The 2000's ... So Far

 

My major focus is on vintage films from the teens to the 60’s. But I do enjoy keeping up with what’s current as well. And here’s a list of personal favorites from the year 2000 on.

FAVORITE FILMS YEAR BY YEAR

2000 

DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR?(Danny Leiner) Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott

Runner-Up: CHUCK AND BUCK(Miguel Arteta) Mike White, Chris Weitz

2001

LAGAAN(Ashutosh Gowariker) Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh

Runner-Up: A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE(Steven Spielberg)  Haley Joel Osment

2002

FAR FROM HEAVEN(Todd Haynes) Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid

Runner-Up: LOVELY AND AMAZING(Nicole Holofcener) Catherine Keener

2003

GOOD BYE, LENIN!(Wolfgang Becker) Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass

Runner-Up: RULES (PYAR KA SUPERHIT FORMULA)(Parvati Balagopalan) Meera Vasudevan

2004

AVP: ALIEN VS PREDATOR(Paul W.S. Anderson) Sanaa Lathan, Lance Henriksen

Runner-up: ALEXANDER(Oliver Stone) Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie

2005
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN(Ridley Scott) Orlando Bloom, Eva Green

Runner-up: WAR OF THE WORLDS(Steven Spielberg) Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning

2006

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER(Zhang Yimou) Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat

Runner-up: CASINO ROYALE(Martin Campbell) Daniel Craig, Eva Green

2007

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE(Shekhar Kapur) Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen

Runner-Up: THE HOST(Bong Joon-ho) Go Ah-sung, Byun Hee-bong

2008

JCVD(Mabrouk el Mechri) Jean-Claude Van Damme

Runner-up: CASSANDRA’S DREAM(Woody Allen) Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell

2009

A SERIOUS MAN(Joel Coen, Ethan Coen) Michael Stuhlbarg

Runner-up: 2012(Roland Emmerich) John Cusack, Amanda Peet

2010

THE WOLFMAN(Joe Johnston) Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt

MY NAME IS KHAN(Karan Johar) Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol

2011

THE TREE OF LIFE(Terrence Malick) Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain

Runner-up: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES(Rupert Wyatt) James Franco

2012

BLANCANIEVES(Pablo Berger) Macarena Garcia, Maribel Verdu

Runner-up: PERFECT SENSE(David Mackenzie) Ewan McGregor, Eva Green

2013

THIS IS THE END(Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg) Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson

Runner-up: OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL(Sam Raimi) James Franco, Mila Kunis

2014

MOMMY(Xavier Dolan) Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon

Runner-up: POMPEII(Paul W.S. Anderson) Kit Harington, Emily Browning

2015

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD(George Miller) Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron

THE REVENANT(Alejandro I. Inarritu) Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy

2016

GODS OF EGYPT(Alex Proyas) Brenton Thwaites, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Runner-up: ELLE(Paul Verhoeven) Isabelle Huppert

2017

THE FLORIDA PROJECT(Sean Baker) Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe

Runner-up: FRANTZ(Francois Ozon) Paula Beer

2018

STAN & OLLIE(Jon S. Baird) Steve Coogan, John C. Reilly

Runner-up: CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?(Marielle Heller) Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant

2019

KALANK(Abhishek Varman) Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha

Runner-up: THE KING(David Michod) Timothee Chalamet, Sean Harris, Robert Pattinson

2020

PINOCCHIO(Matteo Garrone) Federico Ielapi, Roberto Benigni

Runner-up: PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN(Emerald Fennell) Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham

2021

ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE: JUSTICE IS GRAY(Zack Snyder) Ben Affleck

Runner-up: RED ROCKET(Sean Baker) Simon Rex, Bree Elrod

2022

BABYLON(Damien Chazelle) Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt

Runner-up: PONNIYIN SELVAN: I(Mani Ratnam) Vikram, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

40 Favorite Original Movie Songs

 

As 2022 draws to a close, year-end lists abound. Here’s a personally customized one that’s a little more determinedly retro. My all-time favorite original movie songs. These are tunes first introduced to the public in movies. No titles already familiar from stage musicals transposed to the screen (“West Side Story”, “The Sound of Music”, etc). No jukebox musicals or composer tributes full of songs that had already achieved some degree of fame or familiarity on the airwaves. Just songs that actually made their official debuts in movies.

As indicated, this is a completely personal list. I know “Over the Rainbow” “The Way You Look Tonight” and so many more are great songs. But they don’t speak to me on quite as direct or personal a level as the ones I’ve cited.

After the golden age of the movie musical petered out in the mid 50’s, my movie song favorites came largely courtesy of James Bond and Burt Bacharach. The newest entry on my list is from 1979.  Still, even if the favoured musical styles onscreen no longer reflect my more Tin Pan Alley bred tastes, there’ve been lots of terrific movie songs in the years since. Songs I’ve liked a lot. Just none with quite enough me appeal to crack my own Top 40.

