Maestro

"Brilliant! So emotional and such a whirlwind. The section in the seventies made me cry because it reminded me of my childhood where my entire family was together. Such bittersweet beauty of a musical giant. Bradley Cooper definitely melded into this role and you forget it's him as Bernstein. Highly recommended. "

"⭐️6/10⭐️ Well, the makeup & face prosthetics to make Bradley Cooper look like Leonard Bernstein were extremely realistic, & the performances were good, but the story not so much — I didn’t find it very interesting 🤷‍♀️ "

"⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/4 Wow Bradley Cooper has become quite the force to be reckoned with! Maestro is an ambitious warts and all love letter to the musical genius of Leonard Bernstein. I wonder what makes BC choose his projects as Bernstein doesn’t seem an obvious choice. I can only assume he’s a reverent fan. The way he filmed and embodied ~ not merely acted ~ the conducting scenes was transportive, a fever dream of body, motion and timbreous notes that swept me into the hemisphere right along with BC. . . And the attention to detail! The cinematography, lighting, camera angles, make-up effects, and of course the stellar acting, all combine with a cinema verite style of filming to impart a hazy sense of realism. This is one of the few films I’ve seen to capture the time periods almost perfectly. No anachronisms! One of my biggest pet peeves is the contemporization of historical eras. So big yay from me for that! . . . This film, however, isn’t perfect by any means. It will be too slow or pretentious or artsy for some. I had my frustrations with pacing and cohesion. However, I do appreciate it for its magnificent artistry..for which you gotta hand it to Bradley. "

"3.5 stars mostly for terrific performances of Bradley cooper and Cary mulligan. I thought the story was good not great."

"I think art films are just not my thing. It was beautiful and well acted and all, and the dramatic scene was pretty. I just... Meh... it didn't convince me. Was a good movie though, just not my cup of tea "

"A really well-made film. Fantastic cinematography and editing, paired with Oscar-worthy makeup effects (the old-age makeup in particular is amazing) and especially the acting by the leads (Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan). Carey in particular is the MVP and the film’s soul. I especially like the focus on the relationship between Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia. This will get a bunch of well deserved Oscar nominations. Highly recommended."

"7/10 Not only the music but the sound design itself is beautiful. I also greatly enjoyed the lighting and the camera work. In comparison however, the script comes up short. A lot of lines seem like a convoluted way of saying nothing of substance. I can see why it was nominated for best picture."

"It’s got great music, but overall it just felt pretentious and totally not my thing "

"This was a very good movie. It was soooooo sad but very good and well done. "

"Interesting direction on this film. All the performances were great. Definitely insightful since I really did not know much about Bernstein or his wife (except that they were friends & neighbors of Lauren Bacall at the infamous Dakota) prior to watching this. My only complaint is that I got a sore throat watching them practically chain-smoking!"