A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper)

[Ivan Drago]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjE3MDQ0MTA3M15BMl5BanBnXk FtZTgwMDMwNDY2NTM@._V1_.jpg

IMDB (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1517451/) / Wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Star_Is_Born_(2018_film))


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSbzyEJ8X9E

[TGM]

I'm a bit torn on this. I wouldn't say it's a bad movie necessarily (though its, uh, "foreshadowing" is the farthest thing from subtle throughout, and screams first time director), despite being something that should be right up my alley, this movie really didn't do anything for me at all. And I know it's not a straight up traditional musical musical, but even so, I couldn't help but find my mind wandering anytime a number was underway, so it really wasn't even the catchiest or most engaging film in the genre. Also, it's entirely too long, and runs out of steam by about the third or fourth time Bradley Cooper's character overdoes it on the drugs and booze and does something bad. The performances and the chemistry between the actors were damn great all around however, so I give the film credit in that regard at least. But other than that, I dunno, this really didn't work for me. Unsure whether to go yay or nay at the moment. :\

[Ivan Drago]

That shot in particular is something pundits are going to lose their mind over this award season for a myriad of reasons.

Anyway, the story's grounding in contemporary reality works for most of the film's duration, but the melodrama sticks out like a sore thumb when it doesn't. It also does have more focus on Cooper's character almost to the point of self-indulgence, but as a director, his passion for music and everything that goes on behind the scenes shows in every frame through the gorgeous cinematography and authentic sound design. The captivating lead performances from him and Lady Gaga, as well as the stellar soundtrack also make this stand out on its own as a unique version of a tale as told as time, and a good directorial debut for Cooper, warts and all.

Also, this is worth seeing in Dolby Atmos, in my opinion. This was the first movie I saw in that format and once it started, I felt like I was in the very arena in which Cooper's band was about to perform.

I definitely expect Film Twitter to hate this come January, though.

[Mal]

This was very impressive for a big studio weepy. Nicely shot, outstanding music moments- Cooper's direction is very tight, and his performance is solid. Gaga's persona never seeps into her role on screen and I find that fascinating. She really strips away everything you know about her to appear only as this young naive singer- you see it in the very first scene she has a conversation one on one with Jackson. She's nervous, guarded yet intrigued by the moment with this rock star- the confidence grows as the picture progresses but she's still that young woman who hasn't been hardened by the industry that is affecting her lover. The whole cast overall is pretty great. Sam Elliot was probably my favorite side player, never wasting a moment when he faces off with Cooper.

[Spinal]

I'll give it a yay, but this was less than I was hoping for. The best stuff happens early with the two of them meeting and discovering each other. Ally's viral moment is magical, but it's also been largely spoiled by the film's trailer. Once Ally becomes famous, the film bounces along a disappointingly shallow course. The exploration of fame and addiction lacks the kind of specificity and profundity that might have made these characters feel entirely alive. I found myself thinking more about Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as people attempting to craft Oscar moments than I did thinking about Jack and Ally and the course of their trajectories. Lady Gaga is the film's greatest asset, but she is, in a sense, also its limiting factor. After all, how much investment can we have is watching someone who is already an enormous star achieve stardom? When she makes it, it doesn't feel like she's on a thrilling, bumpy ride into the stratosphere. It feels like she's settling in comfortably into the place where we expect her to be.

[Morris Schæffer]

That shot in particular is something pundits are going to lose their mind over this award season for a myriad of reasons.

Dunno which shot you mean, but the shot with the dog and the garage is probably one of the toughest I'm gonna see this year.

This movie has moved me quite a bit even if character arcs could have been more convincing. Great observation by Spinal when he says that Ally's rise to stardom felt unearned - or a bit too easy - because of the person who was playing her. Still, should we hold that against the movie or is that our own preconceptions getting in the way? I mean, Lady Gaga was really good, which isn't a phrase I ever pictured myself writing in the last couple of months, let alone in this lifetime. She's so good in fact that calling her Lady Gaga is just weird. She's got an actual name you know. It's Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, which I grant you is a helluva mouthful, but it seems more fitting now that she's established herself as a legitimate actress. I'm rooting for Bradley come Oscar night. I read he sang his own songs, that's just fantastic.

And I know for a fact it is no coincidence that Greg Grunberg and Ron Rifkin are in this. Shit like that makes me geek out a little bit.

[Ivan Drago]

Dunno which shot you mean, but the shot with the dog and the garage is probably one of the toughest I'm gonna see this year.

