Grade:  A
Once is your modern-day musical about a busker who meets a girl on the streets of Dublin and ends up making beautiful music together.  The plot is nothing more than that, well except a slight romance story, but the performances and its simplicity plays in its favor making the film very powerful and moving.  The shaky camera shots give a documentary feel and adds to the realism that makes the story so emotionally charged. 

The two main characters never declare their names throughout the movie, which I thought was pretty neat.  It's your natural "guy meets girl" story with a musical spin.  And combining the talents of The Frames' lead singer/guitarist Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, two musicians not actors, with a lot of ad-libbed dialogue, the movie flowed with ease.  Nothing was forced and as first time actors, they both did a great job.  Oh, and another thing that I liked about this modern-day musical was that there were no show-stopping tunes, nor were there any dancing routines.  It was a musical without looking like a musical.

While I loved all of the songs in the film, the one that still lingers in my heart is its anthem, "Falling Slowly."  This is the first song that Glen and Marketa play together in the music shop, and from that instant you knew that something between these two was special; whether it was composing songs or something more personal.  With the lyrics, "I don't know you but I want you, all the more for that" it's so much more beautiful hearing those words sung rather than spoken.  I can't imagine the depth of those words pronounced in a more meaningful way than when they harmonized it together.  This type of movie with music clashing against their situations fill up more than half of the film, and it's such an experience to enjoy.

Just shot in 17 days and with a budget of approximately $160,000 (according to IMDB), Once accomplishes a lot more than expected.  It's impossible to not care about the two lovely and sweet characters, whom their passion for music has brought them together.  It seems like fate.  The glow in their eyes when they play their instruments and talk about music is the real show-stopper.  Oh, and the ending is perfect. 

This film holds a place very close to my heart.  I truly loved this film.  I loved the music, the performances, the story, the surprises, the ending, and the lingering effect I'm left with after the film has concluded.  Once is without a doubt one of my favorite films of the year and I couldn't have been more happy to watch them accept their Best Original Song Oscar during the 2008 Academy Awards.

Every night in my dreams
I see you I feel you
That is how I know you
Go on
Far across the distance
And spaces Between us
You have come to show you
Go onNear,..... Far
Wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once..... more
You open the door
And you're here in my heart and
My heart will go on and on

Love can touch us one time
And last for a life time
And never let go 'til
You're gone
Love was when I loved
One true time I
Hold to
In this life we'll always
Go on

Near,..... Far
Wherever you are
I believe that the heart does
Go on
Once..... more
You open the door
And you're here in my heart and
My heart will
Go on and on

You're here
There's nothing I fear
And I know that my heart will
Go on
Once more
You open the door
And you're here in my heart and
My heart will
Go on and on

Mmmmmmmmmmm....
Mmmmmmmmmmm

Locul 1 in Dance Chart din Germania, intrare noua (21.06) in topul VibeFM (fost Radio Deea) pe 16 (update 8.08.08: locul 1 in Top VibeFM pentru RIO si "Shine on"). Piesa asemanatoare cu Rise Up a lui Yves Larock, dar cred ca mult mai tare. Cel putin pe mine m-a impresionat si nu m-am plictisit de ea dupa sute de ascultari (toate remixurile ei).

Update 20iulie: a aparut videoclipul oficial, R.I.O. feat Tony T. - "Shine On" !!!  :

Hitul romanesc (si nu numai, sper!) al verii este: David & Dony - Sexy thing. Cu sigurantza stiati melodia; ei bine, ei sunt romani. Vocea apartine lui Cornel Donici (Dony) de la formatia Refflex.  Locul 1 in VibeFM de cateva saptamani spune totul. Videoclipul oficial a aparut azi 02 iulie:

Bonus: Yoav - Club thing (Funkerman remix) - un remix extraordinar la o melodie oricum superba. Suna probabil mult mai bine decat precedentele 2 piese. Va las sa va dati cu parerea singuri:

PS: Daca v-au placut piesele, atunci sigur ar trebui sa ascultati online radio-ul VibeFM (descarcati fisierul pt Winamp aici). Acolo au fost si sunt promovate aceste 3 piese, plus numeroase altele.

Khalid won the award for the category of Best Bassist (I'm not too sure how it was worded there.)

Strings won the award for Most Wanted Band. This makes me SO happy. So very happy! Roxen lost. OMG! OMG! OMG!

Jal's Chalte Chalte won the award for Best Song.

Atif Aslam won the award for Most Wanted Male. I'm not surprised.

Khawar Jawad won the award for Rising Star.. (Kaavish won last time, yay!)

Sajania by Ali Zafar won the award for Best Video. Umar didn't win but then again.. like I said earlier.. The TMAs were fucked up!

Meekal Hasan Band won the award for Best Live Act. YAY!!!!!

Shafqat Amanat Ali won the award for Best Live Singer.

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's Charkha won the award for Best Album Production. Yay Rohail Hyatt and Faisal Rafi.

* I could be a little off

Finally, finally I was able to see it once it came out on DVD and get that monkey off my back. It's not superb, but it is better than many of the other War on Terror films that came out in late 2007 like In the Valley of Elah and Rendition. It keeps the story narrowly focused on Cusack's Stanley Phillips, a man who loses his soldier wife in Iraq. There are no flashbacks, mysteries, or battle sequences- just a solid dose of understated anguish. Faced with telling his two daughters of their mother's death, he cracks and instead takes them on an impromptu road trip to a Disney World-style resort in Florida.

