Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga's A STAR IS BORN: It's great -- for about half the running time

It's a good thing that A STAR IS BORN -- the current film is at least the fourth go-round, under the same title, for this much-filmed tale of a younger woman who becomes a star under the tutelage of an older man whose life and career are flailing and failing -- is so energized and fulfilling during its first half.

This probably means that the hordes of fans of its two stars, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga (at right and below), will easily hold on through the movie's much more tiresome and cliché-ridden downer of a second half.

That initial hour or so of this overlong, 135-minute movie moves like a house afire, as director, co-star and co-writer Cooper brings the tale easily into the 21st century, while Ms Gaga proves that her acting chops are nearly as good as her singing.

Cooper and crew toss in everything from a gay BFF (Anthony Ramos, below, right) and a drag club, at which our heroine used to waitress and now sometimes sings, to her dumb-but-loveable dad (Andrew Dice Clay, above, right) and his pals to place us resolutely on her side. Further, the several set pieces that dot the first half are handled with such energy, speed and specifics that they win us over completely and make the character's rather meteoric rise seem pretty believable.

Interestingly, Cooper dispenses with much of the expository dialog and situations that we usually see in films such as this so that things move faster, even as the pace grow more breakneck. What dialog there is may not be crackerjack, but we don't really care since the film is barreling along so quickly and enjoyably.

Granted, someone's rise is generally more lively and fun than someone's fall, but the enormous difference here drains way too much energy out of the film, which grows consistently slower and more ponderous as it reaches its uber-clichéd and tearful conclusion.

Further, Cooper has turned his character into way too much a good guy (his only real fault is that nasty addiction to drugs and alcohol) while making the real villain of the movie the heroine's evil manager (Rafi Gavron) -- who not only tells her to do all the wrong stuff, career-wise, in terms of her "being true to herself," but is also practically single-handedly responsible for her hubby's sad fate. So nasty and over-the-top is this guy that, though clean-shaven, you would not be at all surprised to find him twirling his non-existent mustache.

This switch in time, energy and concern from our heroine to our non-hero reduces Gaga's role to second tier -- which is too bad, since she was the spark in part one. She is given too little to do and not nearly enough decent dialog (it becomes more noticeably so-so in the second half) so that her performance begins to rely more and more on the usual clichés. (That's Sam Elliott, below, right, who plays our drunken hero's off-and-on estranged older brother.)

All this may not matter much to major fans of the two stars. But it did to me. And it may to others out there who recall the earlier iterations of A Star Is Born. While this re-telling is a whole lot better than the 1976 Streisand fiasco, it does not hold a candle to the Cukor/Garland/Mason version from 1954.

A Warner Brothers release running two hours and fifteen minutes, the movie opens nationwide this Friday, October 5. Click here to find the theater(s) nearest you.

Ol Parker's MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN proves almost exactly what you'd expect

Who knew that ABBA has given us so many second- and third-rate songs? TrustMovies certainly didn't until viewing (and listening to) MAMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN, which has plenty of these, plus a reprise of a few of the group's greatest hits that were used in the original 2008 film version of this international legitimate-theater-blockbuster-turned-film.

The new addition is really a kind of celebration -- a second-rate one, yes -- but still a celebration of ABBA's enduring music and the supremely silly story engendered around that music in order to contrive a plot line for the now-famous musical.

As directed by Ol Parker (shown at right) in the sort of paint-by-numbers fashion that Jackson Pollack might have used, were he a paint-by-numbers guy, this new movie is so awful from its start -- an embarrassing school commencement scene set in Britain -- that this proves perhaps the right thing, after all, for the film then has nowhere to go but up. And so it does, in very slow, small increments until, by its finale, it has become almost OK. (It helps that, in that finale, we finally get to see Meryl Streep, shown at bottom, as a kind of fantasy/phantasm who delivers the movie's sweetest song.)

Otherwise, we're back again with those same three would-be fathers (Brosnan, Skarsgård and Firth, above), their sort-of daughter and her beau (Seyfried and Cooper, below), all of whom go through the hoops created for their character-less characters originally conceived by Judy Craymer and now fleshed out by Mr. Parker, along with Richard Curtis and Catherine Johnson.

