A Star Is Born (2018)

Jack and I are not alone in liking this musical about a young talented singer rising to glory as her famous love interest falls to ruin with alcoholism and depression. It's the fourth movie by this name, after versions in 1937, 1954, and 1976, and some say the earliest one was based on What Price Hollywood (1932)--the ones in the 1930s were about actors and the following three about musicians.

Lady Gaga (in her film debut playing a part--she's done many videos and cameos as herself) shines as the star Ally, and she has top billing over co-star/director/co-writer Bradley Cooper (last blogged for Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2) who is wonderful as well as Jackson. It's a big cast, but my favorites include Sam Elliott (most recently as The Hero) as Jackson's brother/road manager, Andrew Dice Clay (last blogged for Blue Jasmine) as Ally's father, and Anthony Ramos (most recently in these pages for Patti Cake$--note, my corrections were accepted on imdb and he's now included as a cast member of that movie).

In his directorial debut, Cooper shows flair, with a script co-written by him, Eric Roth (last blogged for adapting Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), and Will Fetters (new to me). Cooper gave his own dog Charlie a part, too.

Cinematographer Matthew Libatique (most recently shot Money Monster) and his crew shot some concert scenes at Coachella in Indio, California, last year. Beyoncé was supposed to headline that festival and, after she dropped out due to her pregnancy, not only did Gaga fill in, the production invited audience members to pay $10 to Gaga's Born This Way Foundation, dress in country attire, and be extras in the movie shoot. Their phones were locked in Yondr pouches, which Jack and I experienced when Chris Rock came here for standup not too long ago. Other concert footage was shot at a country music festival, also in Indio, with Cooper performing a ten minute set before Willie Nelson performed.

The movie has a close connection with Willie Nelson, because his son Lukas not only coached Cooper on guitar, but also his band Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real perform as Jackson's band in the movie. Cooper had several voice coaches as well, since Gaga convinced him it would be best if they performed live instead of lip-syncing. The music is good fun, ranging from blues-rock to country with some pop towards the end.

Before I started writing, I listened to the whole soundtrack on spotify, which, my regular readers have learned, I prefer to youtube because the commercials come in infrequent clumps instead of before every song. All the songs are singly featured on youtube so you can listen there if you want. Here's a list of all the songs, their composers, and performers.

As I said, most people like this, including 90% of critics and 85% of audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. Definitely worth your time.