Yes the tears flowed a little throughout, but there's a line between earned emotion and manipulation and Grace Is Gone likes to meander back and forth across the line. Some of the execution comes off clumsy with some of the characterizations, particularly Stanley's, coming off too broadly-drawn. He's a little too simplistically pro-war in a way that suggests to me that writer/director James Strouse doesn't quite understand the personal nuances of this type of middle American. Stanley is conveniently balanced with a liberal brother that comes off more as a plot tool than a real person. When the two have a confrontation over Stanley avoiding the truth, the brother makes the point that the girls are going to remember this forever and hate him for it. It's a superb point, but the execution feels significantly off. (Another thing that always made me painfully aware I was watching a movie: the family's car doesn't have headrests. It was just obvious enough to always bother me. Just an example of a touch that pulled me out of the realism.)

The real strength of the film, and it's a considerable strength, is the relationship between Stanley and his eldest daughter, Heidi, played by Paul Dano's eerie female doppelganger, Shélan O'Keefe. Heidi's 12, already at an awkward age, and growing up a little too quickly with her mother away. She and her dad regard each other with mutual confusion but also love and respect. Much of the film involves her coming to an understanding that something dreadful has happened but avoiding trying to actually find out what.

Eventually the family makes it to its amusement park, which, by the way, is the LAMEST amusement park ever. It's like a cross between a Six Flags and a botanical gardens. The thing even has a museum about evolution in it. I can't believe they drove to Florida for THAT. They even see the whole thing and leave before sunset. But on the way back, something clicks in Stanley and he pulls off onto a beach to finally break the news to his daughters. The dialogue fades to music, followed by a short eulogy. The ending works very well and avoids the clumsiness of other parts of the movie. It's just loss, family, and love without politics or plot devices and the emotion is well-earned. I'll admit the whole sequence killed me.

Clint Eastwood wrote the score, which made me think the Academy would still find a way to nominate him for something. But the music suffers from the increasingly irritating indie cliche of Twangy Guitar Music. Can't afford real music? Have someone pluck a guitar for a while and pretend it imparts mood. I did enjoy the Best Song-eligible, Eastwood-penned Jamie Cullum title song. I don't particularly care about Cusack's exclusion and I look forward to more from O'Keefe.

Les médias le savent assez bien. Ils utilisent à cet effet tous les artifices émotionnels possibles.

Mais ils ont des maîtres, car le ton, qui fait qu'une voix atteint des sommet ne s'imite pas. Et Elvis est de ceux là.

Elvis Presley : In the ghetto. Pour nous remettre dans le bain de son amour débordant. Sa voix laisse peu de gens insensibles.

*

Elvis Presley : et le morceau rare : The truth about the jew's (zionists)

Elvis dit "la vérité sur les Juifs"

Released: 2007

Stars: Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear

With: Radha Mitchell, Selma Blair, Missi Pyle, Fred Ward

Reason for Watching: Trailer made it look decent.

I Can Name This Movie In One Note: Quasi-pastiche about love and life for couples, middle class style.

You Should See This Movie Because: It features Morgan Freeman narration. Which is always great. I'm pretty much a sucker for Greg Kinnear and his variations on the naive/sad sack character as this point (and that's more than just a Little Miss Sunshine reference, thank you very much), it is one of my favorites.

Selma Blair topless lesbian scene. And even before it happened, I was thinking she was looking cuter than she sometimes does.

You Shouldn’t See This Movie Because: It isn't particularly good. The story never really gets off the ground. The movie can't really decide if it wants to be a pastiche or not, so the storylines tend to mesh awkwardly.

"Falling Slowly" (the Oscar-winning song from Once) plays over a rather explicit sex scene. That will freak the heck out of you.

The sex scenes in general tend toward the explicit, which isn't normally a bad thing, but they really seem to throw off the pacing in the movie, as if they were in the movie at the behest of a producer, or someone desperately trying to establish some sense of tension or appeal.

Bottom Line: My impression is that most people missed this movie last year, and that's probably for the best.

Last night at the Academy Awards a young couple won an Oscar for their sweet tune, “Falling Slowly”.  Given the competition and the magnitude of the performances related to the same, is it any wonder that this pair seemed struck by a bolt of lightening when their names were called. In the true sense of winning they were the epitome of what we believe in, not the hype, not the self-seeking, not for-old-time-sake, but for the genuine purity of lyrics. 

Sometimes I answer questions with a lyric.  I find myself in a situation that brings to mind a mood and a song.  Sing to me, words to give me hope, and words to stir my heart. When Marketa Irglova was ushered back onto the stage she used up less than a minute to say thank you to the Academy.  Her words were worth noting.

 “…and, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream, and don’t give up.  This song was written from the perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day, connects us all, no matter how different we are.” 

I am a writer and I like to write about such things as hope.  Belly of the Whale is much like the song that won the Oscar.  It doesn’t carry a lot of hype, it isn’t like another famous book, and it does not follow in the footsteps of mystery, romance or thriller.  Belly of the Whale’s message was also written from the perspective of hope.  

There are times when the beauty of simple lyrics outweighs the grandeur of costumes and seventy-six trombones.  Like a simple song of hope whose lyrics stay with you throughout the day, Belly of the Whale will touch your heart and resonate inside you long after the book is closed and the pages all read. 

  The soul’s voice whispers in the early hours of day.  Blog about music and lyrics, blog about reading a book.  Keep the melody in your head; find the words embedded in your heart. Blog what you think, see and hear. 