The new twist is the by-now old saw of the "prequel," in which we're made privy to the doings of the younger version of the Streep character (Lily James, below) and how she came to have her dalliances with those three guys, whom we now view in their younger versions, too.

The plot, such as it is, has to do with Seyfriend's character reopening that hotel dedicated to her mom, while the movie flashes back and forth, past to present, without generating a lick of surprise or suspense. Unless you count the last-few-minutes appearance of Cher (below) in the role of Grandma, who gets to sing one of the film's better numbers, Fernando.

But no matter. The movie is supposed to be a celebration -- of ABBA's music and these characters whom some of us clearly love and want more of -- so those of you who want to celebrate will certainly do so. Meanwhile, the rest of us who accompany you to the cinema can enjoy the pretty people, the pretty scenery, and whatever other small favors this movie is able to deliver.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, from Universal and running 116 minutes, opened last weekend nationwide. To find the theater(s) nearest you, simply click here.

Love musicals? Try John Howarth and Michael Fields' MARYJANE: A MUSICAL POTUMENTARY

Where did this very enjoyable and surprisingly encompassing movie -- MARYJANE: A Musical Potumentary -- come from, and why isn't it receiving a more major release? To answer that first question, the film is based on a stage musical put together by Michael Fields (shown below), first produced by Dell'Arte International (where Fields is part of the staff), a theater and school located in Humboldt Country, California (and yes, Humboldt is probably best-known as the "pot" capital of the USA, if not the entire world).

Why isn't the film getting the kind of release that it deserves? Probably for a number of not-so-good reasons, beginning with the fact that it's pro pot (Bill Maher would certainly approve), which is still a no-no in certain circles, despite marijuana's ever-increasing legality. Although the film won a Best Musical award at the Oregon International Film Festival (OK: it's not Cannes), there are no "names" attached to the movie save that of Ed Asner, who

has but a very small role in the film and does not appear until nearly the finale. Despite this lack of names there are some immensely talented folk involved in the musical -- from the several people who wrote its songs, to the performers themselves, to the director/  cinematographer/editor and co-screenwriter, John Howarth, shown at right). The theater production is said to have been the most successful ever produced by this company, and it's easy enough to understand why: Its subject matter could hardly be more "right" for the location nor more topical, too, for the entire nation.

To make the transfer from stage to film, Mr. Howarth has done some very clever stuff: inserting timely documentary-type interviews with police and fire department personnel (as below) who talk about the specific pot-produced problems that marijuana growing increases regarding the necessary protection of the community at large. Not to mention what weed production has done to the local ecology. Not good.

While the musical is definitely more pro pot than not, it also manages -- quite well, too -- to let us see the whole picture of a community whose very livelihood (not only for the growers and sellers but for so many other local businesses that thrive on the pot economy) has come to depend almost entirely on this product.

And yet the movie's never preachy nor finger-wagging. Instead, via one highly enjoyable musical number after another (there are said to be 16 in all), the ideas here come to wonderful fruition in the charming and funny lyrics that are also sometimes surprisingly smart and dark. (The music is good, too: often bouncy and buoyant, occasionally emotional and moving.)

Maryjane: A Musical Potumentary makes wonderful fun of its subject, as well as recognizing its many benefits. It addresses what will doubtless arrive once pot is completely legal and big business begins to put these small businesses out of business. A song such as I Am the Industry pleads in its own nasty way to keep pot illegal, while I Just Wanna Get High asks why liquor is legal but pot is not.

The adorable Humboldt Honey satirizes the hippie ladies of the town; The Rasta Tea Party offers up pot's "spiritual" side with its own side dish of satire; the beautiful What Have I Done, My Son and Child are hugely moving numbers sung with great passion and feeling.

Maybe the best of all is the spectacular song and dance set to an Hispanic style addressing the "trimmigrants": those workers, visitors and locals, who trim the marijuana and make pretty good money doing it. This particular number is a knockout.

