Blog This!   Lee Geistlinger's Web Log

Blog Home
Blog Archives
LittleGhost Home

E-mail: lee AT geistlinger.com

Everyone loves lists Books, Movies and so on

My Online Aggregator

Movies - Soundtracks

The baby-boomer generation added - in the late 70s, I'd guess - one element to movies that was new: the soundtrack. I'm not talking the songs from My Fair Lady, but existing music that runs in the background or as overlay for movie scenes. Music that - for better or for worse - you sometimes can't hear without recalling the movie that used it. (Top 10 Index)

(500) Days of Summer

A fun, quirky and very differently filmed (in many good ways) movie.

And the soundtrack is great, as well. A very eclectic mix (Hall & Oats, Carla Bruni and Wolfmother?) that worked very well with the movie, including the music I didn't know. Thank you soundtrack, I have now purchased two Regina Spektor CDs... Good stuff.

Amadeus

And the soundtrack, oddly enough, is the musical stylings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Great music; picked very well for inclusion in the movie, as well.

Apocalypse Now

I think this is the movie that I recall as the first where I said, "Damn, good music in this flick!" Jimi Hendrix, CCR (Susie-Q), the Doors' "The End" (haunting). Even Wagner, fer god's sake! Ah, I love the sound of Wagner in the morning....

Big Chill

Quintessential soundtrack of 60s and 70s music. The songs are well integrated into the movie, not just background/overdub music. The opening scene, using "Heard It Through the Grapevine," is great, but the classic is the scene at the church/graveyard using the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Funny, poignant, brilliant. (Unfortunately, the latter isn't on the soundtrack, probably licensing issues.)

Fantasia

This is a bit of a cheat because this movie is all about setting animation to music. Music and animation on exactly the same level. But great music (and animation): Nutcracker, Tocca & Fugue, Ava Maria. See this on the big screen (or a good home system) if you can. A magical movie; a great soundtrack.

Stealing Beauty

An underrated movie (IMHO), and an underrated soundtrack. A lot of the music is by groups/singers of which I have nothing, but I like virtually all of it. Strange mix - John Lee Hooker, Liz Phair, Portishead...but it works. Both as a soundtrack (I'm listening to it as I type this), and as a complement to the movie.

The Dish

Quirky little Australian movie with a soundtrack reflecting the sounds of the time: The first moon landing, 1969. Classical Gas (Mason Williams), Herb Albert, the Youngbloods. Where else but on a so-called classic rock station will you get a mix like this?