Kris Tapley‘s 9.4 Variety column, “Oscar Voters Are Sure to Go Gaga for Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born,” has left me feeling stunned and a little bit down.

A Star Is Born isn’t just “an across-the-board Oscar contender,” he says, but a film with “the muscle to achieve what only three films in movie history ever have: Win all five major Academy Awards (picture, director, actor, actress, and screenplay). It’s that kind of accomplishment, and even more, it makes you realize what this well-worn, Oscar-winning material was capable of all along.”

I’ve nothing against the idea of Cooper’s film sweeping the Oscars. If a film really works and delivers the goods then so be it. But hearing a savvy industry guy like Tapley say, only four days into September and before the Toronto Film Festival has even begun and with awards season having kicked off only six or seven days ago, that the Best Picture Oscar race is over is…depressing? It’s certainly deflating.