explain the inexplicable: Bradley Cooper’s A STAR IS BORN feat Lady Gaga

I have seen the trailer for this movie in front of three or four dissimilar films this summer. Among my questions: why does this movie exist? Who is it for? Why does Hollywood still insist that brunettes with prominent noses are “ugly”? Why is the trailer so loud yet so mumbly? Is Lady Gaga still famous? Is middle America crying out for some sort of prestige country music melodrama? Does Sam Elliot have a clause in his contract that he gets to grab someone’s head like that in every movie? Why spend all this money marketing this movie but run a trailer this unintelligible? Is this a true story about Lady Gaga’s real life? How many people wrote this movie? Is this a Christian movie? Was it supposed to have NASCAR in it? If not, why not? How many more times will I have to see this trailer?

all good questions

not even addressing the movie - which surely is going to bomb? although who knows - I'm not sure why I used to like trailers so much as a kid, were they different, because now they are annoying 100% of the time and way too loud

it's not going to bomb

why though

counterpoint: this is going to bomb

It’s not a sci-fi tentpole starring a couple of nobodies - it has country music, Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and a tragic love story, all things that “everyone likes” - therefore it will not bomb

counterpoint: i fucking hate bradley cooper

he has the cold dead eyes of a killer

He peaked in Wet Hot American Summer, it was all downhill after that

Rocket Raccoon tho

it has country music, Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and a tragic love story, all things that “everyone likes” - therefore it will not bomb

basically this. also every time they make this movie it does well, so it has precedent going for it at least

where u can’t see his EYES man

it all makes sense

er xp

To explain the inexplicable: quite possibly, 'A Star is Born' has been remade more than any other movie. It is equally likely it has been remade badly more than any other movie. QED.

I expect this movie to "underperform" (the executives will only be able to afford two hookers and enough blow to kill a pony, rather than five hookers and enough blow to kill an elephant).

Re. country music: That's probably an attempt to reach out to Middle America (see the recent spate of explicitly "Christian" movies). Also, for all the hot air about liberal Hollywood, the business side is deeply conservative, especially when they can make money on conservative films. That also explains the remake--why would you take a chance on something new, when you can remake an established property?

Re. Lady Gaga: I'd have thought she peaked, but there is a substantial lead time involved in making a movie. And how many movies have been made featuring pop stars who were off their peaks by the time the movie came out?

Lady “The Rock” Gaga

i can't rememver which one's Bradley Cooper and which one's Gardy Butler.

I can't see a film about country music selling outside the US. Unless it's Lady Gaga is playing Johnny Cash.

.... ignore the "it's" there.. or imagine I'm deems, one of the two.

one deems is enough already thx

tbf the whole world loves country music, we just love it more here

Germans and Scotches love it for a start

Not enough to want to see this film, I'd put money on it.

A film about Jim Reeves or Slim Whitman or George Hamilton IV maybe.

It may be country but it's not Americana, so it might as well be what the alternate world Kris Kristofferson character from the 70s would be doing now anyway.

Modern country is not that popular outside the US.

... forgot the btw there.

dude there's a discussion to be had here but i thought we'd REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED

Hoping for a cameo from Kristofferson playing the Voice of God

and Terence Stamp

Why does Europeans never want to listen to country music?

fwiw my dad was a country musician in the 70s and what meager royalty checks he receives to this day largely come from europe

ok now on topic:

i have no idea what this movie is but it sounds bad

i think it might be ok.

i still want Bradley Cooper to die in a fire but the trailer looks pretty good.

OP the answer to all your questions is YAAASSS

So.... I was an extra in this. Might even be actually visible in it depending on how much non-stage footage from Hollywood Bowl was used. I actually forgot I was because principle filming was done over a year ago.

Damn son!

Did you have to actually experience Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga performing country music or did you just pretend to experience it?

I just hope they keep one Dorothy Parker line from the first version's screenplay

(it doesn't matter which one)

The '76 A Star is Born, available on Netflix, is a curiosity: Streisand's hairdresser commissioning a script about country rock in which no artist plays rock or country, and, god, the dialogue.

is it worth trying to watch?

Babs wanted Elvis as her leading man!

Streisand's hairdresser

I worked for that guy for one week. Not long enough to get physically assaulted fortunately.

Did you have to actually experience Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga performing country music or did you just pretend to experience it?

My take on this is that this question should be "did you actually have to experience Bradley Cooper attempt to direct a movie or just pretend to experience it because Cooper was certainly pretending to direct?"

The '76 A Star is Born, available on Netflix, is a curiosity: Streisand's hairdresser commissioning a script about country rock in which no artist plays rock or country, and, god, the dialogue.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 3rd highest grosser of 1976

ET I want all the details

^^^^

Babs wanted Elvis as her leading man!

same tbh

I wish I had some juicy details. I don't make a career out of doing extra work, but I've done it enough times to get a sense of what's going on and what the mood of the set is like. TV productions are race car pit crews - they've all been working together for years, the director is a known quantity, the cast's roles are defined, and for the most part everyone knows what to do. The movie shoots I've worked on (almost all non-indie because you get paid and the food is great) weren't terribly different. Bigger crew, longer shoot, occasional luxury to dwell on one scene to explore different takes if you're ahead of schedule, nevertheless if it's organized there's some sense that there's a "there" out there for everyone to row towards together.

