41 posts tagged “soundtrack”

With the recent announcement that Bryan Singer has signed on to direct the movie adaption of Battlestar Galactica, fans and science fiction nerds have taken an interest in BSG once again. 

Let me remind you that in 2004 when the show first aired on then-named Sci-Fi Channel, people were poo-pooing the series. "Starbuck is now a girl?" they cried in anger. But they were soon won over by the great writing team, special effects, and production. This clearly wasn't the campy late-70s show, this was a whole new thing - yet the characters and story remained strangely true to their origin.

I think part of the fun and excitement each week was trying to figure out all the mysteries*. For instant, who were the human Cylons ? Characters you knew and love, suddenly were Cylons. Why were the robots programmed to believe in God ? Were the war between humans and Cylons simply a metaphor for "real life" with Americans and Talibans ? And what's this got to do with time travel and the underlying message and theme of "it's happened before and it'll happen again"? Like all great stories, they evoke a lot of questions. Sadly, the series ended.

The last season (Season 4) was full of twists and turns and you are never quite sure how conflicts would resolve. Characters you knew and love died (and remain dead!) and although I was sort of disappointed in the very last episode, the show was certainly the best Sci-Fi television could offer at the time.

So, while you wait for the movie version of Battlestar Galactica, you should check out the DVD (version 4.0 and 4.5 is already out), and if you're rich enough, the $200+ bluray complete set. The only way to watch action and sci-fi is on high definition, my friend.

If you're already a convert, might I also suggest the BSG soundtracks? Season 1-4 as well as the spinoff Caprica were are all composed by Bear McCreary and features music from the television show. Having to review nearly 40 soundtracks, I can tell you that most soundtracks are meant to either be repetitive or just "background" music. Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Soundtrack is quite bold, as far as soundtracks goes. Compared to Season 3, I feel like this season's soundtrack has a lot more Gaelic/Irish music to it. You can certainly hear its influence on "Gaeta's Lament", "The Cult of Baltar", "Farewell Apollo" (bagpipes!), "Assault on the Colony", etc.

When it's not Celtic, the music is often orchestral, sweeping violins, tribal drumming and lifting choirs. You can find all that, plus or minus, and so much more on my song choice, "The Signal". The song is reminiscent of the "Main Title" song all the way back from the start of Season 1.

What I would've love to see are more guest vocalists. Alessandro Juliani, who plays Felix Gaeta in the show, offers a sad rendition of writer Michael Angeli's lyrics from the episode "Guess What's Coming to Dinner". I knew Juliani could sing, as during the progress of the show, he ends up losing a leg and would often sing, what they refer to as "the stump serenade", to ease his mind.

What makes this release of Season 4 Soundtrack so special is that it is the 100^th release from La La Land Records. As a bonus, you're also given a second CD filled with most of the soundtrack for the finale episode "Daybreak" (parts 1 & 2). That's not all, the 20 page booklet offers comments from the entire cast, talking about the music. Reading the quotes, you can see that the actors and directors and writers see the music as a very important - no essential to the show. After all, the plot for season 3 and 4 revolves around "All Along the Watchtower" song.

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 is available now from La La Land Records, whose specialty is television and movie soundtracks. The album is currently at a special offer of $15.98 if you order Season 4 and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold Limited Edition CD.

* I don't know if this is a spoiler, but I think enough time have passed that I can talk about it (hey that kid sees dead people in The Sixth Sense). This isn't a major spoiler, but when I discovered that the crew of Battlestar Galactica actually was lost and they basically were trying to find their way home to Earth - that just blew me away. I never really thought about what they were doing in space anyway.

(500) Days of Summer is a romantic comedy movie that was released on limited screens in the US a few weeks ago. Although based on the trailer (yes, I am judging a film by its commercial), it looks very indie and very chick-flicky... I'm sure I'll love it, but it seems like I will be renting this a heart-warming love story and secretly crying to myself in the dark instead of in public.

(500) Days of Summer is a movie about love, sure, but it's also a movie about music. These songs build bridges between Tom and Summer and they tear them down. They can make you dance and they can make you cry. They describe how we feel and express emotions that just couldn't get out any other way. Music is the soul of this movie.

- director Marc Webb

You know, they had me at The Smiths, who appears on the soundtrack with two songs (plus a bonus Smiths cover by She & Him). It definitely sparked my interest. I'm happy to report that I have the album for review, and it seems to be a great mixture of 80s modern rock with, er, 00s modern rock.