Toward the end, as someone sings, "I'd like to teach the world to smoke in perfect harmony," you'll suddenly become aware, not just of satirizing that old Coke pop-song jingle, but also of how beautifully some of these numbers are being rendered -- in perfect harmony.

The cast could hardly be bettered -- many of them hail from the Dell'Arte alma matter -- as does the leading lady, Joan Schirle (near left and below), who is simply terrific whether acting, singing, dancing, whatever.

TrustMovies admits that he was not expecting much from this unknown-to-him little movie when he sat down to view it, and this may account in some part for his huge enthusiasm.
But only in some part.

Maryjane: A Musical Potumentary ought to have received a much wider release. Fortunately, it hit VOD just yesterday, April 20, from Green Apple Entertainment. Presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 16×9 (1.78) and Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0, it is now available on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, DISH/ Sling TV, DirecTV, FandangoNow, Xbox, VUDU -- with more venues coming shortly. The movie's very good soundtrack is available now, too.

In Damon Cardasis' mini-musical SATURDAY CHURCH, a gay cross-dressing teen blooms

TrustMovies must admit that he has never been overly taken with the idea or action of cross-dressing, neither by gays, straights, men or women. Yet he thoroughly enjoyed, back in 1976, seeing an Eve Merriam/Tommy Tune musical off-Broadway called The Club. And now, four decades later, comes along what I'd call a mini-movie-musical all about a gay male teenager who can't seem to help himself from trying on his mom's pretty shoes, which of course leads to something more. Entitled SATURDAY CHURCH and featuring maybe half a dozen musical numbers sung and danced by a hugely talented cast and written and directed by a first-time/full-length filmmaker, Damon Cardasis, this is a small, sweet, beautiful and often stunning piece of work.

Granted, the little movie (it lasts but 83 minutes) is a complete fantasy about finding fulfillment, love, friendship and family despite -- no, more because of -- who and what you are. Yet, given that, it is handled with such care and caring, such imagination and daring, and a genuine understanding of what a movie musical -- song, dance, color, atmosphere -- can do that it succeeds in taking us to that realm where, yes, anything can happen.

Mr. Cardasis, shown at right, creates a kind of alternate universe via his musical numbers, in which fantasy overtakes reality, trumping it via song and movement (dance is utterly vital to one number here, set in a homeless shelter) and allowing us to revel in what "could be" rather than what "is." Saturday Church may be an "if only" movie, but it is one that, within its tiny time-frame and universe, utterly works.

It also boasts some talented and good-looking actors giving their all here. Its star, Luka Kain (above), playing a character called Ulysses, is so beautiful of face and voice that you will fall in love immediately, I suspect, just as does the young fellow (Marquis Rodriguez, below, left) who guides and mentors our boy in his new environment.

Each of the cross-dressing "voguers" (below, center and right) who befriend Ulysses at the "Saturday Church" he discovers are brought to fine life, as well. Each is given character, quirks and history so that they live and breathe fully enough to make us care for them.

Ditto the family of our hero, whose military-man father has just died as the film begins, and so his loving but over-worked mom must bring in Aunt Rose (Regina Taylor) to watch Ulysses and his little brother after school while mom works the night shift.

The movie manages to indict the Black church quietly but appropriately for refusing to include all god's creatures into its flock. The history of Black culture and the Black churches in terms of  their treatment of the GLBT community has been dismal indeed, and that is brought to life via Aunt Rose and her attitude.

The musical numbers are small scale, highly impressionistic, and often break the fourth wall to address us overtly. They're handled with style and skill and beautifully sung. The final number, sung by mother to her son, is different however. It's direct and dead-on, and is, in fact, what every child wants to hear from his/her mom or dad but so rarely does. If its lyrics borrow (maybe unknowingly) from the classic Come Rain or Come Shine, it is still quite lovely and moving.

The weakness of Saturday Church -- it's so utterly feel-good and positive -- is so linked to its great strength that I suspect you will either embrace this movie or reject it out of hand. I'm for the embracing, as it took me places I have not been for a very long time, and in fact, thought I might never go again.

