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I think that's interesting about this version is it spends a lot of time telling Janet Gaynor how bad the industry is for people, how difficult it is to succeed and basically nothing at all has changed in the industry in the 80+ years since this came out. Every criticism we have about the film industry is so old, and so known, that they were making movies about it when my grandparents were kids.

Oh, one interesting thing I noticed. In the 1937 version, we see the work -- take her name change, for instance. We see a bunch of studio folk trying to figure out the best sounding name, and an (albeit, tame) struggle to try to get it right and figure it out. We also see her practicing acting, and things like that. In the 1954 version, Judy Garland just shows up to get her paycheck and they tell her she has a new name. It's just thrust right on her, done. Streisand didn't change her name at all, if I recall. Maybe it's a minor nitpick but I think it really shows off the differences between the movies. (I really should watch the 2018 version.)

I watched the first 3 versions and have not seen the new one. (Hopefully this week.) I would say this '37 version is my favorite, easy. It has the best humor mixed in with the dramatic story. It's just the most likable if you ask me. Interestingly, the '54 version literally uses the same dialogue, scenes, shots as the first for like the last quarter of the film. They knew the first one got it right, I think, and that also makes this version feel pointless. Even if it has some great songs. I've found all the acting to be pretty solid -- it's a natural story for great acting I guess. The '70s version is ridiculous though, and the writing is pretty bad. The music is weirdly bland and generic. I think I generally consider it to just be a story about Esther, and more or less ignore Norman haha. It's her life, and the relative success of the picture depends on how much you get a sense of her full arc. The '37 version gives it all from start to finish, from her just being a fan of the movies to her massive success to even the little coda. Judy Garland is already sort of a success at the start of it, she just switches careers because the guy says so. Streisand isn't, but she doesn't seem to want to be where she ends up either, which changes the arc a lot.

I actually really liked the grandma coda. I think it brought Ester's story full circle, and I really liked her grandma's pluck. She was a pioneer who was willing to explore (we can talk about "pioneers" another time), and she gave Ester not only the money but the confidence to go give acting a try, despite the odds, "Maybe I'm that one!" and her grandmother reminds her at the end of all she's achieved. And of course her (grandma's) comment to the radio audience at the end that she finally made it was a nice comedic touch. The final scene reminded me of Ester's own struggles and triumphs. She put in a lot of work to get where she was, whereas Ally was just discovered. I felt that Ester/Vicky had way more agency in her story in this version than Ally did. That said, Lady Gaga was the best thing about the newest remake, which I felt was more of a Cooper vanity project. The two of them had excellent chemistry, but I didn't find any redeeming qualities in his character. The movie opened with a scene of Jackson on stage, then drinking and struggling with tinnitus. We don't see Ally's struggles, or really anything of her life aside from her dad and her friend. It was all just Jackson's story and how he struggled with losing fame and his family, and it's clear to see that Cooper made an effort to make that role more substantive, but I felt like it was at Ally's expense. And I feel it's fair to say the movie's second half just really struggles. I don't mean to dump on the 2018 version (I cried basically any time Lady Gaga sang a ballad), I just really prefer the 1937 version.

Sorry, I’m late. I was taking a swim... We watched:

I could say this about the 37 version as well though. I think we see a lot of how Norman Maine deals with the loss of his career and how Ester is gaining more track than him, but we don't see anything about how she is actually beloved by everyone now. They just seem to jump in time to her premiere to winning an Oscar in a flash. A thing I also thought was extremely interesting was besides her poor attempt at acting while she was a waitress and then that one tiny scene from their movie premiere, we never actually get to see her act. I compared it a lot to All About Eve and how we never actually got to see any of those actresses act, and I wonder if it's either just a product of it's time in that's not really a conscious decision they made, or if it was and they wanted to hide how well everyone thought she was doing so that we would fill in those gaps.

