50/50 (2011, directed by Jonathan Levine)
Dramedies so rarely work, it's a wonder they get made at all. The mix is a tough one to get right. If one element dominates the other seems forced, and if the two don't flow together organically the whole concoction comes out sour. It's like a bad mojito. Too much rum, or the wrong type of rum, and it becomes the kind of swill only a 15-year-old could pretend to love. Too little booze, and you might as well be drinking toothpaste-flavored water.
50/50 is a pretty smooth mojito, with a decent kick to it.
This is the part of the review where I describe the plot, so TalkBackers won't bitch about whether I actually saw the film or not and instead can bitch about spoilers. Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a nice normal Seattlite who does pieces on volcanos for public radio that no one much wants to listen to. Things are inching towards getting serious with his sexy artist girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), and everything seems blandly hunky-dory... until the back pain that's been bothering him turns out to be a rare, nasty form of cancer wrapped around his spinal column which leaves him with 50/50 odds of survival at best. As he gets rushed into chemo all his assumptions about his safe cozy life, and indeed his safe cozy self-image, are ripped apart and he's got to not only learn to survive, but learn to live.
If that sounds a bit trite it's because it very easily could have been. The plot too often opts for charcoal instead of pitch-black, and the direction from Levine doesn't take any risks (when Radiohead's High and Dry kicks in on the soundtrack after Adam finds out he's sick, I nearly groaned out loud. What, they couldn't get Nirvana's All Apologies?) But that provides a clean canvas on which an exceptionally talented cast can work. There aren't any scene-stealers here, because just about everyone is locked in from the get go: Anjelica Huston as the mom hiding her own pain beneath suffocating concern; Anna Kendrick as the novice therapist still trying to define her personal and professional boundaries; Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer (!) as Adam's fellow chemo patients... there are simply no weak links. No, not even Seth Rogan as the asshole best friend who sees Adam's cancer as a great way for them both to get laid. But good as they are, they're all just satellites in orbit around an incredibly grounded, funny, moving performance by Gordon-Levitt. In every single frame of film he's completely invested in his character, and the honesty in Adam's mounting frustration and fear and rage is what truly makes 50/50 work. It isn't an over-the-top histrionic performance (in other words, it isn't Oscar bait) but it is an exceptional one, and it's just another bit of proof that it's long past time Hollywood realizes that Gordon-Levitt belongs in the conversation when talking about the best actors of his generation.
50/50 isn't revolutionary, and it isn't as good as the modern reigning queen of the genre, Terms of Endearment (which it kind of foolishly name-drops). But it's a hell of a lot better than it could have been, and there are moments on both the comedy and drama sides that stick with you for a bit after the credits roll. There's not much more you could ask for from a moji... err, a dramedy.
TIFF Review: Killer Elite
Killer Elite (2011, directed by Gary McKendry)
The fact that a Jason Statham film is a Gala might be the funniest joke this festival has ever played on its audience.
Now don't get me wrong: Killer Elite is a perfectly respectable Jason Statham film. It's not a fluffy piece of cartoony silliness like Crank, and even has delusions of importance, but the thought of people getting dressed to the nines and heading to the opera house TIFF uses for their Gala screenings to watch Statham and Clive Owen kick each other's ass is just hilarious. (Mind you, this year's Gala lineup also features a U2 doc, a Gerard Butler film, a Luc Besson film, and Madonna's directorial debut, so maybe it isn't that out of place after all...)
Anyway, the plot: Statham is an ex-SEAL and independent contractor in the '80s who leaves the business after a crisis of conscience. He gets dragged back in when his mentor (Robert DeNiro) is held hostage after failing to complete a seemingly impossible job for an exiled sheik: kill the three SAS bastards who killed the sheik's three eldest sons during the Oman conflict, but make all the deaths look like accidents. As if the job wasn't hard enough, the sheik wants videotaped confessions from all three, and a group of ex-SAS bigshots called the Feather Men quickly get wind of Statham's assignment and set their attack dog Spike (played by Owen) loose to stop him.
If Killer Elite reminded me of anything it was Ronin, and not just because DeNiro's in both. Now, that's not the compliment it might be from some people. I think Ronin's horribly overrated in some circles, and cool car chases (OK, REALLY cool car chases) don't make up for things like the utterly pointless Sean Bean subplot in my book. Killer Elite's story is more streamlined than Ronin's, but it's got the same 'mercenaries on a mission in a morally ambiguous universe' vibe and the same bloated sense of self-importance.
But it's also got Statham, and that goes a long way. The guy just can't help being cool on screen, no matter what he's doing (which in this case is mostly killing guys, planning to kill guys, or flashing back to shagging his hot new girlfriend back in Australia.) And it's also got Owen, who's in Sin City mode here: all barely suppressed rage and with a ridiculous moustache to boot. Those two alone make the film worth watching, although Dominic Purcell turns in a great supporting turn as one of Statham's crew, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje pops in too as their, for lack of a better word, dispatcher.
