1.
A new film about John Lennon is in the works from the makers of Control. Story here. And here we learn that Kristin Scott Thomas will be in it.
2.
Paste is cooking up one heckuva tribute show for R.E.M, featuring many special guests like Patti Smith and The Apples in Stereo. And the house band? Calexico. How many kinds of awesome is that? Seems like the music world is rallying behind R.E.M. these days. Hopefully it will help them re-start their engine and put out a good record again. (Accelerate was a notable attempt, but I haven’t found any of the songs there to have the lasting power of my favorite REM records — which include Life’s Rich Pageant, Document, Green, Out of Time, Automatic, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, or Reveal.) These guys were so inspired for so long, I refuse to believe they’ve run out of great songs.
3.
Rod Blackhurst has a good list of some of the films I’m most looking forward to in 2009. But hey, where’s Pixar’s Up? What film are you most excited about?
4.
Jeffrey Wells has a good question: What’s the best song-in-movie sequence?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_phQnNE80
5.
@U2 is buzzing with updates on U2’s new adventures. The new single may hit January 19, and Bono’s talking about where the tour will start.
6.
Wow. Okay, here’s an alternate list of eagerly-anticipated films. Except this one’s about 100 times bigger.
7.
Hard to believe. The State of Washington’s longest-running newspaper has been abandoned by Hearst, put up for sale.
I would comment, but you already posted the clip. Is there any other song-in-movie sequence? Could there ever possibly be a more beautiful, arresting clip than this?
That magnolia clip is … amazing.
This is a film that I wasn’t positive about right after watching it, but I find myself longing to see again and again. And watching this clip makes me certain that it is time.
The staying power of “Magnolia” is just phenomenal. And I think that sequence is my favorite scene. What an incredible way to use a song in a movie. And it doesn’t seem cheesy in the least.
I would also nominate the music store scene from Once. Perhaps I’ll watch that with the wife tonight 🙂
The opening song from the movie Beautiful Girls always gets me too.
Oh, and then there’s the final song and dance number from Little Miss Sunshine. Also classic.
I don’t know, Jeffrey — I’m a newspaper guy (when I entered the ministry, I stayed with the First Amendment, but I switched clauses) & I proudly hold a bachelor’s in journalism from Northwestern, but if Hearst has been losing money with the P-I for eight years and watched $14 million go away last year, I can’t be certain I’d see it as having been abandoned. It seems like big papers have been too slow to react to media changes, and the ones in two-paper towns have probably felt the hits the hardest.
I shiver at the thought of the public being left with broadcast news, especially of the local variety, as its source of information, but unless the big papers wake up and get creative with their transmission of information, then the P-I, the Tribune Co. and the NY Times won’t be the last who stand next to a grave with one foot on a banana peel.
Personal favorite: Damien Rice’s “Cold Water” at the end of I Am David.
“Brothers in Arms” from “Two Cathedrals”, the S2 finale of “The West Wing”. 😉
Control was one the best movies that no one talked about in 2007. Part of the appeal for me, though, was that I didn’t know much about Joy Division going in, so the songs and the story were surprises. And Sam Riley should have been nominated for, well, something or other. Don’t know if the same kind of effect could be achieved with a Beatles story, but it sounds like the right people are behind it.
Neither of those lists of most-anticipated flicks pay much attention to the film I’m looking forward to most in 2009: WATCHMEN. Now, I’m a fan of the graphic novel, so that’s more or less why I’m already on board. But the graphic novel is certainly magnificent; it’s a pop-art masterpiece with incredibly intelligent writing and mature, complex storytelling. There’s a reason it ended up on TIME’s “greatest English-language novels since 1923” list (though I’d contest its placement as a novel, but it speaks to the excellence of the work overall). If you haven’t read it, you should.
Now, I assume to folks who haven’t read the graphic novel, the flick looks like nothing beyond escapist entertainment. Glossy visuals with some slo-mo action have been the dominant focus of the trailers so far, rather than narrative or character, and the tags noting that the director is the same guy who did 300 isn’t exactly going to inspire much confidence with the people who are interested in “real” film.
But make no mistake, WATCHMEN is a flick with more on its mind than entertainment, and while Warner Bros. has been advertising it a certain way, it’ll ultimately play a lot differently (I know, because I’ve read the shooting script). If Zack Snyder has executed this flick the way he should – and by accounts from preview screenings and the like, he’s really nailed it – then this really is the 2009 film to watch, and should catch audiences and critics off-guard. Now if Snyder has bungled it, well, that will be that, but I imagine it will still stand as one of 2009’s most interesting film ventures.
Otherwise, I’m keen to see many of 2009’s offerings, from Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS to Peter Jackson’s THE LOVELY BONES.