"A Star Is Born"

With the arrival of Fall, Hollywood begins unleashing the movies that are deemed to be Oscar worthy, and perhaps the first such biggie arrived this week, Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born".

It is a familiar story: Established Star meets Young Up And Coming Talent and takes her under his wing, and they fall deeply in love.  Soon, Young Up And Coming Talent surpasses Established Star whose booze and drug consumption causes his career to crash and burn since he cannot live in the shadows of the Young Up And Coming Talent who has now become an Established Star herself.

In this version, Cooper plays Jackson Maine, the mega rock and roll star, who stumbles into a drag bar one night in desperate need of just one more drink.  There he sees Ally, played by Lady Gaga, performing.  He takes a shine to her, buys her a drink, listens to her sing in a parking lot, falls for her, takes her under his wing, they fall in love....., and, well, you get the idea.

Cooper and Lady Gaga

Cooper is quite a talent.  In addition to starring in this one, he produced it, co-wrote it, and directed it.  He learned to play the guitar for this role and does all of his own playing and singing.  He also wrote many of the songs that are in it.  He is an amazingly talented guy.

However, the real star of this one is Lady Gaga.   In the beginning of this one, she is stripped bare of the "Gaga" persona that we all know.  Don't get me wrong, she is not unattractive, but she is far from the glamorous star that we have come to know over the last half dozen years or so.

Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga

She is vulnerable and insecure about her looks, yet also confident in her ability to write and sing songs, and when she sings, wow!  Lady Gaga is indeed in possession of a once-in-a-generation musical voice, and does that ever come through loud and clear in this movie.  Oh, and she wrote many of the songs that she sings in this film.  She can also act.  She has dabbled in movies a little before this, but "A Star Is Born" is going to add the title of "Movie Star" to her already impressive resume.  Simply put, I loved her in this one.

Three interesting supporting roles in this one.  Sam Elliot, the voice that sold a million Dodge Rams, plays Cooper's older brother.   Ally's father is played by foul mouthed comedian Andrew Dice Clay.  Clay also had a role in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" (2013).  As he was in that movie, he is quite good in this one.  Finally, Ally's friend Ramon is played by Anthony Ramos, the young man who played the dual role of John Laurens/Phillip Hamilton in the original Broadway production of "Hamilton".

I mentioned in the beginning that this is a familiar story, and that leads us to the subject of remakes.  This story was first told by Hollywood in 1932 in a George Cukor directed movie called "What Price Hollywood".  I had never heard of this movie until Arch Campbell mentioned it on his movie podcast a few weeks ago. It was remade in 1937 as "A Star Is Born".  Directed by William Wellman and starring Janet Gaynor and Frederic March, and it won an Oscar for writing.  In 1954, Cukor took another crack at this one, added music and cast Judy Garland and James Mason, both of whom received Oscar nominations, in the leads.  In 1977, it was back again with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and it won an Oscar for Streisand and Paul Williams for Best Original Song.  

And now, forty-one years later, we are seeing it again, and the questions are once again asked, Why does Hollywood keep making remakes of movies, and SHOULD they even try?  I have talked about this subject in this forum on many previous occasions.  As to WHY, well, obviously, somebody thinks that such projects will make money for the studios, so there's that.  As to SHOULD they keep  remaking such movies, my answer is:  Yes, IF the remade film can tell the story in a different way and get the same message across, and, more importantly, IF the newer version of the story is actually a good movie.

In the case of 2018's "A Star Is Born", Cooper succeeds on both fronts, and if the movie does absolutely nothing else, it gives us Lady Gaga.  There is more to the movie than that, of course, but she alone is a reason to see this one.

Three and one-half Stars from The Grandstander.

Non-Football Super Bowl Thoughts

We all know that the game itself is only a part of what the Super Bowl is all about, so, herewith, my Non-Football Super Bowl thoughts.

The Halftime Show

Yes, the Lady Gaga Halftime show was overblown, overproduced, and a complete sensory overload, but here is something else it was - totally entertaining and totally enjoyable.  Lady Gaga is complete and total musical talent.  Great voice, great stage moves and presence, and beautiful to boot.  Her show lasted thirteen minutes and I could have watched at least another half hour of it.  It was great.

The Commercials

Quick and random thoughts...

• The Intel commercial with Tom Brady had a funny ending
• Like the #weaccept piece
• Liked the 84 Lumber one.  You had to go online to see the full thing.
• Liked the Justin Bieber one for T-Mobile that also featured Rob Gronkowski and Terrell Owens
• Liked the Honda CRV bit with celebrities' year book photos
• Liked the one with Christopher Walken and Justin Timberlake for some sort of beverage
• The Terry Bradshaw Tide commercial was a good one
• LOVED the Mr. Clean commercial
• LOVED the Verizon ones with the fifty shades of gray theme
• Peter Fonda "Born to be Wild" bit for BMW (or maybe it was Mercedes Benz)
• I never, not once, watched the TV show "Baywatch", but I just might have to go see the movie version with Dwayne Johnson
• Melissa McCarthy for KIA...very funny
• Oh, and that Fabreze Halftime Bathroom Break one was a great one if you have the mind of a fourth grade boy, otherwise, pretty disgusting.