The script is wonky in spots (I dare you not to cringe when one of the Feather Men explains where their name comes from. I double-dog-dare you) and given that the film (or rather, the book that provides its source material) ludicrously claims to be based on a true story, it's kind of amazing that it works at all, but it does work. It's a perfectly respectable actiony-thrillery-conspiracy thing.
Just don't expect anything more than that.
The fact that a Jason Statham film is a Gala might be the funniest joke this festival has ever played on its audience.
Now don't get me wrong: Killer Elite is a perfectly respectable Jason Statham film. It's not a fluffy piece of cartoony silliness like Crank, and even has delusions of importance, but the thought of people getting dressed to the nines and heading to the opera house TIFF uses for their Gala screenings to watch Statham and Clive Owen kick each other's ass is just hilarious. (Mind you, this year's Gala lineup also features a U2 doc, a Gerard Butler film, a Luc Besson film, and Madonna's directorial debut, so maybe it isn't that out of place after all...)
Anyway, the plot: Statham is an ex-SEAL and independent contractor in the '80s who leaves the business after a crisis of conscience. He gets dragged back in when his mentor (Robert DeNiro) is held hostage after failing to complete a seemingly impossible job for an exiled sheik: kill the three SAS bastards who killed the sheik's three eldest sons during the Oman conflict, but make all the deaths look like accidents. As if the job wasn't hard enough, the sheik wants videotaped confessions from all three, and a group of ex-SAS bigshots called the Feather Men quickly get wind of Statham's assignment and set their attack dog Spike (played by Owen) loose to stop him.
If Killer Elite reminded me of anything it was Ronin, and not just because DeNiro's in both. Now, that's not the compliment it might be from some people. I think Ronin's horribly overrated in some circles, and cool car chases (OK, REALLY cool car chases) don't make up for things like the utterly pointless Sean Bean subplot in my book. Killer Elite's story is more streamlined than Ronin's, but it's got the same 'mercenaries on a mission in a morally ambiguous universe' vibe and the same bloated sense of self-importance.
But it's also got Statham, and that goes a long way. The guy just can't help being cool on screen, no matter what he's doing (which in this case is mostly killing guys, planning to kill guys, or flashing back to shagging his hot new girlfriend back in Australia.) And it's also got Owen, who's in Sin City mode here: all barely suppressed rage and with a ridiculous moustache to boot. Those two alone make the film worth watching, although Dominic Purcell turns in a great supporting turn as one of Statham's crew, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje pops in too as their, for lack of a better word, dispatcher.
The script is wonky in spots (I dare you not to cringe when one of the Feather Men explains where their name comes from. I double-dog-dare you) and given that the film (or rather, the book that provides its source material) ludicrously claims to be based on a true story, it's kind of amazing that it works at all, but it does work. It's a perfectly respectable actiony-thrillery-conspiracy thing.
Just don't expect anything more than that.
TIFF Review: The Raid
The Raid (2011, directed by Gareth Huw Evans)
When Ong Bak hit the scene a decade or so ago everyone flipped out over Tony Jaa and the awesome brutality of the muy thai fight scenes, but the film itself got a few fanboy sneers for not being the polished production you might expect out of the more established film industries of the east.
The Raid might end up having just as big an impact as Ong Bak did, but the fanboys are gonna have to find something else to complain about.
Telling the story of a botched police raid on the tenement stronghold of a Jakarta crime lord, The Raid featured basically everything you could possibly want in an action film. Simple yet propulsive plot? (It's basically a Die Hard riff). Check. Charismatic star? (Iko Uwais carries himself on-screen like the Indonesian Ryan Gosling, if Gosling could kill a man with his bare hands in under five seconds.) Check. Worthy opponents? (If Uwais is the Indonesian Gosling, Ray Sahetapy as Tama the crime lord might as well be the Indonesian Benicio del Toro. And the nastier of his two main henchmen gets played by the film's fight choreographer, Yayn Ruhian, and is simply called Mad Dog.) Great fight scenes? (Silat, the Indonesian house brand martial arts style on display here, comes across like muy thai's vicious cousin.) Check. Massive body count? (This isn't a 'tap and you fall down' martial arts movie. Even beyond all the machete action, automatic weapons fire, exploding refrigerators and close-range bullets to the temple, an awful lot of people get stabbed in the throat in The Raid.) Check check check asterisk asterisk holy shit exclamation point check.
What sets The Raid apart from the recent wave of muy thai films like Ong Bak, Tom-Yung-Goong and Chocolate though is the story-telling. Welsh transplant writer/director Gareth Evans does a fantastic job of showcasing the fight scenes while still keeping the film moving relentlessly forward. The quiet moments are few, far between and placed with precision, and the rest is thunderous bloody mayhem, with none of the set pieces feeling like they were shoe-horned in just because they looked cool. It's Evans, just as much as Uwais, who's the real breakaway star here, and he's established himself as a young action director who demands that you pay attention to whatever project he's taking aim at next.
