Ok, it's not a video per se, but that final scene in "Juno," where Michael Cera and Ellen Page sweetly sing the Moldy Peaches' "Anyone Else But You" to each other? Well, the song has become such a phenomeneon, that Fox Searchlight has submitted it as a video to MTV.
Shit is really blowing up. It's basically comepletely revived the Peaches' and Kimya Dawson's career - She and her Peaches partner Adam Green are going to appear on "The View" for Christ's sake - and the album has moved up the SoundScan album charts to #3, just under a little band called Radiohead. Dawson was supposed to appear on Conan O'Brien too, but decided she didn't want to cross any picket lines.
Director Jason Reitman must be pleased as punch to see how the music is fueling the movie and vice versa. Ah, synergy. "Juno" was made for $2.5 million and has so-far racked up almost $74 million in domestic box-office reciepts. It's doing killer business. We'd stop writing about this film/soundtrack like some of have asked us to, but it like a balloon, it just keeps going up and up and up; it's a bonafide hit.
As her career blows-up however, Dawson is trying to remain level-headed. “We're not about to move and start drinking weird imported water” she told Variety. “Maybe I'll take the [‘Juno’] royalties and start a college fund for the baby.”
Read more...
1/18/2008
Juno Cast Do Video For Moldy Peaches' 'Anyone Else But You'
The Playlist's Top Soundtracks of 2007
What's that? 2007 ended three weeks ago? Yeah, go fuck yourself, we work on our own timetable. So anyhooo, there were like, a bunch of movies released this year and a few of them even had music in them. You may have noticed it's our raison d'être (other than calling BS on things). We spent a lot of time this year discussing, debating and obsessing over certain soundtracks this year. It would be pretty easy to say we picked a good year to start a blog about music in movies.
The criteria here isn't cut and dry. Great songs in a mediocre movie or used wantonly within a film don't play (see 2006's "Running With Scissors" for example). Some films have amazing music, but without the cinematic context, fall a little flat. But yeah, blah, blah, we digress. Without further ado, The Playlist's picks for the Best Soundtracks of 2007 (in no particular order - or at least, not really). PS, most of these title links will reveal more music therein.
Margot At The Wedding - Various Artists
What can we say? We love soundtracks that tastefully curate, dusty and mostly-forgotten gems. Noah Baumbach is the new Wes Anderson in that regard and 'Margot's soundtrack was probably our overall favorite of the year if you had to put a gun to our head and make us choose. Baumbach has a proclivity for obscure post-Dylan-esque folkie tracks and 'Margot' finds some of those in Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist for Jefferson Airplane), Evie Sands, Lesley Duncan and recently excavated country folkie Karen Dalton. Further choice cuts by Donovan, Stephen Bishop, Fleetwood Mac (movie only) and Steve Forbert only help the soundtrack's achingly tasteful and exquisitely cultivated case.
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward John Ford - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
This was probably our favorite score of 2007. Cave and Ellis' mournful, minimalist funereal was unlike any this year. Utilizing simple repetitive motifs, they concocted the perfect elegiac and ghostly tenor to this slow-moving and gracefully eerie film. It's like they made a beautiful, but sad, deliberate crawl to one's deathbed.
There Will Be Blood – Johnny Greenwood
This is probably our favorite music used within any movie this year. Meaning, we're probably not going to listen to it on it's own on a regular basis, but judged by how well the music works within the movie? Nothing can touch Greenwood's unnerving and disconcerting score. This is what music is meant to do within films. It ratchets up the tension, leaves you unsettled in moments where seemingly nothing is happening and adds to the haunting and foreboding conclusion you know this film is looming towards. Absolutely breathtaking. What an inspired choice Paul Thomas Anderson made here.
Strange Weirdos - Music From and Inspired by Knocked Up – Loudon Wainwright III
Judd Apatow loves Loudon Wainwright III. So much so that he's cast the singer/songwriter in many of his film projects ranging as far back as "Freaks & Geeks" and "Undeclared." But it wasn't until this year and "Knocked Up" when he would finally tap the multi-talented musician for his songwriting talents. Mostly instrumental versions of Wainwright's bittersweet pop songs fueled the pregnancy comedy's sad/funny moods and the eventual vocal versions ended up on Strange Weirdos. Two key songs were included in full: the wistful "Grey In L.A." and "Daughter," - the latter of which - if there was a dry eye in the house when the closing credits came up showing the cast and crew's kids to Wainwright's love letter to his daughter, well fuck, we wouldn't believe you if you told us.
