Wednesday, May. 07, 2008

2007 was a year of musical movies

By Jeremy Dutton

I tried hard not to delve back into 2007, but the recent spate of music in movies has been too impressive to ignore. All in the latter half of the year, Hollywood put out some amazing movies where music doesn't just provide a soundtrack -- it drives the plot.

There was the musical that was in Sweeney Todd and the musical that wasn't in Once. August Rush also paved the way for music to become not only a driving force, but also the sole reason for one boy's existence. And Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story showed no story -- no matter how rags to riches -- is above being brought down to the same plane as anything else worth being made fun of.

- Dewey Cox: I saw Dewey Cox this week and while many of the jokes were hit and miss, it did score in one of the funniest dangers-of-marijuana-scenes since Harold and Kumar stumbled their way to White Castle. It also offers a few more surprises including the impetus behind some of the Beatles' hits and some insight as to what Brian Wilson went through in his creation of Pet Sounds -- read: PCP and LSD are bad for you. There's also a cameo of Jack White as … wait for it … Elvis.

- Sweeney Todd: Cutting through the overwhelming gore of Sweeney Todd, Johnny Depp showed off the rock star he could have been. Instead of channeling Keith Richards' boozy gait for Pirates of the Caribbean, he tapped another rock icon. More creepy than any Tim Burton film already is, Depp's spot-on vocals sound eerily like David Bowie's. So if there's ever a Bowie biopic, expect Depp to glam it up with his best Ziggy Stardust.

- August Rush, Once: A lot has been made of August Rush's sickeningly sweet script, but like Once, I haven't seen two movies where music was as integral to the story since High Fidelity. Rush tells the story of an orphan boy who's a musical genius who believes composing the right song will allow a biological family reunion. It's better than it sounds. The songs that guide the movie feature some incredible guitar work by the likes of acoustic picker Kaki King. But the standout movie of all of them had to be Once with Glen Hansard of the Irish band The Frames. While the movie's soundtrack stands on its own, placed within the context of a real-feeling love story it's a must-see. It's on DVD now.

Sound quality

A story in the latest Rolling Stone grapples with the effects of MP3s along with iPods on how music is recorded. Some still argue over the sound quality of analog (vinyl) vs. digital. But now while digital obviously rules, with exponentially more listening to music on their iPods, mix masters are being pressured to make music louder to transcend the low quality put out by those tiny ear buds. Maybe there is something to all those stories telling us about hearing damage in the iGeneration. If it's too loud, turn it down.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. plans to release their 14th album April 1. Billboard.com reports its going to be a more rocking affair, maybe to the effect of what Pearl Jam did in 2006 with their return to form. But to promote the album, they've created a website at ninetynights.com where they're releasing a short video clip each day from the year's start all the way up until the album's release. Can't quite tell what it's all about yet.

But I think that's kinda the point. It is R.E.M. we're talking about here.

- Jeremy Dutton: 582-1525; jdutton@tricityherald.com