From Samuel Goldwyn Films, the movie opens this Friday, January 12, in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinelounge, and in New York City at the Village East Cinema, and nationwide on all digital platforms and via VOD. 

HELLO AGAIN: Tom Gustafson's film of Michael John LaChiusa's musical hits U.S. theaters

A huge musical theater fan, TrustMovies first saw Hello Again back in 1993, when it made its debut at New York's Lincoln Center. He found it only a middling musical: well-performed with some nice moments along the way and an occasional song in which brief melody could be ascertained but overall as though its creator, Michael John LaChiusa, had been flirting with atonality to the point at which it began to sound like someone had foolishly convinced Igor Stravinsky to write a Broadway musical (and, worse, he had accepted the challenge). Now, nearly 25 years later, we have HELLO AGAIN, the movie, in a version filmed for cinema by Tom Gustafson, shown below, with a screenplay by Cory Krueckeberg, adapted from LaChiusa's original.

If you're a musical theater buff, you will need no special encouragement to seek out the film version, but if you're new to this property, a warning may be in order. The musical is based upon the Arthur Schnitzler play, La Ronde, in which one character indulges in an assignation with another, and that other with the next in a kind of romantic/sexual rondelay of love and lust that eventually comes full circle, with each character appearing in two consecutive tales. Both filmed versions -- the first, brilliant, by Max Ophüls, the second, inferior but not awful, by Roger Vadim -- are better than LaChiusa's musical version, due mostly to the fact that characterization is stronger. The good news here is that Mr. Gustafson's film improves upon the original musical. The bad news is that the first half of the film is weak enough that I fear some viewers may not stick it out. That would be a shame because the movie grows ever stronger as it moves along.

LaChiusa also made a major change in his adaptation of the original La Ronde: Instead of having his characters all come from the same time period, he places them all over the past century -- and then flashes forward and backward at will. Some have noted that this gives the musical more universality and timeliness (it certainly gives the sets and costume people plenty of work, as well as us viewers the chance to oooh and aaaaah). And yet: Schnitzler's original remains about as timely and universal a series of tales as you could wish for, covering class, sexism, the male prerogative and humanity's hypocrisy as thoroughly, and with remarkable brevity and wit, as anyone ever has.

The weakness inherent in the film's first half comes, I believe, from three standpoints: The first is that the cast assembled is much stronger in the second half, where musical theater powerhouses like Audra McDonald and Cheyenne Jackson shine at their very best. They are joined by that terrific actress Martha Plimpton (below), who, it turns out, can also sing. (Ms Plimpton actually begins the film but comes into her own only at its conclusion.)

The actors used in the initial segments are certainly not bad, but they are also not given the characterization necessary by LaChiusa and Krueckeberg to be able to make us care much about what is going on. And they are not helped by LaChiusa's score, which is weakest throughout the first half. We keep waiting for a melody to hang onto, but the composer seems satisfied to give us what sounds like mostly recitative. Gustafson, too, is happy to so hype up the sexual element in the initial segments that, at times, we feel a little closer to porno than to real people.

My spouse was about to give up on the film when we hit the segment that takes place in a stateroom on, yes, the Titanic, where an upper class passenger (played by T.R. Knight, above, right) is in the process of seducing a third class one (Tyler Blackburn, above, left) and not only desire and specific detail (for instance, training on which piece of flatware to use) but also enormous need and longing assert themselves, and suddenly the episode comes to life in a way that the former ones have not.

This carries on into the following episode (between Blackburn and Jackson, above) and then onward, stronger and stronger, until the movie finishes in a blast of emotion and music that becomes enormously compelling. Did LaChiusa write new material for the film? I don't remember the stage musical being this powerful toward the finale, but perhaps my tastes and appreciation have changed down the ensuing decades.