Of course, I'm familiar with all bands on the soundtrack, most of these songs I already have on various albums. Particularly, I'm keen on the old stuff. I mean who can say no to Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams" as you picture Daryl Hall's legs flapping. Or just give into Morrissey as he whines "Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Pease, Please, Please, No Really Please Let Me Get What I Want". Or reflecting on a time of innocence with Simon & Garfunkel's sweet and harmless "Bookends".

If there is a theme on this soundtrack, it's that these are all love songs. While as usual, the more established alternative acts (Regina Spektor, Feist, Wolfmother) does a great job with their love songs, the unknown artists (at least to me) on this compilation actually does a great job introducing themselves to me. I was particularly impressed with "She's Got You High" by Mumm-Ra (are they named after the Thundercats' arch-nemesis? If so: AWESOME).

As a cover lover, I noticed there are two on the album. As I previously mentioned, "Please...." by She & Him does an excellent job with the cover, although it sounds pretty much like the original. Singer Zooey Deschanel does not bother changing the lyrics from a male's perspective (and there's no hint of desperation in her vocals) and M Ward does his best Johnny Marr jangly guitar. No problem here, it's just that I've heard this before.

My absolute favorite is The Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man" by Meaghan Smith (official/myspace). She re-interpreted the song as a slower-based song with male backup singers. There's just something really sweet about the song when it's slowed down from the original.

The really weird wild-card in this bunch is current-spouse of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian model-turned-singer, Carla Bruni. To be fair, she's been releasing music since 2002, and her acoustic-folk French song, "Quelqu'un m'a dit" does a nice job as a break between all the English-based songs.

It should be interesting to see where the soundtrack play in the movie, so let me know if you see (500) Days of Summer. The romantic comedy movie is currently playing at selected theaters near you, while the soundtrack is available now via the great Sire Records. There's always Amazon and iTunes (iTunes version includes the actors singing "Sugar Town", "Here Comes Your Man" and "At Last").

Trivia: The movie will be released in Australia on October 1^st, where the soundtrack actually have two Aussie bands: The Temper Trap and Wolfmother.

I really like Science Fiction movies and television, especially when they start messing around with time-travel. So below are some television shows that I think you should check out if you're into time-travel and sci-fi.

If you don't like spoilers, please stop reading.

LOST
This show started off with a plane crash on an island. Pretty normal stuff, except for a man in a wheel chair walking again (Locke) and that smoke monster and polar bears... Pretty mysterious, but I didn't really get into the show until season 2, when I watched a season 1 wrap up with one of my friend.

Currently, season 5 is pretty awesome! Although I have confessed that knowing too much about the Darma Initiative was lame, I do like the time-travel aspect of the show. You have to realize that the show didn't start off like this, it's evolved into science fiction.

I just love the time-travel aspect, and I think a lot of people will agree with me. I have already have my own theory on how the show is going to end (the show is ending next year).

As far as music is concern, despite being lost and isolated on an island, you do get the occassional Patsy Cline. My favorite was spotting Oasis' "Wonderwall" as performed by Charlie Pace on a street corner. Charlie, as you know, is the singer in the fictional band Drive Shaft, who had brief fame before crashing on Flight 815.

For further music information, check out Lostpedia. In all of their database, they didn't at all mention the band Previously on Lost.

Previously on Lost should be one of the worst band name ever. Their only gimmick is songs recaping Lost episodes. Previously no relationship with the show, for the last season (season six), ABC.com have hired them to do a musical recap of Season 5 (I can't wait to see what they rhyme with "Jacob" and "four-toed foot statue").

I did request their latest album The Tale of Season Four and the Oceanic Six, and I can tell you the band is as silly (and witty) (and nerdy) as I imagine the band to be. The first recap song "We're Goin' Home" will take you back to the Jack vs his beard fiasco and introduced the catchy chant "we are the oceanic six". It does get a little boring when you realize all the songs are about episodes from Lost. You start to think, didn't I just watch this ? With one exception, "Ballad Of Sayid Jarrah", is much better than the actual episode. It pretty much sums up what Sayid is all about: armed to the teeth secret agent with a list... and with good hair gel.