I’m Not There - Various Artists
There was this little film that earlier in 2007 we were slightly preoccupied with; you might have heard about it. In truth, we'd take Bob Dylan originals over Zimmy covers any day of the week, but this soundtrack was an interesting experiment. After months of evaluation, Mark Lanegan's "Man In The Dark Black Coat" might be the cover that stands up the best. Runner-up? Mason Jenning's spot-on cover of the the injusticey "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," but Sonic Youth's cover of the titular track is also a strong example of how wonderfully fragmented the film could be at times. Included as a bonus is one of our favorite Dylan songs in the film which is melancholy in its own wonderful ways.
Grindhouse: "Death Proof" - Various Artists
Say what you will about the jut-jawed, hyperactive motormouth that is Quentin Tarantino and his increasingly mediocre attempts at fetishizing old genres, dude still has mint taste in music and exhuming long-forgotten musical treasures. Sure, lots of them are pinched from old-school films that he covets. Whatever, you never saw them or heard them in the first place, so why bother trying to call him on it? Trust us, we're the first people to cry foul on this jackass when it's applicable, but gotta give the guy credit where credit is due. QT's got an ace up his sleeve when it comes to dusting off hip tracks like this.
The Darjeeling Limited - Various Artists
Much like the film, Wes Anderson's 'Darjeeling' soundtrack was a nice creative left turn and a bit of a disappointment. Not because of the Satyajit Ray score - that was a welcome change of pace (though I swear, the Ray tracks we picked were better), but because where it counted, Anderson stuck with the familiar and it felt..., well... familiar. But you can't hate on the Kinks' "Strangers." As obvious as a band choice that might've been for him, the song and its use in the film delivered a devastating heaviness of heart blow. And hey, he did basically rediscover Peter Sarstedt for 90% of the population.
The Hottest State - Various Artists
The premise sounded like a Starbucks ad: Jesse Harris of Norah Jones fame, enlisting indie-rockers to sweeten up (and cred boost?) his already sanguine MOR tunes, right? But the songs perfectly captured the film's lovelorn mood and by carefully picking adult-contemporary-friendly indie-rockers (Cat Power, Feist, Bright Eyes) the interpretations soared. It's just a matter if you can hang, and admit to your self that indie AC doesn't always have to be a scary and knee-jerk hateful thing. The real star however, might be Harris' lovesick instrumentals which conveyed the all-too-real heartbreak of the story without any words.
About A Son - Various Artists
Yeah, we're over Kurt Cobain too and never need to hear another Nirvana song for the rest of our lives either; that's not what this soundtrack was about. The idea here was to make a playlist of the departed grunge singer's favorites and the seminal pieces of music that influenced him. Perhaps most key is Scratch Acid: a post-punk band with lots of noisy, weird elements, but a strong undercurrent of pop coursing through them - exactly the kind of music that Cobain aspired to make in his early days. One could say he nailed it after just one album and perhaps tipped the scales much to closer to pop on Nevermind (but then reeled back in for the noisy swan-song that was In Utero). The disc also contains worthy cuts by Half Japanese, the Vaselines and a plaintive ambient score by Ben Gibbard and Steve Fisk. Now if only they could have licensed that Queen track ("It's Late") for the soundtrack disc.
Walk Hard - Dewey Cox
Enlisting Michael Andrews was an inspired move on the part of the producers. The multi-talented singer-songwriter/composer reigned in top-notch crew of crack songsmiths that chipped away at the task of perfectly mimicking songs for Dewey Cox born from various bygone eras. Of course we loved the schmaltzy take on Bowie's "Starman," and the mocking take on mush-mouth Dylan's nonsense non-sequiturs in "Royal Jelly?" Stunningly rendered in the film's best scene that had us in stitches. An affectionate diss if there ever was one. Well played, gentleman.
