“First Man” Review

Damien Chazelle’s newest film First Man tackles the American expedition to the moon, with astronaut Neil Armstrong starring Ryan Gosling. Chazelle’s first two films, Whiplash and La La Land were big hits with the critics, and this one looks like it’s not going to be any different. What is different however, is the overall subject matter and aesthetic of the film. If I didn’t know that Chazelle had directed this film, I would not have believed you if you told me he did.

Whiplash and La La Land both share a frenetic style of editing and cinematography, with big musical pieces supplying the fast paced back and forth visuals that many have come to love from Chazelle’s movies. In this film however, most of the movie is done with a handheld camera that consist primarily of over-the-shoulder shots. There is a more slow paced and quiet feel to First Man, because the main focus of the movie is actually not so much the mission itself but a deeper look into Armstrong’s life. Half of the film focuses on the difficulty of reaching the moon, while the other half focuses on Armstrong’s relationship with his family, friends, and his path to becoming an astronaut.

I only knew a handful of things about the moon landing, and even less so about Armstrong’s personal life. There are some strong emotional beats in the film that draw you into Armstrong’s struggles, and Gosling’s quiet and stoic performance adds to the tension as the US ramps up the risky moon landing mission. Even though you know what ultimately happens in the end, there is a remarkable sense of human achievement as the fantastic sound design lends to the horrors and unpredictability of space travel. It’s crazy to realize that it has been over 50 years since the moon landing, and that our technology was nowhere near as advanced as it is today. The film does a great job of keeping everything authentic and showing just how large of a feat the whole mission was. The visuals are truly excellent, and I really cannot stress enough how the sound design lends to the overall experience of the film.

While Gosling gets the lion’s share of the screen time, there are some great moments with the supporting cast. Claire Foy especially deserves a shout out, as she has a fantastic scene with Gosling at the beginning of the third act. Jason Clarke also does a great job playing Ed White, Armstrong’s neighbor and coworker. Clarke’s performance adds a bit more color in the narrative, since he does more to speak up about how everyone is feeling, while Gosling continues to steady the team with his calm and cool leadership. The two play off of each other well, and the large supporting cast all add a bit of their own to the overall dynamic.

I always think that movies where you already know the ending are hit or miss. It can be difficult to keep an audience engaged when you already know the answer to one of the film’s biggest questions. However, the journey that the film takes you on, while a bit long, still strikes an emotional resonance that can appeal to many. Gosling’s performance and the labors of the fantastic production team behind this movie result in an engrossing journey that creates tense moments, regardless of how much you know about the mission. While it might be a bit slow at times, it was still a fantastic theater experience, and is definitely worth checking out if this piece of history is of any interest to you.

Grade:B+/81

 

“A Star is Born” Review

I’m back from another brief hiatus, as I haven’t found anything that I really wanted to watch in the past month. October up until the end of the year looks to have a lot more promising movies, so you can probably expect more frequent reviews to come out.

A Star is Born is the second remake of a film made back in the 1930s about a famous musician who discovers and falls in love with an unknown up-and-coming artist, and features Lady Gaga’s first role in a film. It is also actor Bradley Cooper’s first directorial effort, something which we’ve been seeing a lot of the past two years. Who knew that so many actors had great directorial minds?

Naturally, this film has a lot of things to be praised about, so let’s start there. Everything you’ve heard about Lady Gaga’s acting efforts are true. She does a great job here, and you can tell that if she ever wants to give up making music, she can find herself a nice home in Hollywood starring in movies. Should this be a surprise to anyone? I don’t really think so, as many people forget that the business of performing as a musician requires just as much if not more theatrical flair, so I don’t think that she really had to go way out of her comfort zone to generate her fantastic performance in this movie. This role seems to have been tailor-made for her character, and she is obviously a huge bright spot of this film.

Bradley Cooper is also fantastic in this film as well. I was really impressed with his direction behind the camera, as he had quite a few memorable shots throughout the film that made it seem like it wasn’t his first rodeo. He clearly has a good grasp on what he wants accomplished and what he wants the audience to fell with every scene. Not only is his direction great in this movie, his acting is even better. I think this is his best role yet. I’ll admit, there are some parts early on in the beginning movie where he came off kind of creepy; I wasn’t sure if that was just how easily his character kind of fell in love with Lady Gaga’s character, or just his sometimes incomprehensible southern drawl. Eventually as the film progresses, you definitely grow in your attachment to him. He does a great job walking the line between being a sympathetic character without being too melodramatic.

A special shout-out is in order for Sam Elliot, the supporting character who plays Bradley Cooper’s brother. I haven’t seen a lot of his movies, but man he is good in this movie. It’s hard for me to decide if I liked his performance the most. He has a tough job in the job managing his brother’s career and also being his caretaker, and he really controls the few scenes that he’s in. He should definitely get some supporting acting love come award season.

Have we talked about the music yet? I’m 100% sure that A Star is Born is going to win the Oscar for best song. If it’s not the song “Shallow,” it should be my favorite song of the soundtrack, “Always Remember Us This Way.” Bradley Cooper surprises all with his musical and singing talent, and as good as it is, it cannot hold a candle to Lady Gaga’s singing performances. I mean come on, she’s just so good at singing! Now, I don’t normally listen to her music regularly, but I thoroughly enjoyed all the singing she did, especially the ballads.

Where this film kind of hits a speed bump for me is the overall story and some of the character development. This might be entirely due to the fact that it is a second remake of a film made back in the 30s, but I found the story and characters to be entirely predictable. When I watch movies, I am the least likely person to pick apart the ending, because I actively try not to. Oftentimes I’d be talking to my friends and they would have figured out the end of a mystery movie halfway through, which is astounding to me. I’m glad I don’t have that gift, as I very much just stay within the moment of each film. However with this one, I just found that the plot was incredibly predictable, and very rarely do I know exactly what’s going to happen next. Now, do I expect this film to have some sort of twist a la The Usual Suspects? No, of course not. However, taking the generic story in a modern direction would have been nice.

This movie has a lot of good things going here. I’m excited for Cooper’s future as a director, and Lady Gaga’s future as an actor. However, as much as this film is great, I would have wanted to get a bit more out of the story. It was a bit harder to really resonate with the characters when I felt like I already knew the path that they would take from a narrative perspective. It may be a generic and predictable plot, but the things that this movie does well, it does very well.

Grade: B/79