If anything The Raid feels like a next step forward down the path Ong Bak opened up. Ten years ago, the idea that there even could be an 'undiscovered' cinematic martial art style was a mind-blower. The Raid can't blaze that trail twice, but it doesn't need to, and doesn't even try. Instead, The Raid just focuses on kicking your ass so hard you're shitting out of your nostrils for a week.
And really, isn't that what we all want from our action flicks?
When Ong Bak hit the scene a decade or so ago everyone flipped out over Tony Jaa and the awesome brutality of the muy thai fight scenes, but the film itself got a few fanboy sneers for not being the polished production you might expect out of the more established film industries of the east.
The Raid might end up having just as big an impact as Ong Bak did, but the fanboys are gonna have to find something else to complain about.
Telling the story of a botched police raid on the tenement stronghold of a Jakarta crime lord, The Raid featured basically everything you could possibly want in an action film. Simple yet propulsive plot? (It's basically a Die Hard riff). Check. Charismatic star? (Iko Uwais carries himself on-screen like the Indonesian Ryan Gosling, if Gosling could kill a man with his bare hands in under five seconds.) Check. Worthy opponents? (If Uwais is the Indonesian Gosling, Ray Sahetapy as Tama the crime lord might as well be the Indonesian Benicio del Toro. And the nastier of his two main henchmen gets played by the film's fight choreographer, Yayn Ruhian, and is simply called Mad Dog.) Great fight scenes? (Silat, the Indonesian house brand martial arts style on display here, comes across like muy thai's vicious cousin.) Check. Massive body count? (This isn't a 'tap and you fall down' martial arts movie. Even beyond all the machete action, automatic weapons fire, exploding refrigerators and close-range bullets to the temple, an awful lot of people get stabbed in the throat in The Raid.) Check check check asterisk asterisk holy shit exclamation point check.
What sets The Raid apart from the recent wave of muy thai films like Ong Bak, Tom-Yung-Goong and Chocolate though is the story-telling. Welsh transplant writer/director Gareth Evans does a fantastic job of showcasing the fight scenes while still keeping the film moving relentlessly forward. The quiet moments are few, far between and placed with precision, and the rest is thunderous bloody mayhem, with none of the set pieces feeling like they were shoe-horned in just because they looked cool. It's Evans, just as much as Uwais, who's the real breakaway star here, and he's established himself as a young action director who demands that you pay attention to whatever project he's taking aim at next.
If anything The Raid feels like a next step forward down the path Ong Bak opened up. Ten years ago, the idea that there even could be an 'undiscovered' cinematic martial art style was a mind-blower. The Raid can't blaze that trail twice, but it doesn't need to, and doesn't even try. Instead, The Raid just focuses on kicking your ass so hard you're shitting out of your nostrils for a week.
And really, isn't that what we all want from our action flicks?
2011 Fest Preview
A quick list of some of the coming films that have caught my eye at TIFF this year:
Midnight Madness:
God Bless America - Bobcat Goldthwait is back in the director's chair, returning to TIFF for the first time since Sleeping Dogs Lie. This one seems to be about a bottomed-out loser on a rampage, sounding a bit like Falling Down meets the Doom Generation.
The Incident - a rock band is trapped in an asylum where the inmates are running amok. It's from the French co-director of the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army video. It could suck, or it could be everything an Alejandro Aja film is supposed to be but isn't. Fingers crossed!
Kill List - Down Terrace director Ben Wheatley brings us something about hit men in over their heads. Could be interesting.
Livid - a full-on, balls-out Gothic haunted mansion film from the directors of a l'Interieur. I. AM. SO. FUCKING. THERE.
The Raid - an Indonesian martial arts film, with a plot that sounds like something out of Hong Kong in the '80s? Yes please.
You're Next - A Horrible Way To Die director Adam Wingard riffs on Straw Dogs. Works for me.
Docs:
Arirang - Kim Ki-duk deconstructs a behind-the-scenes doc, or something. Don't know, don't care - it's been too long since I've seen a new film from him.
Comic-Con: Episode IV - A Fan's Hope - I kinda suspect Spurlock's Comic-Con doc will bite, but I'm basically obligated to see it.
Crazy Horse - Frederick Wiseman's latest subject? The legendary Paris cabaret Crazy Horse. Wheeeee!
Dark Girls - a doc that explores skin colour bias within African-Whateveran communities around the world.
I'm Carolyn Parker: The Good, The Mad & The Beautiful - Jonathan Demme's biodoc on New Orleans heroine Parker.
Into the Abyss - Herzog's doc about a Texas murder case and death row. Not, sadly, shot in 3D, but still a must-see.
The Last Gladiators - Alex Gibney's latest is about hockey goons, and Chris Nilan in particular.
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - Berlinger and Sinofsky are back with part three in the saga of the West Memphis Three.
