Tag: Bradley Cooper

A STAR IS BORN (2018) movie review

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The premise: a skilled performer finally gets her big break and true love only to find that one cannot exist with the other.

Bradley Cooper wears many hats over his trademark blue eyes for this film: singer, star, writer, and director – he’s a regular Streisand.

Lady Gaga nails every note but gives only a few unforced sequences. Her first few scenes with Cooper are decently honest and raw. As soon as her character reaches performance mode, however, she’s back to standard Gaga: almost meat suit, Kermit dress level.

Her character is allowed some complexity: she’s snarky but subdued, impulsive but fearful. Yet, we never know much more about her than her immediate feelings. Cooper’s Jack character gets more backstory, but character gaps make him the big/hearted addict performer only.

Brilliant musical numbers performed as live stadium shows interrupt the otherwise arduous pacing revealing huge character gaps and content foibles including Dave Chappell’s one perfect scene which feels dropped in like an afterthought.

The scenes in the house were O’Russell-esque: wild with conversational dialogue and frenzied POV. Delightful with perfectly cast Andrew Dice Clay as her father. Otherwise, most dialogue felt messy and foul-mouthed, forgetting continuity and consistency in favor of Gaga power ballads.

AVENGERS: Infinity War (2018) movie review

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All of the souped up super heroes from ten years of Marvel magic unite to share 2.5 hours of slightly tedious exposition and some hard kicking to defeat Thanos.That formidable enemy with a righteous thirst for universal domination has only to injure the one closest to each stone keeper for them to give it up.Kudos to Marvel writers for balancing so many plot lines and sticking to the story Bibles from a decade of character re-creating. Inventing action with matching one-liners for comic relief is no small task. Every character gets one-line comic glory. Here are a few of my favorites:
“That was gross.”
“An hour.”
“That’s what killing is.” Despite the gaggle of famous faces, they somehow leave room for a few surprise guests: Voldemort as dementor, Tyrion as oxymoronic giant dwarf, purple Hellboy, Loki’s CG twin sister, an Iron Hulk, and the Demogorgon.Don’t worry. Thor is still the thunder god, Cap the hot moralist, Scarlett’s Black Widow kicks the crew into action, and Tony Stark boasts ever newer and better tech. Wakandans, Bruce Banner, and all of the Guardians of the Galaxy run madly toward battle fronts covered in Orc-like goblin goons and the godlike children of Thanos.It’s a little like those charity performances that combine all of the chart-topping vocalists to help heal the world. Rod Stewart and Sting get their stand-out moments next to Aretha. All maintain personal style, but you hope that together they won’t make a cacophony. Infinity War meets the challenge in vignettes with unique groupings  combining efforts and quirks. 

Back in NYC, over African countrysides, and across the universe, backstory runs a long legato strain under moments of humor and triumph. All Avenge, though not all are present. Ant Man, Hawkeye, and others wait in the wings for the next star-studded film experience.Thematically sparing one life at a time, they sacrifice all in the process to show Marvel’s minion fans that they too can suffer long. After an Empire Strikes Back-esque cliffhanger, part 2 with Brie Larson as Captain Marvel won’t appear for yet another year. Just remember that this is a comic series and that the Gauntlet, covered in stones, now controls space, mind, time, reality, power, and soul. All is not lost.

Marvel Studios’ AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR..L to R: Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Wong (Benedict Wong)..Photo: Chuck Zlotnick..©Marvel Studios 2018

 

BURNT (2016) movie review

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burnt3 5614ec7f2b0d6 Burnt1 90 burnt eb415c38f045f98f2f2bda507378ad88acbf9fa5So many courses on the menu.

Bradley Cooper must fight his demons of addiction while giving us a cinematic backstage tour of London for foodies and future chefs. He shucks his millionth Oyster, calling it penance.

He begins afresh by building an army, choosing allies for their skills with kitchen blades. He has made enemies in the past, but some of these he must recruit in order to be the best.

Plotting the course, like choosing fresh ingredients, he very quickly reestablishes his persona as famous chef and attempts to open his own restaurant despite insurmountable seeming odds.

He has failed and he has fallen. His final lesson to learn is that failing and falling all alone leaves you friendless, faithless, homeless. We all need family so when we fall again we have someone to help us survive it.

No one but Bradley Cooper can make eating a meal at a Burger King look as enticing as fine dining.

The actors for this film were trained by a professional chef who wouldn’t work with them unless they did it all. So they did it, plating, tasting, scorching, simmering, serving. All.

Once you turn this film on, despite the intense foul language, something about it grabs you. You have to see it through, if only to believe in Bradley as much as Emma Thompson’s lovely character does.

You will squirm and fear that Bradley’s character will destroy himself and burn everyone else in the process, but you have to finish it and see. No turning back.

JOY (2015) movie review

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David O’Russell has a knack for showing on screen what we all dread about family holidays. The awkward slighting jilting stomach churning honest moments that most of us run from show up there, on the big screen, and I’m never quite over them the first time. Yes, and Robert De Niro is every dad at best and worst moments.joy-DF-04076_R2_rgbThe Silver Linings director offers real-to-life hand-cam perspectives, inside scoops, and deliciously complex…cartoon characters. Almost caricatures. We love them for their hearts mired deep in the muck of their flaws. We love them because we don’t know them. We get to watch the ditches they dig fill up with possibilities. They have potential and they win on some level, so we go back in for another dose as soon as he releases one.joy-movie-review-by-matthew-luke-brady-771916Joy begins perfectly. Set up, character development, story, buy in and build. The soap opera scenes stand alone as genius.

