Soundtracking: Waiting for Guffman

by Chris Feil

Music is essential to the Christopher Guest universe, from This is Spinal Tap to the Oscar-nommed A Mighty Wind to “God Loves a Terrier”. Waiting for Guffman, however, carries such a hefty cult comedy weight with it that it hardly ever gets discussed for the musical oddity that it is. On top of the film’s improvisational comedic genius, Guest also creates it as a subversion of the classic American “let’s put on a show” midwestern musical and of the consuming culture that is musical theatre obsession. Both are presented as lies of the American dream, both to comedic extremes and tragic disappointment, as the film charts the exploits of clueless dreamers in the small town of Blaine.

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Gone but Not Forgotten

We've been remiss of lately marking the passing of showbiz greats and with Oscar night fast approaching and with it another "in memoriam" people we've lost are suddenly in mind. (This time of year is always a major challenge to keep up with given the mania of awards season.) Here are five stars, four of whom became famous right around the same time as each other, that passed away in December.

Let this small remembrance make amends for our lateness in paying tribute...

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Soundtracking: The Best Musical Moments of 2019

by Chris Feil

Another year of Soundtracking has brought plenty of reflection on music in the movies. From more milquetoast musical biopics to studio musicals to pop songs reinvented through their placement into cinematic narratives, songs on film in 2019 were as ripe for dissection as ever. Let's discuss the best musical scenes of 2019.

Honorable Mentions:

- Cats' thesis: "A cat is NOT a dog, OKAY?!"

- Ash is Purest White making "YMCA" cool again

- MidSommar's creepy folk songs and Frankie Valli irony

- "Thunder Road" catharsis in Blinded By The Light

- Knives Out punctuating its middle finger finale with The Rolling Stones

- Joni Mitchell's "Blue" distilling The Last Black Man in San Francisco's melancholy...

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Soundtracking: White Christmas

by Chris Feil

White Christmas is a classic “let’s put on a show to save the barn” musical, except its traveling entertainers are saving... a resort hotel in Vermont. What it isn’t is a Christmas staple that has all that much to do with Christmas. Despite the title, the film is closer to a winter-set cousin to the likes of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes or Summer Stock, and still we watch it every holiday season. Perhaps that’s partial carryover from Bing Crosby’s White Christmas album (more of a staple in my household than the film was) and Crosby’s other holiday films (ditto, strangely) - his presence alone is enough to make him some baritone duke of the holiday season in the eyes of audiences.

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How do you solve a problem like "Cats"?

by Cláudio Alves

With Cats horrifying audiences around the world, including possibly you, let's all step into a hot-air balloon and travel to the heavenly lands of speculation. You see, a screen adaptation of the silliest mega-musical in Andrew Lloyd Weber's repertoire (give or take Love Never Dies or Starlight Express) was already a dicey proposition, but it needn't be so doomed. But add to that the deranged incompetence of Tom Hooper and digital fur technology,and we have something for the pantheon of all-time bad movies.

What could have been done to avoid catastrophe? Many psychologically scarred movie-goers may be asking this question from the depths of the madness that now consumes them: Could this have been any different? Could it have been better? Could it have been good, even? Maybe…

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