Oscars 2012: Movie Score and Soundtrack Playlist
Every year since the inception of our hosting an Oscar party, I’ve crafted a mix CD for our guests based on the films released in that year. Not all of the scores and soundtracks I poach from are on the Oscar docket. Indeed, with such paltry pickings this year, very few of the tracks align with the Academy Award nominees.
Here is the tracklist for this years winners:
- Earth to Asgard – Patrick Doyle (Thor)
- The Wolf – Fever Ray (Red Riding Hood)
- They’re Calling My Flight – Cliff Martinez (Contagion)
- Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – Emily Browning (Sucker Punch)
- container park – The Chemical Brothers (Hanna)
- Immigrant Song – Karen O, Trent Reznor (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
- How To Kill a Vampire – Ramin Djawadi (Fright Night)
- Nightcall – Kavinsky (Drive)
- Moses vs The Monsters – Steven Price, Felix Buxton, and Simon Ratcliffe (Attack The Block)
- Magneto – Henry Jackman (X-Men: First Class)
- The Circus Sets Up – James Newton Howard (Water for Elephants)
- The Show – Kerris Dorsey (Moneyball)
- Man or Muppet – Jason Segel & Walter (The Muppets)
- Star Spangled Man – The Star Spangled Singers (Captain America)
- Hold On – Wilson Phillips (Bridesmaids)
- Love Will Take You – Angus and Julia Stone (Breaking Dawn)
- Can You See Jane? – Patrick Doyle (Thor)
- Mah Na Mah Na – Mahna Mahna and the Two Snowths (The Muppets)
BONUS TRACKS:
99 Problems – Hugo (Fright Night)
Iron – Woodkid (Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Trailer)
YouTube Playlist HERE.
Some of the tracks are disabled because YouTube and record labels are stingy, ridiculous jerks who don’t understand new media, but whatevs. You can get a sense of the entire compilation together through the playlist feature, even if you have to listen to some tracks as stand alones. Pretty good stuff. Handing this mix CD out as a party favor on Sunday!
As always, if you ask me nicely I can mail you a burned copy of the CD via the good old US postal service. Possibly with a special, nerdy treat included. Email me at Mindy@tinyheroes.net if you’re interested!
Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
This marks the first time I’ve ever watched a sequel without seeing the original first. Still have no interest in seeing the first entry. A part of me feels tricked into thinking this entry was theatre worthy either.
A mad genius exists out there cutting exceptional movie trailers turning garbage films into inspirational gold. He must be stopped! Otherwise, we will continue to waste $13 a pop for 3D tickets to crap like Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
Wait, it wasn’t all that bad.
In fact, parts of it were downright good and even a bit unsettling. So here’s a quick, down and dirty review of the film…because how much time do we really want to waste on a Ghost Rider sequel review? Not much time.
THE GOOD
Idris Elba. This man is a god (literally, in Thor) and he is guaranteed to save your crappy movie, or at least be the best part of it. He even steals his smallish scenes in Thor (muh favorite). Not quite sure why he was boasting colored contacts. It looked cool when he was playing Heimdahl, but went with his outfit and godly persona in that flick. Here it was obvious some studio exec was like “Idris Elba in contacts makes this movie THAT MUCH COOLER. Do it.” Elba was sporting an off-putting and unnecessary French accent, but aside from that – he was the best actor and second most fun to watch on the screen.
The special effects were the most fun thing to watch on-screen. The Ghost Rider himself is a special effect and a gorgeous one at that, with flames curling around his skull head and any vehicle he chooses to mount bursting into hellish fire. His antics are creepy, twitchy and a bit scary. The vibe for The Rider was PERFECT and clearly a lot of time and energy went into making him look cool. The action sequence were entertaining, especially the mid-point of the movie, in the rock quarry.
The audience was treated to tasty and attractive animated sequences as a narrative device. I’m always up for animated sequences in otherwise live action films. Especially comic book adaptations. Thanks production teams!
THE BAD
Nicholas Cage and his bizarre acting abilities. Loved him in Kick Ass and think he has a dry, oddball sense of humor but it was the wrong tone for this type of movie. What he emoted and what the director envisioned did not mesh well together on-screen and the effect was a mushy pile of loosely connected action sequence, while any attempt at plot was jarring on the audience. Not that anyone expected this to be Oscar worthy material, but it was a discordant mess not even on par with most Hollywood messes. An enjoyable mess, mind you. Entertaining.
Review: Suzanne Collins FAME Biography
Check out my review here on The Hunger Games Fireside Chat website, and while you’re at it – browse around their page. They have awesome tidbits about the books and upcoming movie, as well as a fantastic podcast every Monday evening!
Movie Review: Chronicle
Chronicle was one of those flicks you watch and imagine what it could have been if only the concept, characters and actors had been in the hands of someone else. You yearn for the potential film you almost saw.
It’s your typical superhero origin story, except the heroes aren’t terribly heroic. They acquire super-powers in a mysterious glowing cave near a “rave” in the woods surrounding Seattle. I dug the Pacific Northwest shout-out, spotting our brand of coastal forests long before the space needle graced the screen.
Side note: Do people still go to “raves?”
Anywho – regular people get extraordinary powers and use them in the fashion you would imagine ordinary folks to do. They goof around in thrill seeking escapades, impressing classmates and using parlor tricks to hook up with ladies. Then, the bad seed goes nuts and gets in a knock down, drag out, levitated fight in the middle of downtown Seattle.
Absolute power corrupting absolutely is a classic tale, but one rarely told from a realistic perspective, from average dudes at your typical American High School. We are treated to all the joy and mystery of discovering human flight and telekinesis. And the horror of realizing these powers could harm or kill others. There were bits of moral pondering thrown in, but it was a little lost in the muddle of the story. I didn’t buy the philosophical quoting.
What didn’t jive well? The shaky hand cam style.Yes, it’s a cheaper way to film and also a commentary on how much we “chronicle” our daily lives, but this kind of device gets old after a while if the plot is having to stretch to account for why we are viewing things with different camera angles. Suddenly, there are two people running around who must film absolutely everything. Or one character who feels obligated to pick up where the other left off.
When the characters are constantly, or at least consistently, commenting on the presence of the camera, it takes the audience out of the film. In no way did I believe this film was a real chronicle of these super powers. The ship of sincerely believing this is found camera footage sailed with The Blair Witch Project. But it’s been recycled again and again in what would otherwise be higher quality flicks:
And now, Chronicle.
LINK LOVE: 2/7/2012
There were too many great links this morning to pick only ONE for ye old Facebook. So here they are, collected into a nice happy digest. Enjoy!
1. Superheroines in Comfy Pants + How RPGs Talk To Women
Those links are straight from The Mary Sue, which is a great female centric nerd blog you should already be following on FB, Twitter or through some other social media venue.
Personal favorite:
Bat Woman in Comfy Pants by MichelleSix
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2. Lana Del Rey’s The Hunger Games
The perfect spoof and mash-up of the songstress everyone loves to hate + the increasing hysteria surrounding The Hunger Games.
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3. Neko Case is Recording a Song for The Hunger Games
I predicted this! A Neko Case song kicks off every one of my Hunger Games playlists. She already has so many great songs to choose from, it seems strange that she would need to record another. Ah well, I guess that’s how these soundtrack thangs work. Along with tracks from Arcade Fire and The Secret Sisters, this is absolutely going to be a must buy. Looks like there will be two separate albums – the actual score by T-Bone and James Newton Howard. And then another full of conventional songs inspired by The Hunger Games. It’s going to be released March 20, 2012. Om nom nom.
Funny, we were just remarking about this last night after receiving the San Diego Comic Con catalog where Peter Parker and Mary Jane are posing front and center. I was in the “looks alright to me” camp, and Dan was in the “I like the web-shooters” camp. Our buddy and current house guest Troy who is easily the more Spidey-obsessed seemed a bit “meh” all around and was much more excited about the potential new Star Trek series.
Oscar Nominations 2012
These lame duck nominations serve to highlight that 2011 really was a BORING year in film. A non-fiction flick about baseball? Yawn. A boy and his war horse? Snooze. George Clooney being an asshole in Hawaii? Blah.
Although movies about women rose to meteroic box office success via Bridesmaids and The Help, they certainly aren’t represented in the Best Picture nominations. There is only one movie on the Best Picture roster that would pass the Bechdel test for women or race. It manages to accomplish both. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the only movie I’m even pulling for. Yeah, I’m talking about The Help.
Usually this time of year I’m in a mad scramble to view all the Oscar nominated films before the big day, but I can predict from this vantage point who is going to win based on all the politicking that comprises these awards ceremonies. Please be advised, these are my knee jerk reactions.
Best Picture: The Artist (Hollywood is predictable in it’s love and lavishing of praise upon feel good “foreign” films)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Best Actor: Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Best Actress: Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor: Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer – The Help
Best Original Screenplay: Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Ides of March – George Clooney
Perhaps I will watch The Artist, which is the only flick with the potential to shake up the predictable picks. Also, I reserve the right to completely change my mind by Oscar air date, so friends and family who usually bet in our Oscar party pool, don’t go getting any ideas.
My favorite films of the year were all comic book or science fiction related, and those will never be deemed worthy of Oscar material. No bitterness here, right? Really, there is a bit of bitterness. I don’t expect anyone to give loads of love and credit to all my super nerdy interests. But I hoped for at least a nod to Young Adult.
Is anyone else over the George Clooney and Brad Pitt bromance? Clooney’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes was kinda barfy. We get that you guys are the hottest thang in Hollywood right now. Good work.