American Gangster - OST and Jay-Z
So it wasn't exactly a comeback nor was it Hova's best work. And yeah, the '70s blaxploitation soul hip-hop had been done before. No matter, Jay still elevated the game - or at least, on a few tracks. The original 'Gangster' soundtrack was surprisingly fairly on the mark too with Anthony Hamilton delivering a startling good soul number.
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly - Various Artists
Director Julian Schnabel worked as his own soundtrack supervisor here and he made a lot of commendable decisions, but the one that seemed to strike a chord with everyone was "Don't Kiss Me Goodbye" by 'Butterfly' actress Emmanuelle Seigner's group Ultra Orange. Charles Trenet's "La Mer," was spot-on playfulness in this otherwise incredibly heavy film and Joe Strummer's inspiring Mescaleros track in the credits was divine.
Juno - Various Artists
And then there was a movie whose soundtrack was so twee and so precious that it genuinely hurt the feelings of many music industry insiders over the age of 25 that were sincerely outraged that it had the gall to discuss heavy bands like the Melvins and the Stooges, only to then deliver fey and gleefully childish songs by the Moldy Peaches, Kimya Dawson and other pansy bands despite the character being a 16-year-old girl. We can't discuss this one any further or we'll snap. Suffice to say, it's a decent collection of songs and they're never used too overbearingly in this sweet film (that yes, is a little obnoxious at first).
Control - Various Artists
Yes, there isn't much of an original soundtrack here or even much of a carefully curated list of classic songs. It's mostly Joy Division material we've all heard and know and rightly so, but there are good left field picks like the Dutch prog-band Supersisters, three ok instrumentals from New Order (ruined by dialogue) and any film that can fit Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" in somewhere is fine by us. They're a little obvious by most standards, but you can't hate on the Iggy Pop or the excellently chosen Low-era David Bowie ambient track either.
Once – Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Ok, we didn't really like this movie too much. It was a little sentimental and saccharine for our tastes. The songs? A little overly-sincere and perhaps too heartfelt (that scene where he's busking and screaming unself-consciously made us sort of cringe), but there are some decent songs and decent performances in the film so we can't totally slam it. Not neccesarily our cup of tea, but probably an important music film in the spectrum of 2007, so we'll include it here.
Honorable Mentions:
The use of Cat Stevens' "Don't Be Shy" in the credits of "Sicko," which becomes a great galvanizing call to arms.
La Vie En Rose
How can you not like lugubrious sonnets of the tragic Edith Piaf?
Zodiac
The choice '70s cuts by Three Dog Night, The Four Tops, Sly Stone and Donovan were one of the main reasons we stayed awake during this tiresome film [ed. we should probably have some music here, oh well].
Honrorable (Obligatory) Mentions
Eddie Vedders’ Into the Wild
Not a big fan of this soundtrack, Vedder emotes way too hard, but this instrumental number is nice.
Download: Eddie Vedder - "Tuolumne"
Southland Tales
Total joke of a film and the soundtrack is incredibly dated '90s alt-rock, but the end credits when the world blows up (or whatever the fuck actually happens in that stupid film, trust us, it's not really a spoiler) to Blur's "Tender" is pretty grand (mostly cause the song is already great).
Download: Blur - "Tender"
Brian Reitzell – 30 Days of Night
More fine work from Sofia Coppola's go-to soundtracks guy branching out on his own with a creepy ambient score.
Download: Brian Reitzell - "Daybreak"
Dissapointing:
No "Sunshine" soundtrack? John Murphy's urgent score was sublime. We're sad to see there was no soundtrack disc.
Shameful Shit:
Across the Universe
We have nothing other to say other then "painful." If U2 are smart they won't touch director Julie Taymor's "Spiderman" musical with a 1,000 ft pole. Alas, they are not.
Download: Rachel Evan Wood - "Blackbird" (from "Across The Universe")
For the soccer mom contingent, the "August Rush" and "PS I Love You" soundtracks were tied for soundtrack albums of the year that annoyed the living shit out of us (but we appreciate your traffic! :D).
Read more...
