Below is Marcia's review of A STAR IS BORN.
An Audience Is Bored
There is zero chemistry between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Since
this is what they're selling the film on, it really matters.
Bradley Cooper would probably show real chemistry with John Krasinski -- and vice versa -- but he's got nothing with Miss Gaga.
As for the Lady? Prop her in front of a mirror and you can watch her get turned on.
Let's stay on Ga. Is she a bad actress? No. She'd be good in small roles, one scene roles. She just lacks the presence to fill the screen for over an hour and hold your attention. She's far too ordinary.
The story is boring.
I've never seen the original (WHAT PRICE GLORY?) but I have seen the other two.
George Cukor's A STAR IS BORN is a massive film with Judy Garland delivering an amazing performance. It's melodrama and satire and so much more. And it's a moving story. In part because James Mason doesn't come across. You want more from him and that let's you identify with Judy's character who wants to hold onto him and he only wants to pull away. It's a marvelous musical with amazing songs including "The Man That Got Away."
Frank Pierson directed the 70s version of A STAR IS BORN. He's a talented person, or was, he's passed. He has three connections to Jane Fonda. He wrote the script to Cat Ballou -- one of her best comedies. He directed Lakota Woman for TNT (a project she began developing). And he directed her son Troy in his best performance to date Soldier's Girl.
What was the point of the 1976 version? The best Pierson could come up with was a weakfish feministish tone. The best because Barbra was never satisfied and fought with the writers -- she fired Joan Didion and her husband when they came up with the idea -- and fought with Pierson. Nothing pleased her.
It's a film that's way too long but the scenes are too brief. The Grammy moment, for example, should have been expanded. But if Babs isn't center stage, the scenes can't be filmed -- she was also producer (and has later on pretended she was also the director).
When the man kills himself, that's time to wrap up the film. Instead, Babs went into the cutting room and wet dreamed all over herself. The 'ending' is her performing -- in close up -- a two-song mash up that lasts nearly eight minutes. It's too much and destroys anything you may have felt about the death of her boyfriend.
It's supposed to be a rock musical but the woman who sang "Second Hand Rose" never knew rock as her attempts in this film and later when she tried to be Barbra Streisand Mellencamp with "You're A Step In The Right Direction."
Now we arrive at Bradly's overdone version. Why? What is he adding? Nothing. He thinks updating the music is updating the film.
That makes as much sense as Sam Elliott playing his brother -- the 31-year-older Sam Elliott playing his brother.
The music is a joke as is Lady Gaga's big award. In the two previous films, the actress has won an Academy Award -- Best Actress, in fact. Here she wins a Grammy. Not just any Grammy, mind you, but "Best New Artist." That's not a big award. Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop/R&B/Rock Vocal, are biggies.
Best New Artist? That's the award Milli Vanilli won. It doesn't say "star" or "talent." It says: Keep an eye on this person, they might amount to something. (Paula Cole never did.)
He's made a film in that it's projected on a screen. But in terms of anything more? Bradley Cooper's poorly copied others and added nothing original.
Bradley Cooper would probably show real chemistry with John Krasinski -- and vice versa -- but he's got nothing with Miss Gaga.
As for the Lady? Prop her in front of a mirror and you can watch her get turned on.
Let's stay on Ga. Is she a bad actress? No. She'd be good in small roles, one scene roles. She just lacks the presence to fill the screen for over an hour and hold your attention. She's far too ordinary.
The story is boring.
I've never seen the original (WHAT PRICE GLORY?) but I have seen the other two.
George Cukor's A STAR IS BORN is a massive film with Judy Garland delivering an amazing performance. It's melodrama and satire and so much more. And it's a moving story. In part because James Mason doesn't come across. You want more from him and that let's you identify with Judy's character who wants to hold onto him and he only wants to pull away. It's a marvelous musical with amazing songs including "The Man That Got Away."
Frank Pierson directed the 70s version of A STAR IS BORN. He's a talented person, or was, he's passed. He has three connections to Jane Fonda. He wrote the script to Cat Ballou -- one of her best comedies. He directed Lakota Woman for TNT (a project she began developing). And he directed her son Troy in his best performance to date Soldier's Girl.
What was the point of the 1976 version? The best Pierson could come up with was a weakfish feministish tone. The best because Barbra was never satisfied and fought with the writers -- she fired Joan Didion and her husband when they came up with the idea -- and fought with Pierson. Nothing pleased her.
It's a film that's way too long but the scenes are too brief. The Grammy moment, for example, should have been expanded. But if Babs isn't center stage, the scenes can't be filmed -- she was also producer (and has later on pretended she was also the director).
When the man kills himself, that's time to wrap up the film. Instead, Babs went into the cutting room and wet dreamed all over herself. The 'ending' is her performing -- in close up -- a two-song mash up that lasts nearly eight minutes. It's too much and destroys anything you may have felt about the death of her boyfriend.
It's supposed to be a rock musical but the woman who sang "Second Hand Rose" never knew rock as her attempts in this film and later when she tried to be Barbra Streisand Mellencamp with "You're A Step In The Right Direction."
Now we arrive at Bradly's overdone version. Why? What is he adding? Nothing. He thinks updating the music is updating the film.
That makes as much sense as Sam Elliott playing his brother -- the 31-year-older Sam Elliott playing his brother.
The music is a joke as is Lady Gaga's big award. In the two previous films, the actress has won an Academy Award -- Best Actress, in fact. Here she wins a Grammy. Not just any Grammy, mind you, but "Best New Artist." That's not a big award. Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop/R&B/Rock Vocal, are biggies.
Best New Artist? That's the award Milli Vanilli won. It doesn't say "star" or "talent." It says: Keep an eye on this person, they might amount to something. (Paula Cole never did.)
He's made a film in that it's projected on a screen. But in terms of anything more? Bradley Cooper's poorly copied others and added nothing original.