Another list? Darn tooting! This time it’s about two great things that go great together: movies and music. CNN’s Screening Room has named its Top Ten Songs in Movies. Not soundtracks, not scores, but singles used during a particular scene. As expected, the list is heavy on the male-dominated scenes and, somewhat less expectedly, fairly violent.

10. Trainspotting, “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop (opening scene)
9. Dr Strangelove, “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn (atomic ending)
8. The Royal Tenenbaums, “Needle in the Hay” by Elliot Smith (Richie’s suicide attempt)
7. Say Anything, “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (Lloyd’s boom box serenade)
6. Almost Famous, “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John (bus sing-along)
5. Muriel's Wedding, “Waterloo” by ABBA (talent show triumph)
4. Apocalypse Now, “The End” by The Doors (awaiting orders in Saigon)
3. Goodfellas, “Layla” by Eric Clapton (Jimmy’’s murder spree)
2. Reservoir Dogs, “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel (ear slicing)
1. Easy Rider, “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf (opening scene)

Now, I love Nos. 7–5. I had a poster of Lloyd’s grand romantic gesture from Say Anything on my dorm room wall. And I dare you not to feel unbridled joy as Muriel and Rhonda come out in their white ABBA outfits in Muriel's Wedding. This movie made me forever love Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths. Heck, let’s watch it again, just because we can.

As for the other selections on CNN’s list, I would have picked a scene from Wes Anderson’s film Rushmore instead of Tenenbaums. And I would have gone for the “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” Uma scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction instead of the unfortunate Van Goghing of a victim’s ear in Reservoir Dogs. Also, no mention of The Graduate anywhere on this list? Didn’t that film practically pioneer the use of popular music in movies?

To balance out the bloody and the manly, I thought I’d add some gay, girly and (whenever possible) gay girly selections to the list. Since CNN’s list makers seemed impressed by showy outer death and destruction, how about some quiet inner devastation? In Love Actually, Emma Thompson realizing her husband is being unfaithful — set to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” — will break your heart, guaranteed. … continue reading

I'm not going to pretend to understand the legalities here. I suspect that like most of us educated in the U.S., my knowledge of Canadian politics and history is sorely lacking, but I have that nostalgic liberal (and that's not a four-letter word, Fox News!) American tendency to view Canada as a little more sane than the land of my birth. You know, health care, gun control, laws that occasionally recognize LGBT citizens as human beings.

But it looks like more than my delusions of utopia could be at risk. Working its way through the Canadian government right now is a bill that would give the Canadian Heritage minister the right to ax promised funding for any film project it deems “offensive.” This apparently includes “gratuitous violence, significant sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group.” That would seem to include films like these:

When Night Is Falling

Exotica

  … continue reading

I was on vacation in New York a couple of weeks ago, when I noticed a film due to screen that evening on the Sundance Channel. Titled French Beauty, it was a documentary on Gallic actresses that took as its premise that "As essential to France's mystique as its wines, haute couture and cuisine is its place as the defining home of female beauty."

Well, no disagreement here. I've often wondered what it is that they are putting in the water to make French actresses so consistently, yet uniquely, ravishing. While the documentary didn't succeed in answering this question, it did get me thinking over some of my favorite French actresses and also reflecting on how many of them seem to have featured in films with either an overtly lesbian or a homoerotic theme.

First there was Catherine Deneuve in 1983's The Hunger.

Deneuve would also go on to star in the 2002 musical mystery 8 Women/8 Femmes, where she has a sexually charged relationship not only with her sister-in-law, played by Fanny Ardant, but also her maid, played by Emmanuelle Béart. … continue reading

Jane Austen never goes out of style. The founding mother of chick lit (I say that with love and respect; please don’t throw your dog-eared copies of Pride & Prejudice at me) has become cinema’s go-to wordsmith. Move over, Shakespeare: This is Jane’s world now.

Of course, adapting Austen’s books for the big screen is nothing new. But two upcoming films take it a step further this summer. They are inspired by the very woman herself. Becoming Jane (opening Aug. 10) and The Jane Austen Book Club (opening Sept. 21) both draw inspiration from Austen’s life. And both look, at first glance, pretty intriguing.

Becoming Jane features Anne Hathaway as a 20-year-old Austen at the start of her writing career and a crossroads in her love life. It sounds like, for lack of a better description, classic Austen. And Anne definitely fits the part. Broody writer looks good on her. … continue reading