Linda Merlino, author, Belly of the Whale 

preorder on amazon.com

Javier Bardem
Best Supporting Actor, No Country for Old Men

I want to thank the Academy for the inspiration it gave me during tonight’s 80^th Oscar presentation. After all, what greater showcase than Hollywood to remind us that dreams can come true?

The acceptance speeches of a couple of newcomers whose dreams were acknowledged with the coveted award this evening said it all for me--

You can touch a long-shot through belief and perseverance.

"I also want to thank my junior high guidance counselor for a meeting we had where he asked me, "What do you want to do with your life?" And I said, "I want to make movies." And he said, "What else do you want to do with your life?" And I said, "Make movies," and he said, "What if you couldn't make movies," and I said, "I'd find a way that I could."--Brad Bird, Best Animated Feature Film, Ratatouille

"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible." --Marketa Irglova, Best Song, Once

Here's the moment.

If you haven't heard the song - you should. Enjoy.

Best Song
"Falling Slowly" Once, "Raise it Up" August Rush, "Happy Working Song" Enchanted, "So Close" Enchanted, "That's How You Know" Enchanted

For some reason I feel like I already covered this category. But since the Academy stupidly ignored my recommendations, let's take a look at these inferior choices.

The clear winner for me is "Falling Slowly." It's the central song in the wonderful musical Once that embodies the heartbreak and loneliness of the main characters. "Raise it Up" is actually fairly offbeat and I imagine it works well in the film, schmaltzy as it surely is. Nothing against Enchated, but if one of its triumvirate wins it better be "That's How You Know," a clever take on the Disney fairy tale tune set in modern times. "Happy Working Song" is a cute but uninspiring ditty while "So Close" is a toothless and unmemorable love song.

Snubs: See my breakdown of the eligible songs to find about a dozen songs I liked better than all the non-Once songs.

Best Score
Atonement, The Kite Runner, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille, 3:10 to Yuma

Ratatouille's score is, well, cartoony and bold. Michael Clayton, on the other hand, is sort of undersold. 3:10 to Yuma's score is strong and pays homage to the Western scores of old.

But the last two really stand out. The Kite Runner combines Afghan and western music in a set of pieces that are attention-getting and moving. But how can you argue against Atonement's score? Okay, I'll tell you how: it's too overbearing for the film and outshines the rest of the film way too often. But as a work on its own it's intriguing, engrossing, and dramatic. I've played it many times and it's always a treat to hear.

Snubs: If you ignore the disqualification of the haunting score to There Will Be Blood, I really enjoyed the score to the otherwise dismal Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Best Art Direction
American Gangster, Atonement, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd, There Will Be Blood

Sometimes I think this category is dominated by fanciful and stylish sci-fi or fantasy films when accurate and appropriate period set design is just as impressive, so I like that American Gangster, Atonement, and There Will Be Blood got nominated for stylish and impressive period sets in 1970s New York, 1930s country England and London, and 1900s desert California, respectively. But I'll be a tad hypocritical and throw my support behind the foreboding and gloomy London of Sweeney Todd.

Best Costume
Across the Universe, Atonement, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, La Vie en Rose, Sweeney Todd

Can you really go wrong with any of these? All had interesting and appropriate costumes. While Atonement may have had the most iconic costume of this awards season in Keira Knightley's green dress, Sweeney Todd's costumes transcended period clothing and fit into the sinister London imagined in the film.

Best Makeup
La Vie en Rose, Norbit, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

La Vie en Rose by a mile. The old and decrepit Edith Piaf looked old and decrepit, not like a strangely made-up movie character.

Snubs: Why did Norbit get the fat suit nomination instead of Hairspray? Eddie Murphy may have worn a bikini in his fat suit but John Travolta danced in his.

Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers

No disrespect meant for the other nominees, but the special effects in Transformers struck me as more complete, more integral to the film, and more flashy.

Best Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood

Bourne seems to be getting some attention because its editing is so obvious (and so nausea-inducing). I say just skip all that and go for the best film, in this case No Country For Old Men. I also found some of the editing in Into the Wild too heavy-handed, such as the cuts to the poem McCandless wrote while he was struggling in Alaska.

The Sound Categories
I can't even tell you what the difference between Best Sound and Best Sound Editing is. All I know is that I loved the sound in 3:10 to Yuma, No Country for Old Men told a lot of the story through nothing but sound, and Transformers is an example of digital visual and audio mastery. 3:10 to Yuma for sound mixing, No Country for Old Men for sound editing.

Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood.

Darn good set of nominees here. Atonement's going to get some looks for that long, incredible tracking shot on the Dunkirk beaches. It was awesome by itself, but I didn't think it fit in with the film that well. Some of the shot compositions also struck me as being too artsy. No Country for Old Men looks great and incorporates very well the emptiness of western Texas. The camera was the character of Jean-Dominique Bauby for half of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The point-of-view from the paralyzed man's one eye was probably the best part of the film and it contrasted nicely with the beautiful dream sequences. No Country for Old Men is always gorgeous with some amazing shots. There Will Be Blood takes a bit more risks, playing with some of the color palettes.

But Assassination of Jesse James gets my support. It has the requisite beautiful scenes and gorgeous landscape shots, but it's always framed in such a way that the empty, desolate midwestern plains always contribute to the film's tone and even feel like a separate character. It was quite a year for Roger Deakins; he also shot No Country and In the Valley of Elah.

Snubs: Into the Wild.