Paul Williams Still Alive - a semi-obsessed fan tries to figure out what the hell happened to Paul Williams, anyway?
Sarah Palin - You Betcha! - Nick Broomfield does his usual shtick, but with Palin in his crosshairs.
Pearl Jam Twenty - Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam doc. What more needs to be said?
Yes, I'm deliberately leaving the U2 doc off the list...
Other Stuff:
A Dangerous Method - Cronenberg. Viggo. Michael Fassbender. Oh, and it's about the relationship between Freud and Jung, with keira Knightley playing Sabina Spielrein. If this isn't my favourite film of the fest, it'll be a shocking upset.
The Ides of March - Clooney directs Clooney, Gosling, Giamatti and Hoffman (Philip Seymour, not Dustin) in a political thriller about an Ohio primary.
The Lady - Luc Besson's Aung San Suu Kyi biopic, starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis. No clue whether that could actually work or not, but I'm just glad Thewlis is getting projects like this again, frankly.
Moneyball - I have zero faith this will be a good movie, but like the Spurlock I feel obligated to see it.
505/50 - I have no idea what this is about, but the cast includes Joseph Gorder-Levitt, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Huston. Oh, and Seth Rogan, but no film is perfect.
Anonymous - more Thewlis! Sweet! On the bright side, it's a mystery about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays with Vanessa Redgrave as Queen Liz. On the other hand it's directed by... Roland Emmerich????
Coriolanus - Ralph Fiennes directs himself and Gerard Butler in a Roman revenge tale. Could potentially be bad-ass.
Dark Horse - Solondz's latest is a love story about a girl who tried being a grown-up and failed, and a guy who never tried. The cast includes Christopher Walken, Aasif Mandvi and Selma Blair as one of the leads. Your guess is as good as mine.
The Descendants - Alexander Payne's latest stars Clooney as a widower forced to pay attention to his kids for a change.
Drive - OK, if the Cronenberg isn't my fave of the fest, then this almost certainly will be. Pusher trilogy director Nicolas Winding Refn makes his Hollywood debut with a crime thriller about a professional getaway driver, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, with Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman as the bad guys. Fuck yeah.
Friends With Kids - Kissing Jessica Stein co-writer and co-star Jennifer Westfeldt rounded up the following cast for her directorial debut, an ensemble relationship comedy: Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Megan Fox and Westfeldt's boytoy Jon Hamm.
Melancholia - von Trier's "psychological disaster film". Is it wrong of me to indulge in a little schadenfreude over what he probably put Kirsten Dunst through during the shooting? I've never even met her... she just seems like an actress who needs to go through the von Trier actress meat grinder.
Rampart - this sounds terrible and indulgent, like it should have been titled Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call Los Angeles, only starring Woody Harrelson. And yet the rest of the cast... Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon as his ex-wives? Sigourney Weaver as the deputy DA? Ice Cube? Ned Beatty? Ben Foster? Robin Wright? I mean, it has to be a train wreck, but it could be an entertaining one.
Shame - Michael Fassebender and Carey Mulligan star in Steve McQueen's latest, about a dissolute bastard whose younger sister moves in with him. Yup, I'm sold.
Twixt - a writer on a book tour gets sucked into a murder mystery in a small town. Yawn. It stars Val Kilmer. Still yawn. It's directed by Sofia Coppola's dad. Oh, dear. This is going to be painful to watch, isn't it?
We Need To Talk About Kevin - apparently two films about parents dealing with the aftermath of their kids doing awful things wasn't enough last year, because here comes another one. Mind you, this one stars Tilda Swinton and is directed by Lynne Ramsay, so maybe one more isn't so bad.
Midnight Madness:
God Bless America - Bobcat Goldthwait is back in the director's chair, returning to TIFF for the first time since Sleeping Dogs Lie. This one seems to be about a bottomed-out loser on a rampage, sounding a bit like Falling Down meets the Doom Generation.
The Incident - a rock band is trapped in an asylum where the inmates are running amok. It's from the French co-director of the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army video. It could suck, or it could be everything an Alejandro Aja film is supposed to be but isn't. Fingers crossed!
Kill List - Down Terrace director Ben Wheatley brings us something about hit men in over their heads. Could be interesting.
Livid - a full-on, balls-out Gothic haunted mansion film from the directors of a l'Interieur. I. AM. SO. FUCKING. THERE.
The Raid - an Indonesian martial arts film, with a plot that sounds like something out of Hong Kong in the '80s? Yes please.
You're Next - A Horrible Way To Die director Adam Wingard riffs on Straw Dogs. Works for me.
Docs:
Arirang - Kim Ki-duk deconstructs a behind-the-scenes doc, or something. Don't know, don't care - it's been too long since I've seen a new film from him.
Comic-Con: Episode IV - A Fan's Hope - I kinda suspect Spurlock's Comic-Con doc will bite, but I'm basically obligated to see it.
Crazy Horse - Frederick Wiseman's latest subject? The legendary Paris cabaret Crazy Horse. Wheeeee!
