A Star Is Born appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie offered a quality presentation.
For the most part, sharpness worked well. A little softness occasionally hit some wide elements, but the majority of the movie boasted accurate delineation.
No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I witnessed no instances of edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to mar the proceedings.
In terms of colors, Born largely emphasized teal and orange, though stage settings contributed some deep reds. Within the design parameters, the hues came across appropriately.
Blacks seemed dense and deep, while shadows offered appropriate smoothness and clarity. The Blu-ray reproduced the film well.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack heavily emphasized music, as the nearly omnipresent score and songs filled all the channels. Effects took a backseat but they added some involvement, mainly during concert sequences.
Audio quality appeared good, with speech that came across as natural and distinctive. Effects also seemed accurate and tight, with clear reproduction of these components.
As noted, music turned into the most prominent component, and the songs/score boasted solid range and dimensionality. This became a more than satisfactory track for the film.
Despite the film’s commercial success, the Blu-ray doesn’t include many extras. The Road to Stardom runs 30 minutes, two seconds and offers notes from co-writer/director/actor Bradley Cooper, music producers Mark Ronson and Lukas Nelson, director of photography Matthew Libatique, manager Bobby Campbell, and actors Lady Gaga, Sam Elliott, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, Rafi Gavron, and Anthony Ramos.
“Road” looks at the movie’s path to the screen and casting, performances and musical elements, Cooper’s work as director, sets and locations, camerawork, and related domains.
On the negative side, “Road” indulges in an awful lot of happy talk. Nonetheless, it gives us a decent look at various production issues, and the inclusion of clips like a screen test and a table read balance out the fluff.
Under Jam Sessions and Rarities, we find three clips: “Baby What You Want Me to Do” (2:22), “Midnight Special” (2:41) and “Is That Alright” (1:58).
The first two offer loose rehearsals of the songs intermixed with movie outtakes while “Alright” offers a tune cut from the final film. None stand out as terrific but they’re interesting to see.
Four music videos appear: “Shallow”, “Always Remember Us This Way”, “Look What I Found” and “I’ll Never Love Again”. All present the songs accompanied by a montage of movie clips. They’re decent but it’s too bad none of them get unique performances.
Musical Moments acts as an alternate form of chapter search, as it allows the viewer to jump to any of 11 performances. It’s a decent addition.
The disc opens with ads for Crazy Rich Asians, The Mule and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. No trailer for Born appears here.
Arguably the best version of the story to date, 2018’s A Star Is Born delivers a bracing, emotional character drama. Abetted by an understated tone and terrific performances, the movie offers a vivid experience. The Blu-ray brings very good picture and audio with a smattering of bonus materials. Born becomes one of 2018’s best films.