"I lost the plot for a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits, and the exit sign."
- Nick Hornby "High Fidelity" (1995 Novel)
Film babble blog is back!
Not to piss on AFI'S 100 YEARS...100 SONGS - I mean they have a fine list of songs that enhanced many a classic film but we wanted to draw attention to the tunes that cheapened many movies. Not to say these are all cheap bad songs - no it's just how they've been used over and over to manipulate the viewer to a certain mood. As you look it over I think you'll recall not just the movie or song you'll also recall the emotion, time, or spirit they're trying for.
So here's :
THE TOP 50 MOST OVER-USED POP SONGS IN MODERN MOVIES
1. "I Got You" - James Brown
2. "Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina & The Waves
3. "All Along The Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix
4. "Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf
5. "Let My Love Open The Door" - Pete Townshend
6. "Kug Fu Fighting" - Carl Douglas
7. "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley - INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, BLACK HAWK DOWN, LILO & STITCH, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, and so on...
8. "Melt With You" - Modern English
9. "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye
10. Tie - "Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic/"Every Step You Take" - The Police/Sting
11. "Time Of The Season" - The Zombies : This is one of many songs on this list that film-makers use to immediately evoke "the 60's" Notable uses : AWAKENINGS, 1969, AUSTIN POWERS - THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME, SHANGHI NIGHTS, and too many more to mention.
12. "All Star" - Smash Mouth : MYSTERY MEN, SHREK, INPECTOR GADGET, CONTACT, and a bunch of other movies tried to hitch on to this piece of pop culture plastic. Shame really.
13. "Waiting For The Miracle" - Leonard Cohen
14. "Oh, Yeah" - Yello
15. "ABC" - Jackson 5
16. "Lust For Life" - Iggy Pop
17. "California Girls" - The Beach Boys
18. "Bad To The Bone" - George Thorogood
19. "Staying Alive" - The Bee Gees : Of course SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and its sequel (of course called STAYING ALIVE) but also AIRPLANE!, and many other satirical disco-era sequences that came about in the 70's resurgence of popularity in the 90's.
20. "Tracks Of My Tears" - Smokey Robinson : PLATOON and THE BIG CHILL are the most notable films but the song also appears on the soundtracks for the TV shows The Wonder Years and "ER" oddly enough.
21. "Surrender" - Cheap Trick : Matt Dillon's first film OVER THE EDGE used Cheap Trick, the Cars, and even Little Feat to make it's track housing teen rebellion point. It's use in DETROIT CITY ROCKS and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH hammers home that same point but its appearance in SMALL SOLDIERS AND DADDY DAY CARE does not.
22. "Mama Told Me Not To Come" - Three Dog Night
23. "More Than A Feeling" - Boston
24. "White Rabbit" - Jefferson Airplane
26. "We Are The Champions" - Queen
27. "It's The End Of The World..." - R.E.M.
28. "Dreams" - The Cranberries
29. "Low Rider" - War
30. "Get Ready" - The Temptations
31. "The Boys Are Back In Town" - Thin Lizzy
32. "Celebration" - Kool & The Gang
33. "Sweet Emotion" - Aerosmith
34. "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" - James Brown
35. "For What It's Worth" - Buffalo Springfield
36. "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper
37. "Respect" - Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin
38. "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" - Procol Harem (EASY RIDER, BIG CHILL, WITHNAIL & I, NEW YORK STORIES, BREAKING THE WAVES, I mean I'm just sayin'.
39. "You Really Got Me" - The Kinks/Van Halen
40. "Higher And Higher" - Jackie Wilson
41. "Dream Weaver" - Gary Wright : Just to say that 2 of the titles that used or mis-used this tune were DADDY DAY CARE and WAYNE'S WORLD. 'Nuff said.
42. "Fortunate Son" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
43. "Changes" - David Bowie
44. "Takin' Care Of Business" - Bachman Turner Overdrive
45. "Shining Star" - Earth, Wind & Fire
46. "Turning Japanese" - The Vapors
47. "The Weight" - The Band
48. "Mr. Tambourine Man" - Bob Dylan/The Byrds
49. "Cocaine" - Eric Clapton
50. "Wooly Bully" - Sam The Sham
More later...
is the Green Art Nail
Friday, July 23, 2004
Friday, July 2, 2004
Marlon Brando R.I.P.
"The horror. The horror. "
- The last words of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando - APOCALYPSE NOW 1979)
We here at film babble are very saddened by the passing of the great Marlon Brando. Causes are unknown at this moment but signs of illness plus rumours of financial ruin have been been all over this here internet. The actor well regarded as one of the finest of the 20th Century hadn't been in a film since THE SCORE in 2001 and only some vague news about a cartoon feature was in the works. Pretty dire news for the unique method man who ruled the screen in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE WILD ONE, and ON THE WATERFRONT (which he won his 1st Oscar for) to name a few of his defining '50's roles.
