Martes at the Movies

Be warned, here there be spoilers. Spoilers ahead. X on the map marks the spoiler. Spoilerly waters coming up. Have I made myself understood? I will try my very best to talk in as general terms as possible about the relationship between these songs and spoilery movie endings, but I’ll probably end up mentioning at least one thing at some point that will give away a bit of a film’s ending…if only because I think a film’s closing song is so very important for the story of a film!

A good closing song sends you away from the cinema (or let’s face it, Netflix or Hulu) feeling just how the director wants you to feel. A good closing song can encapsulate the atmosphere, theme, or lesson of a film in three short minutes, and can make you go away from the film feeling sad, wistful, optimistic, happy, or basically anything else on the spectrum of emotions. Somewhat embarrassingly, nearly half of the closing songs on this list have made me cry, which I’m pretty sure is less a reflection on how invested I get in the lives of fictional characters, and more a reflection on the excellent work of the music supervision teams behind these films.

So here they are. Top notch songs which see us through that transition from the closing scene of a movie and into the end credits. This is my top ten list of best movie closing songs.

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What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2Vo-plCoj4RD9XqUFxShqjI3

So we’ve talked about the villains, now it’s time for the heroes, by which I mean by the way, both male and females, They are the protagonists, the goodies, the main characters, who are usually noted for their courageous actions.. Admittedly, because they are the ones who drive the plot along, and we as the audience get to spend a lot more time in their company, it’s a little harder to define a hero’s song than a villain’s song, because sure they get to sing loads of songs!

Well, one of the nicest thing about the hero is that he or she is never usually too cocky. They’re more relatable, often underdogs, who need help to overcome the personal obstacles in their journey to vanquish the villain and find where they belong. So for me, this leaves us with two types of hero songs, the “I want song”, and the “I am song”.

Firstly, the “I want song”, which also often serves as our introduction to the hero near the start of the movie. We meet the hero as he or she opens their heart to us, expressing their uncertainties, hopes, and desires about the future, wishes for strength, love, and finding their place in the world. It’s a classically wistful, optimistic, but slightly uncertain hero’s song right at the beginning, from which point the hero goes on to grow and develop throughout the movie.

Or there’s the “I am song.” This is the hero’s turning point, the moment when they gain a newfound confidence, or belief, and decide to mark a change in their life, move forward, and bring these desires to life. It’s the song that enables them to take steps towards making these dreams come true and turning their life around.

Two slightly different moulds of songs for our heroes to sing, ten songs that made it onto the list, and more Disney than ever before, so be prepared for that! It’s time for my top ten list of songs sung by a movie’s hero.

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What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2VooZLwKNqrspjhZkMlHMey5

The huge, sweeping, over the top romantic gesture is a staple of the romantic comedy, the romantic non-comedy, and basically any movie featuring a romantic plot, sub plot, or thread of some sort. Movie couples are very rarely low-key about anything, are they? Public declarations of love are more than common, and the bigger the crowd you do it in front of,  or the bigger the chance of embarrassment then the more you love the girl. And of course, if you do it through song then even better.

Ah, the serenade. Admitting your undying love through the medium of music. I’ve got to admit, a public serenade is the type of gesture which in real life would quite likely send me running for a table to hide underneath, but in the movies it does make me swoon a little bit. And that’s what today’s all about. The big romantic declaration which simultaneously enamours and mortifies, leaving you with a red face and butterflies in your stomach. It’s time for my top ten list of best movie serenade moments.

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What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2Vr2rpar8IQ8lRxYSKWPFh9U

Now this is a subjective episode indeed, if ever a subjective episode I did see.  It’s got double the opinions. I’m defining what I think are good songs, and what I think are not so good movies. There’s plenty of room for controversy here. To me it’s pretty easy to define whether or not a song is good…would I skip it or play it if it came on shuffle on my ipod? Accounting for mood of course, I think I’d happily listen to all ten of these songs, and that’s good enough for me.

Defining a not so good movie proved to be a little bit more complicated though. I haven’t gone for the worst movies ever; b-movies which crashed and burned, made no money, and are unfamiliar to all but the most dedicated cinephiles. Instead I’ve gone for big films, franchises, blockbusters, and ones that you’ve probably heard of. Some of them are even bearable. I got the whole way through a couple. They maybe even have some good bits in them. But by and large they’re horrible sequels, remakes, or adaptations that should never have seen the light of day, and clearly made it to the silver screen based not on the pure and honest desire to artistically create something, but on the desire to get all the dolla’ possible. The point is, they’re not good enough for these songs. Someone somewhere got the budget wrong and gave far too much money to acquiring song rights instead of hiring screenwriters, and thus created this divide in quality between music and material. These are my top ten good songs, which feature in not so good movies.

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What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2VqTHSsLUXjH5kOCMYiyh-If

Almost everyone’s got a favourite band, choir, or other type of musical ensemble, right? Whatever the style of music that you like, across every genre from country, to hiphop, by way of choral and classic rock, for generations upon generations people have been coming together to make music. And it’s great, the whole collaborative process…sparking ideas off one another, forming a bond with the other members of your band or choir, and coming together as a team.

It’s also perhaps a reason why it’s sometimes more fun to follow a fictional band or choir than a real life one. Unless you’re Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malick, real life issues within a band usually stay private, and we as the consuming audience often aren’t aware of exactly what goes on behind the scenes. We see the polished finished product, the music videos and shiny CDs, the professional concerts, and not the exhaustion, fights, struggles, and hard work behind it all. Not so when we follow a fictional band or choir however! We get to know the personalities of the characters, and the dynamics of the groups, as we see them go through auditions, lead ups to big competitions, single releases, let downs…and of course the big main performance showcasing just who they are as a group.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today…those big performances which give our favourite fictional bands their time to shine. We watch them develop, fail, and grow, and now it’s time for my top ten list of best performances by movie bands and choirs.

