A Person Who Has Not Seen A Star Is Born Ranks Its Entire Soundtrack
October 12, 2018 7:37 AM Subscribe
Natalie Walker, who is really just the best, has done "something very dumb that will destroy my existing relationships and cut nascent ones off at the root" .
"Morticia Addams wearing cowboy boots with Gomez in a bolo tie." That's... that's accurate.
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:38 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Kadin2048 at 8:38 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
The early mention of Alec Baldwin immediately summoned an ad featuring him, which is just uncalled for.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:57 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:57 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
Both stars have talked about the improvisational nature of many scenes in this film, and this one especially feels very loose. As someone who spent a lot of time with them at NYU Tisch, I can tell you Very Serious Straight Male Actors ascribe to a belief that the height of being present is saying “fuck” a bunch of times.
I have no experience in the world of drama or theater but this rings very true to me.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:03 AM on October 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
I have no experience in the world of drama or theater but this rings very true to me.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:03 AM on October 12, 2018 [5 favorites]
a Bernadette Peters “Unexpected Song” Award for Outstanding Achievement in Backphrasing
I think the guffaw this elicited from me just woke up my roommate
posted by Expecto Cilantro at 9:11 AM on October 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think the guffaw this elicited from me just woke up my roommate
posted by Expecto Cilantro at 9:11 AM on October 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
...the height of being present is saying “fuck” a bunch of times.
That would mean I'm typing this post yesterday.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:17 AM on October 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
That would mean I'm typing this post yesterday.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:17 AM on October 12, 2018 [2 favorites]
Whatever marketing firm Warner Bros. hired to promote A Star Is Born is on fire. They have every media outlet laser-focused on selling this movie nonstop.
posted by FakeFreyja at 12:03 PM on October 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by FakeFreyja at 12:03 PM on October 12, 2018 [6 favorites]
I have yet to see any iterations of A Star is Born; the basic idea (woman on the rise struggles with being in love with guy on his way down) never appealed to me. I think I also just dislike Hollywood getting all navel-gazey about The Price of Fame. It keeps getting remade, I'm guessing due to the lack of major vehicles for women, but that fills me with resentment also.
But this was still fun to read, even if I will never see the movie or care much about the soundtrack.
posted by emjaybee at 12:06 PM on October 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
But this was still fun to read, even if I will never see the movie or care much about the soundtrack.
posted by emjaybee at 12:06 PM on October 12, 2018 [4 favorites]
See, here's the thing.
A Star Is Born (the new one) is a really beautiful movie that is majestically made with much attention to detail and creativity and is really well written and really excellently acted (she is a revelation, he is the expected brilliance turned up to 11) and which is a movie about music careers, by one famous with a lengthy past and the other new and up and coming...
And you don't walk out of the movie theater humming ANY of the songs. Like, zero, zilch. The songs work well as soliloquies / movie scenes where characters express what is within themselves, and in place in the movie they are breathtaking in their emotional power.
But within the 15 minutes of walking out of the movie theater and to our car, I couldn't remember a single song. Not a melody, not a lyric. I remembered the power of the performances, but nothing about the songs themselves.
I've toyed with the idea of buying the soundtrack album, because I thought the song performances were great. But shouldn't a movie about careers in music featuring songs actually have at least ONE that you remember when leaving the theater? I've remembered enough of songs I've heard once (like, on the radio in the 80s and 90s, back before research was easy) to be able to go to a record store and talk to someone who works there and have them help me find the thing I was looking for even with a very vague set of memories to relay. I'm actually pretty musically savvy in a lot of ways. But the songs in this movie... left me with nothing. Very strange experience.
Also, the thing about this article... "If I could live in this moment when this one vowel was done this one way" is just such a strange way to appreciate music. I really don't relate musically to anyone who listens to a song and fixates on 1/2 of a second and decides they like the song based on that and that alone. Very strange, IMO.
posted by hippybear at 9:13 PM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
A Star Is Born (the new one) is a really beautiful movie that is majestically made with much attention to detail and creativity and is really well written and really excellently acted (she is a revelation, he is the expected brilliance turned up to 11) and which is a movie about music careers, by one famous with a lengthy past and the other new and up and coming...
And you don't walk out of the movie theater humming ANY of the songs. Like, zero, zilch. The songs work well as soliloquies / movie scenes where characters express what is within themselves, and in place in the movie they are breathtaking in their emotional power.
But within the 15 minutes of walking out of the movie theater and to our car, I couldn't remember a single song. Not a melody, not a lyric. I remembered the power of the performances, but nothing about the songs themselves.
I've toyed with the idea of buying the soundtrack album, because I thought the song performances were great. But shouldn't a movie about careers in music featuring songs actually have at least ONE that you remember when leaving the theater? I've remembered enough of songs I've heard once (like, on the radio in the 80s and 90s, back before research was easy) to be able to go to a record store and talk to someone who works there and have them help me find the thing I was looking for even with a very vague set of memories to relay. I'm actually pretty musically savvy in a lot of ways. But the songs in this movie... left me with nothing. Very strange experience.
Also, the thing about this article... "If I could live in this moment when this one vowel was done this one way" is just such a strange way to appreciate music. I really don't relate musically to anyone who listens to a song and fixates on 1/2 of a second and decides they like the song based on that and that alone. Very strange, IMO.
posted by hippybear at 9:13 PM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
the basic idea (woman on the rise struggles with being in love with guy on his way down) never appealed to me
this is where I chime in to any thread about movies about two cis-het opposite sex people making music to say that you should see Begin Again because it's just great and it ends beautifully.
posted by numaner at 11:30 PM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
this is where I chime in to any thread about movies about two cis-het opposite sex people making music to say that you should see Begin Again because it's just great and it ends beautifully.
posted by numaner at 11:30 PM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is funny as hell but also just a great piece of writing. She knows her shit. All those musical references, musical theatre references, drag references, vocal technique references... color me damn impressed and I am officially the newest and biggest Natalie Walker fan.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:26 AM on October 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:26 AM on October 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by Slap*Happy at 8:34 AM on October 12, 2018 [1 favorite]