, which is very good and probably deserved a bit more attention. Hidden Figures is also an excellent movie. Rogue One definitely deserved more technical awards. But it's hard to argue with The Jungle Book receiving technical attention. It was a good year for movies.