I was actually referring to the shot early on where Bradley Cooper's character gets a ride to the bar Lady Gaga's about to perform and you can see an LED billboard of the gay pride flag with black nooses on it in the background.

I expect Twitter to say a combination of, 'Why did Cooper choose to keep that in the film?' and 'Wow, talk about on-the-nose foreshadowing,' among other, more irrational things.

[transmogrifier]

63/100

It's fine. The first half is much better than the second; the former is much more relaxed and lived in, allowing the performers to bounce off each other, the latter just feels like a dutiful slog through the old story to reach a predetermined outcome. I would have like to have it been more about a decent man trying desperately not to let jealousy and a declining career get the better of him, rather than the inconsistent alcoholism angle (it's a disease! No, it's all his own fault!). Cooper's direction is sturdy, though there are elements of a lack of experience here and there (the final cut at the end happens way too late, for example, and the last shot is pure film ending cliche). Still, the music is good, and the cast is committed and at points it hums along with purpose.

[Pop Trash]

Perhaps too shaggy and depressing for me to be completely in love with it, but this is a much better debut film than you would ever expect from Bradley Cooper. There's a drunken naturalism that harks back to John Cassavetes' films. The form matches Jackson Maine's inebriated state with hand-held (but often quite beautiful; praise to Aronofsky's DP Matthew Libatique) camerawork and editing meant to juice tank your sense of space and time.

Mostly this lives or dies on the chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Gaga, which is here in spades. Cooper -unsurprisingly since he's an actor- gets really strong performances out of Sam Elliott, Dave Chappelle, and (no kidding) Andrew Dice Clay.

[baby doll]

There's a drunken naturalism that harks back to John Cassavetes' films.It's a fine film but let's not go nuts.

[Pop Trash]

It's a fine film but let's not go nuts.

Faces and Love Streams were the first movies I thought of while watching the drunken party scenes and their clearly improvised bathtub argument. Bradley Cooper went to the Actors Studio in NYC. I'm sure he's studied Cassavetes' films.

[baby doll]

Faces and Love Streams were the first movies I thought of while watching the drunken party scenes and their clearly improvised bathtub argument. Bradley Cooper went to the Actors Studio in NYC. I'm sure he's studied Cassavetes' films.Without making any value judgements about their respective methods, there's a fundamental difference between Cassavetes' approach to narrative construction and exposition and Cooper's, which is essentially classical. One never has the sense here that one has in Cassavetes films of simply being dropped into a scene and having to try to figure out what's happening, how the characters are related to one another, and how the scene relates to everything that's come before (e.g., the scene in Husbands of the three men berating a female singer). Whether Cooper went to the Actors Studio or some scenes were partially improvised is irrelevant to the final result.

[Pop Trash]

One never has the sense here that one has in Cassavetes films of simply being dropped into a scene and having to try to figure out what's happening, how the characters are related to one another, and how the scene relates to everything that's come before (e.g., the scene in Husbands of the three men berating a female singer). Whether Cooper went to the Actors Studio or some scenes were partially improvised is irrelevant to the final result.

a) there's plenty of drunken discombobulation going on in this version of A Star Is Born, formally brought on by both camerawork and editing and b) I don't think Cassavetes is nearly as radical as you are making him out to be. Faces and A Woman Under the Influence in particular were fairly well seen within what today would be called indie film audience circles. They were both nominated for Academy Awards. I've never been lost watching any of his films. I also think both Cooper and Cassavetes are uninterested in exposition and plot mechanics.

[baby doll]

a) there's plenty of drunken discombobulation going on in this version of A Star Is Born, formally brought on by both camerawork and editing and b) I don't think Cassavetes is nearly as radical as you are making him out to be. Faces and A Woman Under the Influence in particular were fairly well seen within what today would be called indie film audience circles. They were both nominated for Academy Awards. I've never been lost watching any of his films. I also think both Cooper and Cassavetes are uninterested in exposition and plot mechanics.a) The characters may have been discombobulated (and perhaps the camera as well at times, although I can't think of any examples now), but as a viewer, I never felt that way.

b) Popularity doesn't preclude radical formal procedures. Ozu and Tati are two obvious examples, and while one could argue that Cassavetes isn't quite as radical as those filmmakers, his films begin from a philosophical position antithetical to that expressed in A Star Is Born: Whereas Cooper's film is about staying true to yourself, which implies that everyone has some immutable essence, Cassavetes' characters are in a state of perpetual becoming. (Incidentally, both Faces and A Woman Under the Influence were self-distributed by Cassavetes' own company because no distributor wanted to handle them.)

