Thank you for this. I hated this film. I hated the waste of talent; I hated the total manipulation; I hated the emotion by numbers that served neither of the leading characters. My standard for evaluating movies is simple: is this a new and interesting experience or am I noticing all the comments and throwbacks to the source material that are key parts of this new” screen play”. I found myself thinking a lot about A Star Is Born 1976(Streisand/Kristofferson) and liked pretty much everything better than ASIB 2018.

Thank you, also,for your honesty about addiction and the cruelty (almost casual) that masquerades as love in toxic relationships. Yes, I will admit that it was my own toxic relationship (expensive in a lot of ways, starting with time) that gave me some perspective on Ally’s tolerance of Jackson’s straight-up meanness.

So here’s my final point: the film-going public needs to let the production machine know that we are tired of the “remakes”. There were at least 5 originals stories floating around ASIB 2018: (a) a contemporary woman with a talent for old school cabaret style performing; (b) a drag performer who is a nursing home administrator by day; ( c ) middling success level country rocker brothers who realize that the niece they have raised has the star potential that lead to her mother’s tragic (Whitney Houston style) death; (d) the female version of Entourage about a pop diva; and (e) a Hard Day’s Night take on the NYC club scene.