Animated Feature Film
Persepolis, Ratatouille, Surf's Up

I know this isn't really a technical category, but this is my last chance to pontificate about it so I will. I also won't be calling a favorite since I have yet to see Perspolis. Ratatouille is the entire package. It looks stunning and is utterly engaging. The atmosphere it creates completely draws you into this world and perhaps no film has ever captured so well the joys of cooking and food.

Surf's Up is a curious choice. On the one hand, it looks incredible and the animation style is innovative. The surfing scenes are absolutely thrilling and you feel like you're in the wave with them it's so well animated. It's also a mockumentary and there are several clever touches: characters in the background stare at the camera, characters talk over each other and get self conscious in front of the camera, and the shots are designed to feel like they are coming from a real documentary film crew. To get that feel, the creators pioneered an entirely new animation filming technique. Each scene was animated in three dimensions. From there, a cameraman holding a camera walked through an empty room filled with sensors "filming" the action. Thus we get realistic camera movement around objects and the jostle of a handheld camera. It's all really neat.

Too bad the plot and characters are so unoriginal. If it wasn't for the neat style I would've been bored out of my mind. All style, no substance.

Snubs: I thought for sure The Simpsons Movie would be nominated. It was a pretty good film with a lot of sentimental backing. But if I'm being honest, Meet the Robinsons was even better. It's a pure kids movie, unlike so many animated films today, full of stunt casting and spending a lot of time casting sly winks to older watchers. But it's very sweet, very funny, and very trippy. I mean, the bad guy is a bowler hat named Doris, it's nuts!

Hairspray is just infused with such exuberance and positive energy that it's impossible to keep the smile off your face. It's the epitome of a feel-good movie but it's not schmaltzy or cheesy: it earns its goodwill. It has a simple but well-executed message of tolerance and following your dreams and that music and dancing is toe-tapping and dazzling.

The performances are pretty good and where lacking at least the actors really threw themselves into their roles. John Travolta picked up a Golden Globe Supporting Actor nod, but I didn't think he was that strong. I did very much appreciate how much fun he had in his cross-dressing role- there was no holding back there. The Baltimore accent sort of faded in and out but I just about fell out of my chair laughing when his first line was, "Would you keep that racket down? I'm tryin to arn in here!" Nikki Blonsky also got the Globes love though again I only found her decent. I'm certainly hoping to see her in more films in the future though.

Both of them got passed over at the Oscars and in fact the film didn't even notch up any nominations in the technical categories. Costume seemed like a good chance. Musicals often get nods for Sound Editing. An original song was entered into that category. Travolta's fat suit could've gotten recognition in the Makeup category (though I guess the fat suit appreciation went to Norbit). But it got zilch, and that's a shame.

Back to that opening number. I'm a big fan of the city of Baltimore and I'll be one of the first to defend it. It's a surprisingly neat city with a lot of blue-collar charm. But the lines "Good morning Baltimore/ Where every day is an open door/ Every night is a fantasy/ Every sound's like a symphony" left even me scratching my head. But at least the welcoming rats, drunks, and flashers felt much more realistic.

A few other numbers I loved:

• The introductory scene to the Corny Collins show with James Marsden's huge, blinding smile and Brittany Snow's character stealing the spotlight.
• The scene where the black students show Tracy, Penny, and Link their dance moves and take them on the school bus to their neighborhood (that dance on the bus is nifty). Elijah Kelley and the adorable Taylor Pinks as Little Inez shine through.

• The sock hop where Tracy shows off her new moves and gets discovered for the show. The song from this scene, "Ladies' Choice," is a fast-paced number that I think is the best in the movie. This scene segues into Tracy's first appearance on TV and I admit I kinda squeed along with her parents when she was first introduced.
• The protest led by Queen Latifah's Motormouth Maybelle has a lot of soul and passion. I found it very effective and fairly moving and the song is superb and rousing.
• And, of course, the big finale, from Tracy's surprise appearance, to Little Inez's big win, to John Travolta really shaking it on the dance floor. It's about 15 minutes of non-stop dazzle and the song is catchy as all get-out.

As much as I loved the music, I've taken a listen to the cast recording from the original Broadway show and it's not very good. This isn't a case of the people behind the film half-heartedly adapting already stellar material. I've disliked several film adaptations of Broadway plays because they were too much like watching a stage show (see: The Producers) and if I wanted to watch the stage show I'd go see it. They've taken the original show, taken it up several notches, polished it up, and really made it its own film.

Adam knocked the plot, but I found it more than adequate. Not a lot of complexity can be expected in a musical. It's a nice, straight-forward tale with obvious good and bad guys and in the end the good guys bring about social change through song and dance. We're not exactly going for realism here. Simple is better in a movie like this; its small scope keeps the action moving. I saw Dreamgirls again soon after Hairspray and the former is a perfect example of trying to do too much. It's way too busy and comes off like a two-hour montage that glosses over most of the character development. Besides a gratuitous love triangle (the weakest part of the film), Hairspray keeps it to-the-point.

Going back to the Oscars for just one second, I think the producers blew an opportunity here. Two original songs were written for the film. The aforementioned "Ladies' Choice" was even released as a single for Zac Efron, but was not eligible. Either it did not meet an eligibility requirement that I'm unaware of or the producers didn't submit it. This is a great, fast-paced, so catchy it's criminal song that got overlooked for the tune over the closing credits, "Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)," which is one of the weakest songs on the soundtrack. And naturally it was not selected by the Academy. Plus "Ladies' Choice" brings the added bonus of an Efron performance on the telecast if it were to be nominated, and that means tweener ratings gold. (I'm just going to type Zac Efron again and again in a shameless ploy to draw hits.)