[Pop Trash]

That doesn't mean anything. It took forever for The Hurt Locker to find a distributer and it wound-up winning Best Picture.

I saw Steven Soderbergh at SFIFF and he told a story about seeing Memento in the early 00s and how no one wanted to distribute it. He mentioned he was going to quit filmmaking if no one distributed it because it would mean independent film was truly dead. I wonder whatever happened to the director of Memento?

[Watashi]

After all, how much investment can we have is watching someone who is already an enormous star achieve stardom? When she makes it, it doesn't feel like she's on a thrilling, bumpy ride into the stratosphere. It feels like she's settling in comfortably into the place where we expect her to be.

It's not like Garland and Babs weren't nobodies when they made their film. I don't see how it detriments the film here.

This was very good. I could listen to Cooper and Elliot speak world-weary nothings in their southern drawls for the entire runtime.

[Henry Gale]

Let me just say that the first hour of this movie I was pretty convinced this could've been "favourite of the year" stuff for me, and I still hold the movie in generally high regard because of it being able to give me that portion of it, but yeah, it definitely begins to feel like it's straying from the path of greatness somewhere after that.

Perhaps it's when the movie speeds along the initial tour (and as a result, their relationship) in quick montage mode, or it's also more possible that it's when the somewhat distracting meta-ness of Ally's very Gaga-like ascent takes over the narrative of the relationship between her and Jack that it starts to feel more about real-life parallels than the world they're creating. And I realize in basic narrative terms her becoming the pop star is an intended strain on them, but I was just left mostly thinking about if Gaga was finding a way in code to comment on how she hates songs like "Love Game" and others from her debut The Fame, despite what they may have done for her. (But for the record, "Paparazzi" still owns.)

Otherwise I think it may be more to-the-point if I just share which moments got me so good that I gleefully shed tears:


- "Shallow." Obviously. Just the emotional momentum of that sequence, all leading up to him introducing the moment on stage, that even someone like myself who thought they'd be pretty memed out by the song already couldn't wait to suddenly see it unfold. I choked up pretty much once Jack whispers to Ally to just trust him, and from there I was just whisked off to "Forget How To Breathe" Land as the performance actually took place.

- Sam Elliot backing out of the driveway. Which I love how hilariously mundane that may sound to someone who doesn't know the scene, but it really hit me unexpectedly. It's still such a simply delivered character moment made unimaginably better by the two performances in the scene.

- The ending, though not at first. The guy next to me absolutely broke early on in the final performance, and I thought that was great, but I was disappointed that it wasn't hitting me as hard, perhaps due to some of the issues with the third act that I'd had leading up to it. And then in the middle of her singing, that cut to them on the piano together happens and there broke the floodgates. It's such a genius edit that I almost wonder if Cooper had the idea for it early on in the process and just wrote the movie backwards from there (a la Aronofsky openly saying so with some of his work, like The Wrestler). I'm not sure loved the choice of the look down the lens Ally gives right after that, but at that point I was more concerned with the fact that my face was soaked and generally very satisfied.

So anyway, I think it's mostly pretty excellent, but not entirely. Though for when it is, it's a extremely endearing and engaging cinematic time that I'd have trouble not recommending to anyone because of those strongest stretches.

[transmogrifier]

As I mentioned earlier, that cut you mention in the spoiler happens too late in the sequence I think. Cooper hasn't quite found the rhythm yet of an expert director, but he gives it a good try. The very last shot is just lazy cliche though.

(Also, the guy who plays the manager is a terrible actor.)

[Peng]

I could listen to Cooper and Elliot speak world-weary nothings in their southern drawls for the entire runtime.

Saw this tweet just after your post:

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[Spinal]

Saw this tweet just after your post:

1049507049283891200

Cooper was a little TOO mumbly for me. I occasionally lost his dialogue.

[Pop Trash]

Cooper was a little TOO mumbly for me. I occasionally lost his dialogue.

Mumblecorn

[Pop Trash]

As I mentioned earlier, that cut you mention in the spoiler happens too late in the sequence I think. Cooper hasn't quite found the rhythm yet of an expert director, but he gives it a good try. The very last shot is just lazy cliche though.

(Also, the guy who plays the manager is a terrible actor.)

Isn't there two flashback cuts? One of him working the song out solo on guitar and then the one with the two of them on piano? I think it would be more affecting with just the one flashback cut of the two of them at the piano.