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What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of all this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2Vo6ELP7Rfhgjo2VbiKWqONU

I’m not sure what exactly it says about me that my favourite song off any given movie soundtrack is almost always the villain’s song. When I was about ten years old I took a presumably highly scientific quiz online which decided which Hogwarts house I belonged in…and it did put me in Slytherin , so perhaps that has something to do with it. I initially refused to accept my destiny, sure that the test was just faulty and that I would end up in Gryffindor in the real world, but with time I’ve come not just to accept it, but also to be a loyal member of the home to pretty much every evil wizard ever to come out of Hogwarts. I’ve got Slytherin cups, door hangers, and even a beanie. I’m proudly on the dark side. Plus, Loki is easily the best character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and if you don’t think that you’re just kidding yourself.

Just think about it…why wouldn’t you be a fan of the bad guy? The villains have all the fun. They’re allowed to be moody, and sarcastic, and they get the best songs. The lyrics are deliciously clever, twisted, and ironic. They’re always written in a fabulous minor key with a brilliant strings or bass background accompaniment, and it all builds to an exceptional climax.

To make things even better, every single one of the songs in this week’s top ten list comes from either a Disney film, or a musical, so I couldn’t be more in my element. Let your fear lead to anger, anger lead to hate, and hate lead you to the dark side for my top ten list of movie villain songs.

Download the podcast and subscribe to it on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/martes-at-the-movies/id984057218?mt=2

What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2VoxAMyKDARbliDaWL9CwF2c

Listen:

Iconic (adjective) icon·ic \ī-ˈkä-nik\

1. of, relating to, or having the characteristics of an icon

2. widely known and acknowledged especially for distinctive excellence

Some movie theme songs are just iconic. They are so widely known, and so recognisable, that even if you haven’t seen the film itself, you’ll find yourself humming along, buoyed by the emotion which these most rousing of songs stir up. In fact, if there are any songs on this list which you don’t at least vaguely recall having heard before…then they don’t deserve their place on this list.

These songs are the crème-de-la-crème, the pièce-de-résistance, and any other French culinary terms which you can think of, of some of the best composers around. They transport us to different times, experiences, and galaxies, and they are all songs that have really stood the test of time, and earned a mention as a truly iconic theme song. Being only twelve years old, even my most precious Lord of the Rings doesn’t make the list, though were I to re-record this episode in another ten years’ time, it most definitely would.

Since I can think of at least twenty songs that could, and maybe should, make it onto this list, I can foresee this being easily the most controversial podcast episode to date, and I can’t wait to hear your opinions on the theme. Pun intended.

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2Vr40_T679yOVhgHGb1ceWXn

Wouldn’t life be wonderful if sporadic singing and dancing broke out and we magically were all able to join in because we all knew the words and the steps?

In musicals we grow to expect it. There are sing-a-long versions available on DVD, West End runs, revivals, and re-runs, and we’re fully aware that we’re watching in a heightened universe in which it’s completely normal to have arguments, give reems of exposition, and declarations of love through song.

What’s just a little more delightful is the surprise you get when a film which has, up until this point, stayed fairly close to the lines of reality…suddenly hits you with an unexpected dance number. It’s a glorious moment which never fails to put a smile on my face, and in fact the top three songs in this week’s list are all from films which I would consider to be in my personal top ten. Clearly I’m both more than a little predictable, and wildly excited to bring you the top ten dance numbers from movies which are not dance movies.

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2VoVi9xG-HclvlHbRHUSx-Jp

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any movie hoping to show change, progress, or passing of time in a nice, little, three minute package will deploy a montage. This most time honoured of techniques tends to involve a sequence of short shots showing time go by as the athlete trains for his big match, the dancer learns a difficult routine, or Twilight’s Bella sits and watches the seasons change without Edward by her side.

It reached its apex in the eighties as the montages became accompanied by the conventions of stirring power rock songs with dramatic key changes in the final chorus, and the wonderful Montage Song from Team America: World Police rightly adds that is also necessary to “always fade out in a montage (montage)/ if you fade out/ it makes it seem like more time has passed in a montage (montage).”

Admittedly much parodied for being overused in sports movies, or for using songs with overly inspirational and on the nose lyrics, montage sequences have nevertheless brought us some of cinema’s most memorable and rousing anthems, and I think they deserve to be celebrated.

For the second episode of Martes at the Movies I bring you my top ten songs used in movie montages.

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2VrpFMb9wOw6HT7gfW-oR1IB

I love awards season. I find it fascinating to pore over predictions, discover if I’ve actually seen any of the nominated films, and hope for a big musical number on the night. Despite this I’m well aware that the Oscars are imperfect. The voters of the academy are not a diverse group, their picks are often overly conservative, and films rarely win without a big publicity campaign or a lot of money. That said, I love the Best Original Song category. Over the years it’s produced some beautiful, stirring, funny, and very worthy winners, which deserve their place in Oscar history and wikipedia articles. However, this is not always the case. For the first episode of Martes at the Movies I therefore bring you my list of Best Original Song nominees which I think should have won the Oscar.

Download the podcast and subscribe to it on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/martes-at-the-movies/id984057218?mt=2

What are your opinions? Agree or disagree? What did I miss out or judge too harshly?

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Youtube playlist of this week’s songs: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRSnYeGHZ2Vo5R2TTjRmuvstwYLbJaQqu