And can we talk about Amanda Bynes for a few minutes? What is it about her that is so enchanting? I don't think she's a superb actress- she overacts in everything. She even oversings in this film, adding some weird vocal flourishes to the "Without Love" and "Can't Stop the Beat" numbers. Yet she drew me into so many episodes of the absolutely terrible TV show "What I Like About You." And it's not just that she's hot.

She is of course, but everyone in movies is hot. However I think I've solved the riddle:

She waaaaaaay over-emotes. She takes any emotion and dials it up 50%. Especially in her eyes: she's either got them as wide as saucers or she's very deliberately blinking too frequently.

And yet it's strangely endearing. Pay attention to the scene where she runs to tell Mr Turnblad that Tracy's about to be on TV, the look on her face is priceless.

Those screen grabs don't even do those shots justice. And in the movie she adds a squeak. So ridiculous/adorable.

To sum up, I loved this movie. I think for about two weeks nothing else but the soundtrack got played on my Rhapsody account. I watched it on a Friday and then when my sister mentioned wanting to see it I watched it again on Saturday (and I liked it even better the second time). It's the first film from 2007 I've bought and it's something I hope to share with my children some day.

One final note in regards to a discussion about dancing in the comments of Jared's Hairspray post: a little birdie slipped me a video of Jared dancing in more innocent times. Enjoy.

A guy and a girl (we never learn their names) meet cute on the street while he's busking with his guitar, they play some music together, have some discussions about life, and cut a record. And that's about it. But boy is it engrossing and emotional. For two characters whose names we never learn, I got utterly caught up in their lives. And the music's pretty damn great.

I've been a fan of Glen Hansard's band, The Frames, for a bit. They're a fun, sort of poppy Irish rock band with a knack for writing good, passionate lyrics (director John Carney used to be the band's bassist). Hansard's a surprisingly good actor and does a great job selling the distraught starving artist role. Marketa Irglova... well, she's not as good of an actress but she's so enchanting on the screen. She's not just very beautiful but also comes off so sincere. So even as I found her acting to be a bit off she's sort of the cornerstone of the film and something that really makes it special.

The "real world musical" technique of this film is interesting. People don't just break into song and dance like a regular musical. Every song makes sense within a real world environment: a duet in a music shop, a session in a studio. When they sing on the bus they get dirty looks.

And how about that music? So gorgeous. The soundtrack immediately got about 20 spins on my Rhapsody account and an order off Amazon. The songs are so full of heartbreak, loneliness, and passion, backed with such sweet melodies. "Falling Slowly" and "If You Want Me" were eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar and the former was nominated. There's currently some debate about its originality to Once (it appeared on a Hansard/Irglova album and a Czech film at about the same time Once first started hitting the festivals and a Frames album a few months later). Assuming it survives the scrutiny it'll probably be the front-runner. Can any song from Enchanted match its emotion or so perfectly set the tone for the film?

A friend of mine said she was very disappointed with the ending. We all want the payoff of our two heroes consummating their love, but the real world isn't always that way and this film isn't either. Her husband comes to join her in Ireland, he goes off to London to chase the ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. Do either of these relationships have the potential that the two of them have together? Probably not; she's very young and has already broken it off with her husband and moved across the continent once, his attachment to his ex and the way he follows her like a sad puppy is a little pitiful. But real-world complications affect this pair in ways that they usually do not in the movies. Lots of relationships like this would end very similarly in real life. It's a story of two people meeting at a specific time of their lives, then moving on. I think the ambiguity of their relationship makes Once more real- and also more special.

And, with that in mind, doesn't that make Once such a perfect title for this film?

Update: The Carpetbagger is reporting that the music branch has officially deemed "Falling Slowly" eligible.

To be eligible, a song must be an original composition with lyrics, made specifically for the film. It must be played during the film or be the first song over the end credits. The nomination committee screens the songs as they appear in the film, so a song that fits particularly well within the film may get leg up over a better song that's incongruous.

The Academy has released its list of 59 eligible songs. When you really listen to a bunch of movie songs in a row, they sort of sound all the same. For the most part they are either bland, inoffensive tunes to blend into the background or more upbeat tunes for montages (with the occasional tune from a musical). But some are good despite that while others bring some uniqueness. Let's dive into them after the jump.

The Best

"Grace Is Gone" (Jamie Cullum) from Grace Is Gone may be my favorite of the bunch. It's a sad song, reflecting the subject of the film. Cullum has a great voice and he sells the solemn tone, backed by only a piano. Grace Is Gone made it to 7 theaters over two weekends before sadly disappearing so I never got a chance to see it, but I've read enough about it to hazard a guess as to where in the film the song appears and I imagine it packs quite a punch. See if you can listen to it without getting a chill down your spine. It's also composed by Clint Eastwood so Clint may get his Oscar nod this year after all. "Lullabye for Wyatt" (Sheryl Crow) is the other song from the film. It's bleak and decent, but nowhere near as good as the title track.

Two films are getting a lot of attention in this category due to multiple contenders. The first is Into the Wild, with its great soundtrack of fairly simple acoustic songs performed, and mostly written, by Eddie Vedder. The jangly, unadorned tunes are great accompaniment for the stark film. "Guaranteed" appears to be the prohibitive favorite, but I'm more a fan of "Rise" (it's the first song on the video) with its more upbeat tempo. "Society" is sort of trite and is also the only eligible song not written by Vedder.

