You can see each new movement coming a mile away: the initial swoon of rapture, the glorious first duet that seals their love and Ally’s stardom, the intoxicating rush and the awful hangover of fame and love, the tragic cycle of one star ascending as another falls to Earth. But it hardly matters. This movie’s success may be a bit too bound up in its lovers’ trajectory — it soars when they do, it stumbles when they do — but it’s remarkable, per Elliott’s earlier words, just how many fresh reserves of emotion Cooper teases out of a well-worn formula. The scale may be the limit, but in the best moments of “A Star Is Born,” it feels like no limit at all.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 08, 2018 21:45 UTC