Sound & Motion Pictures: cool walk scenes
Strutting along like you own the place, walking tall like nothing can touch you while a great song is playing… here’s a short selection of my favorite cool walk scenes:
1. Saturday Night Fever – Staying Alive, Bee Gees (1977)
The mother of all cool walks… Tony Manero shows who’s boss to the undying notes of Staying Alive!
2. Kill Bill Vol.1 – Battle Without Honor or Humanity, Tomoyasu Hotei (2000)
O-ren Ishii is a force to recon with and she definitely owns the place, another music pearl from Tarantino!
3. Jackie Brown – Across 110th Street, Bobby Womack (1972)
Tarantino again… clearly inspired by The Graduate, he uses the charisma of Pam Grier and the soulful voice of Bobby Womack.
4. Blow – Black Betty, Ram Jam (1977)
When you think you can walk on water, Black Betty is a pretty good soundtrack.
5. The Breakfast Club, Don’t You Forget About Me, Simple Minds (1985)
Raise your fist to the sky as both victory and defiance…
Honorable mention to Guardians of the Galaxy – Cherry Bomb, The Runaways (1976)
I like this tongue in cheek homage to the heros’ preparation and badass walk on their way to save the world.
Filed under Odds and ends, Sound & Motion Pictures
Nightcrawler
Director: Dan Gilroy; Main Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed;
Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) makes a living with capers, criss-crossing the line of legality, in a rather forlorn-looking Los Angeles. He is very single-minded about getting a stable, more lucrative job and, by chance, he stumbles upon the world of freelance cameramen, who hunt down shocking and gruesome accidents or crimes and then sell their footage to the local news channels. He starts small with a cheap camera and a police scanner, after getting a few tips by a pro, Joe (Paxton), and manages to get the attention of a news producer, Nina (Russo), of one of the local stations. Things are looking up for Louis, he makes more money and he hires a intern/assistant, Rick (Ahmed), to help him navigate the streets at night while chasing after police calls that sound promising. On paper, the story seems a straightforward American dream: underdog/down-on-luck guy finds a way to improve his lot using his skills and smarts. It turns out it’s far more complicated and layered and that’s what makes this debut film by Gilroy intriguing and thought-provoking. Right off the bat it’s clear that there’s something amiss with Louis, C3PO has better social skills and empathic reactions compared to him and, slowly but surely, the audience realises that he is indeed a sociopath. In his world people are just means to an end, to be used and discarded without any afterthought; sometimes they are even a nuisance since Louis has to convince them or charm them or threaten them to get what he wants. The nocturnal forays into the city hunting for crimes would already provide by themselves a grim view of modern life but combined with Louis’ unique personality make for a truly disturbing picture. I won’t say anymore to avoid spoilers but it’s a dark tale. The film really works because of the superb performance of Jake Gyllenhaal: well-rounded, nuanced and with a sapient use of body language, impressive! The supporting cast is solid, in particular Ahmed as the trusting and little naive assistant, perfect foil to the sociopathy of Louis. Kudos to Gilroy, as first-timer on the director’s chair, he has done an impressive job. I look forward to seeing what he does next. Gripping —7.5/10
Filed under Seen at home
Sound & Motion Pictures: impromptu dance scenes
When you hear certain songs you just can’t help yourself: you must dance! These are funny, contagious dance scenes that happen rather unexpectedly and it’s impossible not to related to the characters. Music from the late seventies and early eighties gets the lion share, these are some memorable dance tunes used in many films.
Love Actually – Jump (For My Love), The Pointer Sisters (1983)
British Prime Minister blows off some steam when a great song comes on the radio (and the deejay dedicates it to him)
Los Amantes Pasajeros – I’m So Exited, The Pointer Sisters (1982)
Three flight assistants entertain the worried business class passengers dancing and lip-synching with hilarious results.
In & Out – I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor (1978)
Real men don’t dance… or so the self-help audio book “How to be a man” wants us to believe. Kevin Kline will prove it wrong.
Risky Business – Old Time Rock And Roll, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet (1978)
When the cat is away… iconic scene from the film that launched Tom Cruise’s career.
Full Monty – Hot Stuff, Donna Summer (1979)
Rehearsing their dancing routine while waiting in the unemployment line: priceless!
The Big Chill – Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, The Temptations (1966)
Tidying up after dinner with your friends looks like fun.
Filed under Odds and ends, Sound & Motion Pictures
The Last King of Scotland
Director: Kevin Macdonald; Main Cast: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker,Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson;
The rise to power and violent regime of Idi Amin (Whitaker), real-life Ugandan dictator during the seventies, is seen through the eyes of a fictional character Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (McAvoy), young and a little naive Scotsman. Based on the book by Giles Foden, the story mixes well facts with fiction keeping the viewer engaged. Forest Whitaker goes above and beyond to give us a multi-layered portrayal of this larger-than-life historical figure. Well-trained by the British army, Amin happened to be one of the first two officer in the post-colonial Ugandan army; he raised quite fast in the ranks to Commander of all forces,thanks to his charisma and attitude to leadership, and brilliantly solved his years-long struggle with President Obote with a military coup. This is when young Nicholas meets him, cheered by the people as savior of Uganda. Amin has a great admiration for Scotland and he’s positively impressed by Nicholas, who is direct and self-confident. Nicholas is intrigued and charmed by this charismatic giant and let himself be convinced to become Amin’s personal physician. However, behind the lovely, colourful facade of life in the presidential residence, the blight starts to show: Amin is increasingly paranoid, ruthless and in more than one occasion shows erratic behaviour lashing out at advisors, family and friends alike. Amin relies more and more on Nicholas as he slowly turns himself into an absolute despot, ruling with iron fist and killing all his opponents. The viewer, together with Nicholas, is both disturbed and terrified by this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hide behaviour and begins to understand that things will only get worse. To complicate matters, Nicholas has the not very bright idea of having an affair with Kay (Washington), Amin’s second wife, since she is lonely and shunned by the dictator due to the epilepsy of his son by her. Unfortunately for the parties involved and for the viewer, this will result in particularly gruesome violence as comeuppance dealt by the “wronged” Amin. I haven’t felt this much of empathic pain since A Man Called Horse. Our so-called hero makes it out alive, unfortunately that’s not the case for many Ugandans, during his eight-year regime Amin managed to kill 300000 of them, in rather horrific ways. During the last confrontation between the two leads there’s a very illuminating exchange:
Amin: I am Idi Amin! President-for-life and ruler of Uganda. I am the father of Africa.