There is a twinge of sadness for the dudes who got shut out. What about Leonardo DiCaprio who’s been in a string of good films in the last five or six years while going completely un-noticed? Or Ryan Gosling who has busted his butt in independent flicks and whom you couldn’t possibly ignore this year if you were living or breathing in the world. Also Michael Fassbender, my favorite sharp tooth Magneto who stole the show in X-Men, Jane Eyre and apparently flopped his wang out for Shame (on my “to see” list). Poor guys. Don’t you know Clooney and Pitt will never gracefully share the spotlight? They are like the Jay-Z of their medium. While they exist, very few others can rise in the game, unless given the blessings of royalty. Even then, it’s tough competition.
Am I wrong in these assertions? What are your Oscar picks?
Random Thoughts While Re-Watching Beauty and the Beast
Random Thought #1
This year old Beauty and the Beast Blu-Ray looks like shit. 20 years ago this seemed like the very zenith of animation. I remember the ballroom dance scene taking my breath away. Belle was gorgeous and had the most exquisite complexion and perfect brown hair. In 2012, no matter what medium I’m viewing it on – it looks horrid. The colors are so blown out, bright and the animation is so quickly sketched, I had to call Dan in from the other room to make sure it wasn’t mine eyes deceiving me. The first few minutes I was watching an 8-year-old DVD, so swapped it out for a year old Blu-Ray. It looked the exact same, even though Disney was claiming it was digitally remastered or some shit.
How about no? It looked pretty on the movie advertisement I just watched for the 3D theatrical release. The black lines are less harsh. It was all in the black lines – there was white bleeding through all over the place. And in general, it looks like some second-rate bullshit.
Granted, I’ve been fed a steady diet of CGI loveliness for the last 10 or so years, but come on – The Princess and the Frog is beautiful and not so harsh on the eyes. Am I alone in thinking this particular film has some of the shittiest animation in the Disney cadre (not counting all of the sequels)? It looks like something Don Bluth was putting out at the time – it has none of the depth or quality that The Lion King or Aladdin did. Granted, The all these flicks referenced came out post-Beauty. But it was also post-The Little Mermaid, which looks better as well. *shrug* I dunno.
Random Thought #2
One of the biggest complaints in feminist circles against the movie/story is that Belle sacrifices her dreams for a grander life by shacking up with the Beast and falling in lurve. Uhm, guys? The story book she most fondly remembers (nay, even sings about) is a tale about a chick meeting Prince Charming. Sure, she doesn’t want to settle down and marry the chauvinist and manipulating Gaston. But she does want to find her Prince Charming. If folks are looking for a feminist heroine in Belle, they will end up disappointed every time.
Actually, on the heroine spectrum – I would say Belle most resembles Bella. And along that same vein, I would suggest that Twilight and Beauty and the Beast have some eerie similarities. There’s even a magical transformation in the end. Beast is kind of a dick, like Edward. He is overbearing, stalkerish and harsh. Belle is willing to sacrifice her entire life for her Dad. She falls in love with a violent, scary dude who imprisons others and threatens to starve her.
So yeah – that’s all weird. Is my reading off? At least the first Twilight book has Beauty and the Beast trappings, no?
Random Thought #3
I liked Beast better than Prince Whatever Big Nose. For looks and general attitude. Even as a kid I remember being totally charmed by the angry, yet comically bumbling bull/wolf creature and strongly preferring him to the creepy white guy who arose in his stead.
The messaging is all wrong. I know – the magic rose and the poor servants trapped as inanimate objects – but damn, Beast was kinda hot. I mean, hotter than the unattractive white dude he becomes. Also, what’s with the servants singing songs about preferring to serve? “Life is un-nerving for a servant whose not serving.” Huh. These folks would rather serve a bitchy master hand and foot than you know, have a twenty year staycation as a clock or candlestick? That’s a stretch for me.
I would have rather kept Beast in his Beast form. The servants could have changed if they liked. And maybe, as a show of gratitude, Beast could have released them from service since they did endure weird magics on his behalf. Just sayin’.
Final Thoughts: While this movie has some of my favorite musical numbers, it generally gets a bad rap for being creepy (imprisonment, forced engagements, and talking feather dusters) and that’s well-deserved. One of my favorites, with reservations.
Movie Review: Young Adult
Young Adult was a bit of a surprise. Expected to like it much more than I did – with all the feminist overtones and multi-dimensional, flawed female character rumors swirling about on the interwebs. This was the second pairing of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, their previous venture being the much beloved Juno.
THE GOOD
Charlize Theron is phenomenal in this role. She swaggers across the screen in her Uggs and sweatpants, chomping up the scenery with her ice-cold glare and washing it down with giant swigs of Diet Coke. Her moments of extreme cattiness, minus the awkward attempts at seduction are gleeful rather than off-putting. I would watch an entire movie of mean Mavis and love every minute of it. I’m sure that’s wrong, but I don’t care.