None of this was apparent on the ASIB set. The below-the-line crew were great and fun to talk with because absolutely nothing was happening. "What's going on? I don't know..." was the call and response I heard everywhere - on the walkie-talkies, among the crew, the extras, the stand-ins, everywhere. Coachella, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Shrine Auditorium are all rented out, several hundred crew members, hundreds more out in the crowd, and the band onstage are all patiently waiting. A LOT of money is being spent.

Cooper would come out, strum a guitar for a couple of lines, then remember he was the director and that he needed to assert himself as one. Hey AD & DP, can we get different angle from stage right? OK, We'll have to move the crowd, re-do the lighting, move the camera dollies to the other side - it'll take at least a hour of time and money to do this. BTW it's 9 in the evening and everyone has been here since 7am. Repeat this with every scene.

I don't really have an opinion on the guy other than he seemed to be in way over his head and that he was very appreciative and gracious to everyone regardless of who they were. That last bit goes a long way with me but if a good movie comes out of this it'll be in post.

Worth noting that there was an absolute electric change in on set energy whenever Gaga was around and unlike Cooper, sang live instead of miming along to a backing tape. Hopefully those live takes will make it into the movie.

heck that's pretty juicy as is imo

quite possibly, 'A Star is Born' has been remade more than any other movie

if you count things that started as books or stories, it's not even in sight of the running

if you count film-original stories, it's tied with King Kong at three non-sequel remakes, but Night Of The Living Dead is at six remakes and two in post.

if you count films that retell a story from different perspectives repeatedly but don't keep using the title of the original, Rashomon is probably way up there

lol

there’s no such thing as casual conversation with you, is there

sometimes I think these things are fun to follow through.

half the people on my wall who whined about it being remade didn't know the Streisand one wasn't the original.

(I didn’t know how many non-sequel Living Deads there were, just that there was some weirdness around the copyright which means nobody owns it. I definitely can’t think of another original-to-film story that’s been remade three times under the same title, and am delighted that Aimless has put the likelihood in the back of my mind for the future.)

<3

it's tied with King Kong at three non-sequel remakes,

There's the Dino De Laurentiis one from 1976, the Peter Jackson one, and???

Also, one can make a pretty good argument that the first A Star Is Born from 1937 is itself a remake of the 1932 film What Price Hollywood?

Victor/Victoria also ties for second with three remakes.

Crazy Heart made a bunch of money and won awards and that didn't have anyone as pretty as Gaga or Cooper.

There's the Dino De Laurentiis one from 1976, the Peter Jackson one, and???

Kong: Skull Island from last year

if you count things that started as books or stories...

Displaying 159 results for "the three musketeers"
https://www.imdb.com/find?q=the%20three%20musketeers&s=tt&ref_=fn_al_tt_mr

uh, The Bible, guys

Kong: Skull Island from last year

I'm going to disagree on this one - if we're going to include this one then we should include the Toho Kong vs. Godzilla movies.

I expect ben hur numbers

Why does the trailer emphasize that bcoop directed it? How is that a selling point?

people generally don't know who directors are

it's a selling point

it's a PASSION PROJECT through and through

Cooper's best acting might just be the PR campaign how he wanted to direct, passion project, blah blah.

famous-actor-directs-film is almost always a marketing point

if we're going to include this one then we should include the Toho Kong vs. Godzilla movies.

nah*, there are sequels to the 1933 and 1976 Kongs that also don't count. but Kong: Skull Island is a remake of King Kong that just doesn't have the New York bit.


*although the plot summary for useless moderator King Kong vs Godzilla does make me suspect that that one might be close enough. (I've only seen the 1933 and Skull Island.)

lmao talkhouse broke embargo, no idea who the reviewer is

And we are off to the races. pic.twitter.com/PTZ9IFNnqm

— Sean Fennessey (@SeanFennessey) August 27, 2018

well, i'm convinced

gonna hedge my bets and say this won't be the most impressive directorial debut by an actor since Night of The Hunter

lmao

A Star Is Born (2018, dir. Bradley Cooper) pic.twitter.com/BudBkeMSmZ

— ☭ a rube ☭ (@faggiecheung) August 28, 2018

omfg

outstanding

Glenn Kenny's on board:

Not to disparage the talents of any individuals who worked on it (and I should emphasize that Cooper does damn well playing a musician, and Gaga is her usual disciplined marvel), but this is an example of Big Movie Studio Craft at its most well-thought out; among the many contingents of moviegoers it will please will be the “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” crowd.

When we complain they don't make 'em like that anymore we don't want actual remakes of "'em." Having said that this could be an entertaining mess.

I think I would go to some other movie starring Lady Gaga, but not this one.

Nature trying to destroy this movie https://www.indiewire.com/2018/08/a-star-is-born-world-premiere-lighting-projector-venice-1201999539/

man I totally forgot that Dorothy Parker wrote this. was thumbing through a collection of her short stories the other night and was like waaaaaht

well, she cowrote the '37 original, but you can definitely pick out a few of her lines.

