My Awards nomiations: Original Song

As is usually the case, this is a thin category. Songwriting for film just isn't in vogue nowadays, but if you look close enough you can usually spot at least three of four decent Original Songs a year:

"Lay Your Head Down" from Albert Nobbs (Brian Byrne, Glenn Close):

This lovely Irish lullaby that concludes the film appropriately captures the film's subdued, delicate nature. Only used for the credits, but it's just so pretty.

"Star Spangled Man" from Captain America (Alan Menken, David Zippel):

One of my favourite moments of the film was the snappy montage set to this jaunty anthem that gently satirizes wartime propaganda in the spirit of a USO show.

"Lily (Rita)" from Chico & Rita (Bebo Valdes):

A romantic and melodious love theme that evolves over the course of the film from random ticklings of the piano keys to a sweeping full-bodied orchestration.

"Hell and Back" from Hell and Back Again (J. Ralph):

Soulful, poetically worded, and given melancholy voice by Willie Nelson's country rasp, this track is a soothing epilogue to a wrenching character study.

"Life's a Happy Song" from The Muppets (Bret Mackenzie):

A bouncy opening number that signals the beginning of a laugh-out-loud romp, and it even gets a heart-bursting reprise as the film's big finale.

Just missed:
"The Living Proof" from The Help, "Pictures in My Head" from The Muppets,
"The Keeper" from Machine Gun Preacher

Sunday Top Ten: Alan Menken songs

This past Friday marked the 62nd birthday of a man whose legacy has left a lasting impression on anyone who grew up with the Disney renaissance of the 1990s. I refer, of course, to the awesome Alan Menken, the master of melody whose tuneful compositions earned him a whopping fifteen Oscar nominations and eight wins between 1987 and 1998.

I can't tell you how tricky and frustrating it was for me to try and pare down his accomplished repertoire of songs to just ten for this list. Ask me again tomorrow and as many as five of them could be replaced by songs that don't appear on it today! I also tried to be as equitable as possible to the many projects to which Menken has contributed his music, but still wound up giving a couple of titles multiple spots on the list while many others got shut out completely. Sigh. Such is the bind of a top ten list: you can only pick ten. So I'll start things off by giving a shout out to the likes of Newsies, A Christmas Carol, Enchanted, and Tangled, all of whom came close to finding representation alongside these ten unforgettable ditties:

Review - Captain America: The First Avenger

I want YOU to go see Captain America! The final pillar upon which Marvel will rest next summer's Avengers movie is terrific fun, putting a bright Cap (pun intended) on the Superhero Summer That Kept On Giving.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) may have the right heroic attitude Uncle Sam looks for in a soldier, but his scrawny 90-pound frame – a brilliantly achieved illusion that disguises Evans' truly beefy musculature for nearly the entire first act – disqualifies him at every attempt to enlist. German expatriate Dr. Abraham Erskine (the wonderfully warm Stanley Tucci) immediately recognizes the virtue of Rogers' dedication, and makes him the prime candidate for an experimental formula that should transform this playground punching bag into an ass-kicking Adonis. It works! But no sooner does Rogers' new bodywork emerge from the chamber than the last sample of the serum is stolen by an agent of Hydra, a Nazi R. & D. department headed by the maniacal Johann Schmidt, aka: Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), the original test subject of Erskine's imperfected formula that left him grotesquely disfigured and all the more determined to personally attain Godlike power.