Soundtrack September: Movie Musicals & More!

Soundtrack September continues! First off, Julie from Misfortune Cookie Blog wrote a great piece picking her favorite soundtracks from different genres. Here's an excerpt: "I was invited to participate in "Soundtrack September" over at Film Babble Blog, and it got my wheels a-turning. The task was just to discuss some favorite soundtracks - easy enough. But I didn't want my choices to be too obvious. Like, of course I could mention The Graduate or Singin' in the Rain, but that's not really breaking any new ground, now is it? So I thought I'd use this space to highlight some of my more obscure or unappreciated faves. What was supposed to be a couple of blurbs spiraled quickly out of control! I have broken my picks into three categories, with three selections each: preexisting songs, scores, and musicals. PREEXISTING MUSIC I started to see a theme emerging in the picks for this category - all of them were preexisting songs that had new versions recorded for a film. It's not that I don't love mix-tape soundtracks (looking at you, Garden State), but it's always interesting to see beloved songs re-appropriated for a new context. 1. DE-LOVELY (2004) The move itself is kind of lame. Skip it. You're allowed to. But the soundtrack is, in a word, ravishing. The film is a biopic of Cole Porter, which attempts to right the wrongs of earlier biopics such as Night and Day by painting a more thorough portrait of Porter that includes his homosexuality. Along the way, his famous songs get new life breathed into them by artists such as Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams, and Alanis Morrissette. Now, I know this seems odd. Like isn't Morrissette really angsty and a peculiar choice to be singing such happy songs? Not so. Her version of "Let's Do It" is super perky and I actually choreographed a super perky dance to it in high school. They also don't try to modernize the songs at all - they record them in a way that's true to the originals, but with a fresh feel. It's the ultimate primer on 30s/40s music. Download. Now." Read the rest of Julie's picks from pre-existing music, scores, and musicals here. Kirby Holt from the marvelous Movie Dearest site referred me to a post from a bit back about a favorite soundtrack of his - the movie musical of John Waters' cult classic HAIRSPRAY (2007): "Movie Music: You Can't Stop The Beat" (July 16, 2007) More later...

9: The Film Babble Blog Review

9 (Dir. Shane Acker, 2009)


I have the feeling that future historians are going to think that we, or at least the film makers of our time, had a ginormous global death wish - what with all the post apocalyptic movie premises out there. 

And we haven't even gone down THE ROAD yet either! 

So with another "world after war" weary setting comes the animated 9, which is opening conveniently enough tomorrow on 9/09/09 (mind you, this year also offers DISTRICT 9 and NINE). In the film though 9 isn't a date, it's the number given to a "stitch punk" - the ninth sentient rag doll made by a scientist (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) as the world was on the brink of destruction.


After 9 (Elijah Wood) comes to in the home of the scientist he finds the other rag dolls (1-8) hiding in the rubble from evil creature-like machines that are hunting them through the darkness. 

This is not a movie that necessarily needs name actors to provide voices but they're there - joining Wood as his fellow stitch punks is Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, and seemingly the sole source of humor and warmth in the entire project - John C. Reilly (Reilly has what may be the one single funny line). 

9 rallies the rag dolls to stand up and fight the tyrannical mechanical monsters, believing that he's discovered the means and the meaning behind it all to defeat them. Resembling a TERMINATOR movie as imagined by Tim Burton (who executive produced), 9 is too dark and scary for kids (hence its PG-13 rating) and it's strained structure may be too dragging for adults. 

It's too thin a narrative to even fill its short running time (79 minutes); it's as if its only ambition was to be aesthetically absorbing. Still, there are a few top notch action sequences and I adored one intensely striking scene in which the stitch punks find a phonograph and put the needle down on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" for a brief relaxed interlude while the machines slowly approach on the horizon. 

9 is an admirable effort on many levels, mostly in the high caliber of the animation, but ultimately comes off as cold and dystopian as the world our rag doll rebels are struggling to rise above. 

More later...

Soundtrack September Selection #2: SUPERFLY And Some Runner-ups

The 2nd pick for Soundtrack September comes from Lars Trodson from Roundtable Pictures - an independent production company that takes the time to feature film essays on their website between their work on feature films of their own. Lars picked a few runners-up in addition to his #1 pick too. Take it away, Lars!:

"I think my favorite overall soundtrack is for SUPER FLY (1972), written by Curtis Mayfield.

On multiple tracks, Mayfield not only writes great movie music, he also examines the characters in the film. His lyrics are not afraid to condemn some of the movie's themes: Mayfield is no fan of the way the drug pusher known as Super Fly makes his living. In 'Freddie's Dead' he movingly depicts the senselessness of a death by drugs. The soundtrack is a true American classic and the music elevates SUPERFLY out of its routine action origins into something truly moving.

I think my favorite movie theme song is "Theme From SHAFT" (1971) by Isaac Hayes because it not only fits the criteria of having been written exclusively for the film, but it amplifies the title character. The music is exciting. It captures the essence of the experience of the film - energetic, sensual, tense, funny. The music's got cinematic and emotional qualities. You can't find a better theme song.

Third runner-up for me is Ry Cooder's Evocative music for Walter Hill's SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981). Hard to find a more haunting theme song than the eerie, foreboding track he created for that film. Right on the money."

Thanks Lars and good luck on your film projects!

More later...