Smokie Lanark February 15, 2010
Smokie is a writer, novelist and walking film and music encyclopedia living in Marina Del Rey, CA.
Let’s be honest. I am a movie whore. I will watch anything. Critically acclaimed or abominably cheesy, I am not a movie snob. I actually just paid money to see 17 Again and I am not ashamed to say I love that little Zach Effron, I want to pinch his cheeks (the ones on his face people, get your minds out of the gutter).
When I try to explain this to some (intellectual?), maybe they roll their eyes and sigh, visibly mourning my vacuity because I have just admitted to loving all of the Bring it On movies (whatever we all wish we could be those girls or bang them at least).
In all actuality I have more contempt for these “serious film critics” because it is not a crime to love to be entertained, be it by Apocalypse Now or Pineapple Express or something by Tyler Perry. And I am convinced that most of these people are closet Kelly Clarkson fans, Radiohead be damned.
I can usually find something redeemable in even the most banal of films. Good or bad movies always seem to have that moment, even if it’s fleeting and there is only one and there is a possibility it appeals to only me.
This is what I’m talking about, that moment in a film when scene and sound come together to create a visceral reaction in your body, a physical thrill, that WOW feeling when you are so totally engaged that the rest of the movie becomes a backdrop to this one moment.
You might not agree with my choices, you might roll your eyes and scoff at the titles but each of these scenes quite literally gave me The Chills.
I will start with a total chick flick because I am a chick and that just makes sense, She’s Having a Baby. Maybe they weren’t ready to be parents but know that the moment is upon them and we don’t know if mommy or baby will make it and all we want to do is put our arms around Kevin Bacon and tell him everything will be all right. The song is Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work”. I will admit I cried like a damn baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3dnFmwQy04
Almost Famous. If this is not on your list of top ten movies of all times I almost want to punch you in the junk but whatever, I’m not here to judge. If you have at least seen it you know where this is going, the crew has just physically removed the lead singer of Stillwater (played by Billy Crudup) from an all night house. He is coming down after plunging into the pool from the house’s rooftop, yelling about being a golden god. Did I mention he was like, super high? Not just because he was on the roof, but because he was on copious amounts of acid. The song is “Tiny Dancer” and everyone on the bus knows the words, therefore everything is going to be all right because who doesn’t love Elton John?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qn3tel9FWU
Bret Easton Ellis was the leader of an illicit brat pack of eighties literature that included Jay McInerney of Bright Lights, Big City fame. Bret wrote Less Than Zero in a novel writing tutorial during his first year at college in 1983. It was published and he was an instant celebutante. The Rules of Attraction was his second novel and the resulting film is the source of this next clip. It’s fucking disturbing. The invisible food service girl has succumbed to the futility of her obsession with the campus bad boy in the worst way possible. The song is “Without You” by Harry Nilsson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GAwi34vHyQ
Okay so maybe you thought Duets was lame, I mean it paired Huey Lewis with Gweneth Paltrow so I get it, but this ending sequence, an acapella version of Free Bird is insane, I could watch it over and over, never mind that the guy is an escaped convict who gets shot right after he finishes the song, that doesn’t make him a bad guy right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81TZhHWM7yc
Jamie Fox in Collateral. He’s an innocent cab driver trying to make an extra buck. A grey haired Tom Cruise is a bad choice as the last fare of the day, but who can refuse an extra couple hundred bucks? The coyotes running across Fairfax are surreal enough but the Audioslave track is genius.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9qG52s3s2s
Who doesn’t want to be a vampire? They are everywhere, Twilight is some kind of insane phenomenon, but I’m talking about Queen of the Damned.
RIP Aaliyah; it is only my wishful thinking that you are still out there, feasting on the flesh of the innocent. Her dance, done to the song System by Chester Bennington is beyond hypnotic, I would have offered her my throat without question. Who wants to live forever? I do, especially if I am super hot and can dance like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGQSOSvssnM&feature=related
Quentin. What kind of a list would this be without him? There are so many choices. He is the king of the soundtrack, of making the movie with the music, or is it the other way around? Who am I to say? I picked this one because when I sit in the front seat I always, and I mean always used to, put at least one foot up on the dash. Who knew a leg could fly so fast and so far away from the body it used to belong to? Hold Tight is such a great song and who can resist a band by the name of Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich? I mean really?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI8ciuj3QHg
Hate it or love it, my next article is all Quentin, all the time. The man is a freaky genius.
The best kind.
Enjoy.