Dark Girls - a doc that explores skin colour bias within African-Whateveran communities around the world.
I'm Carolyn Parker: The Good, The Mad & The Beautiful - Jonathan Demme's biodoc on New Orleans heroine Parker.
Into the Abyss - Herzog's doc about a Texas murder case and death row. Not, sadly, shot in 3D, but still a must-see.
The Last Gladiators - Alex Gibney's latest is about hockey goons, and Chris Nilan in particular.
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - Berlinger and Sinofsky are back with part three in the saga of the West Memphis Three.
Paul Williams Still Alive - a semi-obsessed fan tries to figure out what the hell happened to Paul Williams, anyway?
Sarah Palin - You Betcha! - Nick Broomfield does his usual shtick, but with Palin in his crosshairs.
Pearl Jam Twenty - Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam doc. What more needs to be said?
Yes, I'm deliberately leaving the U2 doc off the list...
Other Stuff:
A Dangerous Method - Cronenberg. Viggo. Michael Fassbender. Oh, and it's about the relationship between Freud and Jung, with keira Knightley playing Sabina Spielrein. If this isn't my favourite film of the fest, it'll be a shocking upset.
The Ides of March - Clooney directs Clooney, Gosling, Giamatti and Hoffman (Philip Seymour, not Dustin) in a political thriller about an Ohio primary.
The Lady - Luc Besson's Aung San Suu Kyi biopic, starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis. No clue whether that could actually work or not, but I'm just glad Thewlis is getting projects like this again, frankly.
Moneyball - I have zero faith this will be a good movie, but like the Spurlock I feel obligated to see it.
505/50 - I have no idea what this is about, but the cast includes Joseph Gorder-Levitt, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Huston. Oh, and Seth Rogan, but no film is perfect.
Anonymous - more Thewlis! Sweet! On the bright side, it's a mystery about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays with Vanessa Redgrave as Queen Liz. On the other hand it's directed by... Roland Emmerich????
Coriolanus - Ralph Fiennes directs himself and Gerard Butler in a Roman revenge tale. Could potentially be bad-ass.
Dark Horse - Solondz's latest is a love story about a girl who tried being a grown-up and failed, and a guy who never tried. The cast includes Christopher Walken, Aasif Mandvi and Selma Blair as one of the leads. Your guess is as good as mine.
The Descendants - Alexander Payne's latest stars Clooney as a widower forced to pay attention to his kids for a change.
Drive - OK, if the Cronenberg isn't my fave of the fest, then this almost certainly will be. Pusher trilogy director Nicolas Winding Refn makes his Hollywood debut with a crime thriller about a professional getaway driver, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, with Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman as the bad guys. Fuck yeah.
Friends With Kids - Kissing Jessica Stein co-writer and co-star Jennifer Westfeldt rounded up the following cast for her directorial debut, an ensemble relationship comedy: Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Megan Fox and Westfeldt's boytoy Jon Hamm.
Melancholia - von Trier's "psychological disaster film". Is it wrong of me to indulge in a little schadenfreude over what he probably put Kirsten Dunst through during the shooting? I've never even met her... she just seems like an actress who needs to go through the von Trier actress meat grinder.
Rampart - this sounds terrible and indulgent, like it should have been titled Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call Los Angeles, only starring Woody Harrelson. And yet the rest of the cast... Anne Heche and Cynthia Nixon as his ex-wives? Sigourney Weaver as the deputy DA? Ice Cube? Ned Beatty? Ben Foster? Robin Wright? I mean, it has to be a train wreck, but it could be an entertaining one.
Shame - Michael Fassebender and Carey Mulligan star in Steve McQueen's latest, about a dissolute bastard whose younger sister moves in with him. Yup, I'm sold.
Twixt - a writer on a book tour gets sucked into a murder mystery in a small town. Yawn. It stars Val Kilmer. Still yawn. It's directed by Sofia Coppola's dad. Oh, dear. This is going to be painful to watch, isn't it?
We Need To Talk About Kevin - apparently two films about parents dealing with the aftermath of their kids doing awful things wasn't enough last year, because here comes another one. Mind you, this one stars Tilda Swinton and is directed by Lynne Ramsay, so maybe one more isn't so bad.
July Travesties
21 songs... not bad, all things considered.
