7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A country-rock music star helps a young singer find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral. An update of the classic rise and fall fable about the perils of hitting the big time in show business.
Starring: Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Rafi GavronMusic | 100% |
Romance | 23% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English DD=narrative descriptive
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A Star Is Born takes the title and tale of the beloved 1954 Judy Garland/James Mason classic of the same name (as well as two other adaptations), but not its temperament or timeframe. This is a contemporary reimagining where external success is measured in YouTube views and Grammy awards but life success at a much more intimate level. It's a gruff, raw, and real picture helmed by leading man Bradley Cooper in his directorial debut. Cooper's vision for the film balances romantic intimacies and personal crises with sprawling musical numbers and industry excitement, and fatigue. The film thrives on organic, complex characters who meet through chance, fall in love, and see their careers take radically different directions; one is on the rise and the other is on decline, though there's obviously much more to their stations than how many fans they draw or which awards they win. Though the film is more than reliant on broad-stroke narrative cliché, it's in the intimate character beats that the film finds the voice that would find it nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and a trio of Actor nods.
A Star Is Born arrives on Blu-ray 1080p, courtesy of Warner Brothers, sourced from a digital shoot. While the picture does exhibit a good bit of source noise in lower-light shots -- one of the most obvious examples comes minutes into the film when Jack, after a concert, retreats to a vehicle and begins to drink -- the image is otherwise very attractive and without serious source or encode blemish. The picture does not constantly reveal razor detailing. There's a mildly soft veneer to the film, an airy finesse about it, with only some shots -- an intimate Jack close-up right at the 90 minute mark, for example -- that is probably the sharpest, most intense example of character clarity on offer, showcasing individual pores, beard hairs, and other skin detail with striking clarity. The image is quite strong within Cooper's and Libatique's vision, with various concert venues, backstage areas, home interiors, and the like revealing inviting, environment-defining clarity and attention to detail. Colors are likewise a blend of high impact and somewhat reserved. Ally's hair later on in the film, which she colors from its natural brown-ish shade to a more intense red/orange, is one of the standouts. Color is not used to major impact in the film, but Warner's Blu-ray offers the entire range with impressive saturation and accuracy within the film's visual profile. Black levels are healthy and deep while flesh tones appear accurate.
A Star Is Born belts out a prodigious Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The presentation struts its stuff right out of the gate with a thunderous, perfectly immersive concert scene with a pronounced low end support that harmoniously balances with richly detailed and stage-filling instrumentals and crowd noise. It's a dynamic sonic stretch -- full-bodied, relentlessly detailed, and invigorating -- that is matched several times throughout the film. The overhead channels do not offer anything of discrete note in these scenes, or elsewhere in the film, but they do add a rather obvious sense of greater spacial immersion that transplants the listener onto the stage, critical to aurally matching the intimate filming of those key on-stage scenes (and it's no wonder Jack suffers from an acute case of tinnitus). The rest of the track offers nothing above and beyond but does deliver a full, healthy listening experience wether recreating essential barroom din or location environmental sounds, reverb during a pre-concert session around the 30-minute mark, or score. The Atmos presentation offers all components in agreeable working order, never failing to distinguish hard-edged guitar riffs or low-end Pop beats with equal clarity and accuracy. Dialogue delivery is faithful to a front-center position, yielding seamless spoken word detail and effortless prioritization.
A Star Is Born contains a making-of and several music-related extras. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are
included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.
In A Star Is Born, first-time Director Bradley Cooper takes genre cliché character cornerstones, including identity crises, alcoholism, and the journey from talented nobody into overnight sensation, and crafts a picture of resplendent character intimacy. It's a great challenge that Cooper conquers with confidence both behind the camera and in front of it. His co-star, Pop sensation Lady Gaga, delivers a grounded, touching performance as a character who finds sudden fame and fortune but also the love of her life. Hers is an uphill battle to find balance in both, and Gaga delivers a complex, layered performance that shines from her first to her final scene. Warner's Blu-ray release of A Star Is Born delivers rock-solid video, a terrific Atmos soundtrack, and several extras. Very highly recommended.
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