Reviews I've seen out of TIFF are dece-to-rapturous.

(of course the "rapturous" end includes Owen Gliberman so)

Hearing that this movie might be good does nothing to make it more comprehensible to me

When we complain they don't make 'em like that anymore we don't want actual remakes of "'em." Having said that this could be an entertaining mess.

― abcfsk,

I don't think Kenny suggested it.

If you told me this movie opened last weekend and already made $300 million I would believe you.

I will never understand the cult of Bradley Cooper. Like, how he got to be mega-paid "serious" actor of Hollywood is completely baffling to me. He will always just be one of those ppl who was in Wet Hot American Summer.

I liked him best as a smarmy quasi-supervillain in the TV version of Limitless

It's kind of funny that his most prominent screen role by a fair distance is in the GOTG movies

wait, there was a TV version of Limitless? I though the film sank with Cooper.

I often use him as a grammar example when teaching appositives: "Bradley Cooper, an Oscar-nominated actor, has never given a great performance."

I will never understand the cult of Bradley Cooper. Like, how he got to be mega-paid "serious" actor of Hollywood is completely baffling to me. He will always just be one of those ppl who was in Wet Hot American Summer.

You'll change your tune when Cooper wins no fewer than 4 Oscars next February.

Christ is his name on the screenplay too?

By god it is, and with an &, I feel bad for the poor schmuck who had to call himself Cooper’s writing partner

Surely they'll save Best Actor for his Lenny Bernstein movie.

(he's co-writing and directing that one too)

wait, there was a TV version of Limitless? I though the film sank with Cooper.

Yeah, no one watched it but he had a recurring cameo in the same role. I, along with approximately 6 other people, actually enjoyed it, way moreso than the movie.

He was standout good in The Place Beyond The Pines.

eh I'd fuck him

He was standout good in The Place Beyond The Pines.

god I hated that movie lol

eh I'd fuck him

Gaga's best bet for Best Original Song

Naturally I checked:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_won_multiple_Academy_Awards_in_a_single_year

Acting trophies have never been part of anyone's multiple-award-winning Oscar nights.

yeah Limitless the film had one of the more palpable "what the fuck am i doing here?" de Niro roles I've seen.

A STAR IS BORN: When a rockist marries a poptimist, clearly one of them must die.

An incredible 30-40 minutes deflated, slightly, by a screenplay that’s not as rich as the music industry conflicts at its center. The songs are bangers though—genuinely. #TIFF2018

— k austin collins (@melvillmatic) September 10, 2018

Adding to the positive critical praise, Peter Bradshaw gives it 5 stars in the Guardian, saying it's hokum (quelle surprise), but "outrageously watchable".

"It’s the romantic epic of male sacrificial woundedness and it’s been regenerating like Doctor Who... supercharged with dilithium crystals of pure melodrama."

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/31/a-star-is-born-review-lady-gaga-bradley-cooper

stop conflating doctor who and star trek bradshaw you prick

Surprised he couldn't shoehorn a kryptonite reference in there somehow too.

someone did really important work here pic.twitter.com/WkhEcrb54f

— rachel syme (@rachsyme) September 8, 2018

I will never understand the cult of Bradley Cooper. Like, how he got to be mega-paid "serious" actor of Hollywood is completely baffling to me. He will always just be one of those ppl who was in Wet Hot American Summer. a student on Inside the Actor's Studio.

and he isn't any better looking than the dudes who sell avocados on Eighth Street and Eighty-Seventh Avenue.

Turning into a perfect hot take storm for Film Twitter.

i would buy an avocado from Bradley Cooper

i am so happy i am not on Film Twitter

i would throw an avocado at bradley cooper

them shits are expensive, dont do it

i'd pay a fair bit of money to hurl objects at bradley cooper tbh

well then give me the avocados, you can throw awards at him til he forgets his name for all i care

I just found out Sam Elliott plays Cooper's older brother in this (he's like 30 years older?), which raises the chance I'll see it to about 20%.

y’know, one of those older brother types that could also conceivably be yr grandfather that are so common nowadays

i hear his dialogue is just him lamenting in his velvety baritone about the imurity of today's peaches or somethin

*impurity

breaks the 25-year age gap of Cruise and Hoffman in Rain Man

I'm probably going to enjoy this shitty movie

I can't imagine it being any more stilted and awful than the 1976 version.

wait til we get the next Jazz Singer

Co-starring Dave Chappelle?!

Bradley Cooper is the beige demon who makes sure very standard white dudes get to be in everything. He turns a scene to damp sugar quicksand with his treacley fingers and convinces you his vile incantations are him speaking some adorable French. I will fight him. Stand back..

— Neko Case (@NekoCase) September 15, 2018

Musicians don’t sing emo songs a foot from another musician’s face with long pauses for “feeling.”

FUCK OFF “A STAR IS BORN” TRAILER!!

I want a DNC for my fucking eyes..

— Neko Case (@NekoCase) September 15, 2018

Neko is a national treasure

<3 neko

Wow ANOTHER remake? pic.twitter.com/3eKheaY1OY

— Kevin T. Porter (@KevinTPorter) September 19, 2018

That needs to be the actual version of the movie.

so good

Neko Case needs to sing without six thousand feet of echo between herself and the band.