Africa - Toto
All Apologies - Nirvana
And If Venice Is Sinking - Spirit of the West
Animal Nitrate - Suede
Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Broken Wings - Mister Mister
Burden In My Hand - Soundgarden
Caravan - Van Morrison
China Grove - Doobie Brothers
Dance Dance - Fall Out Boy
Down In the Tube Station At Midnight - Jam
Fell In love With a Girl - White Stripes
Freak On a Leash - Korn
Groove Me - King Floyd
Heart of the Matter - Don Henley
Jump - Van Halen (w/live band)
Let's Go Crazy - Prince
Mr. Brownstone - Guns 'n' Roses
Panama - Van Halen
Sister Christian - Night Ranger
Situation - Yaz
Africa - Toto
All Apologies - Nirvana
And If Venice Is Sinking - Spirit of the West
Animal Nitrate - Suede
Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Broken Wings - Mister Mister
Burden In My Hand - Soundgarden
Caravan - Van Morrison
China Grove - Doobie Brothers
Dance Dance - Fall Out Boy
Down In the Tube Station At Midnight - Jam
Fell In love With a Girl - White Stripes
Freak On a Leash - Korn
Groove Me - King Floyd
Heart of the Matter - Don Henley
Jump - Van Halen (w/live band)
Let's Go Crazy - Prince
Mr. Brownstone - Guns 'n' Roses
Panama - Van Halen
Sister Christian - Night Ranger
Situation - Yaz
My AICN Archive
2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Looper
Dredd 3D
The Master
Seven Psychopaths
Tai Chi 0
Rust and Bone
No One Lives
Cloud Atlas
The Hunt
The Lesser Blessed
2011
Source Code
God Bless America
50/50
Juan of the Dead
Keyhole
Crazy Horse
The Raid
Killer Elite
You're Next
Coriolanus
Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best
2010
Stakeland
John Carpenter's The Ward
Blame
Legend of the Fist
13 Assassins
The Runaways
Let Me In
Super
Griff the Invisible
Passion Play
Black Swan
I'm Still Here
Armadillo
Score: A Hockey Musical
2009
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Jennifer's Body
An Education
Daybreakers
Survival of the Dead
Bitch Slap
The Road
Antichrist
Dogtooth
2008
Martyrs
The Brothers Bloom
Cooper's Camera
Detroit Metal City
Under the Tree
The Good, The Bad and The Weird
Deadgirl
Every Little Step
JCVD
Sauna
2007
Skinwalkers
The Brave One
Mother of Tears
They Wait
Dainipponjin
Across the Universe
Lou Reed's Berlin
Diary of the Dead
Sukiyaki Western Django
2006
Black Sheep
Pan's Labyrinth
Jade Warrior
Romance & Cigarettes
Stoned
Why We Fight
A History of Violence
Banlieue 13
Fido
2005
Walk the Line
What Is It?
Tideland
Brothers of the Head
The Well
Takeshis
Pusher
With Blood On My Hands: Pusher 2
I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher 3
The Quiet
The Proposition
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
2004
The House of Flying Daggers
The Machinist
Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate
Spider Forest
Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat
Silver City
The Writer of O
Saint Ralph
Ghost In the Shell II: Innocence
Letters To Ali
Kung Fu Hustle
Tell Them Who You Are
Dead Birds
A Hole In My Heart
Oldboy
Zebraman
I Heart Huckabees
The Overture
9 Songs
Ray
Gunner Palace
A Dirty Shame
3-iron
Clean
Creep
Innocence
Les revenants
2003
Bright Future
Cheeky
The Singing Detective
The Cooler
Ju-on: The Grudge
The Saddest Music In the World
Lost In Translation
How To Get The Man's Foot Outta Your Ass
Haute Tension
Zatoichi
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran
Sansa
Ong-Bak
Alexandra's Project
Mayor of the Sunset Strip
I Love Your Work
Cypher
2002
Bubba Ho-Tep
Bowling For Columbine
Dolls
Laurel Canyon
Spirited Away
Cuban Rafters
Bad Guy
The Trials of Henry Kissinger
Winged Migration
Love Liza
Shaolin Soccer
Champion
Royal Bonbon
The Eye
Heaven
City of God
The Good Thief
Spun
2001
Lantana
American Astronaut
Eat
Ichi the Killer
Buffalo Soldier
Bang Rajan
Devil's Backbone
You Really Got Me
Rare Birds
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Tape
Prozac Nation
Full-Time Killer
Mr. In-Between
Bunuel and King Soloman's Table
How's Your News?
