Review of A Star Is Born (2018) by The3Academysins — 23 Oct 2018

A Star is Born is an incredible directorial debut from Bradley Cooper, who also gives possibly the best performance of his career. Lady Gaga gives an incredible breakout performance that in my eyes, establishes her as one of Hollywood's A-List actresses. Her portrayal of a girl on the verge of stardom is incredibly honest, and her chemistry with Cooper is all at once cute, heartbreaking, and palpable. Cooper and Gaga give one of the best romantic performances I have seen in a while. Also in terms of performance, I want to give a special shout-out to Sam Elliot, who is in maybe 15 minutes of the movie, and absolutely steals every scene he is in.

In terms of the direction, every shot is beautiful and vibrant, even in the lowest moments in the story. Also, from a story perspective, A Star is Born is a roller coaster of emotions. A Star is Born deftly crosses the huge scale and expanse of Ally and Jack's tumultuous relationship without ever losing sight of it's characters. This is no small feat when there are as many different scenes and locations all across the United States in this script! The music was very well written and well done, and Gaga's performances are the spotlight of the show. Bradley Cooper's musical moments honestly can hold their own too!

A few minor flaws with A Star is Born hold it back from being a perfect 10 for me. One, is that I didn't believe Lady Gaga's character blew up as big and as quickly as is portrayed in the movie. However, the movie does have a "music-video" type quality to it, so this is easily forgiven. The bigger problem, without getting into too many spoilers, is that it ends way too quickly. However abrupt the ending, the last shot of the film is beautiful. This is a great, musical romantic drama that I will watch again and again.