Welcome to our weekly column by YSN member and movie aficionado Rama Tampubolon. He runs the movie review and discussion blog, Rama’s Screen, and was featured in “United 300,” which won for “Best Spoof” at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. He’ll discuss the latest hot topics and movie reviews every Thursday on Waste Time Wisely.
Music is a universal language, a harmonic connection between all living beings. At least that’s what they say in the upcoming film that glorifies music, August Rush. We cannot run from the truth that music drives us, it soothes us, it keeps us sane and it definitely works well with movies. What good is a thriller if you only watch the scene without the the adrenaline-rush music to go along with it?!
The recent musical movie Across the Universe uses original songs from The Beatles and creates a timeline story of romance and drama mixed with extraordinary visual presentation. Director Judd Apatow also decided to make a spoof on music biopic films through the upcoming Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
When I get stressed out from work, I just listen to songs that recharge me.
So I’ve compiled a short list of my favorite film scores and movie soundtracks. It was a pretty difficult task since there are so many good ones out there, but I think these ones, to me, are the most memorable and have made the most impact on my life, in good times, tough times and silly times.
Film scores are the orchestral compositions written to accompany a film. These are my favorites:
5. The Last of the Mohicans: The sound and the rhythm can get repetitive at times, but somehow I don’t mind that it gets stuck in my head for hours and hours. It’s a perfect song to start the busy day and face it head on.
4. Braveheart: James Horner is definitely one of the best film score composers of our time. The music makes a lasting impression and is just as powerful as the movie is. When times get scary because there are so many things to do and so little time to accomplish them, I pause for a moment, take a deep breath, close my office door and just turn on this music for inspiration until all my nerves calm down.
3. Forrest Gump: I’ve mentioned to you before that Forrest Gump is my favorite road trip movie of all time. The piano theme of this movie is probably the only thing I can play on the piano. Every time I’m at a social event and there’s a piano in the room, I’d just start playing it and people would get impressed, little do they know that I can’t play anything else 🙂 This music is definitely relaxing and I can just stay still and listen to this and feel like I’m on a road trip again.
2. The Godfather: Definitely one of the best film scores ever. Not only will people recognize it when they hear it, they’d also can hum the tunes as if they wrote it. The Godfather made a music that we can’t refuse.
1. Superman: I’m a big fan of John Williams’ music. He always comes up with excellent ones and Steven Spielberg is one lucky filmmaker to have John Williams on his side to create masterpiece after masterpiece. I’m proud to say that I’ve been to John Williams concerts two nights in a row. That’s why it was pretty hard to select just one film score that John Williams composed throughout his career. But Superman is definitely on the top of the list. I can’t think of any other music that could make anyone feel like flying.
Movie Soundtracks are songs is inspired by a feature film. These are my favorites:
5. “Blaze of Glory” from Young Guns II: Probably Jon Bon Jovi’s greatest song ever. And the song is definitely better than the movie. He should’ve written it for ‘Tombstone‘ instead, which is the only western movie that rocks!
4. “Accidentally In Love” from Shrek 2: This might sound like a weak choice but hey, the tune’s catchy. I can just simply play it on my guitar, while sitting with a bunch of friends at a retreat, singing along to it.
3. “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2: I’m in love with Sarah McLachlan’s voice. Okay, she definitely doesn’t sing as great as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston or any other divas, but there’s just something about her voice that’s unique. When I heard this song years ago, it gave me chills; the kind that I want to experience over and over again.
2. “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” from Armageddon: Do you remember that scene in this movie where Liv Tyler puts his hand on the monitor screen as Bruce Willis says his last goodbye to his daughter because he’s about to sacrifice himself for the good of humanity. I never told anyone about that tear I felt at the corner of my eye, because I’m a man!
1. “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Tarzan: The first best thing that happened to Phil Collins was when he left Genesis. The second best thing was when he won an Oscar for this song. This song is awesome for farewell parties or graduations. Every time I hear this song, flashbacks suddenly run down my memory lane and I feel at home.
For more, visit your most reliable movie buff: Rama’s SCREEN