Je rentre a la maison
All About Lily Chou-Chou
Versus
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Waking Life
L'emploi du temps
Trouble Every Day
Fidel
Hell House
The Grey Zone
2000
Scary Movie
The Mechanism
Teeth
City of Lost Souls
Endgame
Wild Zero
The Long Holiday
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gaea Girls
Shadow of the Vampire
The Irrefutable Truth About Demons
Vulgar
Two Thousand and None
Sexy Beast
Seance
Requiem For a Dream
Silent Partner
Scarlet Diva
American Nightmare
Storm Riders
A la verticale de l’ete
Best In Show
Goddess of 1967
Almost Famous
Time and Tide
Stardom
Kippur
What About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band
Adanggaman
Me, Myself and Irene
Turbulence
Gohatto
Better Than Sex
Brother
Baise-moi
1999
Princess Mononoke
l'Humanite
Guinevere
George Lucas In Love
Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris
Cure
Born To Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie
Les amants criminals
Yesterday Children
American Movie
Augustin, roi du kung-fu
The Humiliated
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
Ride With the Devil
Rapture
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trick Baby
History Is Made At Night
Bloody Angels
The Item
Third World Cop
Fever
Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl
Bullets Over Summer
Lisbon
Splendor
Komodo
julien donkey-boy
8 1/2 Women
Big Brass Ring
Rage
Possessed
Gemini
Kikujiro
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Looper
Dredd 3D
The Master
Seven Psychopaths
Tai Chi 0
Rust and Bone
No One Lives
Cloud Atlas
The Hunt
The Lesser Blessed
2011
Source Code
God Bless America
50/50
Juan of the Dead
Keyhole
Crazy Horse
The Raid
Killer Elite
You're Next
Coriolanus
Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best
2010
Stakeland
John Carpenter's The Ward
Blame
Legend of the Fist
13 Assassins
The Runaways
Let Me In
Super
Griff the Invisible
Passion Play
Black Swan
I'm Still Here
Armadillo
Score: A Hockey Musical
2009
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Jennifer's Body
An Education
Daybreakers
Survival of the Dead
Bitch Slap
The Road
Antichrist
Dogtooth
2008
Martyrs
The Brothers Bloom
Cooper's Camera
Detroit Metal City
Under the Tree
The Good, The Bad and The Weird
Deadgirl
Every Little Step
JCVD
Sauna
2007
Skinwalkers
The Brave One
Mother of Tears
They Wait
Dainipponjin
Across the Universe
Lou Reed's Berlin
Diary of the Dead
Sukiyaki Western Django
2006
Black Sheep
Pan's Labyrinth
Jade Warrior
Romance & Cigarettes
Stoned
Why We Fight
A History of Violence
Banlieue 13
Fido
2005
Walk the Line
What Is It?
Tideland
Brothers of the Head
The Well
Takeshis
Pusher
With Blood On My Hands: Pusher 2
I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher 3
The Quiet
The Proposition
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
2004
The House of Flying Daggers
The Machinist
Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate
Spider Forest
Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat
Silver City
The Writer of O
Saint Ralph
Ghost In the Shell II: Innocence
Letters To Ali
Kung Fu Hustle
Tell Them Who You Are
Dead Birds
A Hole In My Heart
Oldboy
Zebraman
I Heart Huckabees
The Overture
9 Songs
Ray
Gunner Palace
A Dirty Shame
3-iron
Clean
Creep
Innocence
Les revenants
2003
Bright Future
Cheeky
The Singing Detective
The Cooler
Ju-on: The Grudge
The Saddest Music In the World
Lost In Translation
How To Get The Man's Foot Outta Your Ass
Haute Tension
Zatoichi
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran
Sansa
Ong-Bak
Alexandra's Project
Mayor of the Sunset Strip
I Love Your Work
Cypher
2002
Bubba Ho-Tep
Bowling For Columbine
Dolls
Laurel Canyon
Spirited Away
Cuban Rafters
Bad Guy
The Trials of Henry Kissinger
Winged Migration
Love Liza
Shaolin Soccer
Champion
Royal Bonbon
The Eye
Heaven
City of God
The Good Thief
Spun
2001
Lantana
American Astronaut
Eat
Ichi the Killer
Buffalo Soldier
Bang Rajan
Devil's Backbone
You Really Got Me
Rare Birds
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Tape
Prozac Nation
Full-Time Killer
Mr. In-Between
Bunuel and King Soloman's Table
How's Your News?
Je rentre a la maison
All About Lily Chou-Chou
Versus
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Waking Life
L'emploi du temps
Trouble Every Day
Fidel
Hell House
The Grey Zone
2000
Scary Movie
The Mechanism
Teeth
City of Lost Souls
Endgame
Wild Zero
The Long Holiday
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gaea Girls
Shadow of the Vampire
The Irrefutable Truth About Demons
Vulgar
Two Thousand and None
Sexy Beast
Seance
Requiem For a Dream
Silent Partner
Scarlet Diva
American Nightmare
Storm Riders
A la verticale de l’ete
Best In Show
Goddess of 1967
Almost Famous
Time and Tide
Stardom
Kippur
What About Me: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band
Adanggaman
Me, Myself and Irene
Turbulence
Gohatto
Better Than Sex
Brother
Baise-moi
1999
Princess Mononoke
l'Humanite
Guinevere
George Lucas In Love
Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris
Cure
Born To Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie
Les amants criminals
Yesterday Children
American Movie
Augustin, roi du kung-fu
The Humiliated
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
Ride With the Devil
Rapture
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trick Baby
History Is Made At Night
Bloody Angels
The Item
Third World Cop
Fever
Excitement of the Do-Re-Mi-Fa Girl
Bullets Over Summer
Lisbon
Splendor
Komodo
julien donkey-boy
8 1/2 Women
Big Brass Ring
Rage
Possessed
Gemini
Kikujiro
June Travesties
Another quiet month, just 18 songs. Officially song #500 since I started tracking was Dirty Deeds, which has a whole story behind it. If only I had a blog or something in which to tell it...
