Desert Island - Movie Soundtrack

OK. So I saw this on a few of my fellow bloggers' sites and I thought it was such a fun idea that I had to give it a try. And man was it hard. In fact, if I did this again next week I could very well have a whole new list. But, after my initial pass these are the ones that I have chosen.

Castor at Anomalous Material has given a set of parameters. A plane goes down and you are on a deserted island. In this case, what 12 songs (and those songs must be included in a soundtrack) would you bring with you to listen to on a continuous loop.

So, I began thinking. And a lot of different things popped into my head. First was, find your favorite groups or singers and figure out which soundtracks they belong to. Second, what songs resonate with you thanks to their inclusion in a film.

Well, these are the 12 that I came up with.

1) The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century

-Found on the Jumper soundtrack, The Tragically Hip have been my favorite band since I was in high school. Living in a small town just south of Canada, these Canadian musicians really had an influence on my teenage years and have continued to be a part of my life ever since.

2) Guster - What You Wish For

-Found on the Life as a House soundtrack, Guster is another of my favorite bands. I was introduced to them by my then friend and no current wife. They have sort of become a staple in our household and we continue to see them whenever possible.

3) Our Lady Peace - Life

-Found on the Men With Brooms soundtrack, I came across Our Lady Peace (another Canadian band) a little later than my other two favorite bands, but have come to love them all about the same. I realized that I had actually been listening to them for awhile, but didn't know who they were - now one of my top three bands.

4) The Clarks - Let It Go

-Found on the Summer Catch soundtrack, I was born in Pittsburgh, but moved away when I was eight years old. I returned to my birth city for college and discovered a local band doing pretty well for itself - and I have been following them ever since.

5) Gene Wilder - Pure Imagination

-Found on the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack, my all-time favorite movie and besides The Candy Man, probably the most iconic song in the film. I had to include at least one song from this amazing film.

6) Soggy Bottom Boys - Man of Constant Sorrow

-Found on O Brother, Where Art Though soundtrack, the song that became a sensation throughout the film actually became a pretty big sensation outside of the film as well. The funniest parts are Clooney and his gang singing the words of the Soggy Bottom Boys.

7) Kermit the Frog - Rainbow Connection

-Found on The Muppet Movie soundtrack, definitely brings me back to my childhood and love of the Muppets. My son has slowly gotten into these movies and has these songs in his iPod. Just a great song - probably the best by a frog.

8) Wailing Souls - Wild Wild Life

-Found on the Cool Runnings soundtrack, this song definitely reminds me of this great film. It truly fits the movie of the first Jamaican bobsled team to compete in the Olympics.

9) Frou Frou - Let Go

-Found on the Garden State soundtrack, a film that is truly known for its soundtrack this Frou Frou song has always stuck out to me and compliments the film very well.

10) Linkin Park - What I've Done

-Found on the Transformers soundtrack, when I first heard the song it really jumped out and me and although it is probably overplayed by now it still is a great song that really fit into the movie well.

11) Citizen Cope - Let the Drummer Kick

-Found on the Accepted soundtrack, one of the best films ever that my wife and I have to watch at least once a month. This song - besides the amazing You Think We Suck - is probably the song that resonates the most for me from the film.

12) The Wallflowers - Heroes

-Found on the Godzilla soundtrack, but I would technically be including it from The Replacements. The original song was used in the film, but for some reason they used another artist on the actual soundtrack.

Well, there is my 12-track deserted island CD. Like I said, if I made this list a month later it might be a little different - and I am sure I missed a ton of great songs that I will find late on, but for now, at this moment, this is my list.

Be Kind Rewind/Men With Brooms

During this stellar 4th of July weekend I was able to catch a couple of movies.

On Saturday I had a little down time after cleaning the house, and while Kasey and Erika took a nap so I tossed in Be Kind Rewind. I was pretty excited about the movie, because the premise looked like it could really be a funny movie.

Basically the plot goes like this: Jerry (Jack Black) is electrocuted and his body becomes a bit magnetized. Mike (Mos Def) has been left in charge of the video store, Be Kind Rewind, which is a little behind on the times - currently only holding VHS titles. Jerry comes into the store and, due to his magnetization, accidentally erases the entire library of videos.

So, in order to please their customers and not get in trouble - Jerry and Mike decide to remake the movies themselves. And to their surprise, their customers actually enjoy the movies. They call the movies 'Sweded', and are soon drawing in tons of new business.

Little do they know, however, is that Elroy Fletcher (Danny Glover) is out trying to find a way to upgrade the store to make more money, so that they can stay where they are located. A builder has plans to renovate the property - evicting the video store.

I have to admit, I was not that pleased with the movie. There were some pretty good parts, and the ending was kind of nice, but it just didn't hold my attention like I thought it would. The scenes where they were remaking the movies were pretty funny, but those scenes weren't long enough. I am glad I checked out the movie, and it's possible that some people might actually like it, but I can't truly recommend it - especially for repeat viewing.

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The other movie I checked out this weekend was Men with Brooms. I have seen this movie multiple times, but it had been awhile since I had watched it.

The movie stars Paul Gross (Chris Cutter), Jed Reese (Eddie Strombeck), James Allodi (Neil Bucyk), Peter Outerbridge (James Lennox), Molly Parker (Amy Foley) and Leslie Nielson (Gordon Cutter).

I was first interested in this movie when I saw the trailer. The movie features music from two of my favorite bands: The Tragically Hip and Our Lady Peace. It's kind of weird how music can actually draw you to a movie, but I am glad it does. It's happened a few other times, especially with Life As A House which featured another favorite band, Guster.

Men with Brooms is a movie about a curling team. The film is set in Canada and starts with the death of Amy Foley's father, who also happens to be a curling coach. His death brings together his former team of Chris Cutter, Eddie Strombeck, Neil Bucyk and James Lennox. The team hadn't been together in nearly 10 years after Cutter mysteriously left the group. We later find out that the reason he left was because he lied about a team member touching a stone, in order to preserve a victory.

Their coaches last wish was for the quartet to compete one last time for the curling championship. Cutter recruits his father, Gordon, to get the team back up to speed in order to compete in the championships.

Each member is dealing with different issues in his life, which throughout the movie they are forced to face and deal with.

Despite the lack of any real stars (Nielson being the lone big name) this movie was pretty amazing, and I can watch it multiple times. It was funny, there was drama, there was a love story and there was curling. I have never truly been a fan of the sport, but it was interesting to see the dynamics of the game.

Overall I definitely recommend checking out this movie. Especially if you are into Canadian humor and Canadian music. For a special bonus, The Tragically Hip actually had a cameo appearance in the film as a rival curling squad from Kingston, Ontario.

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