The Brooklyn band is currently on tour:

06/06/09 Public Assembly LIONSHARE and Ninjasonik Brooklyn, New York*
06/09/09 The Middle East Downstairs Cambridge, MA*+
06/10/09 AS220 Providence, Rhode Island+
06/11/09 Maxwells Hoboken, New Jersey*
06/12/09 Nightcat Cafe Easton, Maryland*
06/13/09 Danger Danger Gallery Philadelphia, Pennsylvania*

* with Anamanaguchi
+ with Harry and the Potters

My only concern for the band is that it's a novelty. I mean, will we still hear about them a year or two after the show's gone off air? Where will they get their inspirations for new songs ?

Their debut album, The Tale of Season Four and the Oceanic Six, can be bought via paypal to wearepol at gmail.com or iTunes.

JOURNEYMAN
I really like this show, I spent the better part of some weekend watching all thirteen episode of Journeyman on Hulu. The 2007 time travel television show feels like a modern age Quantum Leap (another show that I loved when I was younger). The show was created for 20^th Century Fox, but ultimately ended up airing on NBC.

The show is quite modern, I mean, after all, it was only two years ago, but seeing the iPhone on the show is kind of cool.

My problem is that Dan Vasser disappear in modern time (2007) whenever he does the time travel thing - often at unconvenient times. I mean, wouldn't people sort of noticed this bright light and a man disappearing? Also, since it's time travel, why doesn't he just return at the same time he left?

My favorite part about the show is the Journeyman theme song by Amanda Ghost and The Rural. The song was never official released on any record, but if you're interested in buying her 2008 download-only album, Blood On The Line, it is available here.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Am I the only person that was disappointed with the very last episode of the new Battlestar Galactica ? I mean, huh? Prior to the final episode, the writing and story was top-notch! I love the time stuff, and it's more of a human story (everything from racisms to religion). The idea of the machines believing in God (read: not man), is a strange idea.

While the show was a rollercoaster ride, there were a few episodes that sort of went nowhere - but it's still a very excellent show. At one point, I thought it was my favorite show ever because they were killing off all your favorite (and not-so-favorite) characters.

Music was a main plot point when Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" (as played by Jimi Hendrix) caused the Final Five to unite and discover each other as Cylons. The Battlestar Galactica version from Bear McCreary is available on the soundtrack to Season 3.

Remember friendship & neon plastic bracelets? Watching S.Darko, the official sequel to the cult-hit Donnie Darko, will remind you of this. While the original film is about Donnie and took place in the 80s, the new film is about his sister, Samantha Darko, and her own story in the 90s.

I think most critics didn't really like S.Darko, and I don't understand why. If they remotely liked the original film, this film is practically the same movie - in both tone and writing. What's back? The iconic bunny mask, the liquid thing, strange imagery, the countdown, reversal of film/time-theory, Daveigh Chase, sleepwalking, etc.

Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe 2 comments Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic 1 comment

The new director Chris Fisher did a pretty good job, although I did wish the original writer and director Richard Kelly had some sort of involvement (but he sold all his rights to his creation).

My only fear is that they continuously release additional sequels. You know, like we didn't need Hellraiser 5, 6, 7, and 8 (all awful direct-to-video).

The soundtrack is quintessential 90s alternative: Catherine Wheel's "Black metallic", Dead Can Dance's "The Carnival is Over", Cocteau Twins' "Heaven or Las Vegas", and one particular song made me smile a shameful smile that I own "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe" by Whale from their debut album, We Care. As far as one-hit wonders goes, this was it for the Swedish band. They sort of just fell off the face of the planet (I didn't even know they had a sophomore album, All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones).

So if you enjoyed Donnie Darko, you really have to see S Darko. This is a straight-to-DVD/Bluray movie (released last Tuesday, May 12th on 20th Century Fox), so you will have to either rent or buy it. As for a soundtrack, there is no announcement for an official soundtrack.