And yeah, I think the 'staring into the camera before a hard cut to black' is the Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" of film endings; something that used to be heartfelt and unique becomes shorthand for "this is how a bunch of other movies ended, so let's do that."

[transmogrifier]

Isn't there two flashback cuts? One of him working the song out solo on guitar and then the one with the two of them on piano? I think it would be more affecting with just the one flashback cut of the two of them at the piano.

Agreed. The first one doesn't really work in context.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I definitely expect Film Twitter to hate this come January, though.

Many of them are already ragging on the film now, don't you worry.

[Henry Gale]

Isn't there two flashback cuts? One of him working the song out solo on guitar and then the one with the two of them on piano? I think it would be more affecting with just the one flashback cut of the two of them at the piano.

Ah right, after the latter one I didn't even remember that they may have cut to another string of flashback visuals earlier as you continue to hear her sing. But yeah, that second one where the bombast cuts out and it's suddenly just them quietly on the piano with him playing it for her for the first time was the one that I was referring to that joyously wrecked me.


And yeah, I think the 'staring into the camera before a hard cut to black' is the Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" of film endings; something that used to be heartfelt and unique becomes shorthand for "this is how a bunch of other movies ended, so let's do that."

Pretty much haha.. Even when The Revenant did it a few years back I thought "Ennnhh why do this?"

I'd argue it works more in a film that literally wants to turn to the audience to confront them in some way, but I'm not even sure if this film is doing that, or what it intends to mean by the gesture at all.

[Ezee E]

I can't really add anything else that hasn't already been said, except that I agree. Great first hour of meeting, with a neat directorial approach by Cooper where there's always energy going on.

After it descends into the second half, it basically repeats itself. Cooper's addiction is looked upon as more of a thing like, "Just stop drinking," and with no possible way to recover in the public's eye. Gaga's inner conflict is to basically shrug it off, which could really be something in itself, but kind of rushed. There's plenty of room for potential with a relationship that's public to the world, but it doesn't quite really know what to do.

Luckily, Cooper and Gaga both kill it in their performances, so the movie is certainly watchable. I was affected throughout, and in a way, I like that they didn't get into the media exposure, and simply kept it within those that were affected.

I, too, was pretty affected by Sam Elliott's reverse out of the house. Some great acting there.

[Watashi]

Could this be the first film to go 5/5 in all major Oscar categories since Silence of the Lambs? I'm really not seeing much competition out there.

[Ezee E]

Could this be the first film to go 5/5 in all major Oscar categories since Silence of the Lambs? I'm really not seeing much competition out there.

Christian Bale for Actor is the biggest potential to derail.
I also figure Bradley Cooper can't win both Actor and Director... Just one.

But yeah, this is the closest it gets.

Maybe Spike Lee for Adapted Screenplay too.

[transmogrifier]

It's not that well directed. Cooper shouldn't even be nominated.

[TGM]

It's not that well directed. Cooper shouldn't even be nominated.

Agreed.

[baby doll]

My hope for the Oscars this year is that they nominate one of the Bradley Cooper songs for best original song and he winds up performing at the Oscars instead of Lady Gaga.

Also, I think it'd be fun if they only nominated people of colour in every category, and beheaded Woody Allen on stage during a performance by Beyonce, just to prove conclusively that, no matter what the Academy does, liberals on social media are never going be happy.

[Pop Trash]

I think it'd be fun if they only nominated people of colour in every category, and beheaded Woody Allen on stage during a performance by Beyonce, just to prove conclusively that, no matter what the Academy does, liberals on social media are never going be happy.

This quote bears repeating, so I'm repeating it.

[Ezee E]

My hope for the Oscars this year is that they nominate one of the Bradley Cooper songs for best original song and he winds up performing at the Oscars instead of Lady Gaga.

Also, I think it'd be fun if they only nominated people of colour in every category, and beheaded Woody Allen on stage during a performance by Beyonce, just to prove conclusively that, no matter what the Academy does, liberals on social media are never going be happy.

The terrible shame that five male directors will be nominated again.

[baby doll]

The terrible shame that five male directors will be nominated again.Theoretically, they could nominate Valeska Griesbach, Lucrecia Martel, Lynne Ramsay, and Hélène Cattet (with Bruno Forzani), and have the strongest list of nominees in the Academy's history.

[Ivan Drago]

The terrible shame that five male directors will be nominated again.

I'm willing to bet this will happen with a more-inclusive Academy ten years from now, and nobody will bat an eye.

