Tag Archives: A Star is Born

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Song of the Day #4,435: ‘The Man That Got Away’ – Judy Garland

Continuing my personal ranking of the 25 movie musicals deemed essential by the American Film Institute…

#18. A Star is Born – 1954
(#7 on the AFI list)

This project has given me my first real exposure to Judy Garland, and I’ve come away as fascinated and impressed as fans the world over have been for years. Garland stars in three films on this list, spanning her whole turbulent film career.

A Star is Born, directed by George Cukor (who also helmed a film still to come), was considered Garland’s comeback film at the ripe old age of 32. It was also one of the last movies she ever made.

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Song of the Day #3,924: ‘Shallow (Live at the Oscars)’ – Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga

I’ve been tied up with the latest Decades series for the past few weeks, so I never got a chance to chime in on the Oscars. Don’t worry, that ship has sailed, and I don’t plan to revisit this year’s Academy Awards at this point.

But I did want to take a minute to acknowledge one of my favorite moments from the ceremony: Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s performance of ‘Shallow.’

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Song of the Day #3,854: ‘Black Eyes’ – Bradley Cooper

In a reversal from most years, the 2018 Best Actor race is far less competitive than that of Best Actress. I struggled to come up with ten names to consider for my personal list of the year’s best lead male performances.

Granted, I have yet to see several performances that have a good chance of cracking the lineup in this category, including the two frontrunners.

Here are the ones I’ve missed:

Christian Bale – Vice
Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate
Ryan Gosling – First Man
Lucas Hedges – Boy Erased
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody

All of these have a shot at cracking the Oscar lineup (which is announced this morning, incidentally) and Bale and Malek will likely duke it out for the win. Continue reading →

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Song of the Day #3,756: ‘Maybe It’s Time’ – Bradley Cooper

In all of my blathering about A Star is Born in yesterday’s post, I neglected to mention my favorite song from the film’s soundtrack.

‘Maybe It’s Time’ was written by Jason Isbell, a singer-songwriter I discovered earlier this year who has quickly become a favorite of mine. Do yourself a favor and listen to his albums Here We Rest, Southeastern and The Nashville Sound. If you like today’s SOTD at all, you’ll find a lot more just as good and even better on those records.

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Song of the Day #3,755: ‘Shallow’ – Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Writer/director/star Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born is one of the most buzzed-about movies of this year’s award season, and now it has a hefty box office take to match. The only thing keeping it from Oscar glory at this point is the risk of peaking too soon.

I liked the film quite a bit, though I didn’t share the rapturous reception of many critics and fans. I loved the languid first half, which depicts Cooper’s Jackson and Lady Gaga’s Ally falling in love. It’s all warm, syrupy hues and hushed conversations.

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