His comeback in the 70's with THE GODFATHER (2nd Oscar - BAM!) and LAST TANGO IN PARIS presented the public with an older fatter blustering Brando much parodied by the likes of Saturday Night Live and Mad Magazine. A classic '76 SNL had host Peter Boyle and John Belushi doing their best impressions in "Dueling Brandos" to (of course) the plucking banjo from DELIVERENCE. Brando's extremely expensive glorified cameos for SUPERMAN and APOCALYPSE NOW made headlines - millions for just minutes of work seemed to be the consensus. Especially since he was walking through these roles with no prior research or care. It seemed like he wanted to just live on a island somewhere. So that's what he did.
The 80's caricature of a morbidly obese Brando going crazy living on a tropical island somewhere are hard to shake off. Even after he started doing movies again (THE FRESHMAN, A DRY WHITE SEASON, DON JUAN DEMARKO) he seemed to be phoning it in - acting wasn't a serious craft anymore his screen presence broadcasted to even the cheap seats - it was an occasional buck. THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU seemed more sincere because of course it was about going crazy living on an island somewhere! This glib blog is no place to go into the darker areas of Mr. Brando's life - this is a scribbling about the silver screen site so for Marlon's sake we'll stick to babblin' bout just da movies :
10 KICK-ASS BRANDO QUOTES
(Actually 10 great movie moments as well as great performances *)
1. "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley."
- Terry Malloy as written by Elia Kazan - ON THE WATERFRONT 1954
2. "I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life - I don't apologize - to take care of my family, and I refused to be a fool, dancing on the string held by all those bigshots. I don't apologize - that's my life - but I thought that, that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the string. Senator Corleone; Governor Corleone. Well, it wasn't enough time, Michael."
- Don Vito Corleone written by Mario Puzo THE GODFATHER
1972
3. "What're you rebelling against, Johnny?"
- Girl
"Whaddya got?"
- Johnny Strabler written by John Paxton THE WILD ONE 1953
4. "I have seen the devil in my microscope, and I have chained him."
- Dr. Moreau written by Richard Stanley based on H.G.Wells novel
- THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU 1996
5. "It is forbidden for you to interfere in human destiny"
- Jor El written by Mario Puzo SUPERMAN : THE MOVIE 1979
6. "Hey STELLA!!!! STELLA !!!!"
- Stanley Kowalski written by Tennessee Williams - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
7. "I was just thinking, sir, that our little errand for groceries might wind up in a page of naval history if we succeed in negotiating The Horn in the dead of winter."
- 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian (Brando)
"Why shouldn't we succeed? Admiral Anderson did."
- Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard)
"Yes, but of course he didn't choose to attempt it in a ninety-one-foot chamber pot. In any event, his was the only ship to do it and I believe he lost fifty percent of his crew." - 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian written by a cast of thousands (really like 6 people so who knows who came up of with this particular dialogue?)
- MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY 1962
8. "You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill."
- Colonel Walter E. Kurtz written by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola - APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
9. "Even if a husband lives 200 hundred fucking years, he'll never discover his wife's true nature. I may be able to understand the secrets of the universe, but... I'll never understand the truth about you. Never."
- Paul - LAST TANGO IN PARIS 1972
10. "My God! Let me get a look at you. You know, you look like shit. What's your secret? "
- Max written by too many cooks in the pot to list - THE SCORE 2001
* Not all are truly great performances on #4 & #10 I believe he was just walking through.
10 DUELING BRANDOS
"Hey Honey come show the guys your Brando impression!"
- Roseanne on fatal things to say to your pregnant wife.
These actors have all done impersonations on either film or the stage but mostly on SNL :
1. John Belushi
2. Peter Boyle
A hilarious SNL sketch from '76 featured Belsuhi and Boyle both dressed in THE WILD ONE attire getting their Brando on! Helped "I couda been a contender" to be a standard of great movie lines.
3. Alec Baldwin (SNL)
4. John Travolta (SNL)
5. Val Kilmer - ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU
6. Matthew Broderick - THE FRESHMAN
7. Dom Deluise - THE GODSON
8. Robin Williams (big surprise!)- On various talk shows, morning zoo radio appearances, supermarket openings, benefit concert appearances, CD release junkets, MTV movie awards shows, random TV and film cameos, etc. etc. ETC!
9. Julia Louis Dreyfuss (don't ya remember a delirious drugged up Elaine on SEINFELD yelling "Stella!" when meeting somebody with that name? I sure do.)
10. Frank Gorshin - go IMDb it yerself.
More later...