So: stronger performers and stronger music in the latter half. And finally the third element -- a much stronger infusion of GLBT material in the film than was in the original show. I remember some non-hetero sex, certainly, but I would say that this element has more than doubled in this filmed version, and given the resumes of both screenwriter and director, as well as certain of the actors, this seems appropriate and reasonable. And certainly, the GLBT scenes resonate the most powerfully here (unless, of course, all this is simply in the eye of the beholder).

So, see what you think. Die-hard musical theaters fans should not miss this adaptation, nor should GLBT audiences, nor maybe those who are fans of the original La Ronde. The general public? As I say, stick it out if you can, if only for the opportunity to see Ms McDonald doing things -- and so powerfully -- you'll not have probably witnessed previously. Also worth seeing is Sam Underwood, who doubles a kind of host for the tales, as well as the closest thing to the "T" part of the GLBT equation.

From Screen Vision Media and running 110 minutes, Hello Again begins its special-screenings theatrical run this Wednesday, November 8, all across the country. To find the theaters nearest you, click here, and then scroll down (theaters are listed by state). And maybe reserve your seats a bit early to prevent disappointment.

The glorious highs -- and unfortunate lows -- of Damien Chazelle's LA LA LAND

The opening number of LA LA LAND, as you've by now most likely heard, is a five-star wonder. It is almost as if that famous traffic pile-up from Godard's Weekend had suddenly taken flight into the realm of the Hollywood musical. Damien Chazelle's new movie owes much more, however, to the work of Jacques Demy than anyone else I can think of. And if it doesn't manage to come up to Demy's level of marvel (who could?), it remains, at its best, a splendor to behold. At least for those of us who can still appreciate the delights of the not-so-often-seen-these-days movie musical. We're here, all right, but we may not be in large enough numbers to make this critic's darling an all-out box-office blockbuster.

Mr. Chazelle, pictured at left, whose third and best film this is -- after the initial sleep-inducing Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench and the propulsive but utterly over-the-top and unbelievable Whiplash -- has written and directed something that works very well on one level (as a musical) but merely OK on another (as a character-based romance). His characters, as usual, are paper-thin -- they're all motivated by one thing and one thing only -- even if (also as usual), they are played by very good actors -- in this case, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, shown above and below. Even the supporting cast is filled with creme-de-la-creme, although they are, to an actor, under-used in the extreme.

But since it is Gosling and Stone who must do all the heavy-lifting, we pretty much disregard the rest of the cast, except to note in passing, "Oh, look: There's Rosemarie DeWitt (below). Or J.K. Simmons (further below) Or John Legend! (shown at bottom)." And yes, there they all are.

The story, too, could hardly be more pedestrian. Boy and girl want a career and each other. But it seems as though these two goals are incompatible. At least in the universe of Mr. Chazelle. So they -- and we -- must settle.

There are compensations -- for both the characters and us viewers. Their careers turn out to be achievable, all right. (This is a Hollywood movie about Hollywood, after all.) And La La Land, for its audience -- depending on how much one can overlook -- is often at least a semi-delight.

The music, including even the much-vaunted City of Stars, is not particularly memorable, although there is that nifty opening number, and Ms Stone gets to sing one wonderful song toward movie's end that is beautifully written and performed.

What drags the movie down is its would-be love story between two people who really don't have much character, other than their often talked-and-sung-about "dreams." These two are walking clichés. They're fine, and then all of a sudden, with some space between them, they're not. And as much specificity as Stone and Gosling attempt to bring to their roles, the pair remains, alas, cardboard. Oh, movie fans and the very young will identify, all right. But the more jaded or simply experienced among us will want more.

The dancing, too, while sometimes lovely and seemingly almost improvised, is also not especially professional. There's no budding Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse or Leslie Caron on view. So La La Land, for all its outreach and occasional success, must be judged a worthy attempt that provides some pretty good entertainment, and includes some really lovely colors, costumes and production design. We are indeed starved for musicals, however, so this one certainly fills the bill for now.

After opening in the culture capitals a week or so back, the movie -- from Lionsgate and running two hours and eight minutes -- opens across the country this Friday. Here in South Florida you can view it at a number of local theaters. Wherever you are, to find the theater nearest you, simply click here.