As a “non-Star is Born” person, I admit that I liked this one more than the greasy Bradley Cooper version. I felt like Maine was sincere with his affection in the ‘37 version whereas I felt like Jackson Maine was more about self-pity. Granted, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the two, so I guess I preferred March’s acting better. However, I will say that the newer version did at least try to give an underlying reason for Maine’s behavior, so that’s something, I guess... And I will say this, if the newer version ended with “Shallow,” I would have been all in. But from that point forward, it became more Jackson’s story than Ally’s, and I always felt ahead of it. And the peeing scene was fucking dumb. The ‘37 version felt more consistent throughout. It felt balanced between the two leads, and I actually felt sorry for Maine. I wish it didn’t have the grandma coda, but at least it didn’t end with “I Believe I Can Fly,” so that’s an improvement

I saw a few of you have realized you're just not "A Star is Born" people on Letterboxd, and that's fine... you're all wrong, but that's fine I really enjoyed this version a lot more than I anticipated and while I didn't get to see the Judy nor the Babs version over the weekend, I can totally see what Bradley Cooper was so inspired by and what he took from this original version, and it made me appreciate the one from last year a hell of a lot more.

Okay, I promise I'll get to the '37 version soon, but one thing that annoyed the crap out of me in the 2018 version (and I know this is a bit nitpicky) was how obsessed her father was with Frank Sinatra. I mean, I like Sinatra fine, but he kept telling these stories like, "I knew a this guy who was better than Sinatra, but Sinatra was the one who got famous." Like, her father couldn't have been older than 65? 70? In 2018, he would have been a child during the Sixties, what is he talking about having buddies who were better than Sinatra? Sinatra would have been in his 50's and well-established by that point. I don't even care if it's just because he likes Sinatra. Hell, I like Sinatra. But if I'm going to make a point about how people I knew were just as good as someone else, I would use someone contemporary to me. He should have been like, "I knew this blues-rock band who were better than Zeppelin, but they just didn't get the recognition. It's just another weird thing about the new movie. It was like, in some ways, they didn't even really try to update it for the times.

I thought the only one that was really well done was the Mae West impression, maybe because it was the only I got like that dude did lol, but the German accent and the British accent were so bad I was like lord no honey pls what is you doin'. Oh I didn't say that it bothered me that he never saw her. It actually played really true to how I bet a lot of this goes in Hollywood, although I will admit that Jackson getting to hear Aly and see her writing a song before he makes that decision made a lot more sense for me personally.

That's why I said besides that part. I didn't see that part as genuine acting as much as we may have been supposed to. It was way too cringe worthy for me knowing how much of a no-no that is to take any of it seriously. Also, Norman never saw her act in that scene whatsoever. He arrived after the fact and just is entranced by her to the point where he just "knows" (I did love how his studio boss was like "uh huh sure just like all the others" to point out that this was not the first time he had boosted some random girl's career because of lust).

In the 2018 one I didn't get that you were supposed to feel as bad for Jackson as you were for Aly. To me it was like the way any of us feel bad for someone that can't pull themselves out of their addiction. You feel empathy for them, because you know it's a disease, but you don't necessarily feel like he's the victim of the story.

I have to say if the crew ever dips their toes into animated movies this, Rodney Dangerfield, and Rock A Doodle are all solid options.

I think it took me longer to read this thread than it did to listen to the podcast. I hope we can get this level of conversation next week about All The President's Men, too! This is a film that's really making me question how I'm voting, because I've been able to just vote for "best" and not "most influential" and still feel pretty good about that. This film falls short of my "best" border, but I couldn't bring myself to vote no without reading what everyone had to say here. After reading the thread and checking the poll, maybe I'm not alone, since only 8 people have voted? So indulge me in the following breakdown: Q: Does the list need to have a Disney animated film? A: Disney animated films are among the few pieces of cinema that one can say legitimately changed the world. Amy talked last week about the global knowledge and enthusiasm for Chaplin. Double or triple that for Disney. So let's say yes. Q: If yes, then what is the best Disney animated film? A: This is the sticking point. Is it the one that tells the best story? The one with the best songs? The one with the most groundbreaking animation? Should we give up on picking the best one and instead just pick the "Disneyest" Disney movie, which would be a slightly problematic princess movie (that's kind of their brand, it's in their logo after all), like Snow White, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty? For the early films (first decade), my favorite is Bambi, though I could understand having concerns because it doesn't have the best songs (although "Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers" is my fucking jam). My pick for the most complete film made during Walt's lifetime is The Jungle Book, which is notable as the last film Walt worked on, has a well-told story with memorable characters, has a couple bangers on the soundtrack, and inspired millions of children to read Rudyard Kipling only to be disappointed to discover that King Louie isn't a character in the Kipling version. My personal childhood favorite Disney film was Robin Hood, which, as Amy and Paul pointed out, made generations of children have strange sexual feelings for foxes, and today is the go-to reference for all my socialist and communist meme-master friends. But besides the "Oo-De-Lally" theme song, none of the musical numbers are particularly memorable. My childhood wheelhouse was the stretch with Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. I'd buy arguments for inclusion for any of those four, but they come so late that I don't know if they can be included in the world-changing-ness of Disney, since they already had a theme park in Tokyo before any of these films came out. So inclusion of these four would be on merit alone, and if we're going to just consider the films on merit rather than influence, it's worth returning to... Q: Does the list really need to have a Disney animated film? A: If none of the films are actually among the top 100 films ever made, then I guess I'm inclined to say no. Thus, I've convinced myself to vote no on Snow White. Wonderful animation (except for the pretty faces), but too much hand-washing and moralizing for me to find it enjoyable.

