Title: A Star is Born
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott
Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins

What It Is: When blues-rocker Jackson Maine (Cooper) is looking for a place for his next drink he stumbles into a drag bar. In it, he sees young songstress Ally (Gaga) and immediately sees both the beautiful soul she is and the amazing voice she has. When Jackson invites Ally on to tour with him the two, equipped with a showstopping song in “Shallows” begin the whirlwind that might end in love and finding an understanding of what we see within the stanzas.  

What We Think: This film is a knockout. One only equal to by the beauty of its muses voice. Lady Gaga owns every second she’s on the screen and Bradley Cooper’s songs and singing voice were a surprise. That’s to say nothing of the stellar work he does from behind the camera. Cooper is a star as the director, star on the screen and he wrote a very good script (with Eric Roth) to boot. “Shallows” is likely to get Oscar love but for me “Black Eyes” which opens the film might be the best musical moment in a film full of them. The last of the second and beginning of the third act drag just a bit. This is one of the only complaints about a film that even though it’s over two hours long…never felt like it. 

Our Grade: A-, This is the sort of film that’s going to get a ton of love come Oscar season. It’s also one that like La La Land will receive hate from hipster movie “bloggers” trying to produce a Twitter “Hot Take”. There are no preconceptions here. The film presented is the film you get. What it is is a years best. Cooper, Gaga and maybe (hopefully) even Elliott better get their best outfits ready for Oscar’s 91st. They’re likely to feature heavily in it. Go out and see this! Have an amazing time, even if you might see the ending coming a million miles away.