A Star Is Born reviews. WOW!- Page 4

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/5/18 at 10:33am

faceleg said: "I also was glad they had a small nod to Garland at the very beginning (if you knew what she was singing)

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

She sings the rarely sung beginning verse to Over the Rainbow"

That spoiler is very enjoyable!

[RJ14]

Posted: 10/5/18 at 11:06am

I saw the movie last night and it was great. Gaga is surprisingly good in the role, her voice is in amazing shape. She gives a very authentic, emotional and relatable character. Bradley Cooper stole the show here, amazing directing and acting performance. I found the movie kinda long at the end, it would have been even better if they cut some scenes out.

The movie will surely be nominated for lots of Oscars including Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Director, Song, Sounds and Picture. But its highest chance of winning is the song and sound categories. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga has too many competition in their categories right now.

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 10/5/18 at 11:06am

Overall, I thought the movie was good, but I enjoyed the first half much more. I found the scenes chronicling Ally's meteoric rise to be very by-the-numbers and underdeveloped, with no clear length of the timeline. Was it weeks, months, a year? That might not matter to some, but it did to me. Also, Gaga's reactions to certain events during the second half seemed contrived. 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

When Ally finds out that she's been nominated for 3 Grammys and that she's booked SNL, as well as during her acceptance speech at the Grammys, Gaga's reactions rang false to me. For most of the movie, I was very impressed by her very natural characterization, but in those moments, I could see her acting. Perhaps it's because those things actually happened to her, so it was difficult for her to act naturally, but it came across cheesy to me.

Bradley Cooper, however, blew me away. His performance is the heart of the film.

Updated On: 10/5/18 at 11:06 AM

[kingfan011]

Posted: 10/5/18 at 12:56pm

As good as Gaga was and she was good to me the best scenes were when she was with Cooper. Cooper I think gave her a lot to really play with and their chemistry was fantastic. I have to say I was also really impressed with the sound during the concert scenes. Very much made you feel what it would sound like being on those stages.

[faceleg]

Posted: 10/5/18 at 8:20pm

CT2NYC said: "Overall, I thought the movie was good, but I enjoyed the first half much more. I found the scenes chronicling Ally'smeteoric rise to be very by-the-numbers and underdeveloped, with no clear length of thetimeline. Was it weeks, months, a year? That might not matter to some, but it did to me.Also, Gaga's reactions to certain events during the second half seemedcontrived.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

When Ally finds out that she's been nominated for 3 Grammys and that she's booked SNL, as well asduring heracceptance speech at the Grammys, Gaga's reactionsrang false to me. For most of the movie, I was very impressed by her very natural characterization, but in those moments, I could see her acting. Perhaps it's because those things actually happened to her, so it was difficult for her to act naturally, but it came across cheesy to me.

Bradley Cooper, however, blew me away. His performance is the heart of the film."

This is the exact problem I had with the film, but I suck at words. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 3:05am

CT2NYC said: "Overall, I thought the movie was good, but I enjoyed the first half much more. I found the scenes chronicling Ally'smeteoric rise to be very by-the-numbers and underdeveloped, with no clear length of thetimeline. Was it weeks, months, a year? That might not matter to some, but it did to me.”

i assumed the entire film took about 2-3 years or so. from the time she starts working on her album, through the season finale of SNL and then it’s another 6 months or so until grammy nominations are announced. then the show, the 4 months or so until the end of of the film. i guess her first appearance in his show until she gets her own management is probably a year or so of them touring together and falling in love. this all was clearer to me the second time i watched the movie.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 8:03am

I saw the film last night and was blown away by it. The music, the cinematography, the characterisations - it was an incredible and emotional ride. The changes made by Cooper to update the story and not to have the male character unsympathetic and one-dimensional transcend the piece and alone justify why the world needs this third remake. 

In terms of Oscars I believe the movie will get nominations for Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay and maybeeeeeee Best Picture. 

I believe the film will WIN for Best Actor and Best Original Song.

Lady Gaga gave an incredible performance and she was an absolute joy to watch but I don't think she'll get an Oscar nomination. She'll definitely get a Golden Globe nomination and will likely win but I don't think she was given enough Oscar worthy material to work with....

 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Had we seen her reaction to Jack's alcoholism when she was in private plus her reaction to his death and how it affected her rather than just gloss over it I think she might have stood a chance at an Oscar nom.

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 8:20am

Gaga will be nominated for both Actress and Song.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 8:25am

It was alright. Mostly made me want to watch the Judy version again. I don't know how well the story actually transposes to an age where we think quite differently about relationships, substance abuse, and stardom. And opportunities are missed to examine all of that. Good lead performances, but not really that much of a script. Filmmaking is pedestrian. Hated the songs, but they're just not my style. There's something hilarious about Jackson scolding Ally for selling out and losing her voice, when she starts out writing songs with such vague, generic, awkwardly slant-rhymed lyrics that we're supposed to take as deeply personal. I think the response has been hyperbolic, and will continue to be.