Nicholas: You’re a child. You have the mind and ego of an angry, spoiled, uneducated child. And that’s what makes you so fucking scary.
—7.5/10
This post is my contribution to the second edition of The Great Villain Blogathon hosted by an amazing trio: Ruth of Silver Screenings, Karen of Shadows & Satin and Kristina of Speakeasy. Go and read all the other entries linked on their blogs.
You can find my entry to last year edition here.
Filed under Seen at home
Sound & Motion Pictures: TV-shows titles part 2
Here is the second part of my post dedicated to TV-show titles and their music. This time around the songs are just instrumental, generally written for the show. Once more, these are my favorite opening credits.
1. Mad Men – A Beautiful Mine, RJD2
Stylish and sophisticated as the show.
2. Magic City
The intro song of this show created a controversy since, for season 1, they used an unauthorized version of Henry Mancini’s Lujon, which is beautiful and mixes well the sixties’ atmosphere with Miami settings (watch from 1:03).
To avoid legal battle, they used a song by Daniele Luppi in season 2, which is still intriguing but with more of a Bond flair.
3. Boardwalk Empire – Straight Up And Down, The Brian Jonestown Massacre
A quite smoke on the beach thinking about the business…
4. Southland – Canção do Mar, Dulce Pontes
Fado and seppia images are an effective and inspired choice.
5. Hannibal – theme by Brian Reitzell
This one is a little macabre but also mesmerizing.
6. Six Feet Under – theme by Thomas Newman
A weird mix of otherworldly and morbid.
7. Dexter – theme by Adam Ben Ezra
The morning routine of a serial killer… it says it all!
8. The Killing (US) – We Fell To Earth, Frank Bak
Melancholic and forlorn, like a day in November in the Pacific Northwest.
9. House of Cards – theme by Jeff Beal
Foreboding, perfect intro to the games of the mighty and powerful.
10. Sherlock – theme by David Arnold
Upbeat and bursting of energy like Sherlock on a case.
Filed under Odds and ends, Sound & Motion Pictures
Sound & Motion Pictures: TV-shows titles part 1
In this third post of my series on music and motion pictures I’d like to focus on TV-shows titles. However I need to split it in two since, well, there are so many and the quality is outstanding. The following ones are my favorite TV-show intros combined with a song that has vocals.
1. True Detectives – Far From Any Road, The Handsome Family (2003)
The graphics are stunning and the song is the perfect complement.
2. True Blood – Bad Things, Jace Everett (2005)
A promise of good (naughty) things to come with a Louisiana small town flavour.
3. The Wire, Way Down In The Hole, Tom Waits (1987)
I like the fact that a different version is used for each season: The Blind Boys of Alabama (1), Tom Waits (2), The Neville Brothers (3), DoMaJe (4) and Steve Earle (5). It illustrates the main theme of the season while keeping the general mood of the show going.
4. Luther – Paradise Circus, Massive Attack (2010)
Sleek and intriguing, a nice introduction to Luther’s life.
5. Vikings – If I Had A Heart, Fever Ray (2009)
A little foreboding but it sets the right mood for the show.
6. Underbelly – It’s A Jungle Out There, Burkhard Dallwitz (2008)
Catchy and to the point.
7. CSI – Who Are You, The Who (1978)
The song is a good oldie and an apt theme for the show.
Filed under Odds and ends, Sound & Motion Pictures
Chef
Director: Jon Favreau; Main Cast: Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Emjay Anthony, Scarlett Johansson, Sofía Vergara;
This is a feel-good movie written and directed by Jon Favreau, mostly known for directing Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Cowboys & Aliens. It is a comeback story about Carl (Favreau), the titular chef, who loses his job after a bad review from a critic and a melt-down gone viral on internet. Notwithstanding the fact that all the cliches are in it (unappreciated genius, workaholic, divorced with difficult relationship with his son…) the story works well because it has a nice pace, some good humor and the acting is up-to-par. Carl realises, with some help from his ex-wife Inez (Vergara), that he should go back to where he started: making cuban sandwiches on a food truck. The second act of the film is an on the road buddy comedy: Carl is helped by his friend and fellow cook Martin (Leguizamo) and his 10-year-old son Percy (Anthony) on a journey of rediscovery, appreciating the simple pleasures of life and the joy of cooking. On this trip from Florida back to Los Angeles, Carl’s food truck reaches celebrity status thanks to his social media savvy son (a true marketing genius!) and life will smile to him again (obviously). As I said, the film is nothing new but Favreau manages to balance very well the buddy banter, the father/son moments, the self-introspection and the cooking. In addition he has great on-screen chemistry with all the other actors, in particular with Leguizamo and young Anthony, and a knack for making the father/son scenes sweet but not cloyingly so. I should also issue a warning: there’s a fair amount of food porn during the film so I strongly suggest eating before watching otherwise you end up feeling famished when the closing credits start to roll (as I did!). Enjoyable —7/10
Filed under Seen at home
Ramblings of a cinephile 