Soundtracking: The 2019 Oscar Original Song Bake-Off

by Chris Feil

One of the biggest headlines among the Monday release of Oscar's shortlists among nine categories was a popstar omission from the season's splashiest musical. Yes, it turns out Taylor Swift will have to wait to lift up to Oscar's Heaviside Layer as "Beautiful Ghosts" (the original track she cowrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber from Cats) was left off the list of songs that will advance towards hopeful nominations. But perhaps "Ghosts" is a strong reminder that these days doesn't clear the runway for popstars or new songs for preexisting musicals as easily as we might expect.

But among the lineup of hopefuls are films huge and small, expected names and a few genuine surprises - and it may be a more competitive field than originally expected. Let's run down the fifteen songs that did make the lineup and their chances at a nomination...

Click to read more ...

What's the Best Song in "Frozen II"?

by Cláudio Alves

Back in 2013, when the first Frozen had just opened and "Let It Go" was on everyone's ear, Disney made an astute decision when it came to its Oscar campaign. Despite the movie having around 10 original songs, only one was submitted for awards consideration. It was, of course, Elsa's world-famous anthem. The decision paid off and the songwriting couple of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez took home their first well-deserved Academy Award.

With Elsa and Anna back in theatres for another musical adventure, Disney is trying to repeat the same scheme. The only problem is that this time around it's not clear what the best song is...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking FYC: 5 Original Song Outsiders Worth Nominating

by Chris Feil

This year’s longlist of eligible Original Song contenders should be arriving right on schedule in a month’s time, so what better time to shed some light on a few under-the-radar favorites than the present! Conventional wisdom at this stage in the race is falling as it typically does: to big pop stars and returning songwriting champions...

Click to read more ...

Review: Frozen II

By Tim

Frozen, the 2013 feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios, is one of the decade's most extreme success stories: it's the highest-grossing film of the decade that's neither a remake nor a sequel, as well as the highest-grossing animated feature in history (depending on where you set the definition of "animation"; this summer's all-CGI remake of The Lion King bumped it down a notch). Even given Disney's historical reluctance to produce theatrically-released sequels, it's not really much of a surprise that the studio has succumbed to the temptation to chase that blockbuster with a six-years-later follow-up. And so it is that Frozen II is upon us.

The biggest question facing the film is, of course, "does it live up to the original?" And I do wish that I had a less wishy-washy answer than "maybe." A lot depends on what you think about Frozen: for me, it's the third-best of Disney's three original princess movies this decade, behind 2010's Tangled and 2016's Moana, largely because of what a shambling wreck it becomes as the story structure loosens in the second half. Frozen II has the same problem, but in reverse: the first half of the movie feels more like script notes than a script, scene after scene in which neither the stakes, nor the locations, nor the emotions, nor the narrative momentum seems to carry through. Then, at a particular point midway – the particular point depicted in the film's dramatic teaser trailer, no less – everything snaps into focus and the plot and mood suddenly seem like they make sense, more or less. Which is irritating, because it means that talking about everything Frozen II does well would bring us into spoiler territory, and thus this review is going to involve a lot more complaining than the film necessarily deserves...

Click to read more ...

Grammy Nominations for Movie People !

by Nathaniel R

The Grammy Awards aren’t really a crucial topic for The Film Experience. Except when they are. We do love to share the movie adjacent stuff that doesn’t get much press (‘hey, I didn’t know that actor ____ recorded a spoken word album’ etcetera). So herewith some key movie adjacent bits.

Beyonce’s efforts for The Lion King are up for a few pop prizes but that's no surprise since Queen B is a Grammy favourite. Former movie star and still legendary chanteuse Barbra Streisand, another Grammy favourite, has her presumably umpteenth nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her latest “Walls”... the one with the unexpected unintended Girl-in-the-pit Silence of the Lambs homage cover.  

But there are some less expected showings, too.

Iconic cult director John Waters is up for Best Spoken Word Album for “Mr Know-It-All” where he’s competing with Former First Lady Michelle Obama. That juxtaposition is insane and we couldn’t love it more...

Click to read more ...