That'll learn 'er...

Cooper still #1 leading raccoon even Neko can't take that away

This movie isn't interesting in any way shape or form. It's almost dazzling how much of a nothing it is.

My friend the festival programmer adored it and he hates this kind of slop.

Speaking of slop, here's a quote from the NYT mag profile:

He’s intense and smart and named four books I hadn’t heard of within three minutes of sitting down, including “Cain’s Book” by Alexander Trocchi and “Beware of Pity” by Stefan Zweig. He talks about 5 percent faster than my personal processing speed. He wore a long chain around his neck and the things that hung on it were: his late father’s wedding ring, a cooking talisman that he wore in “Burnt,” Jackson’s ring and a little flower that his partner, the Russian supermodel Irina Shayk, gave him. He wore a Stand Up to Cancer shirt that I could barely see in the glare of his irises, which are the blue of a swimming pool in a tropical vacation brochure. (Do you know that they Photoshop the blue to make it bluer? Do you know that they do that to fill you with longing?)

i knew the byline before i looked it up

(did you know that Brad photoshopped his quote into this thread?)

It's almost dazzling how much of a nothing it is.

I promise to only "I told y'all so" once when this thing breaks 300 mil

haha i came here to gripe about that 'blue of a swimming pool line' i mean jesus.

also do you know that the food in fast food commercials is fake???? do you know that they do that to make you buy fast food!!!!

saw the trailer for the first time tonight; wild horses couldn't get me etc.

Do you want to see Sam Elliott lose every fight? See this movie!

idk if it's teh actual single/album version or waht but full shallow is out, apparently and man what a limp little song considering it's in the trailer

Doesn’t take much these days among some demos

I wish I had some juicy details. I don't make a career out of doing extra work, but I've done it enough times to get a sense of what's going on and what the mood of the set is like. TV productions are race car pit crews - they've all been working together for years, the director is a known quantity, the cast's roles are defined, and for the most part everyone knows what to do. The movie shoots I've worked on (almost all non-indie because you get paid and the food is great) weren't terribly different. Bigger crew, longer shoot, occasional luxury to dwell on one scene to explore different takes if you're ahead of schedule, nevertheless if it's organized there's some sense that there's a "there" out there for everyone to row towards together.

None of this was apparent on the ASIB set. The below-the-line crew were great and fun to talk with because absolutely nothing was happening. "What's going on? I don't know..." was the call and response I heard everywhere - on the walkie-talkies, among the crew, the extras, the stand-ins, everywhere. Coachella, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Shrine Auditorium are all rented out, several hundred crew members, hundreds more out in the crowd, and the band onstage are all patiently waiting. A LOT of money is being spent.

Cooper would come out, strum a guitar for a couple of lines, then remember he was the director and that he needed to assert himself as one. Hey AD & DP, can we get different angle from stage right? OK, We'll have to move the crowd, re-do the lighting, move the camera dollies to the other side - it'll take at least a hour of time and money to do this. BTW it's 9 in the evening and everyone has been here since 7am. Repeat this with every scene.

I don't really have an opinion on the guy other than he seemed to be in way over his head and that he was very appreciative and gracious to everyone regardless of who they were. That last bit goes a long way with me but if a good movie comes out of this it'll be in post.

Worth noting that there was an absolute electric change in on set energy whenever Gaga was around and unlike Cooper, sang live instead of miming along to a backing tape. Hopefully those live takes will make it into the movie.

to my surprise, the reviews are very good !
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/a-star-is-born

The reviews I've read say the first half is by far the strongest.

friend of a friend suggested this movie is largely a showcase of actors actoring

god forbid

actors like lady gaga

There was a profile of Cooper in last Sunday's NYT that was so bad I could not get through any paragraph.

did you try some from the middle just in case?

this was good, & is going to win lots of awards & make heaps of $

coop does kinda hide behind/dwell on the sam elliot voice but its a smart decision to do so, & to purposefully build it into the story

Who’d‘ve thunk

This just opened here, but the 3rd biggest cinema chain isn’t showing it due to some kind of dispute with the studio. I only know this cause said chain partnered up with MUBI for their free cinema ticket app thing but never actually show any of the indie & arthouse films MUBI picks - when I saw this was this week’s film I thought it was gonna be the first week I’d get to use it since they launched but nah it wasn’t to be

Dunno if I’m up for paying money to see it

Eric is right: pleasant and at worst average for the first hour, but then there's ninety fucking minutes to go.

I don’t know what to root for:

https://www.out.com/popnography/2018/10/02/are-gaga-stans-sabotaging-venom-opening-weekend

(Kidding, of course; I don’t really give a shit)

Cooper would come out, strum a guitar for a couple of lines, then remember he was the director and that he needed to assert himself as one. Hey AD & DP, can we get different angle from stage right?

I remember reading something about how Sling Blade is one of the most virtuoso jobs in this regard, with Billy Bob Thornton having to switch from manchild to director.

this movie wants us to believe that a Springsteen who apparently only writes "Adam Raised a Cain" and not actual hits could somehow become an instantly recognizable arena rock superstar in the 2000s.

so he's hozier?

