A Star is Born – Next Entertainment Review

THE LOWDOWN

Everyone who is anyone has watched “A Star is Born”.  Being a “cultured in training” humanoid, I of course, didn’t know that this was a remake, until the media around the film started to get bigger.  Now this didn’t make me go watch the original starring Janet Gaynor and Frederich March, but it definitely is now on my bucket list.  Also.  Lady Gaga, is all I have to say.

But for sake of giving you a proper review.  I suppose I will do more.  So here is the lowdown.

Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers – and falls in love with, struggling artist Ally.  She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer until Jackson coaxes her into the spotlight.  But even as Ally’s career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jackson fights an ongoing battle with internal demos (IMDB, 2019).

Sidebar. The Oscar buzz around this film is huge, with both Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga both getting some Oscar nods for best actor and actress – and of course, the best song nomination going to the hauntingly beautiful “Shallow”.  My prediction: Best Original Song is a definite, but both Cooper and Gaga have their work cut out for them this year with absolutely impeccable performances by Christian Bale (Vice), Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Glenn Close (The Wife) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite) – to name a few.

 

THE GOOD

What’s there to say about such brilliant film?  The performances are great.  The storyline is solid.  And the 2 hours film duration go by without you even gazing at the time (for me that’s a big deal, especially in a drama).  I must say firstly, that I was confused.  Do I like Lady Gaga? Do I like Lady Gaga without the extreme makeup and harmonic hairstyles?  Or is Gaga, actually known as Stefani Joanna Angelina Germanotta – the real deal when it comes to this kickass performance?  Most will come at me with pitchforks for bringing this, but isn’t this just a newer, cooler version of Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard? I had to say it.  Everyone was thinking it.

But, great news is, that it works.  Add the fact that Gaga does indeed perform incredibly well in this musical performance, Bradley Cooper is in top-form (and sings like a pro too!), and a special shout out to Sam Elliot – who just gives this film a bit more class and performance dignity that it already has way too much off.

 

THE BAD

What do you want me to say! It’s too difficult to marginally hair pick anything wrong with this film. So, I’ll let others do the dirty work for me.

  • A journalist from Independent UK called the film an “Unnecessary remake, with not much added by the performances”
  • Vice online said that the film is “two hours of anxiety punctuated by the brief ecstasy of Lady Gaga’s singing performance”
  • com had one problem: “Bradley Cooper is too handsome to play a coke-snorting has-been”
  • And Screenrant had a problem with the ending of the film, saying that this problem originated with 1937 version

 

A Star is Born is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD from Next Entertainment.

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