Soundtracking: The 2018 Oscar Performances

by Chris Feil

Thank you Lady Gaga, all of the nominated Original Song performances were given a shot to perform on the Oscars! That "Shallow" leverage reportedly kept the ceremony as much of a musical night as possible. Sadly logistics kept us from getting a Kendrick Lamar and SZA performance of Black Panther's "All the Stars", but I found it frustrating that the producers didn't find some way to work the song into the telecast somehow. A montage needle drop, underscoring for the pre-commercial announcements, something?!

Even without Lamar (who also missed the Grammys), the night was a mostly solid salvage of Oscar musical tradition. It certainly fared better than some recent years, and also helped set variety and a pace for the night that otherwise felt a tad too amorphously rushed. A Star is Born's "Shallow" triumphed for the win as expected all season long, but what of the performances themselves? Time for a ranking!...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: A "Titanic" melody and Oscar memory

by Chris Feil

Aren’t we all happy now that the Best Original Song nominees are staying on the ceremony? Now that the uproar is settling, perhaps it’s a safe time to reflect on why removing them from the telecast never should have been up for debate. What better example of music’s inextricability from the movies and their intertwined cultural impact than Titanic?

“My Heart Will Go On” was its own inescapable beast in 1997 aside from Titanic itself, the dominance of the film and song fueling each other’s fire in tandem...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: Bridget Jones's Diary

by Chris Feil

We have so many emotional ties to movie music that represents love fulfilled, love remembered, love not meant to be. As Valentine’s Day comes around, and with it annual love story rewatchings, we’re reminded of the “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”s and the “The Way We Were”s with sudden impact. But for some folks still waiting for their love story to begin, the reflection of their romantic reality gets foolishly less heralded. People like Bridget Jones...

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: Cold War

by Chris Feil

Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War serves us romance as allegory, a love story that represents a falling out with and tidal pull towards national identity. The film’s lovers, Zuzanna and Wiktor, meet in rural post-war Poland, beginning an affair that spans years and countries, their inevitable frustrated split and reuniting not unlike a national identity continually struggling to redefine itself. But crucially, Pawlikowski positions them in a musical world, one where genres and tastes charge forward like the evolving, indifferent world around his torn protagonists.

Click to read more ...

Soundtracking: The "Alone Yet Not Alone" Snafu

by Chris Feil

A moment that will live in Oscar infamy, it happened so fast we could barely take in the joy of “Oscar nominee June Squibb” as a realized concept. Five years ago Cheryl Boone Isaacs, standing next to Chris Hemsworth, downshifted from announcing supporting acting categories into the much more low-pressure Original Song category. And then unleashed chaos onto announcement morning.

What the hell was “Alone Yet Not Alone” from Alone Yet Not Alone?

Click to read more ...