Maybe it's time to let the old ways die (A Star is Born 2018)

 

 

 

218.

A Star is Born

 

 

 

8/10

 

Straight from viewing and reviewing a big player in the Oscar season, we are onto another entry. A Star is Born has been made twice already, not that I have seen those movies, but this time Bradley Cooper is taking the reigns and directing himself and Lady Gaga as the main stars. I had no idea of the background to this movie, what the story was about or exactly what to expect when it came to how much music and singing was actually going to be present. I do like a Bradley Cooper movie and whether he's being serious, sticking it to a comedy role or even just being the voice actor, he always seems to deliver.
The movie follows a successful singer named Jack, played by Cooper who is struggling on a number of levels. He's still a lonely guy. Starting to be caught up by age, drinking all night alone and losing his hearing, he wants to put all of his to the back of his mind and it's not going well. Finding a small dive bar and discovering the local waitresses talent to sing, he instantly becomes obsessed with and refuses to leave her talent where it lies. Alley, played by Gaga, spends the night with Jack, talking in a carpark and even singing part of a song she had been writing. As the movie carries on, Jack invites her to one of his gigs and even brings her on to sing her song. This blows the crowd away and suddenly she is a massive hit and the two begin their relationship.

 

 

The only way I can explain how Ally's relationship carries on is by comparing it to Taylor Swift. Beginning with a unique style and quickly changing to what her manager wants, what they think will sell more and appeal to more. Skimpy clothes, terrible lyrics and constantly changing her looks. Jack doesn't like this, feeling that she doesn't need all of this change. We can see that he is struggling with alcohol again and even at an awards show, he embarrasses them both. Once he hits rehab, completes it and comes out clean, he has Ally standing by his side, even wanting to cancel her tour to be with him. This doesn't go down well with her manager, who shows up on Jack's doorstep and tells him that Ally would be better without him. This leads Jack back to drink, with the night ending as he hangs himself whilst Ally plays a gig. I haven't been so angry in a character as I had in a long time as I had been for Ally's manager. What an asshole! The movie draws to a close as Ally sings a song at Jack's funeral. A song that he wrote for her to sing. A touching ending to a really good movie.

 

 

The movie was a really good movie. It's not one that I can compare to its predecessors and if I'm brutally honest, I don't even want to see them. It follows a harrowing tale of a man struggling with his mental health and how one attitude, person and opinion can change this. Firstly, Jack helps Ally to achieve her dreams, whilst she turns his life around, finally giving him some happiness and a reason to sort his own life out. After rehab, he even apologises to his brother, who he struggled for a relationship with throughout the movie. This all changes on the manager's quick visit, showing just how vulnerable Jack truly was. The movie, ending in such a sad fashion with music really taking a backseat. Cooper, once again, doing a great job as a desperate man on his knees and recovering before once again falling for good. Even giving it a good go when it comes to the music. The main song, sung by both, was heard everywhere for a while and performed at the Oscars in a great performance. Gaga smashes her role too, from elation to desperation as her true love loses his battle with alcoholism and inner-demons. It really was a hard-hitting ending and far from the happy-endings that we have come to know. On that fact alone, it makes it a stand-out movie for the year.

 

 

It goes on forever, six bloody minutes! (Bohemian Rhapsody 2018)

217.

Bohemian Rhapsody

8.5/10

A movie that has been spoken about for months. A movie that has laid the way for criticism and excitement from many camps even before it hit the big screen. The critics were worried about which side of Freddie Mercury's life we were about to see, whether we would get all of the truth about this global superstar or whether it would be completely 'puffed up' for the audiences to enjoy that bit more. Rami Malek has been giving the audacious task of playing Mercury, which again, the audience beforehand were split straight down the middle on opinions. It's always up to the viewer to cast their own opinions on proceedings and that's the exact route I'll be taking. In the past, I've loved movies that have apparently not been good enough for some and they've given absolute shite, their top rankings. Let's see if this is a movie we can all sing along to.

The story follows a young Mercury, struggling with his family, religion and dreams until one day he comes across a band needing a new singer. Instantly offering his services and vocal skills, he blows away the audience with his swagger and style, scaring the other band members a little but showing some potential. As the movie flows, we see the ups and downs that came with the band and with Mercury's home life. Never truly getting the support from his parents, he still chasing the dream of making it big. This comes at a toll though, the band, although massively famous after a while, start to break apart a little. Through Mercury's drinking, failed relationships with females and drug abuse, we start to see the demise of a lead star. By now, he has come out as a gay man and worked so with it in secret but as the press start to pressure, you can physically see the toll that it's talking on the man. The movie began with a walk through the backstage of Live Aid and this is once again where we are working towards. Mercury has now gone single, hit rock bottom and has been used by everyone for his fame and fortune.

One last gig offering is Live Aid but they want the band. They want the famous group but this comes at a cost. The remaining band members have their clauses that Mercury needs to follow in order to get back in. Accepting, the movie finishes with how it started. Before this though, Freddie reveals to his band members that he hasn't long left. He reveals that he is dying and that this could well be his farewell appearance. The walk through the backstage area finishes with the Live Aid segment from Queen and this lasts for around 20 minutes. Apparently, it's the full set that was actually played and to be truthful, it was phenomenal. It gets feet tapping and people singing along. It was everything it was meant to be. A true celebration of this world famous band.

The movie has the right amount of drama, elation and songs to not only keep the audience entertained, but gripped to the storyline if they have indeed never read or seen the story of this band. The music scenes were either shown as a live show and tour or they could have been adding context to the story and simply played over the scenes of action. The movie itself brought emotions across the scale between the happiness of seeing the band prosper and then slowly break away. The anger of some actions and finally leading to sadness as Mercury admits to his life coming to an end. For those who thought Malek wasn't going to be a good choice, they were dead wrong. Each emotion that I just witnessed and spoke about briefly, were shown with ease from a gent that I haven't had the pleasure of seeing in action on screen before. Pretty deserving of the Oscar that he received, it was interesting to see a character go through so many changes to emphasise the years that the movie tried to span over. If you don't find your foot randomly tapping along with this movie, then you're made of stone!