“If I could go back in time, I’d meet Snoopy.”
The Scoop: 2001 PG-13, directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, and starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, and Alan Cumming
Tagline: Here kitty, kitty, kitty…
Summary Capsule: Josie and the girls kick evil ass and play kick ass music. God bless America!
“Gentlemen… the lunchbox has landed.”
The Scoop: 1997 R, directed by Peter Cattaneo and starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Steve Huison, and William Snape
Tagline: Six men. With nothing to lose. Who dare to go…
Summary Capsule: Six out of work steel workers decide to make extra money stripping. I’d try to be funny, but isn’t that pretty amusing right there?
“You can always tell when Barnett’s been over to my house. The toilet don’t never flush and the cat’s pregnant.”
The Scoop: 1984 PG, directed by Bob Clark and starring Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone
Tagline: She’s bet everything, and we mean everything, that she can turn this New York cabbie into an overnight sensation. He has other things in mind. But he’s never had a trainer like this one!
Summary Capsule: Country girl Dolly Parton makes a bet she can turn New York cabbie Sylvester Stallone into a country singer.
I’ve always been interested in soundtracks done entirely by one band or artist. I’m not talking about film scores done by traditional composers, like John Williams or Danny Elfman, nor do I mean soundtracks for films like Purple Rain and Interstella 5555, which were made as kind of a vehicle for the album. No, I’m being incredibly specific here and just want to make a list of movies whose soundtracks were by one pop/rock act who had nothing otherwise to do with the film, using music either written specifically for the film by, or plucked from the repertoire of, said act. It’s the toughest list I’ve ever had to arrange, and it by no means encompasses all one-artist soundtracks out there, but these are my six favorites in an order as close to least-to-most favorite as I could get them.
“There is a time to dance, and this is ours.”
The Scoop: 1984 PG-13, directed by Herbert Ross and starring Kevin Bacon, John Lithgow and Diane Wiest.
Tagline: He’s a big-city kid in a small town. They said he wouldn’t win. He knew he had to.
Summary Capsule: Dislocated high school student (Bacon) rebels against anti-dance law instituted by Baptist preacher (Lithgow).
“Oh, what will the signal be/For your eyes to see me/Watching offside as I wait/Just in case you need 
me/So I still will set the stage/Send my thoughts to you/I’m receiving every wave/that sent love, sent love through…”
The Scoop: 1983 PG, directed by Clive A. Smith and starring Paul Le Mat, Susan Roman, Don Francks, Dan Hennessey, Greg Duffell, Chris Wiggins, Brent Titcomb and Catherine Gallant.
Tagline: The Beauty… The Beast… The Beat!
Summary Capsule: Post-apocalyptic mutant dog rock star wants to summon a demon through the power of rock, and… do you really need to know more? Read the rest of this entry »
“It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing.”
The Scoop: 1993 PG-13, directed by Thomas Carter and starring Robert Sean Leonard, Christian Bale, and Tushka Bergen
Tagline: In a world on the brink of war. You either march to one tune or dance to another.
Summary Capsule: During the rise of the Nazi party, a group of German kids rebel by Lindy-hopping like there’s no tomorrow.
“Well, there it is then.”
The Scoop: 1984 PG, directed by Milos Forman and starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce and Elizabeth Berridge
Tagline: The Man… The Music… The Madness… The Murder… The Motion Picture…
Summary Capsule: The life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by his contemporary Antonio Salieri. But it’s good. Really.
“I am a golden god.”
The Scoop: 2000 R, directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson and Patrick Fugit
Tagline: Experience it. Enjoy it. Just don’t fall for it.
Summary Capsule: A young rock journalist in love with the music discovers new truths backstage and beyond.
Welcome to a new column here on MRFH, Soundtrack Spotlight! Ever since Mutant Reviewers was incorporated, we’ve taken time here and there to highlight soundtrack scores and musical numbers as well as the films themselves. Well, I want to make this more of an official thing by occasionally hosting a spotlight wherein I’ll share with you five of my favorite scores, grouped by theme.
For this inaugural article, I’m going to pick scores that were among the very first I ever purchased in the 90s when I got my first CD player. It was a monstrous beast of a machine, a 7-disc CD changer boombox, and I loved it quite a bit. If you could travel back in time and — for some bizarre reason — visit my room, chances are you’d hear me playing one of these tracks:
