EDIT: Thanks guys for listening despite the awful crackling. I’ve uploaded a new version that hopefully doesn’t suck as much.

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Last week I had one of those inspired needs to watch several films of the same actor.

It all started after watching Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York.

I fucking loved the movie, and it left me with a compulsive need to keep watching Philip Seymour Hoffman movies.

Next up was Doubt, a movie I had sitting at home for ages, and just never got around to watching it.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see it, it’s just one of those ones that I always thought I had to be in the right frame of mind to watch.

And true to Hoffman standard, the movie was brilliant.

In perfectly cast roles, the three leads gave stellar performances (especially Amy Adams, who I have a new-found respect for after watching her in Junebug), and in my opinion, the movie should have won Best Picture at this year’s Oscars.

But it didn’t stop there, I just kept going.

Boogie Nights, Almost Famous, The Big Lebowski, Mission Impossible 3, Happiness, Magnolia, The 25th Hour and Capote to name a few.

But I still have to watch The Savages, which I hear is brilliant.

The guy is awesome and in every role, no matter how minor, he seems to steal each scene he’s in.

I love the fact that whenever a director needs someone to play a creep, pervert, pedophile or loser, Hoffman is the first guy they turn to.

In Synecdoche, New York, Hoffman plays hypochondriac, theatre director Caden Cotard (creep), who…

I really have no idea of how to summarise this movie, so I’m going to cheat, and just insert this link to the summary posted on IMDB. It’s pretty long but that’s as good as it can get. You really just have to go and see for yourself.

As with all Kaufman scripts, the line between brilliance and lunacy are hard to perceive.

It really is a case of Alice and the rabbit hole. As Caden becomes more and more involved in his own creation, he (and the audience) begins to lose track of what’s fact and what’s fiction.

It’s kind of like Kaufman has handed us a jigsaw puzzle and forced us to make sense of it all. And while some audience members will fit certain pieces together better than others, in the end, there are still plenty of them missing and other pieces that have been thrown in the box, which don’t actually fit at all.

It is a strange balance, which in my head seemed to work, but for others just seemed ridiculous and confusing.

The film features an incredibly likable and extremely talented female cast, including Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson and Dianne Wiest.

Hope Davis tops the lot, with her brilliant role as Caden’s therapist; and whilst her character seemed to make no real sense at all, she seemed entirely essential.

And little known actor, Tom Noonan does well to keep up with Hoffman, playing the actor, playing the actor, playing Hoffman’s character (try and get your head around that one!).

All in all, I encourage people to check this one out. Not only for your own interest, but more so, so that someone can explain to me what happened.

What the fuck was with the burning house?

3.5/5

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So hey – John Hodgman did the correspondent’s dinner and it was, predictably enough, awesome.  Damn theat Hodgman, with his boring tendency to be consistently hilarious!

There’s something sublime about talking Star Trek and Dungeons and Dragons and Conan the Barbarian to a president of the United States. And then calling him a nerd and a wingnut. And getting him to make the Vulcan “Live long and prosper” hand. And schooling him in the various brands of hobbits. And calling him the Quisatz Haderach…

Checkit.

… and asking the him a three-part question about the culture of the fictional world of Arrakis. The answers are “Shai Hulud”, “Thumper” and “The Water of Life”, by the way.

For those of you who already knew this – hello nerds.

How good is Obama? He’s switched on, good-humoured and clearly a huge geek even though he pretends not to know who Crom is. He also pretends to be a God-botherer, but hey – you gotta make a few PR sacrifices to be POTUS.

And, just ’cause Obama is awesome, here’s link to the musical registrar of the American experience, Tom Waits, singing Chocolate Jesus.

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After watching The Watchmen in all its splendor several weeks ago, I was really impressed by Zak Snyder’s weird and equally wonderful soundtrack.

It was packed full of familiar classics and covers from the late 70’s and 80’s, including Jimi Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower, Dylan’s The Times They Are Changing, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, Simon and Garfunkle’s The Sound of Silence and the bizarre inclusion of Nena’s 99 Luftballons.

In the following weeks, I stumbled across the suburb indie The Wackness, with its equally appealing soundtrack full of urban beats. For those with a fondness for hip-hop, I strongly recommend you check it out. Highlights include Can I Kick It? – A Tribe Called Quest, Flava In Ya Ear – Craig Mack and The World Is Yours – Nas.

My final boost of inspiration came from watching the classic Good Morning Vietnam and I began to compile a list of the most memorable movie songs ever.

Now, this ended up being a lot harder than I first expected, so what started off as 10 was soon 20, then 25 and is now 30 songs. To make my choices easier, I prioritised in the order of good song, good movie, good moment and good artist.

I’m still not 100% sure that this would be my ultimate list, but I honestly couldn’t think about it any more. In my opinion it’s pretty damn good, and makes a great play list even if you’re not into movies.

I know that there are probably millions that I have forgotten, but I figured you guys would tell me what I’ve missed.