The other is Once, a musical about two musicians, played by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, meeting and playing together. The music in this film is gorgeous and the signature tune, "Falling Slowly," a slow and beautiful love song, will almost certainly be a nominee. "If You Want Me," the only other eligible song (much of the music was written long before the film, making it ineligible), is full of loneliness and heartbreak. These are characters that are in fairly overcast and uncertain times of their lives and it is reflected in the music they create.

"Do You Feel Me" (performed by Anthony Hamilton) from American Gangster is a funky, catchy R&B tune.

The Hottest State is an Ethan Hawke project that never got a full theatrical release. It follows a young man as he moves to New York where he meets a young Hispanic woman and they make beautiful music together, figuratively and literally. Jesse Harris is a musician who plays the lead character and he turns in a simple and beautiful song about love and heartbreak in "It Will Stay With Us" (the recorded version is backed only by guitar). "Ya No Te Veria Mas (Never See You)" (Rocha) is a folksy Spanish love song.

"Huck's Tale" (Bob Dylan) from Lucky You is a slow Dylan tune with a bit of a country twinge. Very good.

I would love to see a song from Walk Hard: The Legend of Dewey Cox take home a nomination. How fun would it be to see John C Reilly taking the Oscar stage in his Cox persona? The problem with the film is that it's not often out-and-out funny. In fact, they probably spent too much time making the songs good. "Walk Hard" is Cox's signature tune. It's a bit too straightforward for a parody, but it's fairly catchy and a great imitation of the Johnny Cash style. Check out the punk version here. "Let's Duet" is decent but quite funny with all its double entendres. It's very well performed and extra funny since that's clearly not Jenna Fischer's voice. "Beautiful Ride" is my favorite of the bunch. It strives for profundity but is way too literal. The big crescendo at the end where Cox shares his realization of what life is all about is so silly. But it's also a damn catchy song.

My favorite song from Walk Hard is the Bob Dylan parody "Royal Jelly," with its nonsensical lyrics ("Mailboxes drip like lampposts in the twisted birth canal of the coliseum"). After sitting through the incomprehensible I'm Not There I just about fell out of my chair laughing during this song. It actually only appeared in the film for a few seconds, so I understand the studio not submitting it for Oscar eligibility. But how could any member of the nomination committee not fall for such profundity as "We're so unlucky and stuff/ Woodrow Wilson never had it so tough"?

“Before It’s Too Late (Sam and Mikaela’s Theme)” (Goo Goo Dolls) from Transformers is precisely what you'd expect from a Goo Goo Dolls tune: oh-so-sincere but hokey over a soaring chorus. But what can I say, I still like it.

Finally, "Land of Quiet Poems" (Chris Stills and Julianna Raye- link leads to Rhapsody and requires registration) from the little-seen Josh Hartnett/ Samuel L Jackson boxing film Resurrecting the Champ. I dig Stills's smoky voice (he's Stephen Stills's son) and the song is very catchy.

The Other Contenders

"Say" (John Mayer), from The Bucket List, is a sub-par John Mayer song, so of course it'll get nominated. But after seeing the film, I must admit that the song works well over the closing credits after the schmaltzy ending.

"Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)" (Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Effron, Elijah Kelley). I loved Hairspray but this is a very weak entry. Three original songs were written for the film. One, the doo-wop love song "It Takes Two" (Zac Efron) didn't make it into the film, which is a shame because it's very sweet and catchy. Another, "Ladies' Choice" (Zac Efron) did make it. It's a fast-paced dance song for the pivotal sock hop scene in the movie. Why the producers decided not to submit it is beyond me. It's a damn good song and think of the ratings from tweeners the Oscars would pull down with a Zac Efron performance!

Instead "Come So Far," the song that plays over the end credits, gets the nod. The obvious downgrade in quality made me immediately suspect that it was the original song created for the Oscars. I'd love to see Hairspray get some recognition from the Academy, but this is a dubious choice.

"Despedida" (Shakira) comes from Love in the Time of Cholera. I saw a preview for the film a while back. It was a big, dramatic, sweeping affair and ended with the words "with original music by Shakira" and the entire theater cracked up. This is a decent song. Shakira has an enchanting voice and she sells the performance, but it feels sort of disjointed.

Enchanted is likely to get some Academy love, though I don't know for what song. "So Close" (John McLaughlin) is the kind of slickly-produced, soaring love song that used to be standard in Disney movies. But this is no "Colors of the Wind" or "A Whole New World." "That's How You Know" (Amy Adams and Marlon Saunders) is an upbeat love song with some street flair. Adams's voice is sort of lacking, however. "Happy Working Song" (Amy Adams) is a simple but pretty catchy little ditty extolling the virtue of work. The scene it appears in is very cute. The hit from the movie and the one getting radio airplay, Carrie Underwood's "Ever, Ever After" was not submitted by the studio.

"Le Festin" (Camille) from Ratatouille sounds precisely like what it is: an American idea of a French song to play over a cartoon. It's cute, I guess.

"Little Wonders" (Rob Thomas) comes from the surprisingly fun and trippy Meet the Robinsons. It got some airplay earlier in the year so you'll probably recognize it if you click through to the youtube video. It's not bad but fairly repetitive. It has that guilty pleasure, Mix station vibe to it. "Another Believer" (Rufus Wainright) is the other song from the film. It doesn't do much for me.

Norwegian musician Sondre Lerch provided most of the music for Dan in Real Life and three of his tunes are Oscar eligible. They're poppy but bland and fairly similar: "My Hands Are Shaking," "To Be Surprised," and "I'll Be OK" (no clip available). The quintessential background music for a feel-good comedy.