I could have easily swelled the list had I included songs from the German movie musicals of the 30’s and 40’s. Or from the Bollywood scores (40’s to the present) that I’ve loved for decades. But these received next to no exposure among mainstream North American audiences. So I’ll restrict myself to songs that reached the general public hereabouts – and did it first from movie screens.

             40 FAVORITE ORIGINAL MOVIE SONGS (listed chronologically)

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC? (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart) 

             from “Love Me Tonight”                 1932   

WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM (Sigmund Romberg-Oscar Hammerstein II)

                from “The Night is Young”             1935

ISN’T THIS A LOVELY DAY {TO BE CAUGHT IN THE RAIN?} (Irving Berlin)

                from “Top Hat”                                  1935

LET’S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE (Irving Berlin)

                from “Follow the Fleet”                  1936

YOU TURNED THE TABLES ON ME (Louis Alter-Sidney D. Mitchell)

                from “Sing Baby Sing”                     1936

SHALL WE DANCE (George Gershwin-Ira Gershwin)

                from “Shall We Dance”                   1937

I'll TAKE ROMANCE (Ben Oakland-Oscar Hammerstein II)

                from "I'll Take Romance"               1937

THERE’S A LULL IN MY LIFE (Harry Revel-Mack Gordon)

                from “Wake Up and Live”             1937

THAT OLD FEELING (Sammy Fain-Lew Brown)

                from “Vogues of 1938”                   1937

LOVE WALKED IN (George Gershwin-Ira Gershwin)

                from “Goldwyn Follies”                   1938

WHILE MY LADY SLEEPS (Bronislau Kaper-Gus Kahn )

                from “The Chocolate Soldier”       1941

AT LAST (Harry Warren-Mack Gordon)

                from “Orchestra Wives”                 1942

THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU (Harry Warren-Mack Gordon)

                from “Iceland”                                   1942

I’LL REMEMBER APRIL (Gene de Paul-Patricia Johnston-Don Raye)

                from “Ride ‘em Cowboy”              1942

RIDING FOR A FALL (Arthur Schwartz-Frank Loesser)

                from “Thank Your Lucky Stars     1943

CAN’T HELP SINGING (Jerome Kern-E.Y. Harburg)

                from “Can’t Help Singing”             1944

SPRING WILL BE A LITTLE LATE THIS YEAR (Frank Loesser)

                from “Christmas Holiday”             1944

IT’S A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING (Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II)

                from “State Fair”                              1945

UP WITH THE LARK (Jerome Kern-Leo Robin)

                from “Centennial Summer”         1946

IT’S A MOST UNUSUAL DAY (Jimmy McHugh-Harold Adamson)

                from “A Date with Judy”`              1948

PARIS (Nicolas Brodszky-Sammy Cahn)

                from “Rich, Young and Pretty”    1951

ANYWHERE I WANDER (Frank Loesser)

                from “Hans Christian Andersen”                1952

INCHWORM (Frank Loesser)

                from “Hans Christian Andersen”                1952

WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN (Frank Loesser)

                from “Hans Christian Andersen”                1952

THE BLACK HILLS OF DAKOTA (Sammy Fain-Paul Francis Webster)

                from “Calamity Jane”                                     1953

THE DEADWOOD STAGE (Sammy Fain-Paul Francis Webster)

                from “Calamity Jane”                                     1953

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT (Arthur Schwartz-Howard Dietz)

                From “The Band Wagon”                              1953

HAJJI BABA (Dimitri Tiomkin-Ned Washington)

                from “The Adventures of Hajji Baba”       1954

LOVE CAN CHANGE THE STARS (Hugh Martin-Ralph Blane)

                from “Athena”                                                  1954

THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY (Harold Arlen-Ira Gershwin)

                from “A Star is Born”                                      1954

RIVER OF NO RETURN (Lionel Newman-Ken Darby)

                from “River of No Return”                            1954

WONDERFUL WONDERFUL DAY (Gene de Paul-Johnny Mercer)

                from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"      1954

SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE (Johnny Mercer)

                from “Daddy Long Legs”                                1955

MOVE OVER DARLING (Joe Lubin-Hal Kanter-Terry Melcher)

                from “Move Over Darling”                            1963

THE LOOK OF LOVE (Burt Bacharach-Hal David)

                from “Casino Royale”                                     1967

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (John Barry-Leslie Bricusse)

                from “You Only Live Twice”                          1967

WE HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (John Barry-Hal David)

                from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” 1969

SOMETHING BIG (Burt Bacharach-Hal David)

                from “Something Big”                                     1971

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER (Marvin Hamlisch-Carole Bayer Sager)

                from “The Spy Who Loved Me”                  1977

IT GOES LIKE IT GOES (David Shire-Norman Gimbel)  

                from “Norma Rae”                                           1979