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.

Top 50 Films of the '00's

OK. This list will surely be rare among everyone. I went through each film that was released during each year and if it had some sort of effect on me I wrote it down, when I was finished I had 53 films. But, to keep it a nice round number I decided to round that down to 50.

This is just my Top 50 films, it has no barring on the actual quality of the film. These are just the Top 50 that I particularly enjoy.

Also, there were many (many) films released during this time period which I have not had the chance to see yet - some of which I have heard are rather good - but I was not able to include those, only those I have seen (and for many of them have seen a multitude of times).

Finally, I also did something that some others have done, yet others do not like, and that is group some films together as part of a series instead of separate films. It's my list and I will group if I want to. So, for the films with an asterisk next to the title I am also including the other films in their franchise.

So, here is my Top 50 Films of the '00's:

50) Blades of Glory (2007)

49) Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)

48) Invincible (2006)

47) Watchmen (2009)

46) High Fidelity (2000)

45) Catch Me If You Can (2002)

44) Beerfest (2006)

43) The Replacements (2000)

42) Enchanted (2007)

41) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

40) Reign Over Me (2007)

39) Old School (2003)

38) Adventureland (2009)

37) A Knight’s Tale (2001)

36) School of Rock (2003)

35) We Are Marshall (2006)

34) Moulin Rouge (2001)

33) The Fast and the Furious (2001)

32) 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)

31) Life as a House (2001)

30) Garden State (2004)

29) Knocked Up (2007)

28) 8 Mile (2002)

27) American Pie 2 (2001)

26) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)

25) Spider-Man* (2002)

24) Lord of the Rings* (2001)

23) Dodgeball (2004)

22) Stick It (2006)

21) X2: X-Men United (2003)

20) Men with Brooms (2002)

19) Fanboys (2009)

18) Cars (2006)

17) Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

16) Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

15) Accepted (2006)

14) Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

13) Wedding Crashers (2005)

12) Finding Nemo (2003)

11) Miracle (2004)

10) Cast Away (2000)

9) Transformers* (2007)

8) Pirates of the Caribbean* (2003)

7) Iron Man (2008)

6) Remember the Titans (2000)

5) Ocean’s Eleven* (2001)

4) Harry Potter* (2001)

3) Shrek* (2001)

2) The Dark Knight* (2008)

1) Star Trek (2009)

Explanations for my Top 10:

10) Cast Away: One of Tom Hanks' greatest performances as he spent 3/4 of the film with no human interaction, but spent that time conversing with a volleyball. Hanks also had to lose an incredible amount of weight and grow his hair and beard out for the part. For a movie without much talking I was still engrossed with what was going on in the film. Plus is made a star out of a Wilson Volleyball.

9) Transformers*: I included both of the films in this selection, but I feel I enjoyed the first film the best. It sort of came out of nowhere, a movie based on an action figure, but it turned out to be a pretty action packed film, which in turn made stars out of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. A film that's dialogue may be lacking, but the action and CGI certainly kept me entertained.

8) Pirates of the Caribbean*: I am including all three Pirates films, although I feel the first one outranks the lot of them. I have to admit that this one really took me off guard. For some reason leading up to it I had not really heard much about it, but a friend told me I had to see it and I was thoroughly entertained. Captain Jack Sparrow is a character for the ages.

7) Iron Man: Was this going to be another Spider-Man or another Batman? The answer is somewhere in between, and that is perfectly fine. This film had a lot of humor and action, and thanks to the performance of Robert Downey Jr. really blew a lot of people away that really weren't expecting much of anything.

6) Remember the Titans: As you can see from the list I am a sucker for sports films, especially if they are well done. This movie was less about the football and more about the racial struggles of a small town and school, but it was because of the football that so many were able to accept each other no matter their color.

5) Ocean's Eleven*: The first one was a masterpiece. I love heist films and I especially love when they don't show you how it was done until the end. The cast was top-notch, and it even makes it this high with Julia Roberts in the cast (I am not that big a fan). The sequel was a little less superb, but still enjoyable as it gave us the Night Fox. The third was much better than the second, but still couldn't surpass the first.

4) Harry Potter*: This entire decade should have been named the Harry Potter decade. Just two films remain in the series (a combination of the final book), but the first six so far have been visually stunning and rather entertaining as well (even for someone like me who has not read the books). So far, I would have to say that Order of the Phoenix is my favorite of the films, but we still have the final two to go.

3) Shrek*: Yet another film that you weren't really expecting much from. Thank goodness it exists, however, for the sake of Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy's careers. The first film in this series is hilarious and heartwarming at the same time. I have been fortunate to see it over-and-over again as my son has become a huge fan. The second two films are both great watches as well, but the first is still the crowning achievement.

2) The Dark Knight*: This one is a combination because without the great reboot that was Batman Begins, this film would have never existed. It is probably the top film on almost everyone's list for the decade, but it gets second on mine. Heath Ledger's Joker is quite possibly the best character in a film the entire decade, and the film was visually stunning as well and kept the story of Batman growing.

1) Star Trek: This is my absolute favorite film of the decade. As much as I loved The Dark Knight, it was Star Trek that was the lone film that when I left the theater I immediately knew I had to see it again. I grew up a fan of the original films, but the combination of humor and even better battles really took this one to another level. Each of the characters were extremely well done and I cannot wait to see the many journey's this crew takes in the future.