So without further ado, and in no specific order – The 30 Greatest Movie Songs Ever

THE 30 GREATEST MOVIE SONGS EVER

1.    Born Slippy – Underworld (Trainspotting)

“So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers – all false. The truth is that I’m a bad person. But that’s gonna change – I’m going to change. This is the last of that sort of thing. Now I’m cleaning up and I’m moving on, going straight and choosing life.”

See also: Lust For Life – Iggy Pop, Atomic – Sleeper and Perfect Day – Lou Reed.

2.    Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen (Wayne’s World)

“I think we’ll go with a little Bohemian Rhapsody gentleman?”
“Good call.”

See also: Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix, Dream Weaver – Gary Wright and Sikamikanico – Red Hot Chili Peppers

3.    Where Is My Mind – The Pixies (Fight Club)

“You met me at a very strange time in my life.”

See also: the entire Dust Brother’s soundtrack and Goin’ Out West – Tom Waits

4.    Stuck In The Middle – Stealer’s Wheel (Reservoir Dogs)

“You ever listen to K-Billy’s “Super Sounds of the Seventies?” It’s my personal favourite.”

See also: Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolfe and Little Green Bag – George Baker Selection

5.    Twist & Shout – The Beatles (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we’d like to play a little tune for you. It’s one of my personal favourites and I’d like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn’t think he’s seen anything good today – Cameron Frye, this one’s for you.”

See also: Danke Schoen – Wayne Newton and Oh Yeah – Yello.

6.    Porcelain – Moby (The Beach)

No quotes here - just the perfect song to accompany paradise.

The rest of the soundtrack isn’t that great but I do have to admit that All Saints’ Pure Shores is catchy.

See also: Paper Planes – M.I.A from Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire

7.    If You Want Blood (You Got It) – AC/DC (Empire Records)

“Maybe you bite me.”

See also: Romeo & Juliet – Dire Straits, Video Killed The Radio Star – The Buggles, Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix and Money (That’s What I Want) – The Lizards

8.    Wake Up – Rage Against The Machine (The Matrix)

“Where we go from there, is a choice I leave to you.”

See also: Spybreak – Propellerheads and Clubbed to Death [Kurayamino Mix] – Rob D.

9.    Red Right Hand – Nick Cave (Scream)

“What’s your favourite scary movie?”

See also: School’s Out – Alice Cooper

10.    Long Tall Sally – Little Richard (Predator)

“We’re a rescue team, not assassins.”

See also: Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti (Cocktail) and Good Golly Miss Molly (King Ralph)

11.    Tiny Dancer – Elton John (Almost Famous)

“I’m a golden god!”

See also: That’s The Way – Led Zeppelin, America – Simon & Garfunkel, Paranoid – Black Sabbath and Voodoo Child – Jimi Hendrix

12.    Spooky – Dusty Springfield (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels)

“Shotguns? What, like guns that fire shot?”

See also: The Payback & The Boss – James Brown, Hundred Mile High City – Ocean Colour Scene, Truly Madly Deeply – Skanga, Man Machine – Robbie Williams, I Wanna Be Your Dog – The Stooges, Liar Liar – The Castaways, Why Did You Do It? – Stretch and 18 With A Bullet – Pete Wingfield. Basically, the whole soundtrack is pretty awesome.

13.    New Slang – The Shins (Garden State)

“You gotta hear this one song – it’ll change your life, I swear.”

See also: Don’t Panic – Coldplay, Caring Is Creepy – The Shins, The Only Living Boy In New York – Simon & Garfunkel and In The Waiting Line – Zero 7

14.    She’s A Lady – Tom Jones (Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas)

“Total control now; tooling along the main drag on a Saturday night in Vegas. Two good old boys in a fire-apple red convertible – stoned, ripped, twisted good people.”

See also: White Rabbit & Somebody To Love – Jefferson Airplane, It’s Not Unusual – Tom Jones, Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again – Bob Dylan, Jumpin’ Jack Flash – The Rolling Stones

15.    It’s Your Thing – The Isley Brothers (Out Of Sight)

“Is this your first time being robbed? You’re doing great.”

See also: David Holmes awesome work on both the Out Of Sight and Ocean’s Eleven soundtracks, Fight The Power (Part 2) – The Isley Brothers and Ain’t That A Kick In The Head – Dean Martin

16.    Walking On Sunshine – Katrina & The Waves (High Fidelity)

“Here’s the thing. I made that tape special for today. My special Monday morning for you… special.”
“Well, it’s fuckin’ Monday afternoon! You should get out of bed earlier!”

See also: Dry The Rain – The Beta Band, You’re Gonna Miss Me – 13th Floor Elevators, Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ – The Velvet Underground, Cold Blooded Old Times – Smog, Most Of The Time – Bob Dylan, We Are The Champions – Queen, I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever) – Stevie Wonder

17.    Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival (Forrest Gump)

“We was always taking long walks and we was always looking for a guy named “Charlie.”

