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

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