The Ineligible But Noteworthy

Before I lose your attention (and there's still a long way to go!) I want to note two songs that I really enjoyed from 2007 films that did not make the Academy's eligibility lists.

"Alone Without You" (The Nightwatchman) from Sicko plays over the end credits and perfectly captures the desperation and anger of the movie. The Nightwatchman is Tom Morello's protest singer alter-ego. Everything I've seen says this was written for Sicko, so I'm not sure why it's ineligible. Morello is eligible for "The Stars of Orion" from Berkeley, so perhaps he didn't want more than one of his songs submitted. If that's the case he chose wrong because the latter is flat out terrible. There aren't even any crazy Tom Morello guitar tricks!

Paris, je t'aime is not on the Academy's list of films eligible for Best Picture candidates, perhaps due to its format of 20 short films each with its own director and actors, and maybe that makes it ineligible for other categories. "La Meme Histoire (We're All in the Dance)" (Feist) is a terrific ending to the movie. The film is a love letter to Paris and dwells on themes of love and human interaction and the end song over a final montage and end credits encapsulates that nicely. Nothing about the film will be spoiled if you click on the link, so please check it out.

The Interesting

The 80s got a humorous send up in the romantic comedy Music and Lyrics early in the year. "PoP! Goes My Heart" (Hugh Grant and Scott Porter) comes complete with heavy synthesizers and an absurd music video. "Way Back Into Love" (Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett) is the big closing number. It's way over-produced (does anyone really believe Hugh Grant can sing like that?) but its over-the-top schmaltz works in the context of the film. Either of these would be fun to watch on Oscar night. (The clip is clearly from a camcorder in a movie theater- perhaps the exact same bootleg I saw on a bus to New York?)

Good Luck Chuck gives us three songs. "Shut Me Out" (Aidan Hawken) is a soft, longing, uninteresting ditty that screams PROTAGONIST IS SAD ABOUT LOSING GIRL. "Good Luck Chuck" (Dandy Warhols, no clip available) is actually a neat, modern Beach Boy-esque tune whose lyrics comprise mostly of women's names. I imagine it was played over a montage of Chuck getting laid. Finally, there's a contribution from The Flaming Lips, "I Was Zapped By the Lucky Super Radio." It's an odd tune with a strangely infectious beat and lots of background noise and it's definitely the zaniest of the eligible tunes.

Except for perhaps another song from The Flaming Lips, for they also give us "The Tale of the Horny Frog" from The Heartbreak Kid. There's no false advertising here: it really is a song about a horny frog. It has sort of a sing-song quality to it with some Mexican influence, except it's about a frog having sex. I'm sure this fit in perfectly to the Farrelly brothers' film.

August Rush was the submission champ this year with four separate songs. Jonathan Rhys Meyers shows off his surprising musical skills in "This Time." He has a nice emotive singing voice and I could definitely see this getting some play on an adult contemporary station. His other performance is "Break," which is paired with a Bach piece so it probably comes at the time of the film when modern and classical styles collide (and a family is united! awww). I like the other Rhys Meyers song better, though this isn't bad. He sounds a lot like the singer from Gomez on this track.

Also from August Rush, "Someday" (John Legend) is an old-fashioned and unmemorable pop song. Finally, "Raise it Up" (Impact Repertory Theater and Jamia Simone Nash) is a passionate choir piece that includes a solo by a kid with an odd voice.

The Bad

"At the Edge of the World" (Aimee Mann and Zach Gill) from Arctic Tale is terrible. It includes a bunch of bad geographic references for the nature film. Thankfully there is no clip for me to link to.

"December Boys" (Peter Cincotti) from the film of the same title is sappy and overly-literal.

"A Dream" (Common) from Freedom Writers is a limp and unambitious hip hop tune.

"Lyra" (Kate Bush) comes from The Golden Compass and is probably the worst of the bunch. Screechy and painful.

Roger Waters turns in the uncreative "Hello (I Love You)" from The Last Mimzy. I'm surprised the Academy didn't disqualify it for stealing so shamelessly from every Pink Floyd song ever written.

To take in Take That's "Rule the World" from Stardust you better like cheese.

I kind of like Sinead O'Connor, but her song for Water Horse, "Back Where You Belong," does very little for me, especially not the screechy chorus.

56 Drops of Blood, a Hungarian musical that even imdb has no information about, submitted three(!) songs, "Atkozott Egy Elet," "O, Atyam!," and "Eleg!" Yikes. Honestly, just click one and be horrified. It's truly something to behold.

The Rest/ The Forgettable

"Baby Don't You Cry" (Quincy Coleman and Keri Russell) from Waitress is a cute lullaby with a country twang.

"Rule the World" (Eels) is a poppy tune likely played over a silly montage in the horrible Shrek the Third.

"Pretty Much Amazing" (Joanna) from Nancy Drew isn't bad, just a straightforward female pop vocal. But there are certainly worse songs you'll hear on the radio.

Beowulf's big song, "A Hero Comes Home," comes from Idina Metzel. It's cheesy with a lot of pretentious bravado, but it has a neat Euro-beat to it. Kind of sounds like if Enya did an up-tempo song.

The rest I couldn't find any copies of, and perhaps that's for the better.

Badland is an Iraq war movie that I don't think even got a commercial release. But it still submitted two songs, "The Devil’s Lonely Fire" and "Nothing's There."

"First Amendment Blues" (Darius de Haas) from Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone. I know nothing of this movie or artist.