This movie is one of my guilty pleasures, it's so bad it's good. It's cast is a veritable who's, who of future and past stars in an A Team style shoot em up film. Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Alba, Jason Patric, Holt McCallany..... It was a box office bomb with some of the silliest one liners and gun fights ever. I'd love to hear the teams thoughts about this turd of a movie.

Just a heads up, I misheard the the 2nd Question in Ask Paul segment. I’m kinda mortified. I thought she said, her friends who had been together for 18years brokeup and she was upset that she was listed as his emergency contact. Since she wasn’t in the reationship, I asked why are you so angry at him? Which is a terrible response. That’s what I get for prepping C&Os and answering VMs. We will delete it.

One more possibility would be The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's not one of my personal favorites, but boy do I know a lot of people who love it.

I think there was much ado about Wall-E and Dark Knight not getting nominated when such popular classics as the Reader and Curious Case of Benji Button were. My understanding is that’s what led to the Best Picture field getting expanded to 10 slots.

I think the best Marvel origin story movie is either Black Panther or Iron Man, but I think this one sits solidly alongside Thor (which I think it is most like) and Captain America. I'm relieved it did well enough that another will be made. Because every time a female-led movie flops, it takes a decade for another to be made. And I want to scream. Wonder Woman worked because it was good. Catwoman failed because it was bad. Why can't you figure this out! I did go see it twice in the theater just to spite men online who were trolling and trying to bring down the ratings. (I am pretty sure I saw fake reviews on Amazon just yesterday, so it wasn't just Rotten Tomatoes). Because that is how I am. I also already have a Carol Danvers "punch holes in the sky" bracelet so I need a place to wear it to. I also loved that Samuel L. Jackson got to do more than just shout and glare at people. He and Brie Larson have been in at least three movies together so they have great chemistry. (Watch Unicorn Store on Netflix.) Although I did get mad at some presenters who would say to Brie Larson "this i the first female-led Marvel movie." It's not. Elektra was. It's the first female led Marvel Studios movie. (Alternatively, the first female led MCU movie.) I am excited to see her in Endgame as well. Though I wonder how it works because Endgame was actually filmed BEFORE Captain Marvel. (Since they filmed the two Avengers movies together. I am sure they had the script because they would've at least been in pre-production when Endgame was filming. But, like, was the cat cast? Because I want to see Goose. I am very worried she got Snapped. Priorities, I has them.

As a father of two, I 100% concur with Paul’s parenting advice. First of all, you’re never going to be in such dire need for unsolicited parenting advice that you actually need to search something out. And secondly, like he said, what works for one child won’t necessarily work for yours. Hell, with everything being equal with my own two kids, I have to adjust how I parent to suit their individual personalities. Like Paul said, go with your gut. No one will ever understand your children’s little idiosyncrasies like you do. People have successfully raised children before podcasts and parenting books and so can you. Just accept that you’re not perfect and you’re going to fuck up, but as long as your heart’s in the right place, you’l be okay.

I am relieved to have not won this week. I don’t want to go to war with the Dutch. I was corrected in the original thread, Dutch. Also, I can’t beat maps. Was anyone else SHOCKED by how VRBO is pronounced? That was the big takeaway from me.

I would watch this movie.

Logging in for the first time in a long time to say that Demi's segment was excellent

https://soundcloud.com/ashinyobject/dont-waste-this-plug-time-short-version This is a shorter version of a previous submission. Hopefully, this will be used. I've had at least one of my plug themes used every year since 2011. May the streak continue into 2019!