A Star Is Born
A Star is Born (2018) A collab with Dani’s Movie reviews/ a collab with The Sound Scoop
Hello to all our readers, today is a very special day because today's newsletter release is a 2 in 1. It is a collab between Dani’s Movie Reviews and The Sound Scoop. We are combining both of our interests, film, and music to give you a wider spectrum and of course, our honest reviews on the film A Star is Born. Our “specialties” will be intertwined in this review, so you will jump from the actual film to the soundtrack and vice versa. This movie was chosen because Dani’s Movie Reviews holds great interest in the movie and The Sound Scoop finds the soundtrack very rich. So let's begin and discover more on A Star is Born!
What is “A Star is Born” about?
“A Star is Born” is a movie remake from the 1937 original film “A Star is Born” and has had remakes made 4 different times. For this review we will be talking about the most recent remake starring the incredible Lady Gaga and the talented Bradley Cooper. The movie follows the story of an already known musician Jackson Maine, played by Bradley Cooper, who meets a new, struggling musician named Ally, played by Lady Gaga. After giving up on her dream she meets Jackson and is once again motivated to follow her dreams. Once they get into a relationship Ally’s career starts to take off and their personal relationship starts to crumble as Jackson becomes jealous and is fighting his inner demons. This movie was directed by Bradley Cooper himself, and fits into the romance, musical and drama genres. The film was released the 5th of October 2018 and has a running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Dani’s Review
I am a huge Lady Gaga fan so when I first found out this movie was being released I really wanted to watch it. Sadly I wasn’t able to watch it in movie theaters but I still really enjoyed my time watching it. As Bradley Cooper’s first film as the director, now he has directed other movies such as “Maestro”, you must acknowledge that he did a really good job and he was able to create a really entertaining and engaging film. I’m a huge fan of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and seeing them star in a movie together was stuff of dreams, they had incredible onscreen chemistry and they form a really fun engaging duo.
The film is able to tell a really good romance story, since the moment they met at a bar while Ally was singing La Vie en Rose, the viewer acknowledges that something special is gonna happen between the two. Lady Gaga is an amazing singer and her voice in this movie is incredible, nobody is at her level. Seeing Bradley Cooper sing was quite impressive as you wouldn’t expect him to be able to sing, but when I first listened to Black Eyes, I was really shocked, it was really impressive. The movie successfully follows their relationship from Ally’s road to success and her own personal life and through struggling times. The cinematography of this movie is really good as the viewer gets to see different scenes taken in different settings such as the SNL set and even an Auditorium, it is just so nice. Through different emotions and different songs they are able to tell a story, how the character feels.
I may be a little biased with this review because I’m a huge fan of Lady Gaga as I previously mentioned so just by her starring in the movie made me enjoy it way more. That said, I would really recommend everyone to watch this movie since the soundtrack is amazing and the story told is really pretty and well told too. Despite being labeled as a musical it doesn’t feel like one so if you “hate” musicals, you will really enjoy this movie I think. I would give this movie 5/5 stars, again that may be a little biased, but I promise it is a really fun and enjoyable watch. I must add, this isn’t Lady Gaga’s big screen debut, many people consider it to be and having that in mind, she did a flawless job alongside Bradley Cooper and I wish I could of seen her win Lead Actress at the Oscars, but I’m still really happy she won one for her song Shallow, I’m still waiting for Bradley Cooper to win an oscar however.
Lari’s Soundtrack Review
I hadn't heard the full soundtrack to this movie before Daniel had recommended it to me but I was actually very pleasantly surprised when I heard it. It is an 18 song tracklist which follows the progressive story of this artistic couple.There is a large variety of songs, rhythms and lyrics which fit each circumstance of the story. Like Look What I Found and Hair Body face performed by Lady Gaga which hold a very traditional pop sound, which suits what Lady Gaga’s work as a solo artist is like. But I was super excited when I heard her version of La Vie en Rose on this soundtrack. I felt like I was hearing a side and style of her voice which I had never heard before due to her impeccable vocals and vibrato which really gave justice to the original song. I also felt this when I heard the song Before I Cry. You can really feel the pain and agony in her voice, the strings accompaniment strengthens this feeling as well. I will say, for Lady Gaga’s performance in this movie, both acting and singing, she definitely didn't disappoint.
Bradley Cooper, on the other hand, gave me another pleasant surprise, now that he isn't much of a renowned and long-time artist like Lady Gaga but he did a clean job with his part. I personally prefer his voice in his more energetic songs like Black Eyes or Alibi due to his very manly and raspy voice which ties in very well with the more rock and country beat that these songs hold. When you see his singing at the same time with his acting, it is very interesting now that you can see how highly capable he is able to combine both.
Favorite Song
BIG SHOCKER, My favorite song from this film is Shallow where both Lady Gaga and Bradly Cooper perform. This song is very popular but rightfully so because it has a very beautiful progression and chemistry between both artists. For the first half of the lyrics, they ask each other questions back and forth, with a more guitar accompaniment but then half way through the song, the song becomes more powerful revealing the string feeling present in their relationship. Definitely a song I have listened to frequently since I discovered it.
Favorite Verse
From Music to my Ears
“Your voice is quite a view
I heard a song and then I saw you
I learned the lyrics and knew you were mine
Dance the horizon with you”
Outro
Thank you everyone for reading our review of “A Star is Born”, as my first collab I must say I’m looking forward to possibly more in the future. Thank you all and see you nex time.
-Dani