Scarlett Johansson - Last Goodbye Scarlett Johansson Aw, it's that most dreadful time of the year: V-Day. According to the box office numbers, the all-star rom-com (romantic comedy) He’s Just Not That Into You is the number one film last week with $27.8 Million dollars. Warner Brothers did a smart move and also released Friday the 13th yesterday - for the guys, as looking at the demographic for Into You, you can see it's an outstanding 80% women. I haven't seen either films, but I do have the soundtrack to talk about. The soundtrack has a mix of well-established alternative rock artists like The Human League, Talking Heads, R.E.M., The Cure, The Replacements, etc and modern/current bands. While I can't stress enough, the soundtrack, like the movie, has an all-star music cast - doing its best to keep the music genre in that pop/alternative area. I sometime think that the old songs are meant for the older audiences, while trying to keep fresh with the hip young kids with songs by more modern bands. For instance, young fans will probably be drawn to Lily Allen's "Smile" song (which was the first single from her acclaimed Alright, Still), with its message about about her depression over her first breakup. Or check out The Ting Tings' "Fruit Machine", with Katie White's girlish yip-yip yell. No idea what a Fruit Machine is, but I suspect it's one of those Vegas slot machine with the three cherries. I'm sure the young kids can tell you what it is. The Cure - Friday I'm in Love 1 comment As for the older crowd, I'm sure you all know The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love". You can fit this song in any romantic movie, but I have to tell you that hardcore Cure fans will never admit this was a Cure song. I mean, listen to it, it's their most happiest, poppiest song. I also dig the Maroon 5 song, "If I Never See Your Face Again". It's a little too funky and upbeat for its 'hateful' song title. A little interesting trivia about the song, it was co-written appropriately by James Valentine. It looks like the other stand-out single that Warner Brothers want people to check out is Erin McCarley's "Love, Save the Empty" with its unforgettable piano intro. You can watch the video on the official website. Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head Most people who looked over this soundtrack immediately was drawn to Scarlett Johansson's song. "When did she start singing?" they would ask. When I tried to explain to them that she actually released an all-Tom Waits cover album called Anywhere I Lay My Head last year, they couldn't believe it. This time around, she covered the Jeff Buckley song, "Last Goodbye". While I won't compare the two songs, I think Johansson's version, with the blonde beauty singing over a jazz-ish piano, definitely is in frame with the rest of the movie. Scarlett Johansson - Last Goodbye (excerpt) If you've seen the movie, you will definitely want this soundtrack as a companion to remind you of the movie. He’s Just Not That Into You is currently in theaters now, the soundtrack is available at most stores - noticeably at Deep Discount ($12), Amazon ($12), and Best Buy ($14).

I had originally wanted to include What We Do is Secret (2007) in this article, but I could not bother to get past 10 minutes of it before dismissing it as a documentary (it's not). I thought it was a fictional movie, but this is actually an rock biopic of the punk band The Germs. I'm sure it would've been a wonderful film if I loved the Germs, but I just wasn't that interested in it. I ended up returning the DVD as soon as I rented it.

However, we have these two music-related films to talk about:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS
fabulousstains.com
I've never seen this wonderful little music drama, despite its cult-classic status. I reckon the main reason was because the film's been out of print for so long - and when it was made available on DVD last September, by Rhino Home Video, I got a chance to finally see it.

I was not disappointed with this release, the video image's been digitally remastered (which should surprise no one since Rhino's been at this re-releasing archival music and video editions for many years now) and the soundtrack is, how can I put it, music to my ears.

The movie is about three teenage girls (two of them being homeless sisters) who formed The Fabulous Stains and ends up going on tour with The Looters (which I thought was called "The Losers", which I prefer) and the all-washed up band The Metal Corpses (whose singer reminds me of Dee Snider).

What's kind of interesting to note here is the movie is way ahead of its time, I wouldn't be surprise if the Riot Grrls were inspired by this movie or even The White Stripes (the singer is dressed up in a red outfit with white stripes in their hair).

As for the soundtrack, it's pretty quintessential 80s music, a mixture of the rock-punk sound of The Looters, the hard-rock sound of The Metal Corpses, the reggae music of their tour manager Lawn Boy, and the new wave-punk rock of The Stains. It has a bit of everything for everyone.

If you were hoping to buy the soundtrack, there seems to be some sort of legal problem between Ode Sounds & Visuals, Rhino Entertainment Company, and Paramount Pictures. Which is a shame, as I suspect the movie was delayed for reissued for so long because of the very same problem. If you want a look and see, the soundtrack is listed on Amazon, but the download option's been removed.

Fans of the Sex Pistols and 80s music will want to check out this fabulous film. I leave you now with The Fabulous Stains doing their cover song of the Looters' "Professionals" (which will explain why their music turned punk-ish).


REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
repo-opera.com
Repo! The Genetic Opera has a ridiculous name, and even a more ridiculous concept of a "genetic opera". If you have been asking for more musical death since Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, you will enjoy this gloomy rock opera movie.

The movie is set, I think, in the future, where health is a concern. If you were desperate enough, you would accept organs from GeneCo ... however if you miss a payment/refusal of payment, they send in the Repo Man.

The DVD advertisement boldly stated that the makers of "Saw" is responsible for this movie.  Which I think actually hinders, instead of helping the film. The gruesome blood, violence, and sex in this movie isn't taken so serious - especially when it's framed by comic book-styled sequences and over-the-top exaggerated acting.