Michel Gondry's 'Tôkyô!' Vignette About A Woman Who Turns Into A Chair
While we haven't exactly looked hard, we haven't seen many concrete details on kooky French director Michel Gondry's "Interior Design," other than it's 1/3 of a series of shorts for the film "Tôkyô!" (which also features directors Joon-ho Bong - segment "Shaking Tokyo"- and Leos Carax - segment "Merde").In the recent issue of GQ, more details of "Interior Design" come to light. The screenplay was co-written with his girlfriend Gabrielle Bell and is about a girl who turns into a chair, and it’s based on a comic that she drew.
Or slightly more specifically, "it’s about a girl who feels useless and, as she is transformed into a chair, feels some relief. Kafka by way of Brooklyn set in Tokyo," writes the Men's mag.
"This is more visceral [than GCI]," Gondry said. "A little bit like David Cronenberg. His effect are very visceral, because they are really there. He’s the master of this type of metamorphosis—I hope I’m up to his level. It’s a terrible transformation that come from a mundane thing.”
The funnier parts of the piece are about Gondry's tendencies towards enfante terrible behavior and his ego (which we've kind witnessed before, he's not a bad dude, he's just funny).
An 'Eternal Sunshine' producer says, “Michel is unbelievably sensitive. And also can be insensitive to other people. He’s like a 12-year-old boy! When he gets upset because he doesn’t get what he wants, he stomps his feet and says, ‘Why why why?!’ It’s hysterical. I love Michel. He’s a complicated guy, and he’s not like a normal guy. But he’s supergifted and he’s got a really good heart, an extraordinary heart.”When asked about YouTube, Gondry goes off about all the copy-cats getting credit (by way of hits) for little creative things he did 10 years ago. “He’s got a huge ego and he’s hugely competitive," says the producer. "So I mean he’s a very complicated guy, because on the one hand he is generous and great. And on the other he’s judgmental and competitive, and he can be petty.”
And Gondry pretty much agrees with this assesment and says that the truth must be written. "Interior Design" is apparently in post-production.
Gondry's next project is apparently titled, "Migel Munya" (take that title with a grain of salt), an animated movie he is making with his 16-year-old son, Paul, that is going to be written by "Ghost World" comic Daniel Clowes (who is supposed to be writing the long-overdue "Master of Time & Space")'.
“[The movie is] about a dictator who runs a crazy world where hair is the source of energy," Gondry told Slashfilm. "The people there are forced to create art, and if the art is too good they are executed. So the dictator there doesn’t want anyone to be better than him so he kills the inmates who make good art. They try to make rubbish art but sometimes the worse it is for them, the better it is for the dictator.”After that, his next film should be, "The Return of the Ice King," but Gondry is fickle and changes his mind and projects often. The inventive and bratty filmmaker will be at Sundance 2008 with his latest, "Be Kind Rewind" and will perform its soundtrack with composer Jean-Michel Bernard during the festival. The film hits theaters February 22.
Watch: The Willowz - "Take A Look Around" (directed by Paul Gondry)
Cloverfield: Rob's Party Mix - The Music Of This Monster Thingy Shows Us Once Again Indie Is As Mainstream As Apple Pie
What's this? Now we're blogging about this thing? Yeah, well a) our Boycott "Cloverfield" campaign came way too late, b) there's nothing we can do to stop this juggernaut and c) our causa causans is reporting music in films, no?
So yeah, "Cloverfield" the monster movie. There's not really a soundtrack? Yes and no. The film starts out with Rob's "goodbye party" (he's leaving for Japan - the place where monsters come from - if you haven't already heard a trillion times) and there's many a quick snippet of a song being dj'd at his potty including songs by Jason Schwartzman's Coconut Records project, Spoon (as we mentioned yesterday), Kings of Leon, Gorillaz, Ratatat, Of Montreal, Bright Eyes and more. We got a CD, but as far as we know there won't be an official soundtrack disc and this was just a promotional item as part of the myspacey campaign.
The list looks like this and is basically all the "songs" in the movie. There's a little bit of score here and there, but it's mostly the sounds of explosions, screaming, monster whale-grunting and our eyes rolling far back into our head.
