Road House (1989)

Director: Rowdy Herrington*

Cast: Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara, Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliott**

Have I Seen it Before: Never. I know, I’m not so sure what I was doing in the 90s, either.

Did I Like It: It almost has a nice—if paint-by-numbers—construction. A stranger (Swayze, naturally) comes to town, mixes it up, is nicer and smarter and stronger than anyone else.

Then he rips out somebody’s throat. Apparently, he’s been known to do that.

I’d be willing to forgive the film’s excesses if I were at all attached to Dalton’s journey. Like, at all. We can complain about these paint-by-numbers screenplays all we want, but what do we do when the screenplay does all of the things it’s supposed to do, except the most crucial part? Dalton starts the film, proceeds through it, and finally ends the film not wanting anything in particular. He can be swayed by a bit of money—but not a lot, as Brad Wesley (Gazzara) would have a far easier time of it, if money were the only thing in Dalton’s world—and Kelly Lynch, but he isn’t heading anywhere. Even a hoary cliché would have caused things to gel a little better. Have Dalton save up to open up his own joint. Have him have a sick old relative somewhere out in the world that needs him to be the best bouncer in the business. At least then he might have earned ripping somebody’s throat out. The way things are in the movie, it just seems like he really enjoys ripping people’s throats out, and the rest of us are left with a lazy, and not even all-that-bonkers, bad movie.

*If ever there was a director more suited, if only by name, for the material in front of him.

**And an insidiously, perhaps even criminally under-used Keith Davd. I mean, the man had already been in The Thing (1982). Why bring Keith David if you’re not going to let Keith David do his Keith David thing? It boggles the mind, and in point of actual fact may be the only cogent criticism I have of the film.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Director: Bradley Cooper

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay, Sam Elliott

Have I Seen it Before: Am I terribly behind the curve if I say no? Probably. Guess I’m just behind the curve.

Did I Like It: It’ll stick with me, so I’m gonna say yes.

By the time I came around to Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, it already had a number of things working against. First, it’s a remake. Not just a remake, but a remake of a remake. By all rights, there should be something diminished about it. 

Beyond that, it’s been hyped to me beyond the previous known limits of hyping. Everyone loves this movie, to the point where In early considered not writing a review of it at all, because what more could I possibly contribute to the conversation? I’ll either join the chorus, or the movie might not work for me in that particular instant, and I’ll be forced for 300 or more words to pass off my particular mood at the time the movie played for some kind of objective truth.

And so, I’m left somewhere in the middle. I don’t know if the film particularly transfixed me in the moment, but as I mentioned above, in the hours that have passed since I watched it, it is sticking with me. Which is more than the vast majority of movies, and hints at even more greatness to come from Bradley Cooper as a director, and Lady Gaga as an actress.

And that’s where the film truly, if you’ll forgive the expression, sings. This is a film built nearly totally off of people expanding into roles that we never expected them to fill. Bradley Cooper acquits himself well as a director, and turns out to be a far better musician than anyone could have rightly expected him to be. Similarly, Lady Gaga emerges as a fully formed film actress where other musicians would struggle, and manages to stretch her muscles in the music arena, while still staying true to her brand.

So, while it may not be as earth-shatteringly good as some people insist, it is far better than it deserves to be, and it will only continue to grow on me.