See also: Sweet Home Alabama – Lynard Skynyrd, Joy To The World – Three Dog Night, Hound Dog – Elvis Presley, All Along The Watchtower – Bob Dylan, For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield and Rebel Rouser – Duane Eddy

18.    The Tracks Of My Tears – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (Platoon)

“Feelin’ good’s good enough.”

See also: Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay – Otis Redding, Respect – Aretha Franklin and White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane

19.    We’re Going To Be Friends – The White Stripes (Napoleon Dynamite)

“What are you gonna do today, Napoleon?”

See also: Forever Young – Alphaville and Canned Heat – Jamiroquai

20.    Hold Tight – Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mitch and Tich (Death Proof)

“Get ready to fly bitch!”

Other From Movie: Down In Mexico – The Coasters, Baby It’s You – Smith, Jeepster – T. Rex, Staggolee – Pacific Gas & Electric and Chick Habit – An April March

21.    The Weight – The Band (Easy Rider)

“Hey man, you got a room?”

See also: Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolfe and If 6 Was 9 – Jimi Hendrix

22.    Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones (Full Metal Jacket)

“M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E”

See also: These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra, Wooly Bully – Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs

23.    Get Up (Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine – James Brown (City Of God)

“I’m a playboy now.”

See also: Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas

24.    Fucking In The Bushes – Oasis (Snatch)

“All he’s got to do is stay down…”

See also: Golden Brown – The Stranglers, Angel – Massive Attack and Dreadlock Holiday – 10cc

25.    Slow Ride – Foghat (Dazed & Confused)

“Say, man, you got a joint?”
“It’d be a lot cooler if you did.”

See also: Sweet Emotion – Aerosmith, School’s Out – Alice Cooper, Why Can’t We Be Friends & Lowrider – War, Hurricane – Bob Dylan, Paranoid – Black Sabbath, Fox On The Run – Sweet, Free Ride – The Edgar Winter Group and Tuesday’s Gone – Lynard Skynyrd

26.    Mrs. Robinson – Simon & Garfunkel (The Graduate)

“Elaine! Elaine!”

I can’t watch the end of The Graduate without thinking about Wayne’s World 2 and laughing my ass off. The bit where the radio cuts out through the tunnel just kills me. Parody to perfection.

See also: Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sounds Of Silence and , April Comes She Will

27.    These Days – Powderfinger (Two Hands)

“You loaded your gun with old fucking bullets you put through the fucking wash?”

See also: Belter – Powderfinger, Lucky Star – Alex Lloyd

28.    Twist It (Shake Your Tailfeather) – Ray Charles (The Blues Brothers)

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the action on this keyboard…”

See also: Think – Aretha Franklin and The Rawhide Theme, Peter Gunn Theme and Gimme Somme Lovin’ – The Blues Brothers

29.    Jungle Boogie – Kool & The Gang (Pulp Fiction)

“Royale with cheese.”

See also: You Never Can Tell – Chuck Berry, Son Of A Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield, Let’s Stay Together – Al Green, Miserlou – Dick Dale & The Del-Tones and Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Neil Diamond

30.    What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong (Good Morning Vietnam)

“Got some songs going out right now to a couple of guys on the road to Nha Trang… A special song going out to you right now.”

See also: Baby Please Don’t Go – THEM, I Get Around – The Beach Boys, I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown and Liar Liar – The Castaways

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And finally, after 3 hours of “No Service”, this was one of many missed SMS’s to come through:

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I apologise for the crappy audio quality.

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Now, I want to give it up for Ben Burtt, sound designer nonpareil. Because most folks don’t know who he is.

This is the guy who invented R2D2’s beeps and Wall-E’s interminable cuteness. He made TIE fighters scream like Tusken Raiders, made Darth Vader asthmatic before he was cartoonishly stupid,  put klaxons and bells into spaceships exploding… used WW2 aircraft engines for the Millenium Falcon.

My favourite story about Ben concerns Raiders of the Lost Ark. Story goes that he saw the rushes for the opening South America sequence and was stumped on the sound to put on the Forrestal’s skull turning towards Indy… what would be creepy enough? What would sound real?

Next morning, he found the answer in his breakfast; more specifically in a boiled egg. The cracking sound of  breaking the shell of a boiled egg – that’s Forrestal’s skull saying “hi” to Indy.

How awesome is that?

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Fuck. Times ten. Firstly because our fearless leader saw Trek in Sydney at the premier, without me, and got to meet John Cho  and Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine and Jaybrams… and secondly because that muthafrakker took @Warlach with him. I will kill these men. Physcially kill them.

This is no crime, because they’re already dead to me.

Even more egregious is that I was going to write a long post about Ben Burtt, off my own bat, and what happens? Ben did the sound design on Trek. And these Wells boys gave him love on the podcast, before I got to.

And now our fearless leader’s getting Pegg stories from Harold.

I’m gonna post about Burtt anyway, but I’m living in the shadow now, aren’t I?

Physically.

Kill.

Message ends.

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A spoileriffic review will be released with the film.

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Knowing was better than expected. No really.

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