Posted by: Christine on Feb 6th, 2008

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Not only has the movie Juno been gaining praise from critics and moviegoers alike, but the Juno Soundtrack has hit the number one spot on the Billboard charts ahead of stars like Alicia Keys and Radiohead. It’s a very folky-sounding soundtrack – not exactly my speed since I’m more of a death metal kinda girl (Ok, not really, but I much prefer Tool over Buddy Holly). It makes pretty decent background music though, since it’s mostly melodic guitars and soft vocals. It’s easy to listen to and remember the scenes from the movie, since the music plays so prominently in the movie.

The Kimya Dawson song lyrics sound like something Phoebe Buffay would have played at Central Perk, although they definitely do sound like something Juno MacGuff would listen to. I’m really annoyed by the out-of-synch chorus singing – it honestly hurts my brain. They were cute in small doses during the movie, but I definitely don’t need to listen to this stream of consciousness kind of lyric-writing for an entire CD worth of tunes. The Belle & Sebastian songs don’t annoy me, but I can honestly say I’ll probably never listen to this CD again – it’s not that it’s bad music, it’s just not my kinda thing.

Sonic Youth’s cover of The Carpenters’ “Superstar” is just creepy and dark enough for me to like it, even though I’ve never heard a Sonic Youth song before.

Posted by: Christine on Jan 2nd, 2008

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As the new year begins, we tend to look back over the past year. This past year at MovieSnobs, we started a new weekly post called Movie Tunes, which features reviews of movie soundtracks. We covered some great ones last year, so we thought we’d recap them before moving on with 2008.

The first Movie Tunes was one of my favorite soundtracks ever, one of my favorite CDs ever, in fact – Underworld, the Kate Beckinsale vampire movie with the hard rock soundtrack.

We followed that up with two more of my favorite soundtracks – The Punisher and 10 Things I Hate About You.

We covered the movie soundtrack cover album From the Screen to Your Stereo II by New Found Glory. Katy joined in the movie soundtrack fun with reviews of the Mortal Kombat movie soundtracks and the Trainspotting movie soundtracks.

For Halloween, we had a review of the deluxe edition of the soundtrack for The Nightmare Before Christmas, which includes both the original soundtrack and new cover versions of the classic songs by Marilyn Manson, Fall Out Boy, and others.

Starting with my review of the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack, Mike implemented a nifty “Listen” button like the one below.

Listen to Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache

In the coming year we’ll be covering movie soundtracks new and old. Join us every Wednesday on MovieSnobs for movie soundtrack reviews.

Posted by: Christine on Dec 19th, 2007

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the classic Christmas movies that my family and I watch every year. In fact, when I first moved in with my fiance, I insisted that we buy The Grinch on DVD so I could keep up the tradition.

Listening to the soundtrack is just like watching the movie. If you’ve seen the movie enough times, you can picture the story unfolding. It includes all the storytelling parts, the sound effects, and the songs (“You’re a mean one…..Mr. Grinch”).

The story is a charming one, and tells that the true meaning of Christmas isn’t in the presents or the food (although Mike would disagree and say it’s all about his Mom’s turkey and the new HD TiVo he bought). It’s about spending time with those you love.

If you love the movie, the soundtrack is worth it, especially at just about $10 on Amazon, and only $7.99 on iTunes.

Tracks You Can’t Miss:

• Track 1 – Opening
• Track 3 – Tomorrow Is Christmas, It’s Practically Here
• Track 6 – You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
• Track 7 – You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Reprise)

Posted by: Christine on Dec 5th, 2007

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This week’s Movie Tunes looks at a movie that was destined to have a perfect soundtrack – High Fidelity. The movie is on two of the MovieSnobs’ Top Five Movies lists. To best communicate what this movie is about, I have included John Cusack’s opening monologue in the movie:

What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

Obviously, this movie has to have a dynamite soundtrack, right? Not exactly. Dynamite it is not, but it does have some fantastic songs about, “heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss.” I don’t think we could ask for anything more.

Naturally, the CD kicks off with the song that the movie starts with. You might recognize it from some recent Dell commercials. The track is from The Thirteenth Floor Elevators and is called “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” Unfortunately the disc doesn’t include Cusack’s voiceover, but the track stands well on its own. It’s a groovy, sing-along kind of track. Of course, it’s a song where the singer is telling their ex that they’re going to wake up one day and realize they miss them, so it kicks off the rejection & pain theme right away.

The first three tracks are all pretty groovy, actually. Track three is a great “please forgive me” track called “I’m Wrong About Everything.” John Wesley Harding sings about the fact that he’s absolutely wrong about everything. That’s a good way to win a girl back.

Posted by: Katy on Nov 28th, 2007

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This week’s Movie Tunes is the second of a two part series on the Trainspotting soundtracks. Be sure to check out Trainspotting Part I.

