Last movie you watched......

Somewhat on a whim I saw "Blaze" earlier this week. It's a biopic of outlaw country singer/songwriter Blaze Foley written and directed by Ethan Hawke. Foley was close with Townes Van Zandt (portrayed in the film by musician Charlie Sexton) and write songs covered by Willie, Merle, etc.

It's solid work and had some fun cameos and some great music.

 

Sicario 2 -- more like Suckario, amiright??

 

Also known as a movie that should've been made.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing this. A while, while back, Hawke wrote and directed a film called The Hottest State. It was about a young actor's relationship with a musician and to be honest, it seemed aimed straight at twenty-something males. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone outside this demo, but for all that, it was really good at ticking those boxes.

 

Just saw Venom -- not horrible. Not a particularly good movie, but enjoyable. When Venom joins with Eddie Brock, it becomes kind of a buddy movie with their banter. And I'm not sure how much of it was supposed to be funny, but it all was. It made the movie.

 

Just caught it tonight. It’s worth your while. Mrs. jlee and I loved it.

Cooper is great. The role pales in comparison to Denzel Washington’s similar character in “Flight,” but that’s really splitting hairs. Lady Gaga is good enough in between belting out the jams. The music is the star here, and it’s worth the price of admission.

 

The Catcher Was a Spy. Solid flick, great cast (Paul Rudd in title role along with Paul Giamatti, Sienna Miller, Jeff Daniels, Mark Strong, Giancarlo Giannini and Guy Pearce).

 

How does A Star is Born compare to the original? And the remake? And the second remake?

 

A Facebook friend of mine posted a couple days ago that she was watching the "original 'A Star is Born.'" You know, the one with Streisand and Kristofferson.

 

Did you have the heart to set her straight?

I've never seen any of first three versions. My wife saw the one with Streisand and Kirstofferson, but didn't remember the end, so I have no idea how it compares. I do know my wife and I really enjoyed the new one when we saw it this afternoon. My daughter didn't care for it as much.

I don't think the ending is hard to see coming, but even having a pretty good idea where the story was headed, I think it works. The music is excellent and so is the cast. Cooper is fantastic. I liked Gaga in the role of Ally and Sam Elliott is always great. Even Andrew Dice Clay works as Ally's father. I don't want to spoil too much, but there is one moment in which he stops being starstruck and acts like a father that is a really strong story beat.

It really is interesting to see Gaga raise her game as an actress to try to keep up with Cooper while he tries to keep up with her singing. I don't mean that in a bad way for either one. She can't act like him and he can't sing like her, but they work very well together.

I also enjoyed what the story says about being an artist. I really like Cooper's line from the trailers. "Talent comes everywhere, but having something to say and a way to say it so people listen to it, that's a whole other bag."

 

I did post imdb links to the two earlier versions in my replies.

Haven't seen any of the first three. Don't know if I'll see this one in the theaters, but I did see on YouTube the video of them performing "Shallow" and I thought that was really good.

 

I think it's worth seeing in the theater if you get the chance. I thought it was very well done.