I saw A STAR IS BORN and frankly I couldn't get over the fact that it takes place in a fantasy universe where alt-country is one of America's most popular genres of music and the Drive-By Truckers play 10,000 seaters.

— Scary Kaleb Horton (@kalebhorton) October 8, 2018

it's only a movie, Ingrid

he's Hozier with a 20-year-career of being a superstar and who's recognized by everybody in a drag bar as soon as he walks in the door

Coop is sexiest when Gaga femmes him up in the bathtub.

this movie wants us to believe that a Springsteen who apparently only writes "Adam Raised a Cain" and not actual hits could somehow become an instantly recognizable arena rock superstar in the 2000s.

― charlie brown from outta town (GM), Monday, October 8, 2018 4:45 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a modern day nashville

critic K Austin Collins sez this movie is anti-pop! if only i could believe him.

Is this movie an empty signifier, open for us to project our ideology into

now imagine Coop saying that.

I had a dream I was watching this movie. Or in it. Mostly it was taken up by Gaga’s character (?) refusing to go onstage at a concert for hours and hours.

I'm probably not going to watch this movie, but to every person with the take "omg how can some alt-country guy be super famous?" jesus christ go fuck yourselves already

my wife saw this, said Gaga was allright but it was pretty stupid and described Cooper as "a void"

i saw this today & loved it

like not in a omg it’s amazing etc way but i am a sucker for the melodrama of the story, and it delivered that very well & was just exactly the kind of movie I needed right now, just lose myself in a story & cry & sing. i was 100% down. the early scenes in the drag bar & what have you were so engaging (Willam & Shangy <3)
I thought Gaga & Coop had good chemistry too!

And he’s always been hot but sort of a cipher to me, but good lord this grungy drawly Coop checked all my boxes. damn.

loved seeing Anthony Ramos too!

would rather have dealt with him

how can some alt-country guy be super famous tbh

This movie takes place in an alternate reality wherein Ryan Adams actually became the Superstar the industry banked on him becoming in 2001.

lets just say it exists in the same universe as Crazy Heart and move on bcz it’s such a dumb subject

I hate to make a cheap, negative observation, but I've heard clips of Coop singing the "maybe it's time we let the old ways die" song a few times now, and his fake corny affected soulless clueless country twang grotesque is just SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad, so terrible, so off-putting, i'll have to just cover my ears when i see this

🙄

i'm okay with my inability to just deal with it

saw this last night, it's solid and gaga's performances (which I assume are live) are stellar...wasn't as impressed with the acting as some people are and the back half does drag quite a bit. that said I was surprised to find myself affected a couple of times. and I havent seen any of the earlier ones!

the tunes kinda knocked too

Gaga completely carried this movie, she was fantastic. I'd like to think her character's next album is full-on artpop Lady Gaga

the full album has a lot of extra songs that are equally as good as the ones used in the movie

Her recent intw with Colbert is pretty good. That movie might not be as bas as I thought. I doubt I’ll ever watch it though.

I promise to at least watch Lady Gaga's second movie

I saw this today, as London seem to be in permanent 'miserable pissy rain' mode.

Enjoyed it quite a bit. Lady Gaga is great and Bradley Cooper adequate. The second half does drag a bit, but doesn't damage the film too much.

I will probably watch this on an airplane.

I'd rather watch United 93 on an airplane.

not permitted. I remember watching Iron Man 3 on an airplane once and thinking "wait, they just edited out a big action set piece from this! ...Oh."

Q: is this movie (a) rockist, (b) poptimist, or (c) neither/ambiguous?

🙄

sf chronicle describes it a the gayest version of the story yet, which does pique my interest a bit:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/style/article/Is-the-new-A-Star-is-Born-the-gayest-13311518.php

Christ. One previous version of it literally had Judy Garland in it!

lol

haha

I will probably watch this on an airplane.

― El Tomboto, Sunday, 14 October 2018 22:08 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd rather watch United 93 on an airplane.

― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Sunday, 14 October 2018 22:11 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not permitted. I remember watching Iron Man 3 on an airplane once and thinking "wait, they just edited out a big action set piece from this! ...Oh."

― El Tomboto, Sunday, 14 October 2018 22:12 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This reminds me of when I was on a ferry in Croatia and they were showing Titanic

Thoroughly enjoyed this.

Q: is this movie (a) rockist, (b) poptimist, or (c) neither/ambiguous?

Ambiguous in a way that’s very similar to Hearts Beat Loud, which similarly has a younger woman branching out from keeping-it-real demos to a pop sound.

I did love how intentionally (I think) bad her SNL song is in this, very much her version of “The Shape if You.”

Jack’s hearing issues allow for this nice acting device of having people repeat themselves, which gives those moments an authentic rhythm.

Did not realize until reading Edelstein’s review that Andrew Dice Clay plays the dad!

Sam Kinison wasn't available?

scheduling conflict iirc

Dice is the new Danny Aiello.