- The last words of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando - APOCALYPSE NOW 1979)
We here at film babble are very saddened by the passing of the great Marlon Brando. Causes are unknown at this moment but signs of illness plus rumours of financial ruin have been been all over this here internet. The actor well regarded as one of the finest of the 20th Century hadn't been in a film since THE SCORE in 2001 and only some vague news about a cartoon feature was in the works. Pretty dire news for the unique method man who ruled the screen in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE WILD ONE, and ON THE WATERFRONT (which he won his 1st Oscar for) to name a few of his defining '50's roles.
His comeback in the 70's with THE GODFATHER (2nd Oscar - BAM!) and LAST TANGO IN PARIS presented the public with an older fatter blustering Brando much parodied by the likes of Saturday Night Live and Mad Magazine. A classic '76 SNL had host Peter Boyle and John Belushi doing their best impressions in "Dueling Brandos" to (of course) the plucking banjo from DELIVERENCE. Brando's extremely expensive glorified cameos for SUPERMAN and APOCALYPSE NOW made headlines - millions for just minutes of work seemed to be the consensus. Especially since he was walking through these roles with no prior research or care. It seemed like he wanted to just live on a island somewhere. So that's what he did.
The 80's caricature of a morbidly obese Brando going crazy living on a tropical island somewhere are hard to shake off. Even after he started doing movies again (THE FRESHMAN, A DRY WHITE SEASON, DON JUAN DEMARKO) he seemed to be phoning it in - acting wasn't a serious craft anymore his screen presence broadcasted to even the cheap seats - it was an occasional buck. THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU seemed more sincere because of course it was about going crazy living on an island somewhere! This glib blog is no place to go into the darker areas of Mr. Brando's life - this is a scribbling about the silver screen site so for Marlon's sake we'll stick to babblin' bout just da movies :
10 KICK-ASS BRANDO QUOTES
(Actually 10 great movie moments as well as great performances *)
1. "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley."
- Terry Malloy as written by Elia Kazan - ON THE WATERFRONT 1954
2. "I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life - I don't apologize - to take care of my family, and I refused to be a fool, dancing on the string held by all those bigshots. I don't apologize - that's my life - but I thought that, that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the string. Senator Corleone; Governor Corleone. Well, it wasn't enough time, Michael."
- Don Vito Corleone written by Mario Puzo THE GODFATHER
1972
3. "What're you rebelling against, Johnny?"
- Girl
"Whaddya got?"
- Johnny Strabler written by John Paxton THE WILD ONE 1953
4. "I have seen the devil in my microscope, and I have chained him."
- Dr. Moreau written by Richard Stanley based on H.G.Wells novel
- THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU 1996
5. "It is forbidden for you to interfere in human destiny"
- Jor El written by Mario Puzo SUPERMAN : THE MOVIE 1979
6. "Hey STELLA!!!! STELLA !!!!"
- Stanley Kowalski written by Tennessee Williams - A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
7. "I was just thinking, sir, that our little errand for groceries might wind up in a page of naval history if we succeed in negotiating The Horn in the dead of winter."
- 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian (Brando)
"Why shouldn't we succeed? Admiral Anderson did."
- Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard)
"Yes, but of course he didn't choose to attempt it in a ninety-one-foot chamber pot. In any event, his was the only ship to do it and I believe he lost fifty percent of his crew." - 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian written by a cast of thousands (really like 6 people so who knows who came up of with this particular dialogue?)
- MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY 1962
8. "You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill."
- Colonel Walter E. Kurtz written by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola - APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
9. "Even if a husband lives 200 hundred fucking years, he'll never discover his wife's true nature. I may be able to understand the secrets of the universe, but... I'll never understand the truth about you. Never."
- Paul - LAST TANGO IN PARIS 1972
10. "My God! Let me get a look at you. You know, you look like shit. What's your secret? "
- Max written by too many cooks in the pot to list - THE SCORE 2001
* Not all are truly great performances on #4 & #10 I believe he was just walking through.
10 DUELING BRANDOS
"Hey Honey come show the guys your Brando impression!"
- Roseanne on fatal things to say to your pregnant wife.
These actors have all done impersonations on either film or the stage but mostly on SNL :
1. John Belushi
2. Peter Boyle
A hilarious SNL sketch from '76 featured Belsuhi and Boyle both dressed in THE WILD ONE attire getting their Brando on! Helped "I couda been a contender" to be a standard of great movie lines.
3. Alec Baldwin (SNL)
4. John Travolta (SNL)
5. Val Kilmer - ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU
6. Matthew Broderick - THE FRESHMAN
7. Dom Deluise - THE GODSON
8. Robin Williams (big surprise!)- On various talk shows, morning zoo radio appearances, supermarket openings, benefit concert appearances, CD release junkets, MTV movie awards shows, random TV and film cameos, etc. etc. ETC!
9. Julia Louis Dreyfuss (don't ya remember a delirious drugged up Elaine on SEINFELD yelling "Stella!" when meeting somebody with that name? I sure do.)
10. Frank Gorshin - go IMDb it yerself.
More later...
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