Updated On: 10/6/18 at 08:25 AM

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 8:29am

Boy, I wish I could share in the excitement over the film. There’s so much to like about the film; the direction (I loved the long takes, allowing scenes to breathe without excessive cuts), Cooper’s performance, the supporting cast (Clay, Elliot and Chappelle especially). Gaga gives a solid performance, truly sparkling during her musical numbers. The music is strong, stirring. However, the film’s screenplay betrays them all.

For all the talk about how this isn’t just another film where a woman tries to fix a broken man, it sure felt like just that. Ally is mostly there just to react and respond to Jackson without much agency. While she appears head-strong and independent in earlier scenes, as the film progresses she becomes another long-suffering girlfriend to the tortured artist. What’s frustrating is that any time there’s an opportunity to dig into some real drama and character work on behalf of Ally, the film chooses not to show it. Instead, we time jump over the emotional arc her character went through. She’s often left to put on a brave face with the truly interesting things happen internally, but we’re never privy to that. The last thirty minutes or so are contrived and manipulative (and, I would say, unearned).

If the film is going to focus more on Jackson’s struggle, then it did a ham fisted job of that, too. The examination of his alcoholism, while brutally captured in Cooper’s performance, is shallow and lacking any real exploration.

A mixed bag for me.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 9:09am

This will for sure, take home Golden Globe wins, because, you know, it's the Golden Globes.  But there is no way, this is taking home Oscar wins in the acting fields.  Sure, maybe some tech awards and or song.  But if it does receive nominations, that will be their reward.  If I am wrong, I will post that I was shockingly incorrect.

[DAME]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 10:04am

I loved it.  Loved everything about it.  Saw it last night in a packed movie theater.  The crowd seemed to be middle aged like me.  Loved the music.  She was excellent.  But Bradley was glorious.  I loved his relationship with his brother.  I loved her relationship as well with her father and his friends.  They could have cut down some her dance rehearsal sequences.  But I loved it and will see it again.    I am buying the music.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 10:09am

I was thoroughly impressed by A Star is Born. I don't profess to know much about the world of cinema/film, but I can't imagine this is anything deeply earth-shattering or groundbreaking... but nevertheless, it features two knockout lead performances in Gaga and Cooper, a sensational featured performance in Sam Elliott, visually stunning cinematography, and expert direction.

I was blown away by how swiftly the film sweeps you up. It's like a roller coaster, and it moves at breakneck speed for the first hour and a half or so. Gaga is utterly captivating (even if I don't think she ever reaches a moment of transcendent performance). Cooper is, as always, sensational. The two of them together are intoxicating to watch.

I do, however, think that the film's pace hits a bump in the road somewhere after:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Jackson ruins Ally's Grammys acceptance speech. Between that scene and his suicide, I thought the film trudged by a lot slower than it had been going. Maybe it's a metaphor for how life doesn't always move as your desired speed, but I started to feel a little removed around this point.

I was incredibly moved by the end. That final song, Gaga's performance during it, and those final 30 seconds... a gut punch.

Altogether, a very, very successful artistic endeavor. I hope Cooper gets his first Oscar somehow through this, and if Gaga doesn't win Best Actress (though I think she's certainly very deserving), that we get to see her perform much more frequently on the big screen. Her talent evidently goes far beyond her voice.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 10:41am

I thought it was tremendous. I could find things to fault about it (it’s view of pop music as “lesser than” rings false in the face of an actual pop singer-songwriter who makes fantastic music) but they don’t matter when a movie works this magic. It is everything we come to the movies for. Spectacle, romance, intimacy, laughter, tears (so many tears) - it’s just a really well-crafted movie in the tradition of melodramas.

Bradley Cooper is excellent. His direction is incredibly self-assured and his performance is even better. Lady Gaga is as natural as natural can be. Even more than loving her performance, I’m so happy to see her real life star rise so high. I’ve always been a fan of her as a person as much as a performer, but this is something else. I wouldn’t be mad if they snatched the Oscars this year. Not one bit.

Updated On: 10/6/18 at 10:41 AM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 10:56am

I saw the movie last night.  I liked it, but didn't love it. I admit that I think the 1954 film as as good as movie musicals get; also, I generally dislike the type of music that was included in the movie (although I did like the ballads, none stood out on first hearing).  I happened to read Rex Reed's review (via Fandango) and -- despite how much people on this board revile him when his name comes up occasionally -- I thought that his favorable review was right on.  This was a GOOD movie, but not in the same league as the 1954 movie.  Of course, it is also true that the only thing this has in common with that movie is the basic plot and title.

The biggest strength of the movie is the performances by Cooper and Gaga.You never felt they were acting. I was also surprised by Andrew Dice Clay's performance...didn't expect it.  Re Sam Elliott, I thought he was solid, but I don't get all this Oscar talk.  There was nothing special about the role or performance to me.  There seems to be a view that he could get a career Oscar, which mystifies me.  I went to IMDB to see if I had forgotten any of his work.  Looking this list of roles, it is long, but there are not many (any?) impressive movies or performances on the list.  I actually like him, but I don't think of him as a great actor as much so much as  a 'type'.  