Him & his whole limo crew were great

this was okay i think, reasonable B minus bag of cliches. gaga was great and libatique shot it well. i kinda didn't give a fuck about anything after around 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through. the evil producer/"pop sellout" stuff was terrible even if the movie does go out of its way to suggest that cooper's rockist stuff is immature BS. wanted a lot more of sam elliott, but doesn't one always?

otm. what was with the nooses over the pride flag in the beginning?

it's not going to bomb

― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Saturday, August 18, 2018 3:19 AM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why though

― faculty w1fe (silby), Saturday, August 18, 2018 10:09 AM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

counterpoint: this is going to bomb

― ghost beef (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, August 18, 2018 10:10 AM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

(...)

I promise to only "I told y'all so" once this thing breaks 300 mil

― wayne trotsky (Simon H.), Thursday, September 27, 2018 8:31 AM (three months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

current BO tally: 388 million worldwide.

you're l88

I waited a polite interval.

also in recognition of this milestone I'm actually watching this

why has no one mentioned that "Shallow", way more than any obvious country milestones, feels like a chopsier version (vocally speaking) of a vintage Richard and Linda Thompson tune

when does that come in the movie

this is going to win everything btw

lmao that's the song they do in the parking lot and when he drags her onstage. the one that's going to win Best Song and stuff

Every critics group has awarded every other actor + deed knowing this will sweep the Oscars.

ohh yeah I remember sorta liking that, I'll re-listen. I thought this was surprisingly good for what it was. didn't see Bohemian Rhapsody, looked & sounded awful but heard good things about the Wembley sequence.
xp

I'm watching a stream w Korean (I think) subs because I have no standards now that I'm not a critic, and I can already feel my interest waning now that the courtship is over

If there’s circles in the characters it’s Korean

I think his eyes are just baggy from the drinking.

the "realist" aesthetic ends up clashing very badly against the various implausibilities of the music-career (and style) aspects. too bad as the acting really is pretty strong across the board

also in recognition of this milestone I'm actually watching this

why has no one mentioned that "Shallow", way more than any obvious country milestones, feels like a chopsier version (vocally speaking) of a vintage Richard and Linda Thompson tune

it still does not add up for me as a song that cooper's character/band would be into. or at least, if he's later going to be bummed out about a "pop" turn, what's his beef with this again?

the band members not being characters at all really added to the musical unreality imo. not that i want a dumb scene of them being like "hey man, it's kinda weird how your girlfriend now has like three songs in our setlist, wtf?" but maybe something of them reacting to her music, or to his falls and rises. "oh cool it's like a vintage richard and linda thompson tune," "don't listen to sam elliott man, you're under control," "hey man i'm worried about you" ... I dunno. they're like wax dummies in the background. maybe we're supposed to infer that they're cowed, hired guns, but that doesn't fit with the pearl-jam-meets-meat-n-potatoes-country-rock-boogie authenticity trip he's feeding himself.

my bro got my mom this soundtrack for Christmas and I spent all day making fun of Cooper's twang (FOOOOOO CHAIIINNNGGEE)

I rewatched the 1937 version last week, and wanted to kick Esther's grandma down the stairs

did you say that at the premiere

{RupertPupkinGif}

As someone w/ no real opinion abt Bradley Cooper and zero expectations of authenticity or music biz accuracy from a big stupid movie I found this to be really well done and surprisingly affecting. It seems a rather big & easy target for some of the beefs in this thread.

Enjoyed it about as much as I did the Blaze Foley biopic for a different reasons

When targets are big and easy, just aim.

As far as non-sequel non-comic entertainment goes, it works at its C+ level.

Why does almost every gaga song take a nonsense syllable and repeat it endlessly as its hook

Ro ma ma ma ma

Sha ha ha ha ha Hallows

Pa pa paparazzi

her name is Gaga tbf

I thought this was mostly good. The story by its very nature is boilerplate, but the acting and directing is pretty strong, and if I didn't like the way it handled her pop star rise (too fast! too far!) or the cheeseball post tragedy sentimental big song ending, I thought that the beginning and much of the rest was pretty good, too. At the very least I know it's got to be a million times better than Bohemian Rhapsody.

And I totally recognized that as the Diceman by the end. Dice and Chappelle in the same movie, that's some A+ comedian stunt casting.

This movie takes place in an alternate reality wherein Ryan Adams actually became the Superstar the industry banked on him becoming in 2001.

― Ubering With The King (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, October 14, 2018 2:00 AM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TBH, I'm still fine with that reading, even now.

No problem with the reading, it does open up a different sort of world though.

Coop has better hair and tats though.

Camille Paglia has opinions

Surprisingly, despite its progressive gestures toward masculine sensitivity and transgender inclusiveness, this A Star Is Born is the most sexist film of the entire series.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/camille-paglia-sexism-star-is-born-films-guest-column-1186741

A Paglia fan who gave up on everything in the mid-afternoon

(j/k tho her Birds BFI monograph is still among the best in that series)

I don't believe in love in the afternoon.

This movie was too long. Dice was the best thing in it by far.