I find myself asking, is this supposed to be funny? Apparently, I need to be more depressing to find this black comedy to be funny. Although, I didn't find the movie/musical to be all that enjoyable, I suspect if you are dressed up in seven shades of black (read: goth), you will absolutely love this movie. I personally can't recommend it to people who enjoy daylight.

For the soundtrack, they are making it available on Valentine's Day (February 14^th), how sweet, right? I mean what better way of saying I love you than with an actual heart organ and the Repo! Soundtrack. Repo! The Genetic Opera is out now on bluray and DVD.

Trivia: An interesting thing about the movie is that Paris Hilton plays Amber Sweet, a girl who's addicted to drugs and sex... quite a stretch for her, huh?

Other non-music-related movies
Having just watched the too-many-characters-to-keep-track-of movie by Guy Ritchie called Rocknrolla, I will have to say that he's been disappointing me since Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells. Rocknrolla is just a mess of the film, and the voice-over dialogue only made it worst. The characters are all odd balls and I basically didn't sympathized/identify with any of the characters - an epic fail of a film.

Of course it has its moments, but the gruesome tone at the end of the film contrast many of the not so serious moments in the whole film (if you've seen Snatch or Lock Stock, it has that kind of "crime humor" you'd expect).

If you are looking for a 'serious' type of movie, the "PG-13" movie called Taken (in theaters now) is quite good, although it is hard to believe that a mid-50 actor like Liam Neeson can pull off some of the fighting and agility of its main character.

The story is quite simple: slave traders kidnapped the main character's daughter and he basically takes on a small nation to get his daughter back. Although nothing too complicated (point a to point b), the movie is still compelling to watch ... especially as Neeson acts his way into taking down four guys while handcupped without so much as breaking a sweat (yeahhhhh right).

Trivia: to bring it back to 'professionals', the script writer of Taken is none other than Luc Besson, who wowed us with his Léon the Professional, starring big-nosed Jean Reno, wonderfully evil Gary Oldman, and a very, very, young Natalie Portman.

CRITERION COLLECTION: CHUNGKING EXPRESS
You probably know that I'm a huge movie collector and generally love what Criterion is doing (see some of my Criterion DVDs). I was thrilled to see that Criterion finally decided to release their movies on bluray that I picked up one of my favorite movies, Chungking Express (1994) (重慶森林), without reading any reviews on it.

Sad to say, I'm fairly disappointed in this release. There's practically no special features, unlike the packed features of Wong Kar-Wai's other Criterion release, In the Mood for Love (2000).

I was also disappointed in the transfer, although a vast improvement over the Rolling Thunders DVD (which I also own), it doesn't look quite as sharp and clear like other blurays I own (particularly compared to the 1962 How the West Was Won). I suspect it has to do with the source material... still the colors are very vibrant in the Chungking Express bluray.

Other extra is a little booklet/pamphlet and the case is in digipak - which is rare with blurays. I was hoping they'd go with the book-format that you see with Warner Brothers (Dirty Harry, Natural Born Killers), but still better than the standard plastic case.

I can't recommend the bluray to you, unless you find it at a decent price. Criterion's prices are normally $30+ per DVD, and in this weak economy, you may want to pick it up used or not at all. Hey, there's always Netflix.

The Mamas and the Pappas - California Dreamin' The Cranberries - Dreams 1 comment

CHUNGKING EXPRESS SOUNDTRACK
I love the soundtrack on this movie. If you've seen the film, you won't be able to get The Mamas and the Pappas' "California Dreamin'" out of your head. The song is repeatedly played as Faye Wong's character's theme song.

Other songs in the movie you might be able to pick out is Faye Wong's very faithful Chinese version of the Cranberries' song "Dreams". Fay Wong (王菲) recorded two version of the "Dreams" song in both Cantonese and Mandarin (the Mandarin version would later appear on another film called Somebody in My Dream).

Oh, if you haven't figured it out, the beautiful Wong is better known for being a pop singer out of Hong Kong. I believe Chungking Express might have been her first film. She would later go on to other film works, including reuniting with Kar-Wai for 2046 (a film that I bought as a special 3-disc set, but wasn't in love with it as Kar-Wai's other films).

W♥M UPDATE
Also, there's a lot of background stuff that I've been doing lately. With google being evil, the new search is courtesy of Atomz. Since it's a free account, the service is limited to 500 pages and there are advertisements in the search results (they aren't that intrusive).

