It was recently announced that the expected Oscar juggernaut A Star is Born only submitted 3 entries for contention to be nominated for Best Original Song. At first, I was disappointed when hearing this, as I felt there were 8 different songs (“Maybe It’s Time”, “Shallow”, “Music To My Eyes”, “Always Remember Us This Way”, “Look What I Found”, “I Don’t Know What Love Is”, “Is That Alright?”, and “I’ll Never Love Again”) in the movie that could have been considered, some obviously more worthy than others. The issue is that since 2008, a film has only been allowed to have a maximum of two songs nominated in this category, a fact that I was unaware of. That limits the possibilities tremendously.
The 3 songs that were submitted were “Shallow”, “Always Remember Us This Way”, and “I’ll Never Love Again”. Do I agree with these being the 3 to submit? Yes, these are definitely the best 3 from the soundtrack, especially with what they mean to the film. The problem then lies in which one is left out. “Shallow” is a lock to be nominated. This is the song that literally drives the movie. “Shallow” not being nominated would be an even bigger Oscar snub than when Jake Gyllenhaal wasn’t nominated for Nightcrawler. That brings us to the other two, “Always Remember Us This Way” and “I’ll Never Love Again”.
To be honest, the better song is probably “Always Remember Us This Way”, but the most memorable one is “I’ll Never Love Again”. I’ve managed to talk quite a few people into seeing this movie from my review of it, and all of them remember that song more. It’s an incredibly important song to the tone of the movie where it’s placed and don’t miss out on how this song ends on screen!
Is “Always Remember This Way” worthy of an Oscar nomination? Absolutely, but I’d rather see “Shallow” and “I’ll Never Love Again” be up. I still stand by my review that the latter should win this category, even though it would be more blasphemous if “Shallow” was left out. I’ve also stated previously that I felt “This Is Me” should have won last year without question, only to eventually lose to “Remember Me”, so I’m not the best judge in this category.
If you haven’t yet, get out and see this masterpiece from first time director Bradley Cooper. Mr. Cooper might even be nominated for 4 Oscars (Best Picture as a producer, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay as a screenwriter). This was his baby from the beginning and he is proving that he has many more talents than just acting.
Zackman at the Movies 