Rob's Party Mix - The Unofficial Cloverfield Soundtrack
Coconut Records - West Coast
Kings of Leon - "Taper Jean Girl"
Sean Kingston - "Beautiful Girls"
The Blood Arm - "Do I Have Your Attention"
Scissors For Lefty - "Got Your Moments"
Parliament - "Give Up the Funk"
Gorillaz - "19-2000"
Spoon - "The Underdog"
Moby - "Disco Lies"
Kings of Leon - "Pistol of Fire"
Architecture in Helsinki - "Do The Whirlwind"
The Black Keys - "Grown So Ugly"
Bright Eyes - "Four Winds"
Joan As Policewoman - "The Ride"
Ratatat - "Seventeen Years"
Of Montreal - "Wraith Pinned To The Mist and Other Games"
Mucc - "Fuzz"
MTV's Kurt Loder makes us laugh when he describes the opening party scenes in the movie. "It's unfortunate that this sequence goes on for 20 minutes; it's too long, and it gives us too much time to become annoyed by the partygoers' abrasive bonhomie, and to wish that a colossal prehistoric lizard of some sort would stomp onto the scene and squash most of them like sand fleas." Ha ha.
Indie-rock is becoming so ubiquitous in films it's getting that places like Pitchfork, Stereogum, et al., will no longer need to write, "OMG, THEY'RE USING OUR MUSIC IN THIS FILM!" anymore cause apparently indie if officially mainstream and soundtrack supervisors are all early 30-somethings with an E-Music account.
"Cloverfield" is expected to trounce the competition at the box-office this weekend with projections as high as $40 million. Le sigh... We saw it last night. It wasn't as bad as we thought. Basically it's like an emo-myspace video about faux-hipsters (think bridge-n-tunnel weekend crowd) meets "The Blair Witch" nausea-cam meets Godzilla and every other movie that tried to destroy New York City. It's a thrill ride and a decent, entertaining one; nothing more, nothing less. Also, it's laughable and ridiculous, but if you like this sort of thing, it will probably do the trick for you. You barely see the monster. We assume that's the director that no one cares about (Matt Reeves, not JJ Abrams, he's only the producer/mastermind) attempt at being "Jaws"-like (also, all the budget goes into explosions, so you can't have that much monster).
We will say garbage like "I Am Legend" makes "Cloverfield" looks like Fellini, so that's something positive, but that's as much of a review as you're going to get from us. But a hearty fuck-you still goes out to every bleating sheep-blogger out there.
Meanwhile, the New York Times calls it, "nominally a monster movie, but mostly it’s a feature-length gimmick."
Download: Coconut Records - "West Coast"
Download: Architecture in Helsinki - "Do The Whirlwind"
Download: Kings Of Leon - "Taper Jean Girl"
Read more...
1/17/2008
Last Minute, Sane 'Cloverfield' Reviews Start To Trickle In; Contrasting Shameless Fanboy Dickriding
"Now that the fanboy hype has cleared, we can see 'Cloverfield' for what it is: borrowed inspiration, trite screenwriting and amateurish acting all in the service of a ballsy idea — that a horror movie could maybe, just maybe, have a soul. As it turns out, 'Cloverfield' virtues are all mechanical, but, hot damn, what it might have been," write Rolling Stone's Peter Travers in one of the first non major kool-aid drinking reviews from someone - and this is key - who is not an over-zealous movie "blogger" (a wretched bunch if there ever was one).The film currently has a 52% rating over at Metatcritic and it appears that producers for the film screened the movie at the last possible minute for reviewers so any negative counter-hype would hit last minute. The
Even the L.A. Times is complicit, incredulously calling their annoyingly ubiquitous hide-n'-seek viral campaign, "subtle" and "under the radar."
Slate says, "despite a first reel entirely devoted to establishing characters, Cloverfield is basically a line-'em-up, pick-'em-off horror movie that's effective without being either viscerally frightening or emotionally moving."
