Songs for your iPod

(Was recommended All Things Must Pass (1970) - George Harrison by thebigparade. The album tracks keep getting deleted, so a few of these are live versions)

Let It Down (acoustic) - George Harrison



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Run Of The Mill (Acoustic) - George Harrison



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I Live For You - George Harrison




Some other tracks I liked from the album: Beware Of Darkness, Isn't It A Pity (Version Two), I'd Have You Anytime. The hits are ok, but wouldn't call them my favourites: My sweet lord, what is life

Readers, do you like/dislike George Harrison's music, any thoughts?
Look out next week for some of his more recent stuff!

Film review: Easy Rider (1969)

The filmmakers challenged the Hollywood formula at the time. A film made for young people by young people about “the real America”. Many artists on the soundtrack were from the counter-culture. None of the actors were big stars in 1969. Easy rider is widely regarded as the original road movie.

On the dvd, the Harley Davidson motorcycles are compared to horses in a western:




The film is also about the sadness of the end of the 60s. About two young men experiencing the ultimate freedom while crossing the United States on motorcycles, and became a symbol of free-spirited reaction against society.




Throwing your wristwatch away was an image used to reflect opposition:


It mesmerized critics with it’s perceptive look at America, the plot consists of stories Hopper heard, about people getting stopped at the boarders because of long hair. The film is about how people are scared of free individuals, not so much due to them being free, but because they perceive them to be dangerous.

Peter Fonda’s character Wyatt “Captain America” has a sensitive side, Billy (Dennis Hopper) is more outgoing, while Jack Nicholson’s character George Hanson seems more educated. For Nicholson, Easy Rider was his star making performance. Keeping with the western theme, Wyatt was named after Wyatt Earp and Billy after Billy the Kid.

Wyatt and Billy meet various people on their journey:














Along with other 60s soundtracks like for example Mrs. Robinson, it revolutionized how music is used together with film. Easy Rider used contemporary rock music for the bike sequences, this obviously helped bring in young audiences and created an atmosphere of the times. The words of the songs are part of the story. The music was part of Dennis Hopper’s and Peter Fonda’s record collection.

My personal favourite moment on the soundtrack is probably Born to be wild from the opening credits:



It returned millions of dollars on its $400.000 investment, and has become an iconic piece of American cinema, a cult film. Easy Rider received two Oscar nominations, best original screenplay and best supporting actor (Nicholson). The success of Easy Rider helped spark the New Hollywood phase of filmmaking during the late sixties and early seventies. The major studios realized that money could be made from low-budget films made by avant-garde directors.

According to director Dennis Hopper, “an easy rider lives off a whore, he’s her easy rider, he is the one she loves. She gives money to him, he doesn’t pimp her”

Spoilers on the ending: When Peter Fonda says “we blew it” near the end, we are left to speculate what he means by that? Did they blow the chance to be something different, and did their rebellion fail?
Or did they take it as far as they could? At the end of the day, was their trip a selfish journey, which didn’t really accomplish anything? Having money and freedom does not always equal happiness. According to wikipedia, Wyatt realizes that their search for freedom, while financially successful, was a spiritual failure. I guess if they enjoyed themselves, then at least they had fun!

In comparison, Julie’s learns in the film Three Colors Blue (1993) that she must fill her freedom with something meaningful in order to go on living. Freedom is not worth striving for. We run away from freedom, as soon as we get there.

For film critic Roger Ebert, the film plays today more as a period piece, but it captures so surely the tone and look of that moment in time in the late 60s.

Easy Rider features people smoking dope for real, which was not something that you would normally see actors do!



Among the best road movies out there I think with many colourful characters!

Readers, any thoughts on Easy Rider?


IMDB

Rottentomatoes

YouTube

Songs for your iPod

(Fourth part of my Neil Young songathon)


Deep Forbidden Lake – Neil Young

(Can you believe above acoustic track is not on any of his studio albums? The song itself was too good to shelve, so it was released as part of a greatest hits album in the late 70s. Homegrown (1975) was so near to being released that an album sleeve had been created, see above)

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Pardon My Heart - Neil Young and Crazy Horse

(Acoustic track from Homegrown (1975), ended up on the album Zuma. They say Homegrown was quite personal, and revealed much of Young's feelings on his failing relationship at the time with actress Carrie Snodgress.)