He was great as Gaga's gay friend

Lady Gaga Quashes Rumors That She Ever Thought Bradley Cooper Talented In Any Way

I’ve never been more in touch with my inner normie than during that oscars performance

It’s messed up how people try to pretend the ‘80s version of A Star Is Born never happened pic.twitter.com/PSMfBSnYYz

— Eric Allen Hatch (@ericallenhatch) March 4, 2019

Just realized that this movie is where Cameron Crowe ended up in a parallel film universe.

coop does kinda hide behind/dwell on the sam elliot voice but its a smart decision to do so, & to purposefully build it into the story

― johnny crunch, Friday, October 5, 2018 2:17 PM (nine months ago) bookmarkflaglink

my viewing notes on this:
hey, bradley cooper's singing sounds like... sam elliott?
wait, isn't sam elliott actually in this movie
oh, there he is! and cooper's character is apologizing for... stealing his voice?

really nebulous as to whether it was intentional outside of the plot, or if cooper's country-man singing affectations just sounded like that and then they wrote it into the plot

the one thing that kept coming to mind is... how deep did j.j. abrams work his way into cooper's brain? not only is every afterparty inexplicably scored by beastie boys music, but cooper ended up casting his old acting buddies from when he was on 'alias'! the couple i spotted were greg grunberg (his driver) and ron rifkin (guy at the rehab place)

this was a good film to watch with your old mum who keeps asking what the high pitched noises are for because she missed the deafness part of the storyline.

does the auteur kill himself in the other versions or did they ramp that up for this version because people do not generally understand what's at stake in life with regard to suicide? because it did not seem to me that this person would commit suicide. at all.

i still liked it and still cried although i will cry at anything at all. my mum mentioned BC's eyes like ten times while we were watching it.

I really enjoyed the drag bar scenes and thought those very nicely pitched indeed. i missed the hispanic friend of Ally and thought they should have brought him back in more.

anthony ramos! (he was in the original b’way cast of Hamilton)

does the auteur kill himself in the other versions

yes

In the 70s one I think he drink drives and crashes his car

yeah, it's ambiguous whether it's an accident or suicide

A more ambiguous ending would have been better. They have him drunk at the wheel of a car a few minutes prior anyway.

He drunkenly walks into ocean in the earlier ones, iirc.

it's an ambiguous drunken car crash in the 70s one and intentionally walking into the ocean to drown himself in the original according to a quick google

Did he drown himself in deep water? Or was it...

...

...

shallow

Reviving to discuss MAESTRO, which I saw yesterday thanks to MUBI GO and kind of liked.

Do we see the Maestro mentor little Lydia Tãr?

Heh

One thing I kept thinking about the younger B&W Lennie: he looked like Richard Benjamin and sounded like Art Garfunkel.

It's a watchable bad movie.

counterpoint: this is going to bomb

― ghost beef (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 18 August 2018 14:10 (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

willing to consider the possibilty that i wasn't 100% otm with this

Bradley Cooper's been in Hollywood so long that he can only think in biopic cliches; the last half hour consists of waiting for Carey Mulligan to die so that he can feel guilty about the bisexuality we rarely see.

Bradley Cooper IS Steve McQueen

Danny DeVito IS Bradley Cooper in the Henry Winkler Story

I watched this with my sister last Xmas and the only thing I remember about it is thinking Sam Elliott's entire performance needed subtitles.

it had subtleties u mean

Didn't notice too many of those tbh.

I'm glad that there seem to be Maestro showtimes in Chicago even after it debuts on Netflix.

My possible challops is that the three main performances were all really good and made this worth watching.

who's the third, Snoopy?

(I broke down and watched this on Netflix)

I'm so tired of this kind of film, this approach to narrative.

who's the third, Snoopy?

Star of Screen & Meme, Maya Hawke.

excellent performances, movie was absolutely missing something, felt like it needed another 30 minutes to fill some of this out.

I did think the makeup was extraordinary in this, particularly the aging work they did.

Turning Leonard Bernstein's life into one of thwarted heterosexual misery took some makeup too.

This was such a pretty slodge.

*slog

Very superficial and gives you no sense of why anyone should care about Bernstein.

well that scene in (westminster abbey?) works very well and that's cooper's best bit of acting. he really does convey what is amazing to watch about Bernstein's composing. what it failed at for me was giving any sense of why his wife cared about him (or, also, why she suddenly had no patience for him). It needed more establishment of their relationship for me. The massive time jumps didn't serve the story well.

Ely Cathedral. Bernstein was intense, but always in control and focused. Cooper’s fake conducting has him looking like he’s having some sort of spasm, unconnected to what is actually happening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8giUJbT9Yg

Lady Gaga didn't do a great job in Maestro tho

Very superficial and gives you no sense of why anyone should care about Bernstein.

Yeah, what made him special or interesting. It's just decreed that he's a genius of some kind.

I know the long Mahler scene is supposed to show us something about his conducting, supposed to sweep us up. But I was unswept. You can't capture that kind of power just by imitation.

the mahler scene and the one scene with koussevitsky were the only ones that try to reckon with his talent and cultural importance at all. the rest of the movie takes it completely for granted, seemingly saying “well of course he’s great, look at how rich and famous he is!”

it’s a pretty looking film, but completely solipsistic. you don’t get the idea that cooper admires bernstein or loves music, just that he loves himself

I don’t think this is a movie about his greatness or his artistry. Yes, it does take that for granted because I don’t think it’s the point of the film. It’s a movie about his relationship with his wife. His talent and celebrity aren’t the focal points - they’re complicating factors in his personal life.