Then we wait.

We wait for Jennifer to show that quirky side we all now know she has. We wait for her to see the pit she’s standing in. We wait for those who join her in the pit to realize the pain they’re puting her through.

We wait and continue waiting. Perhaps this director turned a corner with Joy and decided to give us real lives instead of story, people instead of characters. I know this feels like a harsh critique, but I think he can handle it. I left feeling like I’d been standing at a bus stop with strangers for just a bit too long. Joy makes us wait like we do in life. We wait for ideas, for momentum, for opportunities. Sadly, some will relate more to the forgettable sister who is brewing and backstabbing rather than delighting in supporting a sister who carries them all.

We wait for Bradley Cooper’s character to show a flaw or corruption or quirk or humanity, but he is soft spoken and lovely in each short cameo scene.

We wait for the Dylan song from the perfect trailer that made us go see the movie in the first place.joy-gallery3-gallery-imageWe wait for payoff …until the very end, but by then we are tired and older because it is a long movie.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) movie review

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guardians-of-the-galaxy-movie-poster-wallpaper-1920x1200-the-best-of-sdcc-2014-wonder-woman-guardians-of-the-galaxy-2-godzilla-2-moreThis comedic 80s mix tape romp through a new Marvel universe takes on the big dogs by standing strong beside the Avengers series. It paints the Avatar honey green, suffers classic daddy issues, gives Lee Pace a full body makeover, and offers Kirk from Gilmore Girls more face time than he even got on the show. Written and directed by his brother, James Gunn, perhaps Kirk (Sean Gunn) had more to do with the success of this hit hero flick than we think.Sean-Gunn-and-Michael-Rooker-in-Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-2014-Movie-ImageWhile Bradley Cooper continues to make his acting career more about his quirk than his face as the voice of Racoon Rocket, Vin diesel gets to make one line count as the new Chewbacca Groot. Yes, the quintessential Star Wars comparisons must be made, but I believe this new universe created a name for itself and a life of its own.

guardians-of-the-galaxy-movie-characters-1920x1080Chris Pratt takes center stage and owns every scene as the relatable, flawed, likable hero, still quirky like the kid from Parks & Rec. With more Star battles yet to come, we can expect Pratt to keep the physique for yet another season.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUBlv5_K8Y

AMERICAN HUSTLE (2013) movie review

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American Hustle Film SetChristian Bale will break your heart. His soft-spoken badger-like hunched persona seeks redemption, grace, requited love.

american-hustle-am_2769649aAmy Adams will make you question a million motives. She’s snake-like, a survivor. The tin-man shell coating, like clear polish, only glosses over her wounded, exposed red-beating soul.

American-Hustle-Bradley-CooperBradley Cooper will finally allow you past his pretty boy image and let you almost dislike him. He pitches back and forth, buoyed by power potential, by recognition, by attention-deficient, by hunger, by ideas unexamined and unrealized.

jennifer-lawrence-first-american-hustleJennifer Lawrence will make you laugh a hearty Napoleon Dynamite type laugh that you feel guilty for exhaling once it’s out. She’s the available one, the ironic truth teller, the unwanted wife.

AMERICAN-HUSTLE-13Jeremy Renner will win your vote. He’s cool, collected, the honest family man politician from a time when most thought  that men like him told the truth.

mc-american-hustle-01This film is a foul glimpse at underbelly life in the attempted pursuit at middle class. It’s untaught good intentions misguided and nearly mobbed out of existence. It’s life in the 70’s. It’s ABSCAM and FBI half-truths. It’s the birth of the “science oven.” It’s a masters class in acting. It’s David O. Russell on his A-game.

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Every character actively pursues love, to know and be known, the internal meditative dialogue of need and desire. All seek redemption. All hunger for normalcy and fight to find it.

THE WORDS (2012) movie review

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Ah, Blue Eyes and I go way back. Back when he was Will Tippin I rooted for him, and I called it. One day he’ll be a leading man. And here he is, film after film. This one somehow matches his unconventional repertoire.

The Words ends without resolve but walks us through three lives intersecting like layers of Inception-esque dreams.

Three writers. Storytellers.

Each risks love and loses.

One viewer may leave regarding this film as a simple exercise in modern plagiarism.

Another will argue over unnecessary plot lines. Why does Dennis Quaid‘s character’s marriage matter? How does Olivia Wilde‘s character fit into the story? Why does the old man (the beautiful actor Jeremy Irons) refuse the kind offers? How does Bradly Cooper’s character live with himself and his decisions?

Yet, another more hopeful sort, may ask the same questions but see the romance in a marriage that matters so much that a man is willing to question his decisions, write through his tragedy, and live on before he can become an old man with nothing but regret to keep him company.

Perhaps the moral of this story lies in this film’s underlying truth: that lies will eat us up. Pressure to give up integrity is constant and alluring, but we cannot find joy in life without redemption.  Fame and accomplishment are worth little without love.

Perhaps Olivia is the Jiminy Cricket of this tale, or perhaps she is the devil. Either way, she forces the teller of the tales to meet his characters face to face, to his shame.

It’s a fairly short film. Still, it’s one that I am left to ponder, rewatching scenes in my head as I carry through the everyday. Important or not, it is at least a well-told story. And, isn’t that what we’re after after all?