"China Dolls" (Gary Clark, Jr) from Honeydripper. This is a film that's all about the blues, is getting its limited release right now, and must be hoping for some Oscar support. But the soundtrack isn't available until next month.

The Mormons' least favorite film, September Dawn, had a song from Lee Ann Womack, "Love Will Still Be There."

There's a song from Music Within called "Ordinary People." Indications suggest it may be a Neil Young song, but if it is it's 18 minutes and I never came close to making it through the entire thing.

My Choices

If I had the power to choose the nominations - and the Academy should really work on that - I would select:

"Grace Is Gone" (Jamie Cullum) from Grace Is Gone

"Rise" (Eddie Vedder) from Into the Wild

"Falling Slowly" (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) from Once

"It Will Stay With Us" (Jesse Harris) from The Hottest State

"Do You Feel Me" (Anthony Hamilton) from American Gangster

(Runners Up: "Land of Quiet Poems" (Chris Stills) from Resurrecting the Champ, "Huck's Tune" (Bob Dylan) from Lucky You, "Beautiful Ride" (John C Reilly) from Walk Hard)

But Amy Adams was nominated for a Golden Globe, and has some buzz surrounding her for a possible Oscar nod. She does bring charm and pluck to the role as Giselle and embodies the cartoon-in-the-real-world rather well. But…I just can’t seem to get all that worked up over her performance.

To her credit, Adams made Enchanted remotely watchable. With a lesser actress, maybe the film is unbearable…but I can’t see that distinction making her worthy of a nomination.

The film walks a thin line between glamorizing McCandless and disapproving of his attitude and journey. He's romanticized prominently but the negative aspects are more subtle until the end. Occasionally you think throughout the film, "man this guy's kind of a dick" but by the end there's no doubt. "Yes," you say, "he's definitely a dick." I still felt for the guy at the end, but he is exposed as a naive, stubborn kid whose flaws did him in. The glamor is completely gone at the end as he realizes he's eschewed a major part of the human experience - social interaction - in his deluded search for truth.

McCandless dies on the first page of John Krakauer's book, but Penn decides not to reveal his fate until the very end of the film. It's an interesting choice, but I have to imagine the film loses some of its impact if you are not aware that the whole journey is just a stubborn march towards death. Certain moments gain significance when you understand McCandless to be a tragic and doomed figure. Perhaps Penn expects most viewers to know McCandless dies before going into the theater.

Speaking of Penn, he makes several strange shot choices that I could do without. One scene shows McCandless eating an apple in the woods. He tosses the core away then runs up to the camera and waves. Something silly like that can take the viewer right out of the film. Once McCandless is dying in his broken down bus, Penn gets a bit too artsy and heavy-handed with close-ups of particular passages and words in a poem McCandless has written. I shouldn't be noticing particular shots that bother me. In fact, that rarely happens even in movies that I hate.

Emile Hirsch is wildly inconsistent as McCandless. Some scenes he pulls of brilliantly and some are just terrible. It would be safe to say that his physical acting trumps his dialogue delivery. Hal Holbrook is getting tipped for a supporting actor nomination despite his short appearance. The whole sequence with Holbrook was, to me, easily the weakest of the film. The relationship fell utterly flat and Hirsch is at his worst in these scenes.

But enough of the negative. Into the Wild follows the usual road trip film formula of wide landscape shots and quirky characters. Vince Vaughn is amusing as a South Dakota farmer and I liked Catherine Keener and Brian Dierker as a hippie couple. (Fun fact: imdb tells me that Dierker was also the film's marine coordinator. In fact, he was hired to drive boats and scout water locations and ended up with a fairly major acting role in the film, his first film role.) McCandless forms relationships with the people he encounters but they're awkward, like he never fully matured socially, and I enjoyed that dynamic. They all clearly like the kid but cannot understand him (perhaps an impossible task). The narration, usually from Jena Malone as McCandless's sister, initially comes off as cheesy and pretentious but as the movie progressed it began to make sense to me since it's so hard to ascribe any sort of logic to this misguided traveler that if you try to explain it you end up with "deep" mumbo jumbo. And the scenery is simply breathtaking.

Finally, I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan and I hope Eddie Vedder's work gets him the nomination he was robbed of for Pearl Jam's contribution to Big Fish. I really like most of the songs and will pick up the soudtrack eventually. The simple, jangly tunes fit in very well with the film.

The Eddie Vedder songs were pleasant enough, though I couldn't remember them by the end of the night. And I don't think the Abita Purple Haze had anything to do with that. In a vacuum, I'm not opposed to one getting a nomination, I can't say for sure yet whether I think it would be in my top five.

In these days I closed my old Youtube account and I must open another one. I takes 500 video favourited, because the Blog on ITALIAN SONGS wants that... While I delete some old videos without permission and not more on Youtube I found new videos and I registred and upoload that one: It's a song played from MINA, the best Italian singer (70 years, the last 30 embeded in Swiss, out of paparazzi and showbiz, but very near to her house of music, she pubblish 1 - 2 lp for year.) MINA now is the same incredible artist of 45 , 50 years ago, and I love her too much." Non credere" is a song with an incredible melody; speaks about a love : a triangle: Her boyfriend now has another girl and she said to him: "Non credere (a lei)" " Don't believe (to her)"; I love you and if she really love you I can go away, or to die if you want it, but don't believe to her love: for her you are only a joke, a love of one second. That's all translation. The melody is on all that few words: incredible; many times only few words are better then a poèm.

If you love Italian music go to the LIST OF ITALIAN SINGERS