Screened Plays

Column 21: A Look Back at the Music Related Films of 2014

January 2, 2015

While 2014 had it’s fair share of amazing films and music, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exactly a classic year for either. Which is odd, because while both may have been lacking, the convergence between the two this year has been extraordinary. Whether it was great original songs, stellar soundtracks, or in the stories themselves, music has been everywhere this year. Most interesting this year has been the slew of films actually about music. While every year seems to bring along biopics or docs, this year has produced a host of films actually about music and it’s effects on interpersonal relationships. Films like We Are the Best and God Help the Girl acted as a celebration of the bonds created through music. These films explored the nature of relationships created on the foundation of a shared appreciation of music and how strong said foundation can be. Sometimes[...]

Column 20: Hunger Games – Inspiration for Rebellion and our Youth

December 18, 2014

While it might be tempting to ignore or write-off the soundtracks for recent mega-blockbuster young adult franchises, the last five years has made this increasingly hard to do. In an effort to both create a sonic landscape for their films and create brand identity, studios have been turning to the world of indie rock. It’s hardly a new idea, going back to the 90s it’s easy to forget that films like Romeo & Juliet and Great Expectations featured original music by bands like Radiohead and Pulp. It almost is a bit heartening listening to these soundtracks and imaging the pre-teens hearing many of these great artists for the first time to find an alternative to what the radio has fed them. That said, Lionsgate deserves special credit for handing the reigns of their entire soundtrack for their biggest franchise over to Lorde. The 18-year old artist is right in the[...]

Column 19: Frank Sidebottom and the Craft of Avant-Garde Pop

December 11, 2014

While he’s not the household name he is in the UK, those who have spent any significant time with British indie rock are sure to have at least have heard of Frank Sidebottom. The comedian and singer/songwriter Chris Sievey spent the vast majority of his 30 year career donned with a giant paper-mache head assuming the identity of Frank Sidebottom, a cheery optimistic singer from Manchester. The artist’s unusual and offbeat original covers of pop music standards with his band, the Oh Blimey Big Band, won him television fame in the early 90s and a home in the emerging Madchester scene. Sievey rarely did interviews out-of-character and was notoriously secretive, which makes the new film, Frank, so incredible compelling. The film, co-written by former band member Jon Ronson, loosely follows his experiences playing in the Oh Blimey Big Band and gives a certain insight into the mindset and creative process[...]

Column 18: Pulp Returns to Spotlight on Life, Death, & Supermarkets

November 19, 2014

There’s been a recent surge of classic Britpop bands resurfacing, from the Verve to Suede to Blur, and Pulp appears to be the latest. That said, Pulp’s reunion seems a weirdly appropriate time to reunite. While other Britpop acts had a wide array of influential factors, Jarvis Cocker’s have remained the same: sex, politics, and class inequality. Since classic singles “Mis-Shapes” and “Common People” were released 20 years ago, that inequality has only grown, both in their homeland of England and here in America. And with the release of the first documentary about the band, Pulp: A Film About Life, Death, & Supermarkets, Pulp is back in focus as the film centers on the band’s return back to hometown of Sheffield and attempts to discover the culture that influenced its writing. Pulp spends its majority splitting time between both the band and the people of Sheffield. At times, we get[...]

Column 17: How the Music of Guardians of the Galaxy Created Our Most Human of Heroes

November 13, 2014

With Oscar season now in full-effect, its worth pointing out that there has been a recent absence of popular music in nominated films. Whether it’s the period, tone, or just an effort to pick up additional nominations, Oscar contenders seem to shun the use of pop music. So I thought it might be best to take this time to look back at this year, and few films stand out more than James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The film was not only the biggest at the box office in 2014, but for my money, the best musically. This is not to say that other films haven’t had better original songs or more enjoyable soundtracks, but there was no film where pop music played as pivotal of a role as in Guardians. For those who haven’t seen the film, let me set the stage for you. The movie opens on a[...]