So give the search a try and let me know what you think. If you don't have access to email, you can now fill out a simple form (note: you can also use this to suggest bands or complaints).

 12/28/2008 00:47:36  ♥ written by vu ()

I just saw another great Danny Boyle movie called Slumdog Millionaire, the movie I'm sure you have all heard about. It basically about a story of Jamal's life, through a series of questions from his appearance on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". Although I won't go too much into the plot, without giving away too much, it's ultimate a destiny love story between Jamal and Latika.

I will point out some things I didn't like was that most of the movie was in English, which seems kind of weird, being in India. The small parts that did feature subtitles, well the subtitles was done in a way that I haven't seen before. Also, I didn't feel like there was any sense of real danger. I know there are a few realistic horrible scenes (the children league of beggars scene for instance, you'll know what I'm talking about if you see the film), but I was never at any point in fear of what will happen to the characters. It's not grim or gritty and the directing doesn't come off as comedic or cheesy, but it's not "real life", if you know what I mean.

Either way, I did enjoy the film, but not love it. I don't hate it, but considering his earlier enjoyable works such as Sunshine (his sci-fi movie), 28 Days Later... (his fast zombie movie), The Beach (his "I'm not working with Ewan McGregor" movie), Trainspotting (the Britpop druggie movie), or Shallow Grave (the first of the money-bag trilogy movies)... Slumdog doesn't quite have it as a Bollywood movie. And I reckon it's not what he intended the film to be compared to either.

Anyway, like Boyle's Britpop-soundtrack of Trainspotting, the soundtrack to Slumdog fits the film quite nicely between modern and traditional Indian music of A.R. Rahman and the urban world hip-hop style of M.I.A. Although I think Rahman's compositions works well as background music, I felt sometime M.I.A.'s in-your-face music overwhelm her scene. Still, it's hard to ignore the catchy sound of "bang bang bang ka-ching" sound effects in her "Paper Plane" hit song.

My two favorite songs from the soundtrack is Alisha Chinai's vocals on the Sonu Nigam song "Aaj Ki Raat". Chinai is quite famous in India, often called The Indian Madonna. Anyway, the song is actually originally from another Bollywood picture called Don - The Chase Begins Again, but I suppose Boyle love the song so much, he snuck it onto his own film.

Also, of course, the big bollywood dance number, "Jai Ho", was also pretty memorable. Incidentally, if you were wondering the vocals on that track is by Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, and Mahalakshmi Iyer.

So I highly recommend you checking out Slumdog Millionaire, if it's still showing at your local movie theaters.

 12/22/2008 09:55:48  ♥ written by vu ()

I will confess to liking, no, loving ABBA. As you may have suspected, I actually love eurodisco and especially Swedish music.

When I saw that Mamma Mia! The Movie opened earlier this year, I was hesitant to see it because I didn't think the original ABBA members was involved in the movie (although I think Björn Ulvaeus shows up in a cameo playing piano in one of the scene). When I saw the DVD for sale last Tuesday, I decided to take a chance on it. There was a few deciding factors involved, pricing and for a limited time at Target, it comes with the movie soundtrack. It also comes with a digital version of the movie for your computer and/or iPod, which tipped the scale for me.

After viewing the "2008 Golden Globe-nominated film", I can see why it would work for the stage... but not in motion picture format. There just seem to be something lacking for me. Mostly because I didn't really like literal translation of the songs, especially when I have my own interpretation of the original ABBA songs. And, really, do I need to see Dominic Cooper holding a cigar when he sings, "you used to say that smoking was my only vice" on "Lay All Your Love On Me"? Really? Really?!!?

Songs like "Does Your Mother Know?" is re-interpreted as an older lady and a younger boy, going as far as changing the lyrics to fit the scenario. Maybe the film works as a family film (although there are some pretty saucy/suggestive scenes...) or a good-old fashion musical.

I love most of the songs, and the soundtrack (these are studio takes, not lifted from the film) is awesome. I especially love hearing "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" and "Dancing Queen" and "Mamma Mia!". I felt "Gimme" was underused in the movie.

So, I suppose I really liked some of the songs, but not all, but overall didn't like the "feel-good" movie. I'll tell you what though, I don't really like comedy or family-type films, so don't read too much in my criticism. The type of movie I do enjoy is, recently, Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie.

Incidentally, ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" popped up recently in a mashup that Jaklumen previously mentioned.