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Cruella de Ville - Replacements (kind of)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
Divorce Song - Liz Phair
Drugs Don't Work - Verve
Epic - Faith No More
Fascination Street - Cure
Get Down On It - Kool & the Gang
Good Times Bad Times - Led Zepplin
High and Dry - Radiohead
I Can Dream About You - Dan Hartman
Mayor of Simpleton - XTC
Respect - Erasure
Run-around - Blues Traveler
She's Not There - Zombies
Situation - Yaz
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Wild Horses - Rolling Stones
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
Cruella de Ville - Replacements (kind of)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
Divorce Song - Liz Phair
Drugs Don't Work - Verve
Epic - Faith No More
Fascination Street - Cure
Get Down On It - Kool & the Gang
Good Times Bad Times - Led Zepplin
High and Dry - Radiohead
I Can Dream About You - Dan Hartman
Mayor of Simpleton - XTC
Respect - Erasure
Run-around - Blues Traveler
She's Not There - Zombies
Situation - Yaz
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Wild Horses - Rolling Stones
May Travesties
25 songs, and up to 497 different songs sung. Number 500 will be coming any day now...
#1 Crush - Garbage
867-5309 - Tommy Tutone
Aenema - Tool
Angel of Harlem - U2
Animal - Neon Trees
Baby Please Don't Go - Them
California Love - 2Pac
Crying - Roy Orbison
Dragula - Rob Zombie
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Police
Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Groovin' - Rascals
In the End - Linkin Park
In the Ghetto - Elvis Presley
Jealous Guy - John Lennon
Jump - Van Halen
Panama - Van Halen
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Sweet Transvestite - from Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
Waterfalls - TLC
Welcome Back Kotter - John Sebastian
Whole of the Moon - Waterboys
#1 Crush - Garbage
867-5309 - Tommy Tutone
Aenema - Tool
Angel of Harlem - U2
Animal - Neon Trees
Baby Please Don't Go - Them
California Love - 2Pac
Crying - Roy Orbison
Dragula - Rob Zombie
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Police
Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Groovin' - Rascals
In the End - Linkin Park
In the Ghetto - Elvis Presley
Jealous Guy - John Lennon
Jump - Van Halen
Panama - Van Halen
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Sweet Transvestite - from Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
Waterfalls - TLC
Welcome Back Kotter - John Sebastian
Whole of the Moon - Waterboys
April Travesties
Only 18 songs... shameful. I am up to 485 different titles sung though. #500 should come in June or July.
Animal - Neon Trees
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin
High School Confidential - Rough Trade
History Repeating - Propellerheads w/Shirley Bassey
Hit 'Em Up Style - Blu Cantrell
Howlin' For You - Black Keys
Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townsend
Rosalita - Bruce Springsteen
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Soul Man - Sam & Dave
Stop - Spice Girls
Superfly - Curtis Mayfield
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
The Dead Heart - Midnight Oil
The Living Years - Mike & the Mechanics
We Can Work It Out - Beatles
Animal - Neon Trees
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin
High School Confidential - Rough Trade
History Repeating - Propellerheads w/Shirley Bassey
Hit 'Em Up Style - Blu Cantrell
Howlin' For You - Black Keys
Let My Love Open the Door - Pete Townsend
Rosalita - Bruce Springsteen
Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
Soul Man - Sam & Dave
Stop - Spice Girls
Superfly - Curtis Mayfield
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
The Dead Heart - Midnight Oil
The Living Years - Mike & the Mechanics
We Can Work It Out - Beatles
#abckaraoke Update
So far...
A: Alphaville - Forever Young
B: Blue Rodeo - Try
C: Chicago - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is
D: Doobie Brothers - China Grove
E: Emotions - Best Of My Love
F: Foreigner - Double Vision
G: Guns 'n' Roses - Mr. Brownstone
H: Howard Jones - New Song
I: Isley Brothers - Who's That Lady
J:
K: K's Choice - Not An Addict
L:
M: Mike & the Mechanics - The Living Years
N: Neon Trees - Animal
O:
P: Propellerheads w/Shirley Bassey - History Repeating
Given the ones I've missed so far, I'm tempted to just do Jenny From the Block to cover all three letters.
A: Alphaville - Forever Young
B: Blue Rodeo - Try
C: Chicago - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is
D: Doobie Brothers - China Grove
E: Emotions - Best Of My Love
F: Foreigner - Double Vision
G: Guns 'n' Roses - Mr. Brownstone
H: Howard Jones - New Song
I: Isley Brothers - Who's That Lady
J:
K: K's Choice - Not An Addict
L:
M: Mike & the Mechanics - The Living Years
N: Neon Trees - Animal
O:
P: Propellerheads w/Shirley Bassey - History Repeating
Given the ones I've missed so far, I'm tempted to just do Jenny From the Block to cover all three letters.
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