1/16/2008
Random Cuts: Carli Bruni, Common, Phillip Glass, 'Step Up 2 the Streets,' Scorsese, M. Ward, Spoon
- Fomer model Carli Bruni is trying to launch her solo music career in the U.S. . New York-based label Downtown Records will release No Promises on February 19. This is her first stateside release, but her debut album was released in 2002 and was sung in French. Called an "elegant" record, Promises is said to have shades of French ingenues such as Francoise Hardy, Jane Birkin and Madeleine Peyroux. The album already released in Europe has sold over 400,000 copies. [Reuters]
- The chances of seeing rapper Common as the Green Lantern in the "Justice League" film are now slim to none now that producers have wisely put the brakes on the film. Our bet (and hope) is we never really hear from this dubious project again (kinda like the ill-conceived 'Batman Vs. Superman' debacle from a few years back). [Entertainment Weekly]
- Missy Elliott, Flo-Rida w/T-Pain, Cassie, Yung-Joc, Plies and Akon will all make appearances on the "Step Up 2 the Streets" soundtrack that comes out February 5. 'Streets' is the sequel to the immensely popular blockbuster smash "Step Up." Everyone remembers that classic, right? [Billboard]
- The upcoming documentary about legendary modern composer Phillip Glass, "A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts," will feature interviews with Martin Scorsese and estimable documentarian Errol Morris (Glass scored Morris' breakthrough doc, "The Thin Blue Line" among others). The film is due in April. [Paste]
- We mentioned a few tracks in "27 Dresses" last week. The film also feature's Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." and Regina Spektor's "Fidelity" in the trailer in addition to Bloc Party's "So Here We Are" in the film. Oh yeah, and Maroon 5, blech.- Austin rockers Spoon's "Underdog" will be featured in the upcoming monster-mash film, "Cloverfield." Do yourself a favor: put Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on and save yourself the $10 and the braincells and stay away from this stupid disaster film this weekend.
- Portland folkie M. Ward has recorded "Here Comes The Sun Again" (not a Beatles' cover however, though it does quote the song near the end) that will be featured in the ABC show "Eli Stone" on February 7.
- Scottish twee-pop ensemble Camera Obscura's "Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken " can be heard in the atrocious-looking Paul Rudd/ Eva Longoria comedy "Over Her Dead Body" which somehow hits theaters February 1st.
- Absent-actor/musician/repbrobate Vincent Gallo will appear in Dario Argento's horror film "Giallo" with Ray Liotta and his nude-happy daughter Asia. [Variety]
- Marty Scorsese has produced a documentary about WWII-era horror director Val Newton, called "Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows," which is airing on TMC this month. [Associated Press]
Watch: Carla Bruni - "Those Dancing Days Are Gone"
Watch: "27 Dresses" trailer
SXSW Film Fest Adds 'Mister Lonely,' 'Harold & Kumar 2' and 'Battle Of Seattle'
While a handful of films have already been announced for the SXSW Film Festival in March (which runs 5-17), the Austin-based cinema fiesta revealed a few more films recently. Added to the festival are Harmony Korine's "Mister Lonely," which stars Diego Luna and Samantha Morton as Micheal Jackson and Marilyn Monroe impersonators; "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," and "The Battle Of Seattle" which features Outkast's Andre 3000 among an ensemble cast.Also newly announced are the rival supermarket manager comedy "The Promotion" starring John C. Reilly and Seann William Scott and the and a live-action/animation feature called "The Toe Tactic."
Previously revealed films include, Simon Pegg's "Run Fatboy Run," and the cinéma vérité founders, the Maysles brothers documentary, "Wild Blue Yonder," directed by the deceased-brother David's daughter Celia Maysles. You'll recall that Albert Maysles has seemingly gone senile having agreed to direct a documentary about emo-homos Fall Out Boy.
The full SXSW Film Festival line-up will be revealed February 5.
Twinkly Icelandic Band Múm To Score Teenage Werewolf Lesbian Film Starring 'Juno' BFF's
Recent reports about "Juno" star Ellen Page starring in Drew Barrymore's upcoming directorial debut, remind people that care all of a sudden (thanks to Page's new found fame) about her next project, "Jack and Diane."
The film will star Page and her 'Juno' bff Olivia Thirlby as two teenage lesbians in New York which is enough to set the bells off for most men ages 18-33 that once claimed utter detest for the aforementioned pregnancy comedy. There's a hairy twist to the story though according to film's website:
Jack and Diane, two teenage lesbians, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane’s charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack’s tough skinned heart. But, when Jack discovers that Diane is leaving the country in a week she tries to push her away. Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire occasionally turns her into a werewolf.Something tells us the same music writer's bitching about "Juno," are going to have no fucking problems with this film.
The other little pearl of info on the film's website (thanks st)? Apparently twinkly Icelandic electro-acoustic band Múm will be making the music for the film. Expect it to be fey, twinkly and precious. Though perhaps not too precious, the cute founding twin sisters that made the group sound so elfin both left the band by late 2006 (one of them left earlier in 2002).
No other musical details are on the film's website, but in other interesting news, the Brothers Quay will be lending their estimable animation talents to the film. The brothers work has been showcased in many music videos, but contrary to popular opinion, not the creepy, early-90s videos by fantasy metal rockers, Tool that featured many kinds of intestinal and emotional problems.
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Quixotic Terry Gilliam Heading Back To La Mancha?
Terry Gilliam is not a quitter. In fact, he's rather obsessed and perhaps in ways - if we may be so bold to suggest - that might not be entirely healthy.
Good looking out to Paste magazine who hipped us to an interview with Empire magazine (got that?) with the usually down-and-out maverick/ loose-cannon filmmaker ("Brazil," "12 Monkeys").
You'll remember several years ago, Gilliam unsuccessfully tried to make "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." The project was plagued by such insurmountable problems (sick actors, extreme weather, budget issues) that it was eventually shut down during production. So entertaining were Gilliam's heartbreaking travails, that documentarians, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, made a film about them called, "Lost In La Mancha" (the production's obstacle pile-up so high, the film is almost painful to watch - it was almost like God didn't want him to make the film).
Despite the seeming hex on this film (Orson Welles also tried to unsuccessfully shoot "Don Quixote"), Gilliam apparently remains undeterred.
"[Producer] Jeremy Thomas is very close to getting all the pieces of paper signed from all the people who you gotta get signed," Gilliam told Empire. "He’s been on it for a year now, and he’s come the closest to getting it untangled from the legal swamp it was in. And, um, I don’t see why, I don’t see anything that’s gonna stop it now. He’s just gotta get all the paperwork done and then I call [Johnny Depp] and see which pirate film he’s still on."
Apparently he's a glutton for punishment. 'Who Killed' was to be Gilliam's strange take on the "Don Quixote" novel where Depp would play a character who accidentally gets sent back in time and becomes mistaken for the book's protagonist Sancho Panza.
The old dude who was originally cast to play Quixote himself won't be back though. "It's a real tragedy, but he can't. His arse is broken," Gilliam said. To be honest, we'll believe it when we see it and until then reserve the right to be as skeptical as fuck.
Gilliam's luck has been for shit in the last couple years. First there was the aforementioned 'Quixote' debacle then his next two films, "The Brothers Grimm" and "Tideland" were DOA box-office turds that were critically savaged (the latter barely limped into theaters). Gilliam's upcoming film, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," doesn't sound much better.
According to the Empire article Gilliam is also circling an adaptation of the Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman novel "Good Omens" (there's also loose talk he might be involved in a Gorillaz film). Like all of this nutty professor's films and projects we say, best of luck to you, sir.
Read more...
'Juno' Soundtrack Giveaway: 2 Discs For You
Everyone loves "Juno." The soundtrack was on the top of the digital salesfigures just last week.
Correction: everyone but fairweather music critics who routinely ignore dozens of films each year, but have dug their head out of the sand to feel some self-important sense of ownership over the film because it dares to mention rock bands like the Melvins, the Stooges and Sonic Youth and has the gall to have tenuous and meaningless rock connections that have gotten their panties in a twist (like this fucking jackass).
To win a disc, all you need to do is email us and send a link to a rock critic who normally has fuck-all to do with movies, but suddenly woke up because he smelled fried chicken and decided to write some outraged piece about it.
