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A Star Is Born Movie Review

“All that the artist can offer the world is how they see those twelve notes.” - Bobby Maine
A Star Is Born is Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, and it stars Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, and Sam Elliott.  Bradley Cooper plays a musician who meets a shy young singer (Gaga) who he immediately falls in love with. He talks her into singing on stage with him, and while she becomes a star overnight, he struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction.
A Star Is Born is one of my favorite movies of the year, albeit an emotionally crushing one.  To start off, the acting is all around incredible. Bradley Cooper is great as usual. But the real surprise here was Sam Elliott, who in my opinion deserves the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.  And don’t even get me started with Lady Gaga. She kills it here. If she doesn’t win Best Actress, or at the very least get nominated, I will be legitimately upset. She gives the best performance in the entire film.  
I loved the characters in this film.  Bradley Cooper playing a very flawed character who despite having some pretty serious problems, tries his best to be a good human being, Sam Elliott playing the gruff but good-hearted older brother, and Lady Gaga playing the singer who finds her voice, and doesn’t let her newfound fame get in the way of her being a kind, caring person who is true to herself.
The script is very good, and the story is incredible.  The camerawork is really good too. But the one thing that I just can’t praise enough is the music.  The original songs are unbelievably good, and I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack. Who knew Bradley Cooper could sing?  Speaking of Cooper, he does a fantastic job directing the film. This is his movie.  You can tell when watching this that he put everything he had into the film.  The direction shines, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
As far as problems go, there are some pretty significant pacing issues.  There are some very important moments that go by way too fast, and if you’re not paying close attention, you could miss them.  Other moments drag on for longer than they probably should. Despite these flaws though, I loved this movie. Overall, A Star Is Born floored me, and I can’t wait to see it again.
Rating: R

Grade: A

Comments

  1. Connie ScangaOctober 15, 2018 at 4:44 PM

    I agree with Grant’s review of A Star is Born in every way that he is perceiving it. I especially share his appreciation of the music which I think I enjoyed even more than the previous Barbra Streisand version. I also appreciate Grants observation of the pacing issues but It did not affect my focus or interest very much. Gaga really did dazzle me as well with her acting abilities in her portrayal of Ally.

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