Column 16: BBC’s Drive Experiment Crashes & Burns

November 5, 2014

When I was a kid, I remember trying to explore everything my computer could do. A personal computer was still an exciting new technology and I had so many fresh tools at my disposal. But of all these tools I had to use, I enjoyed messing with none more than Windows Movie Maker. I still have fond memories of taking popular shows or movies I watched and crudely mashing them up with some of my favorite songs. I share this not to revel in nostalgia, but because that’s what BBC’s latest experiment reminded me of. In the last week, famous BBC radio DJ, Zane Lowe, premiered his rescored version of Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2009 film, Drive. The project overseen by Lowe earned the blessing of the film’s director and collected some of the UK’s biggest indie & electronic acts to create original music for the film. The original was already[...]

Column 15: Pop Music in Horror Movies

October 29, 2014

While this feature often highlights the use of music in contemporary work, with Halloween just two days away, it seems only appropriate to focus on horror movies this week. While it took a good 20 years for horror movies to catch up to popular culture, ever since the use of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” in John Carpenter’s Halloween, horror filmmakers have been keenly using pop music in a variety of ways. This week, we’ll take a look at some of my favorites. The Strangers – Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom’s voice has always been a divisive factor in her music. Her almost elfin voice is as entrancing to some listeners as it is off-putting to others. Using this quality of Newsom’s voice to his advantage is director Bryan Bertino. The filmmaker soundtrack’s The Strangers first real scare with Newsom’s “The Sprout and the Bean.” With the specter of looming menace outside our protaganist’s front[...]

Column 14: The Heart-Pounding Intensity of The Knick

October 22, 2014

The Knick is the best show currently airing on TV. Well, after its season finale this past Friday, it’s technically on hiatus until 2015, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a frenetically pulsating beam of television magic in an otherwise dull fall season. The show is truly a gritty, debris-covered gem mined from the depths of Steven Soderbergh’s directorial genius, making it the quintessence of the argument that television has surpassed the cinema in every way you can imagine. If one of the ways you’ve imagined happens to be the show’s music, then you’re absolutely right. Scored by Cliff Martinez (a frequent Soderbergh collaborator), the music’s electrified synthesizers and intense baselines wallop you out of the turn-of-the-century and transport you into some sort of 1980s control room where a drugged-up computer scientist is turning dials and hitting buttons with such fervor that you feel as if you’re[...]

Column 13: Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch Tries On The Movie Musical

October 15, 2014

Expanding on the world he’s created through his music comes Stuart Murdoch’s God Help the Girl. The frontman of indie-pop legends Belle & Sebastian makes his directorial debut with this coming-of-age musical that brings all the same retro twee kitsch and emotional vulnerability that style his music to his debut film. While the film’s plot isn’t terribly dense, the film rather plays through a series of musical vignettes that flesh out it’s characters and speak to it’s wider themes about the various purposes for musical expression. The transition isn’t always seamless as at times, the change in emotional tone that works well in the music is slightly more jarring on screen. The film also seems to runs a bit longer than it needs to, as if Murdoch was intent on finding room for every song written in the film. That said, when these sequences work (and the majority do), they really[...]

Column 12: Beauty in the Ugly – The Music of Gone Girl

October 6, 2014

**Warning – This article features mild spoilers for the film Gone Girl** The first memorable musical moment of David Fincher’s recent film, Gone Girl, takes place in a flashback as protagonists Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy (Rosamund Pike) trade witticisms before embracing in a cloud of sugar in a New York back alley. The scene’s mood is set by it’s soft lighting and the gentlest of marimba hits making the moment feel like something out of a fairytale, and that’s because it is. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s clear that, above all, Gone Girl is a film about perceptions and the versions of ourselves that we create, for others and for ourselves. In this early scene, audiences are meant to believe what we’re witnessing is a real event, only to later find out it’s a fictional romanticization by Amy to build a perception of the early stages of her and Nick’s[...]

