OldBoy

**SPOILERS WITHIN**

Please continue pre-release discussion here.

Movie:
"A Star is Born" (Starring: Bradley Cooper, Stefani Germanotta, Sam Elliot, Dave Chappelle, Anthony Ramos, Andrew Dice Clay)

Release Date:
10/05/18

Rating:
R (for language, some sexuality/nudity and substance abuse throughout.)

Running Time:
135m. (2h. 15m.)

Budget:
$36 million (estimated)

IMDb Synopsis:


IMDb Info and Rating:
8.5 (9,987 votes as of 10/04/18)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:177 Rotten:12 (94% as of 10/4/18)

Metacritic:
88 metascore ('Universal acclaim reviews' as of 10/04/18)

Trailer:


Poster Art:

DJariya

Seeing this tonight at 7pm. Really looking forward to it.

OldBoy

Hope to catch Sat...

dsa_shea

A great movie but a very tough pill to swallow. Try to leave the theater without shedding a tear.

DJariya

Just saw it. I loved it. Lady Gaga was incredible in this. For her first big lead role, she did a hell of a job IMO. I thought the role of “Ally” suited her very well. Her chemistry with Cooper was pretty solid. They were dynamic singing on stage together, especially for “Shallow”. Soundtrack was pretty awesome as well. The final act takes a very dark turn. But overall a pretty amazing movie. They do explain in the movie how Cooper and Sam Elliott are brothers considering their big age difference. I know they shot some of the concert sequences from a Coachella in 2017 and that really added to the authentic concert atmosphere.

I’d give this an A.

Now excuse me while I go add “Shallow” to my playlist.

Brack

I loved it despite the predictable plot turns. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga have great chemistry. And boy, can Bradley Cooper sing. He could honestly be a rock star if he wanted to be. The songs are great, and acting superb. This movie felt like it could’ve been 3 hours long with more development of certain plot lines, but for what it is, it was pretty great. A- for me, but I want to see it again very soon.

RichC2

Off to a solid start:

stingermck

This was an amazing experience that needs to be seen in the theaters. Shallow gave me chills the whole time. I've never see the other versions so I went in cold. That dark turn was heart breaking.

Lots of crying in the theater, which was full and applause at the end.

This will win all the awards.

dsa_shea

Already got the soundtrack and want to see it again. Incredible and very poignant at the same time. I have been thinking about it all day after seeing it Thursday night.

rw2516

You can't keep a good story down it appears. Every version has been a hit and received numerous Oscar and other nominations/wins. The 1976 version won Golden Globe for picture, actor and actress.

Romeo and Juliet is the same way. No matter how you dress it up it's a success at both the box office and awards. ie. West Side Story, Titanic.

dsa_shea

Yes, they might all be about the same idea but are quite different in their own iterations. I don't mind. Besides, it is no different than music where you tell essentially the same story between 12 different notes.

Count Dooku

I saw it yesterday and thought it was excellent.

I did have one problem that I can't wrap my head around regarding the representation of the music business and Ally and Jackson's place in it.

Jackson is portrayed as a southern-fried rock star, with a back catalogue of big hits, and so famous that people from all walks recognize him. But he is in his 40s. Does such a person exist in 2018? When did he have all these hits? In the 1990s?

It seems to me that a real life Jackson Maine in 2018 would have to be a Country Music star. That does not preclude him being very famous, but that is definitely a genre.

So then Ally gains her initial fame appearing on stage with Maine.

But when she launches her own career, she is positioned as a pop singer in the 2018 vein of Ariana Grande or Katy Perry.

She's a singer in her 30s whose claim to fame is association with Maine's Country/Rock music.

I understand that all of that makes dramatic sense within the context of what the movie wants to achieve with the story, but (for me) the characters did not make sense as people living in 2018 and working in the contemporary music industry.

dsa_shea

Ally was like any other talented person out there that has yet to be discovered. She simply ran into someone by circumstance that could help expose her and her talents to a large audience. I would wager a bet that there are many talented individuals out there across our country in their late 20s and early 30s that have never appeared on American Idol or those types of shows while having more talent than many of those that do appear on the show. Cooper's character is a southern rock kind of artist, in my opinion. Probably rose to fame over a short period of time and made some hits. He remained well known to his fans despite being on the obvious downward spiral due to his addictions.

Decker

Apparently Cooper largely based his character on his friend Eddie Vedder. If Eddy were primarily a solo artist and had a substance abuse problem it's conceivable that he might be that famous with that sort of a following and a number of hits that sounded vaguely like that.

I had more of a problem with the way they marketed Ally. You would think that she would be marketed as a soulful pop singer songwriter than a dance music studio manufactured star, but of course the very compelling argument against that point is how the real Lady Gaga was promoted initially.

RichC2

Gaga and Pink both got promoted that way initially, so it's pretty accurate.

Bon Jovi? Most are pretty dead right now though. One review called him "A guy that dresses up like Sturgil Simpson but writes Soundgarden songs", and I can kind of see that.

Brack

I can’t stop thinking about this movie, or listening to the soundtrack.

What a special movie. I’m looking forward to seeing it again in Dolby Cinema (worth the premium, and if you have A-list, it’s a no-brainer).

Count Dooku

That helps me make sense of it, but the movie did not present enough of Maine's music or career backstory to really make sense of the character (IMHO).

Count Dooku

Lady Gaga was 21 when she became famous, and she had already been working in the NYC club scene in the years previous.

Pink was also 21 when she released her first album (which went double platinum). She broke as an artist in 2000, which was the age of Britney and TRL.

Pink and Lady Gaga both embraced the artistic legacy of Madonna as inspirations for themselves.

As I noted in my previous post, this would not be a description of the Ally character.

What happens to Ally makes sense for the plot of the movie, and draws a much more stark contrast between her and Jackson, but it does not make sense as a representation of anything that would happen in the real music industry in 2018.

dsa_shea

The scene with the dog and the window plus the final song = unavoidable tears. Damn!

RichC2

Fair enough.

Hokeyboy

Excellent movie.

You know what lasted with me the longest? The subdued, moving performance from Andrew Dice Clay.

That and the Alias cast reunion...

DJariya

I actually didn’t recognize Andrew Dice Clay right off the bat as Ally’s father. I kept thinking he looked really familiar but couldn’t place him. He was really good as her Dad.

dsa_shea

Dice did an awesome job as her dad. We got to see him live here in Tulsa back in August. His new material was good. The delivery of some of his lines in the movie took me back to the Day the Laughter Died.

johnnysd

Wish I could downvote posts, that is one serious load of crap right there.

If anything he was positioned more as a folk rock singer that had gradually moved into harder rock territory. Nothing about him suggested either country or southern rock. He felt much more like a drunk Springsteen if anything than what you suggest.

Also, the producer was presented as a Simon Cowell "pop packaging" type of producer so that transition made sense as well.

There are also TONs of super famous singers outside of the media fueled genres like fake crap country, and modern pop that are famous enough to have that type of recognition. I doubt Enya could go to too many places without being recognized as an example.

In terms of the movie, I though the first hour or so was magical but then in the last 45 minutes or so became a super predictable Lifetime movie which really really diminished the experience. I think they could have moved to a different ending with more impact. It just became so cliche and slightlt overwrought. But the first hour or so was fantastic.

stingermck

Agreed, and there was a second of dice man when he started to flip out on Cooper "what the fuck are you doing?!"