And finally, a salute to our forty-first President, George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Bush at the coin toss.  Thank you, Mr. President.

A Great CD From An Unlikely Duo

I received an early Christmas present yesterday from some old friends.  It is the newly released CD "Cheek to Cheek" by the unlikely (to me, anyway) duo of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, and let me tell you, it is one terrific album.  Yes, I still call them albums!  As you can see from the play list above, it is a collection of standards from Cole Porter to Duke Ellington to Sonny Bono.

Tony Bennett is 89 years old and has released over 70 albums (there's that word again) in a career that began during the Harry Truman Administration.  Listen to him on this CD and he sounds as smooth and good as ever.  

As for Lady Gaga, if you think that she is nothing but a gimmicky pop singer getting by with outrageous costumes and too many tattoos, think again.  If her performance on last year's Academy Awards show didn't convince you that she is a terrific and serious musical talent, then listening to this CD certainly will.  If you think "Ella Fitzgerald" as you listen to the tunes on "Cheek to Cheek", you would not be off base.

Pop this into your car CD player or plug in your iPod earbuds and enjoy some real listening pleasure.

"Birdman" Soars on Oscar Night

The big winner at the Academy Awards last night was, of course, "Birdman".  Winning four biggies - Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and the biggest of all, Best Picture.

We finally saw "Birdman" on Saturday night through the magic of OnDemand. It was interesting, and it certainly was different, filmed in a unique manner, and the performances by the actors were quite good, but Best Picture?  I'm not so sure.

Of course, as I mentioned in a post the other day, I had only seen two other of the Best Picture nominees, "Grand Budapest Hotel" and "The Imitation Game", so who am I to offer a judgement of the relative merits of "Birdman" compared to the other seven nominees, but here's one yardstick that I use in judging a movie: How likely am I to  watch this movie over and over again as the years roll by?  Using that standard, I can honestly say that I will probably watch "The Imitation Game" several times as we go forward, but I am not sure if I will ever go out of my way to see "Birdman" again. Once was enough.

(Interestingly enough, I made a Facebook post on Saturday night expressing these sentiments about "Birdman", and it generated a moderate number of comments, about 75% of them leaning towards my point of view, for whatever that might be worth.)

The Oscar winning director of this movie, Alejandro Inarritu, in accepting his award, said, and I am paraphrasing here, that the test of time will be the ultimate judge of what the Best Movie of 2014 really was, but for this moment in time, it's "Birdman", so congratulations to all concerned.

A note on that "test of time" notion.  The Best Pictures of 1995 and 1997 were "Forrest Gump" and "The English Patient".  In those years, two of the movies that "lost" the Oscar were "Shawshank Redemption" in 1995 and "Fargo" in 1997. Of those four movies, which two would you rather watch if given the choice today?

As for the Oscar show itself....

• I thought Neil Patrick Harris did a good job as host.  After the opening number, the host's job is to just keep things moving and introduce the next presenters.  I thought his opening number was quite good, and he did as much as can be expected in his role as traffic cop in keeping the show moving.
• Even thought I didn't see their performances - yet - I was glad to see Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, and J.K Simmons take home the Oscar.
• I am sure that Eddie Redmayne was deserving of his Best Actor Oscar, but I was sorry to see that Pittsburgh guy Michael Keaton did not get the nod.  One question to which we may never know the answer - if he had won, would Keaton have taken the gum out of his mouth that he was chewing all evening when he made his acceptance speech?
• How awesome was Lady Gaga in that "Sound of Music" tribute?  People have long said that Lady Gaga is not a gimmick, but a serious musical talent, and she proved it last night.  Tremendous performance. 
• And having Julie Andrews come out right after that number was terrific, perhaps the best moment of the night.
• How about John Travolta?  He was good sport in taking a beating for his mispronunciation of Idina Menzel's name last year, but WHAT HAS HE DONE TO HIMSELF?  Another Hollywood poster boy for Plastic Surgery Gone Wrong.
• The Neil Patrick Harris "Oscar Predictions in a Locked Briefcase" gimmick went on way too long, perhaps, but, tell me, how exactly did they do that?

I will conclude with another comment on "Birdman".  One thing I did like about it was seeing the divide that exists between Broadway and Hollywood, and the perception among actors and critics as to which is the "more important" art form.  In one scene, the New York Times critic contemptuously tells Riggan Thomson (Keaton) that "you're not an actor; you're a celebrity".  Great line, but not a new one.  In the fabulous 1982 movie "My Favorite Year" screen star Alan Swan, played by Peter O'Toole, has an anxiety attack when he realizes that he will be appearing on LIVE television. In the course of his panic he screams out, "I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star."  One of the great lines in movie that as full of them.