there's a lot to love in Bradley Cooper's entertaining remake of "A Star is Born"; this is a durable tale of romance, heady fame and crushing tragedy, retold for a new generation with heart and grit
the central romance feels more like a gorgeously patina-ed imitation of life than the real thing, maybe that's because "Star" is less a story now than a myth -- not so much reborn as recast and passed on to the care of the next generation
outrageously watchable and colossally enjoyable...supercharged with dilithium crystals of pure melodrama; Gaga ability to be part ordinary person, part extraterrestrial celebrity empress functions at the highest level at all times
moving and exhilarating; "A Star Is Born" tries very, very hard to be the most emotional movie of 2018..but, I can say it gets the prize for most hysterical melodrama. Take it as a compliment
Lady Gaga is a revelation in the rebooted fame tragedy, infusing the material with soulfulness and vulnerability; watch her character onstage, which feel frightening, massive and deafening is an incredible piece of evolution
it's wonderful to see a first-time filmmaker who's more interested in effective storytelling than in impressing us; Bradley Cooper has succeeded in making a terrific melodrama for the modern age
it is the gently heartsore story of a loving relationship destroyed by alcoholism, set to a killer soundtrack. But that itself is quite something; the star that is truly born here is Cooper as a director
a fitting note to hit in the fourth iteration of a story that's proven more enduring than most songs written when the first "Star" was born 81 years ago, and it's key to appreciating Cooper's arrangement as more than just a cover
"A Star Is Born" is that thing we always yearn for but so rarely get to see: a transcendent Hollywood movie; a movie that gets you to believe, at every step, in the complicated rapture of the story it's telling
by Mara Reinstein [Us Weekly ]