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Hank to Hendrix - Neil Young

(1992's Harvest Moon is one of my all-time favourite albums. So rarely do I find an album were I like almost every song)



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You And Me - Neil Young

(Also from the Harvest Moon era)




Any thoughts on the music, readers? Any suggestions for other Neil Young tracks or albums worth highlighting?

What are other people blogging about?

Bonjure Tristesse reviews Meeks Cutoff, I pretty much agree with his thoughts.

dvdinfatuation looks at Easy Rider, a groundbreaking and influential road movie from late 60s. I'll be reviewing it on moviesandsongs365 soon.

For a laugh, read some e-mails from an asshole

Andy Buckle agrees with me on The Illusionist . Andina at inspired ground also shares her views on the animated film.

Central Florida film critic James D is going through his top 10 films, here's his write-up of number 8 2001: A Space Odyssey

Mike’s article over at You Talking To Me? on Fellini's realism and career was rewarding, a director I'm currently getting into.

Chris at Mildly Interesting Films talks about a few books he’s read, and asks for recommendations. He also writes about the atmosphere in Twin Peaks.

Anna and Ronan offer their opinions on Tree of Life (2011), a film I loved. Ronan also reviews another of my favourites of 2011, the Oscar and Golden Globe winning Danish film In A Better World. I review Susanne Bier's film myself here


Love him or hate him, for those who have been following my recent David Lynch blogathon, Lynch’s 2010 short film Lady Blue Shanghai starring Marion Cotillard is on youtube. Also, listen to the winner of the David Lynch music video competition for the song “I Know”, from the upcoming debut solo album by, yes, Lynch himself, believe it or not, out 8th November 2011. And here’s an August interview in Rollingstone about the making of the album and what Lynch is up to these days.

If you like dream pop music (like me), check out this great remix. A music website I just discovered.

Misfortune Cookie a while back wrote an interesting piece on how The Office is a show for our times.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments below!

Film review: A Love Song For Bobby Long (2004)

Ok, I admit I went a bit crazy in taking screen snapshots for this review. One of those rare films I feel improved for me on the second viewing. The story is about misfits in New Orleans, some of the themes are friendship, growing up, being a writer, and alcoholism. The screenplay is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps.

My favourite scene is when Scarlett Johansson spends the day in the airport reading, together with the beautiful song in the background can bring a tear to my eye.



The film really makes New Orleans look so beautiful and I felt like jumping on a plane and visiting. Though watching this indie makes you feel like you are already there. Credit must be given to cinematographer Elliot Davis for creating the atmosphere. Interestingly, Davis was also responsible for the cinematography in the first Twilight film, which I visually liked quite a bit.














Oh, and you get to see John Travolta dancing! An atypical role for Travolta, some of the best acting I’ve ever seen by him, should have been nominated. The film was not given much love by critics, and didn't do well at the box office. Maybe it will gain a cult following on dvd? One of the negative reviews pointed out Johansson and Macht are both too gym-toned and poised for their loser characters.

I like the little details sprinkled into the story, which you have to pause the movie to properly notice. Has some quotes from different writers that can give you food for thought.


In the behind the scenes documentary on the dvd, director/writer Shainee Gabel says the city of New Orleans was the inspiration for making the film, the beauty of decay. Every few blocks there was a church and a corner bar with regulars, and a great tradition of oral history that they would tell you their life story. She thinks romanticism has become an illness for the broken character Bobby Long (Travolta), books, and writing have become more beautiful, exciting and romantic than his real life, and his problem with alcohol feeds that. Bobby has created a fantasy world about what he is and what he was, to the point where he’s forgotten what he’s lost, and he’s forgotten what was important to him. In the movie he is forced to remember, which is both a happy and painful experience.

The director thinks that washed-up Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht with the beard in the screen shots above) is someone who doesn’t have a lot of confidence, who didn’t grow up with a lot of support, and when he grew up, he had a professor who took an interest in his career and cared (Bobby Long).

As Roger Ebert notes, its unusual to see an American film take its time, and remarkable to listen to dialogue that assumes the audience is well-read.

IMDB

Rottentomatoes


Readers, any thoughts on A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG ?