A Star Is Recalled
So I thought I was going to see A Star Is Born tonight -- and then, yesterday, in the AMC app, I discovered a 7pm "all access early show" scheduled for last night! So, fearing it might sell out (it did not, although it was at least 75% full), I immediately got tickets: one at no extra cost for myself as an "AMC Stubbs A-List" member; one at full price for Shobhit. Under normal circumstances, as excited as I was for this movie, I might still have waited for a before-noon discount matinee this weekend to save money -- except I have plans both days of both the coming two weekends that would preclude any such plan. And I wanted to see this one ASAP anyway.
As Shobhit and I walked downtown toward Pacific Place, I told him, "I'm unusually excited for this movie, even though I don't expect it to be that great." I honestly expected a B+ at best, and would have unsurprised to feel it deserved a solid B. I expected to like it; I did not expect to love it.
And for the first two thirds or so, I really loved it -- maybe half an hour in, I actually turned to Shobhit and said, "I already love this movie." One could argue I spoke slightly too soon; given that we had just watched all three of the previous versions of this film, I really should have expected the final act to sag, quite by design: it's just how this particular story goes. And, especially after Shobhit proved not to like it quite as much as I did -- actually making some valid criticisms -- I really wavered between A- and B+. But in the end, I'm standing by my A- review. I could even see someone reading my review and thinking B+ would make more sense based on what I say about it. But! As I also said in the review itself, the stuff I loved about this movie, I really, really loved. The acting, the cinematography, particularly the editing -- all of it especially in the first half -- are all great. So is the singing. That's no surprise with Lady Gaga (although her acting caliber is, somewhat), but it certainly is with Bradley Cooper.
I'm now eagerly awaiting the release of the soundtrack on iTunes, even though the music in the movie wasn't quite as great as I wanted it to be -- it's still good, and it's still Lady Gaga, whose entire music output I must purchase. Okay, except that duets album with Tony Bennett because that shit was putting me to sleep. Here's a curious thing to realize just as I was writing this very sentence: I prefer a singing Bradley Cooper to Tony Bennett. Anyway, the waiting for this album to be released for purchase is an unusual thing because typically a movie soundtrack is already out by the time I've seen the movie. But, as I said, this was a special early showing of the movie, whose published release date isn't even until tomorrow. (As per usual, regular showings still actually start tonight at 7:00, with subsequent showings even after that. Last night was a more special thing, showings only a 7 pm and then no more again until 7:00 tonight.)
With the exception of the soundtrack, this movie honestly exceeded my expectations in every way. And actually, I should reserve judgment of the soundtrack until I can listen to it on its own, just as an album. There's a very real chance I will like it better. Turns out The Washington Post certainly loves it. It just didn't soar in context during the movie itself to the degree that it really should have.
Oh, hey -- I came back from eating my lunch, sat down, and promptly got back to work, totally forgetting I still had to post this entry! That only lasted a few minutes. It does mean I'm a little pressed for time finishing this up, but whatever. Nobody cares.
I actually had to do something a little unusual for work this morning, something Noah usually takes care of, but he's out doing the requisite Thursday store tours, and Scott is on a business trip to a conference in Salt Lake City. So, although at first I tried to wait to hear back from Noah just in case he was already on it and I didn't want to duplicate efforts, after I didn't hear back for a while I figured that meant he wasn't near his computer and would also therefore not be getting this done. It was pretty simple -- just calling up several of the stores to prompt them to mark the right information properly, for pulling product for a recall, on an online intranet page for recall information. This was just one of those "out of caution" recalls for product that had a little mold or something with that level of severity. It wasn't a case of anyone getting poisoned or, you know, a finger found in someone's food. Actually most recalls are for pretty minor things.
Anyway! Eight phone calls I made. It was just tedious in a different way than the other tedious tasks I do every day. I'm not the biggest fan of talking on the phone, but who is, in the age of texting and email? Except of course emails -- like, say, product recall emails -- can also be very easy to miss or ignore or get buried in an inbox. And then a phone call prompts a person to get their shit together.
Okay that suffices for my blathering for today.
[posted 12:43 pm]