However, Lynne Ramsay inevitably getting snubbed for what she did with You Were Never Really Here WILL be criminal.

[DavidSeven]

This movie feels like some of those term papers I'd write in school, where I'd labor arduously over the opening, go over every detail until I had the perfect introduction, and then realize I had wasted too much time or didn't have the substantive knowledge to execute on the rest of the paper. Inevitably, everything that came after the opening would be of noticeably different quality, drawing even more attention to the half-ass'ed and cliche-ridden writing in the meat of the paper.

There's one act worth a damn in this movie. And it's so good that I'm tempted to lean "yay" on the movie anyway. But man, what follows is a straight up VH1 cable movie. The opening suggests Cooper has some decent instincts as a director, but losing his grip on the film's tone so wildly in the second and third acts suggests he still has a lot to learn. For me, this definitely feels more like a wasted opportunity than a revelation.

[Ezee E]

This movie feels like some of those term papers I'd write in school, where I'd labor arduously over the opening, go over every detail until I had the perfect introduction, and then realize I had wasted too much time or didn't have the substantive knowledge to execute on the rest of the paper. Inevitably, everything that came after the opening would be of noticeably different quality, drawing even more attention to the half-ass'ed and cliche-ridden writing in the meat of the paper.

There's one act worth a damn in this movie. And it's so good that I'm tempted to lean "yay" on the movie anyway. But man, what follows is a straight up VH1 cable movie. The opening suggests Cooper has some decent instincts as a director, but losing his grip on the film's tone so wildly in the second and third acts suggests he still has a lot to learn. For me, this definitely feels more like a wasted opportunity than a revelation.

Yeah, as I talk about it more with people, I'll say the movie starts off really good, but gets so cliche at the end that I can't see how anyone would love the movie.

And as I think about it, outside of the "first peek reviews" is there really anyone that's loving it?

[Watashi]

Yeah, as I talk about it more with people, I'll say the movie starts off really good, but gets so cliche at the end that I can't see how anyone would love the movie.

And as I think about it, outside of the "first peek reviews" is there really anyone that's loving it?

The general public is loving it. It's one of the most talked about movies with my peers.

Also most people don't even know this is the 4th iteration of A Star is Born. I think the Garland version is the superior, but I still think the first act of this is strong enough to make me overall enjoy it even if the cliches are the fault of the overall formula set up by the previous films.

[Peng]

I don't think it's the film taking a dip in the second half as much as Cooper's loose-limbed, sensous, almost hang-out direction is so suited especially to the first half of blossoming romance, before the ascending/descending dichotomy kicks in proper. That direction can't sustain its effectiveness for the second half's necessary big-picture plot, so the film lurches and dwells in places. Still evocative and beautiful throughout (cinematographer Matthew Libatique may be the film's MVP), and that cut during the last scene is a gut kicker.

I haven't seen the 1937 original yet or have any intention to see the 1976 version, but I can't imagine any other pair's chemistry as potent as the one between Cooper and Gaga, or an early meet-cute section as achingly romantic as their stretch from the drag bar to the parking lot, which almost resembles Before Sunrise in its drunkenly swoony rhythm of growing romance. Part of why the first time Ally is up on stage is such powerfully cathartic (and best) scene is that the film has laid the groundwork so well via their developing relationship, so apart from the scene's crowdpleasing nature, Jackson asking Ally to trust him, and their interplay on that stage, have transcendent weight reverberating throughout as well. 7.5/10

[Pop Trash]

And as I think about it, outside of the "first peek reviews" is there really anyone that's loving it?

My mom has seen it twice now and my hairstylist was raving about it while she cut my hair. So yes. It's also doing bonkers box office and I imagine a lot of that is word-of-mouth.

[Dukefrukem]

This fucking rocked.

[Dukefrukem]

I think muscials are my thing now. I agree with most here that the first half is much better than the second. Already downloaded the album and I'm about to listen to it on repeat on the way to the Bahamas.

[Pop Trash]

Already downloaded the album and I'm about to listen to it on repeat on the way to the Bahamas.

Going to the FYRE festival? I heard it's gunna be litty. Blink-182, Major Lazer, hot models... let me know what you think.

[Grouchy]

Yeah, not much to add here. The movie has a good pulse at first and it eventually overstays its welcome - I got a bit bored with the characters long before their relationship was abruptly solved. Nobody has mentioned the Grammy scene as a highlight but that made me laugh, I liked that they went all the way with that.

I haven't seen any of the other versions yet.