P.S. I Love You- The sloppy romantic weeper has a soundtrack full of energetic Irish-flavored tunes, melancholy crooning, and modern pop rock. Featuring songs from The Pogues, Flogging Molly, Ryan Star, James Blunt, with Nellie McKay performing the title track. Note that the soundtrack available for sale doesn't contain two of the film's most notable songs- Fairy Tale of New York by the Pogues, and Galway Girl, sung by Gerard Butler.
Titanic- It took me until five years after Titanicmania had died down to acknowledge the epic bore really did have some beautiful music. Radio and television were so saturated with "My Heart Will Go On" that hatred of it was the only option. Composer James Horner won the Academy Award for Best Score and Best Song (lyrics by Will Jennings), and it was well deserved. Any movie that gets young people listening to orchestral music can't be all bad.
Bulworth- Stupid stupid movie. Warren Beatty trying to rap was painful to watch, but the hip-hop heavy soundtrack (including Top 20 hit "Ghetto Supastar") made the film moderately successful. Featuring a who's who of hip-hop and rap, with songs from LL Cool J and Dr. Dre, Mya, ODB, and Pras, the Black-Eyed Peas, Eve, Public Enemy and more.
Purple Rain- "So bad it's good...but not" territory here. This is one of the best albums of the eighties, and that it came out of a piss-poor film is a miracle. Music by Prince, with a couple songs from The Time. Whatever happened to them, anyway?
Center Stage- Let me be clear: I fucking LOVE this movie. But it makes Dirty Dancing look like Citizen Kane, with its awkward performances from novice actors who were really dancers. Even Peter Gallagher and Donna Murphy look embarrassed to be uttering their dialogue. The dancing is wonderful though, and the music it was set to worked perfectly. The soundtrack features the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Jackson, Jamiroquai, Mandy Moore, and others. Moore's "Candy" however is not on the soundtrack for sale.
Highlander- Highlander may as well be one long video for music by Queen. The movie's a mess, but Queen is in its glory, with songs such as "Who Wants To Live Forever", "Princes of the Universe" and "It's a Kind of Magic."
Night at the Roxbury- You can't expect much from a movie based on an SNL sketch, but the soundtrack makes you want to bounce spastically like the Butabi brothers. Features the infamous "What Is Love?" by Haddaway and more dance tunes by Bamboo, La Bouche, Faithless, Tamia and others.
As usual, a fantastic topic from Miss Susie Shemp, but I have an addition to make. 1993's 'Judgment Night' was a crappy little action thriller starring Emilio Estevez and Cuba Gooding, Jr., but honestly, don't even bother watching the movie. It's a total piece of crap and not worth your time. However, the diamond that came out of that turd was the soundtrack, a collection of 11 original rap/rock classics created especially for the movie.
ReplyDeleteEvery song on the soundtrack was a collaboration between a rock group and a rap group, and with the exception of MAYBE the Therapy?/Fatal pairing, every single track on the album was ingenious. Sonic Youth appears with Cypress Hill, Run-DMC with Living Colour, and Slayer with Ice-T doing a goddamn honest-to-goodness Exploited medley. Here's the complete ass-kicking listing -
"Just Another Victim" - Helmet w/ House of Pain
"Fallin'" - Teenage Fanclub w/ De La Soul
"Me, Myself, & My Microphone" - Living Colour w/ Run-DMC
"Judgment Night" - Biohazard w/ Onyx
"Disorder" - Slayer w/ Ice-T
"Another Body Murdered" - Faith No More w/ Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
"I Love You Mary Jane" - Sonic Youth w/ Cypress Hill
"Freak Momma" - Mudhoney w/ Sir Mix-A-Lot
"Missing Link" - Dinosaur Jr w/ Del tha Funkee Homosapien
"Come and Die" - Therapy? w/ Fatal
"Real Thing" - Pearl Jam w/ Cypress Hill
Keep in mind that Pearl Jam was Vedder-less for their contribution, but nonetheless, the music still rocks an inordinate amount of ass. I love all the songs, but to be honest, my personal favorite was the title track "Judgment Night" from Onyx & Biohazard. Onyx was hot off their super-hit "Slam" at the time, and NYC hardcore superstars Biohazard fit their angry, aggressive style to a tee. In fact, not only did the two groups work together and make a video for "Judgment Night" (peep that right here - http://tinyurl.com/27ttal), but they also did a remix single and video for "Slam" that you can check out here - http://tinyurl.com/6ltdjf.
Now that's what hardcore hip-hop should sound like, dammit.