Called It!

For those of you that remember, in an earlier post I predicted that, as last year was the year of the superhero film, this year would be the year of the animated film...Okay, so Ice Age 3 is far from peeking any sort of interest and Monsters vs. Aliens was child's play; HOWEVER, two of my absolute favorite movies of the year so far were of the cartoonish nature. Coraline is a soon-to-be-Hot-Topic classic, and the other being the absolutely wonderful Up.

It's almost stupid to say anything about this film. It's from Pixar, a studio that's worst movie was Cars...But come on, that's like saying a certain cut of beef is the worst; when it comes down to it, you will still eat it and enjoy it. The legendary Ed Asner is the perfectly lovable old man Carl who decides to save his home by flying it away with the help of millions of helium balloons. But come on, you know that already. In fact, I shouldn't bore you with the details because you've already seen this movie...right? If not, what's wrong with you? Don't be a tool. Skip Transformers and go see Up.

I saw a couple of other movies since I last wrote as well, but I will just give you the cliff notes:

Hannah Montana: The Movie - HEY! Get off my back, I was on cruise and they were showing it for free. And it wasn't that bad...if you're an 11 year old girl, or you're my wife.

The Proposal - HEY! It looked kinda funny, alright?...but it wasn't. It's hard to root for Bullock, who plays a stuck-up wench the entire movie

Year One - Hilarious...but not intentionally. Cera was great, but Jack Black is starting to lose the magic I think.

Away We Go - Really funny, really sweet, very real, and some of the best performances of the year, most notably from the hilarious (though usually terrible) Maggie Gyllenhaal. Go see it.

Favorite Music Moments in Film

I read an online interview the other day that Empire Magazine did with Cameron Crowe (director of Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire, Say Anything, etc) and he listed his top ten favorite music moments in film. I thought that presented too great of an opportunity not to blatantly copy, so here is MY list of the best musical moments on the silver screen!

(NOTE: For the purpose of easier selection, I have left off films that fall within the genre of "musical", which I would define as any movie where people randomly bust into a song about what they are doing and the musical accompaniment comes out of thin air.)

10. "You're the Voice"by John Farnham being sung by a peaceful, then suddenly extremely and hysterically violent, mob in Hot Rod (2007) - This is just too good to not put on here. I especially love Bill Hader and Andy Samberg's dialogue afterwards: "What happened back there?!" "I don't know man, it started off super-positive."

9. Napoleon's dance at school assembly to Jamiroqui's "Canned Heat" in Napoleon Dynamite (2004) - Like I said the last time I wrote about this indie-turned-blockbuster, I realize the hype for this thing got way out of hand, specifically among American youth groups. Still, when you first see it, the "skills" in his moves are so surprising you want to cheer.

8. The entire film of This is Spinal Tap (1984) - I almost went with one of the more obscure tracks ("The Jazz Odyssey" song, made extra-hilarious when you see a guy in the crowd with his head in one hand and the other hand complacently giving a thumbs down), but the whole hour and a half is too perfect to single anything out.

7. The newsroom quartet randomly bust into four-part-harmony on the seventies classic "Afternoon Delight" in Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - So funny...I want to watch it right now.

6. After a particularly rough night, the band and crew are brought back together through a sing-a-long of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" in Crowe's own Almost Famous (2000) - This scene pushes this already stellar movie into rock-n-roll-movie heaven!

5. Cameron sings a particularly somber rendition of an old hymnal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Okay, so this is literally only about 11 seconds long, but I laugh out loud every time. Nothing better than watching Alan Ruck, lying on his "death bed", singing "Let my Cameron gooooooo!" And there's a recorded choir singing with him! Priceless... You can listen to the very short clip here: http://www.entertonement.com/clips/27237/Ferris-Bueller

4. John Williams heart-wrenching and epic theme plays while the kids bike into the air to safety in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - I feel like I have to catch my breath each time that scene rolls with that impeccable score on top of it.

3. Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" starts playing incidentally in the middle of a zombie fight in Shaun of the Dead (2004) - I love that Shaun and the gang start actually fighting on rhythm with the song at one point. Not to mention this is one of the greatest rock songs of all time!

2. A slow zoom on main character Glen Hansard as he plays the heart-achingly painful song "Say It to Me Now" in the beautiful Once (2007) - Haunting and stunning. And without a single cut away!

1. The One-ders celebrate as their song "That Thing You Do!" is first played on the radio in That Thing You Do! (1996) - That scene is filled to the brim with absolute joy! The bass player and Fey screaming and running down the street, Steve Zahn kissing the floor display, Guy's family looking on in confusion as their appliance store is taken over by their son and his rock-n-roll group. Love it!

Runner's Up:

11. Orange County (2002) - All the girls stopping what their doing to dance to Crazy Town's "Butterfly"

12. The Sandlot (1993) - Ray Charles' America playing over the guy's night game

13. Big (1988) - Hanks and Loggia playing chopsticks on the giant piano mat in FAO Schwarz

14. Back to the Future (1985) - The crowds reaction to Marty's Johnny B. Goode: "It's your cousin, MARVIN berry!"

15. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004) - Any time the guys talk about how good their lyrics are...again, priceless!

So I guessed it's fairly obvious that these picks are nostalgic and personal...sue me. Let me know what you think are the greatest music moments in film...there are many!