Other good bits? Matt and Mavis had chemistry. Patton Oswalt is such a lovable curmudgeon. While they glowed together in their general dislike of the world, I would hate to be drunk in a bar with them. Their level of bitter and hate is best viewed from a distance.
I was also thrilled by the little scenes with Mavis planning out her outfits, packing/unpacking, getting mani/pedis, putting on her hair and makeup. Those simple daily ritualistic acts that often define the female gender but are usually never displayed in films except for comedic effect. These scenes had a completely different tone. For Mavis it was like putting on a suit of armor to head out into battle. The calculation and effort with which she went about it was strangely compelling.
THE BAD
Unfortunately, we are largely treated to small, shining moments of mean Mavis and then long, extended periods of uncomfortable tension. Awkward scenes of wooing a clearly disinterested and skeeved out ex-boyfriend. Another horrible scene around her parents dinner table where she waxes effusive about her high school days and then promptly announces she’s an alcoholic. Her parents react with blank stares. Oh poor BBZ. Mavis is lacking a serious amount of love in her life.
12 Nerd Movies in 2012
We already re-capped the nerd highlights of 2011, and as the new year is nearly upon us, it’s time to start getting excited about what it has to offer. Here are 12 nerdy movies (in chronological release date order) that we’re looking forward to.
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#1. Underworld Awakening: January 20, 2012.
A total guilty pleasure. Yes, I own all the other Underworld movies. Yes, I watch them on an annual basis. Come on. Kate Beckinsale in tight black leather. Cool werewolf/vampire hybrids. It might not be Oscar worthy, but it will be fun.
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#2. The Hunger Games: March 23, 2012.
Nuff said.
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#3. The Cabin in the Woods: April 13, 2012.
Joss Whedon. Drew Goddard. Chris Hemsworth. Scary movie. Where do I sign up?
Movie Review: Attack the Block
Attack The Block is a flick that I’ve been quietly pining away for the last 5 months. It was in American theatres around mid-July and no one had heard about it. Or wanted to see it. Then it was gone in the blink of an eye but kept popping up again on my radar, once because Edgar Wright of Scott Pilgrim fame (also the executive producer of ATB) was talking it up, and another when Racialicious wrote up a blog entry about it. Well, several to be more precise. I’ll link those at the bottom.
Really, I’m sure people have already covered the movie in far more eloquent terms than I could. But, for me personally, watching something like this is a minor miracle that I’d like to pass on to friends, family and some of the random strangers that stumble upon my blog.
Please – go rent Attack the Block. It’s available through Red Box (there’s one of those on every major street corner, ya know). I’m sure it’s on Netflix. It’s out there, circulating in the world and here you are, sitting in front of your computer screen reading some silly review.
RANT ABOUT GENRE ENTERTAINMENT
What I love about alien movies lately? They let us have a dialogue about race that I just don’t see happening in a lot of other genre entertainment. Game of Thrones is rad, but race is not on the menu for that particular six course meal. LOTR is a bit more subtle than 300, but there’s still an element of dark vs light man flesh (guess who wins?).
The gothic/monster genre has done a little bit better on the race front – at least Twilight made an attempt (though arguably a poor one) to include Native Americans. Remember those people who lived here in “America” before white kids took over? Yeah, very often genre fiction doesn’t.
By far – science fiction allows us to meet on an equal playing field. I love you fantasy, but you are far to stuck in your gender/race roles. Sci Fi is usually forward looking. It has the glory of giving us alternate future worlds in which it doesn’t matter if you’re a dude a lady or black and white.
BACK TO THE MOVIE REVIEW
Attack The Block is like that. Except it talks about race. Gives a bit of a nod to gender. It talks about socio-economic status. It doesn’t give us a happy ending in which the heroes solve all those problems. But it does give us a realistic one. Which is exceptional for a film about a gang of tough London kids fighting off a horde of aliens in their apartment complex.
Dan, The DH, was skeptical when we first plopped the DVD in. This, from a guy who spent the weekend playing Skyrim. 
But by the end he was clearly won over to my side of the fence. The side where I knew this would be a good, fun and unique romp before the DVD even started spinning up.
You know there’s something wrong in the world when a 30 year old white woman gets excited about seeing a 15 year old black male protagonist in a movie about aliens. Granted, John Boyega who potrays the hero Moses DOES look a lot like a young Denzel Washington.
It's in the eyes and the lips. Sad eyes, pouty lips. Just sayin.
Dan and I aren’t the only ones who noticed. Seriously, google “John Boyega” and “Denzel Washington” it’s in every damn article written about him. Also worth noting – he’s already signed by Spike Lee for an HBO drama “Da Brick.” Hollywood moved fast!
tinyheroes
Dan