Column 11: Buffy Goes to the Bronze

July 30, 2014

In a very strong example of being late to the game, I’ve finally started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (thanks, Netflix).  I’m only two seasons in so far, but the Scoobie gang’s hangout, the Bronze, is already as endearing to me as it was to the millions of fans who kept current with the show while it aired. The Bronze is the ideal high school hangout spot. Its cappuccino menu and dark interior oozes cool, yet it’s also practical as a destination to do homework or date half-human, half-vampires. It’s also Sunnydale’s live music destination, featuring grungy bands as well as Seth Green on guitar. The Internet tells me that the fictional Bronze actually acted as a showcase for up-and-coming Los Angeles bands at the time, and that major music/narrative moments happen there (but in later seasons that I haven’t yet seen). While it aired, Buffy was completely in-step with[...]

Column 10: Zach Braff Swings for Another Home Run with Wish I Was Here Soundtrack

July 16, 2014

Do you remember the stir Zach Braff created last April when he launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance his next movie? People were very divided on the issue; some threw their money at their favorite former Scrubs/movie star, while others resented what the perceived to be an A-lister trying to milk laypeople of their hard-earned money. Regardless of how you felt, the Kickstarter campaign was a success and Braff’s movie, Wish I Was Here, is coming out on Friday. The soundtrack debuted yesterday, and it’s getting a fair amount of attention thanks to Braff’s soundtrack track record (cough, Garden State, cough). His 2004 efforts were everything that “lightening-in-a-bottle” phrase intends to describe, and Braff had a lot to live up to this time around. In his press rounds this month, Braff has shared some anecdotes about the soundtrack, the most intriguing being that he tapped several artists to write original[...]

Column 9: The Sandlot Celebrates the Fourth of July

July 2, 2014

Every once in a while, a movie comes around and catches you off guard for its surprisingly spectacular use of music. Does it surprise you that The Sandlot is on that list? The 90s favorite is loved for many things, but I’d surmise that its soundtrack ranks low on that list for most people. It’s not that people don’t think it’s great (the 1960s music definitely sets the stage for a nostalgia explosion), but it’s just overlooked in favor of the movie’s other great elements. This Fourth of July, I urge you to re-watch this classic, especially the scene in which the gang celebrates the holiday in the most American way possible: Playing baseball in a neighborhood lot, wearing jean shorts, scarfing down hot dogs on their way to the game, watching fireworks in awe…all set to perhaps the best rendition of the “America the Beautiful” the world has ever[...]

Column 8: Queen Bee Lana Del Ray Takes on Disney

June 25, 2014

Disney’s Maleficent recently hit theaters, but audiences were prepped months ahead of time thanks to the trailer, which features Lana Del Rey’s take on the traditionally sickly sweet “Once Upon a Dream.” Lana is a bad B, so it’s no surprise that she takes the cheerful longings of a maiden fair and rips them apart into something no less than haunting. Her take is almost trance-like and invokes the effect of a spell Maleficent herself may be capable of casting. The song definitely conveys Maleficent’s terrifyingly cool aura. It definitely ups Maleficent’s cool factor, an added plus for Disney, who now needs to go after children and their hip millennial parents. Check out the original version of “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, Del Ray’s version in the Maleficent trailer, and the full-length version below. Sleeping Beauty Maleficent Trailer Full-Length

Column 7: Indie Teen for the Inbetweeners

June 18, 2014

“Soundtrack by Various Artists” is a phrase I’ve always secretly sought out. It’s probably because I’m not naturally gifted in the art of discovering the latest and greatest musicians. The mere thought of making a cohesive, nicely flowing playlist makes me overwhelmed and anxious. “Soundtrack by Various Artists” has taken the guesswork out of sampling music, and I’ve always appreciated it. This kind of soundtrack was helpful when I was in high school, trying pretty hard to make “liking music” a part of my identity. I did like music, but I liked the idea of being known for liking music even more. This didn’t come naturally to me. This was a problem. Enter “Various Artists.” I loved going to the movies, so a soundtrack of this type was great exposure to different bands and sounds. I would see a movie and then look up the soundtrack. Often, a simple read-through[...]