For the record: elements of "Juno" annoyed us too (overall we liked it), but people need to get the fuck over themselves when pop culture references are made in films. Yes, they can make us cringe too; it's not the end of the world people and get outside yourself for a second.
Rant over. Meanwhile, the Moldy Peaches' Kimya Dawson - who is an integral part of the soundtrack - will appear on the popular housewives chat show, "The View" (on January 21) much to the chagrin of pop music writers who feel she doesn't deserve to be there for reasons that are their own. Plainviewing?
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Contest Giveaway: 2 Tix To Tomorrow's NY Performance Of Jonny Greenwood's 'Popcorn Superhet Receiver' Performance
There will be atonal string compositions! Live in New York city? Want two tickets to tomorrow's Jonny Greenwood's U.S. orchestral debut (it actually debuts tonight) of his "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" at the very-excellent Wordless Music Series? (thank to our insider bee). Yeah, you do.
Yes, we poked fun at this concert before in jest and yes, Greenwood won't be there, but that won't matter. If you've drank the milkshake that was "There Will Be Blood," (and if you haven't, you really should), you'll know that Greenwood's haunting, disconcerting orchestral scores are otherworldly and creepy as fuck (this is a good thing).
Think the unnerving score to "The Shining" and the compositions of Krzysztof Penderecki But wait, we do realize, the 'Blood' score and the 'Superhet' composition are two different things, but Paul Thomas Anderson's film does include some of the 'Superhet' piece "Smear" in the film and well, hey, if you like Greenwood, you like Greenwood. AM I RITE?
Though those thinking it's gonna be remotely like Radiohead are going to be surely disappointed.
“I went in trying for it to be like a pure electronic experience, just sounding like white noise coming from the stage.” Greenwood told the New York Times of 'Superhet.' “But at the first rehearsal, it was obvious that that’s impossible. So I had to start again and just turn it into a celebration of the fact that you can’t get this blank mutual hiss from an orchestra. Instead, you get what sound like melodies and chords going on, just as an extension of what people are doing. And once you’re in a room hearing it, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Sounds aural-tastic. Want the pair? Email us and let us know the answer to this trivia question: What is the name of the actor that Paul Dano replaced on the set of 'Blood' a few weeks into production? *Update*: contest OVER, thanks for playing.
The 'Milkshake' catch-phrase phenomenon, while fun, is threatening to jump the shark any moment now [ed. so why'd you use it above, asshole?], but our friends over at MTVNews are humbling submitting a new verb - "Plainview," - the deep-seeded, resentful desire to see those around you fail miserably and those who have done you wrong to suffer all types of colon cancers.
Or favorite part is the castigation of certain correctly-labeled as-horrible records. "I will Plainview Rivers Cuomo for everything since Pinkerton (especially Make Believe). I will drink the Mars Volta's milkshake for Amputechture. And I will bring the bowling pin to Billy Corgan's house as a way of saying thanks for Zeitgeist." Aw, good times.
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Cocaine Is a Helluva Drug - Brad Renfro: 1982-2008
Brad Renfro: 1982-2008. Mr. Renfro we hardly knew ye.
LOS ANGELES - Actor Brad Renfro, former child star of such films as "The Client" and "Tom and Huck" who had battled drug abuse in recent years, was found dead in Los Angeles on Monday at the age of 25. [Reuters]
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'Atonement' Dominates BAFTA Awards With 14 Nominations; Greenwood Nabs Nomination
The British loving a British film? Not a huge surprise, but "Atonement" has led a bumpy award season life with tons of accolades and then tons of major snubs. We still think (and hope) it's not going to do well come Oscar nom time. The WWII epic picked up fourteen BAFTA (British Film and Television Awards) nominations today (January 16) including Best Picture and Best Male and Female Lead (they liked the film so much they nominated it twice - once for Best Film and one for Best British film cause one nod wasn't enough - the full list).
Oh and in case you're wondering, yes, Jonny Greenwood got nominated for a BAFTA Best Music award for his "There Will be Blood," compositions. Another no-brainer. Although they were up for early BAFTA consideration, the music for "Into The Wild," "Once" and "Control" were all shut-out.
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