I liked this movie a lot more than others in this thread. I generally hate Bradley Cooper—he seems very full of himself and seems like he’d be the first one to tell you how serious of an artist he is. And i found the PR rollout for this film excruciating. I don’t know if it’s because
I live in LA but every billboard and Instagram ad I see seems designed to campaign for specific awards (“the sound design is astounding!”). It’s all just really distasteful.

But my wife wanted to watch it so we did. And against my own wishes, I was hooked within five minutes and found the whole thing to be pretty outstanding. The costumes, the makeup, the performances, the cinematography, the script. And yes even the sound design! I was practically angry with myself by the end for liking it so much. And I think it’s precisely because
it’s actually a smaller, more domestic film inside the shell of a Great Man narrative. It skips over so much his Wikipedia beats and typical biopic cliches—for instance, the way it elides the fact that the performance in the church was for JFK’s funeral. His embrace of his estranged wife at the end was more important to the scene than the historical significance of the concert.

Their big climactic argument where she accuses him of hiding from his true self—to me, that came off as a real and sharp cut rather than a cliche Oscar Moment, because the film is more about just that—a portrait of a man hiding from his true self—rather than a biography of various great celebrity milestones.

agree with both of those posts

The quality of the sound design, I'll grant.

It’s a movie about his relationship with his wife.

Insomuch as it's about anything, yes. But his relationship with his wife isn't an inherently interesting story imo. And the story it tells of that relationship is telegraphed almost from the start and then driven home thuddingly by flourishes like the scene where she's literally standing in his giant shadow (that scene is the epitome of the need for kill-your-darlings editing — he should have admired it in the editing room and then left it on the floor).

"It's a movie about his relationship with his wife" coupled with Cooper's very transparent need for alms and validation all just adds up to "we want to win both lead acting Oscars for this one" to me

I wanted an entire film of Coop using boyfriend's butt as bongos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldFWvHa4Svg

Yes, the ostensible main point of the movie is the relationship but both characters are ciphers. Also, apparently in real life he wrote Felicia a letter before they married about his attraction to men and need for the occasional boy toy, and she wrote back accepting of it! On the other hand, the movie never makes it clear what sort of arrangement they had.

Coop no doubt thought American Netflix viewers couldn't stand the idea of an open marriage.

But his relationship with his wife isn't an inherently interesting story imo.

I guess we just disagree on this point.

"It's a movie about his relationship with his wife" coupled with Cooper's very transparent need for alms and validation all just adds up to "we want to win both lead acting Oscars for this one" to me

― stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.), Saturday, December 30, 2023 bookmarkflaglink

I mean, it's that time of year isn't it? I'm willing to be there are other movies out right now that you like that are also transparently aiming for Oscars.

Yes, the ostensible main point of the movie is the relationship but both characters are ciphers. Also, apparently in real life he wrote Felicia a letter before they married about his attraction to men and need for the occasional boy toy, and she wrote back accepting of it! On the other hand, the movie never makes it clear what sort of arrangement they had.

― Expansion to Mackerel (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, December 30, 2023 bookmarkflaglink

I think you just missed it. She knew nearly from the beginning. The scene where they are watching, and then participating, in the On the Town dance number seems pretty clearly to say she sees him in his homoerotic desires. And this was before they married. And after they're married there are numerous scenes where she speaks to him directly about it.

Yeah, it's clear to me the wife knew; the film's Bernstein isn't hiding it from friends, why should he hide it from her? But I still didn't find this bit compelling.

Well I think the relationship wasn’t defined as “she knew but couldn’t accept it” or “She willfully looked the other way” or “ she tried to be tolerant but life is messy and she found herself unhappy about it”

I know she knew in the movie but her motivations remained obscure because her character was so poorly sketched out.

Please compare that with "Night and Day," the Cary Grant movie where he plays Cole Porter.

In the movie he is portrayed as "carrying a torch for" Linda, though some accounts suggest that he wanted the social cover of a marriage blanche, as they used to say.

Sorry blanc or maybe lavender

_"It's a movie about his relationship with his wife" coupled with Cooper's very transparent need for alms and validation all just adds up to "we want to win both lead acting Oscars for this one" to me

― stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.), Saturday, December 30, 2023 bookmarkflaglink_

I mean, it's that time of year isn't it? I'm willing to be there are other movies out right now that you like that are also transparently aiming for Oscars.

the movie is about their marriage but for some reason it does not do a very good job of letting you inside to understand the push and pull of her attraction. On the one hand it's easy to say 'she knew what she was getting into so why does she have such a hard time with his homosexuality later on', but real relationships are complicated. The problem with the film is that it doesn't really sell that complication. Outside of the very first scenes I don't know that I ever believed she actually loved him. I don't know if this was the case in real life or a fault of the film.

Mulligan doesn't help either. She's supposed to be urbane but she looks stricken. I'm not sure she knew what she was supposed to play.

Blecch. What a shit script on this...

Hey, don’t blame me, I didn’t write it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW9Lfs-Fxmo