Trainspotting‘s second soundtrack, aptly titled Trainspotting #2, features songs that were not included in the first lot, as well as some others that flow quite nicely with the style of the film. Check out this batch of goodies!

As if I couldn’t get enough of Ewan McGregor in this film, his definitive speech has been set to techno music. Officially credited to PF Project, “Choose Life” uses both the entire monologue as well as snippets. The second track is another Iggy Pop gem entitled “The Passenger.” While it’s not as “in-your-face” as “Lust for Life,” it has a great melody and some clever lyrics.

You will definitely recognize the third track, which happens to be my favorite. Underworld’s “Dark and Long (Dark Train Mix)” is the background to the very disturbing withdrawal scene, complete with those crazy hallucinations of Spud in shackles, a now-addicted Tommy, and that poor little deceased baby. Yes, in fact, this scene is both dark and long. After that comes a little bit of familiarity for all you classical buffs, “Habanera” from the Georges Bizet opera, Carmen.

Posted by: Katy on Nov 21st, 2007

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I constantly rave about this 1996 hit film about Scottish heroin addicts to anyone who will listen. This was the first time most of us laid eyes on the unbelievably talented cast, including Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle. Trainspotting has spawned two amazingly popular soundtracks, and you’ll get to hear more about them in the next two editions of Movie Tunes!

Combining predominantly UK-based acts, as well as some punk, New Wave, and dance music, these soundtracks serve as the perfect compliment to this highly innovative story, peppered by the words of Irvine Welsh and shown through the eyes of director Danny Boyle.

The opening track, Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life,” is the song that is definitely the most memorable. With the chaotic opening sequence of the gang running away from the police after they’ve committed theft, the introduction to all of the characters and Renton’s monologue on his personal choices, it definitely triggers one’s memory whenever it’s heard. However, since this song blatantly refers to the procurement and using of illegal substances, was it appropriate to use it years later in commercials for cruises? I never quite understood that. Iggy, some answers please?

Posted by: Katy on Nov 14th, 2007

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Saturday Night Fever is and always will be a classic. It’s particularly sentimental in my eyes, since the film came out in 1977, the very year that I was born, although I didn’t see it until I was 13 or so. It has held a spot in my personal Top 10 for quite a few years!

While the whole kit and caboodle catapulted from the disco craze of that decade, the film was propelled by not only the amazing musicians that contributed to the soundtrack, but John Travolta’s charisma, dancing ability, and one sick head of hair. That’s why they have been monster hits ever since!

Now, if you’ve even heard of the movie, you will know the first track just by me dropping the title: “Stayin’ Alive.” Everyone pictures Travolta strutting down a Brooklyn street with his large coif and platforms. It’s simply the perfect intro to this film. The Bee Gees contributed 7 out of the 17 tracks, and each one is instantly recognizable, which is great for a longtime fan (such as myself).

“How Deep Is Your Love” is a lovely track and contributes to a truly heartfelt scene in the film, showcasing Tony and Stephanie’s friendship. “Night Fever” takes us into the club that Tony and his friends call home every weekend: 2001 Odyssey (which was a real-life hot spot in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn).

Posted by: Christine on Nov 7th, 2007

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The past two weeks we have covered the soundtracks for the first two Resident Evil movies. This week’s Movie Tunes covers the soundtrack of the recently released third movie, Resident Evil: Extinction.

The soundtrack for Resident Evil: Extinction isn’t the typical soundtrack as in “music from or inspired by.” It also has clips from the score by Charlie Clouser, which serve as perfect interludes. In fact, the disc starts with the “Main Title” theme from the score, which is sufficiently creepy to kick us off.

Track 2 is “Stupid Crazy” by Shadows Fall. It is possibly my favorite track from any of the three Resident Evil soundtracks (with the possible exception of “The Outsider” by A Perfect Circle, but that’s a band I was previously a fan of). I’ll definitely be checking out some of Shadows Fall’s music thanks to this track, which is heavy on the guitar. It would be perfect for Guitar Hero (I have Guitar Hero on the brain since GH III just came out). If you don’t even listen to any other songs from this CD, at least go buy this track from iTunes.

The “T-Virus Remix” of Flyleaf’s “I’m So Sick” is probably the most lyrically connected track with the line, “I’m so sick, infected with where I live.” I’ll admit that I’m a Flyleaf fan, and that lead singer Lacey’s vocals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this track is great. The remix is really well done so that it showcases the original version of the song rather than drowning it in effects. If you like this song, check out Flyleaf’s previous work.

Emigrate’s “My World” sounded like a track that would annoy me, but actually grew on me the more I listened to it. It’s worth a listen.

While seemingly out of place in a zombie movie soundtrack full of industrial rock and hard rock remixes, Bayside’s “Duality” is a catchy track with a nice hook. Clear vocals, which may sound weird but when you listen to the track you’ll understand. The singer’s voice really cuts through. The string remix is really nice. Gives the track a full feel.