I don't know the exact reason why I dislike musicals so much. I am a filmmaker and a musician, and I respect and love both mediums deeply. Wouldn't putting them together be the best thing ever, for me and those like me?

For me, the answer has been no for a long while, and it still kind of is. I can't quite put my finger on it. La La Land is an exception to the rule, in addition to some other great musicals (Aladdin and The Lion King will remain two of my favorite films until my final breath), but I wasn't entirely sold on it until the final half hour.

Maybe it is just me, but to push a film beyond the 4-star range, I've gotta feel something. There has to be a connection between the screen and I, and I wasn't feeling that for the first 90 minutes. I respected it greatly - especially for its use of color and lighting - but I wasn't entirely invested.

That was until Emma Stone's monologue at the end, wherein she details why she doesn't want to go to the audition that might start her career in the medium she so desperately has wanted to enter.

That speech hit me, and it hit me hard (as it likely hit a lot of other aspiring artists hard). There was so much truth in that moment, so much anger, and pain that I, too, have experienced. And then, from there, is a melancholy finale that perfectly fits.

That's not to say I wouldn't have rated this film highly without those moments (I was ready to give it 4 stars before that monologue), but that was the moment that really captured me.

Technically, this is a brilliant film. The camera sweeps and glides through set pieces like an ethereal plane, and the sound design is impeccable. The usage of color, and the great lighting, are exquisitely done.

I may not be onboard with musicals as a genre, but I will happily say that this is a musical that people who don't like musicals can access.