Back to Cooper and Gaga, their performances were very natural and believable.  I think both deserved the praise they have received and I would be happy to see both nominated for lots of awards (I assume both will win Golden Globes in the musical category, although 'Bohemian Rhapsody' coming attractions look great and clearly Freddy Mercury is a plum role, and Remi Malek looks incredible in the snippets); I don't see Gaga deserving an Oscar, but I would have voted for Cooper over any of last year's best actor nominees.  So, bottom line, to me it was about Bradley Cooper's performance.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 2:34pm

Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy in "A Star is Boar"

Absolutely ingenious!! 

 

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 2:40pm

It was stunning. My favorite film of the year thus far!

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Posted: 10/6/18 at 9:23pm

Wildly uneven.

The music sounds like what Adele might have passed up or used as B-sides on her albums.

The fragility of Garland's character was lost.  Gaga was a steamroller.

Cooper was the standout.  He gave a brilliant performance.

It felt far too long.  Meaning, to me, it didn't have the moments it needed.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/7/18 at 1:36am

bwayrose7 said: "One quote from the Time review has actually made me a lot more interested than I was before:

"The basicStar is Bornstory is geared so you pity the man almost more than you admire the woman. In every version, the man threatens to steal the show with his own degradation; the woman’s protective fortitude is far less interesting. But as an actor, Cooper fades into the corner at just the right moments, allowing Gaga to shine."

That was my fundamental issue with the existence of this remake: the whole broken-man-loves-manic-pixie-dream-girl story is so incredibly tired and always geared towards the broken man's angst, which stops being interesting after the fiftieth iteration. It's nice to hear that this version, at least, seems to foreground the Gaga character'sstory instead of making her simply a means to facilitate another's story."

Check out the review in THE NEW YORKER. The critic there says this remake is EXACTLY as you feared: it emphasizes the man at Gaga's expense--even more than previous versions.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 10/7/18 at 3:24am

anyone that thinks gaga won’t be nominated for the oscar is kidding themselves. the experts on golderby have her tied 8-8 with Glenn Close for the win. i wouldn’t be surprised if she won best song as well.

the soundtrack is stunning, in my opinion it is Lady Gaga’s best full length work. Always Remember Us This Way, Shallow, Is That Alright and I’ll Never Love Again are all wonderful. her and Bradley’s duets are charming country fare and even her “generic” pop songs are catchy bops.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/7/18 at 8:46am

The business of show aspect of this version is the least interesting part to me. After the immediacy of the first hour, so tightly focused on the jump-start to the relationship, the overnight ascendancy of Ally is all-too-familiar, particularly with an oleaginous Simon Cowell type trying to re-invent her. Watching her become -- let's face it -- Lady Gaga -- is sort of by the numbers. It wobbles a little in the middle as she wrestles with selling out. But for my money, the more arresting portrait of Maine's descent separates this telling from the others. The morning it almost seemed to me more of a remake of "The Rose," re-gendered, than the glossy "Star" story. Addiction narratives may be familiar too, but this Maine's efforts to save himself are palpably real, thanks to Sam Elliott and especially Cooper himself. I loved Gaga, start to finish, but it's this tortured 40ish Jackson -- sweet-spirited but a creepy-mean, ugly, narcissistic drunk, too -- that cuts no corners. The steadfast refusal to sentimentalize the ways his abuse destroys is scary and spot on. (Sidebar quibble: Cooper, sober 13 years himself, doesn't have the body of a man who's ingested that much booze, revealed when he's shirtless.)

[ArtMan]

Posted: 10/7/18 at 9:10am

gypsy101 said: "anyone that thinks gaga won’t be nominated for the oscar is kidding themselves. the experts on golderby have her tied 8-8 with Glenn Close for the win. i wouldn’t be surprised if she won best song as well.

the soundtrack is stunning, in my opinion it is Lady Gaga’s best full length work. Always Remember Us This Way, Shallow, Is That Alright and I’ll Never Love Again are all wonderful. her and Bradley’s duets are charming country fare and even her “generic” pop songs are catchy bops."

From reading the past posts, including mine, all but one stated she will be nominated.  It is the taking home of the actual win that is doubtful.  I will flip the script for you.  Those that think she is actually winning the Oscar for Best Actress are "kidding themselves".  Side note:  I listened to I'll Never Love Again for the first time yesterday.  Really loved the song....enough to purchase the cd (which previously, I didn't have the interest)

[jpbran]

Posted: 10/7/18 at 4:41pm

(Sidebar quibble: Cooper, sober 13 years himself, doesn't have the body of a man who's ingested that much booze, revealed when he's shirtless.)

 

Thought the same thing! haha He's supposed to be a falling-down drunk with a side affection for pills... Yet he seems to make time for a pretty strict physical training routine. 

[South Florida]

Posted: 10/8/18 at 11:03am

This version didn't do it for me, in the minority, watched Judy and Mason last night.

 

[TravisOKC]

Posted: 10/8/18 at 11:12am

South Florida said: "This version didn't do it for me, in the minority, watched Judy and Mason last night."

I saw it this weekend.  The acting was great, music was good.  But it just didn't do it for me either.  Probably won't be watching it again.