Acousticy

I made myself a new playlist tonight. They are all acoustic or as close to it as possible. Most of them are new tracks but there are some older songs and remakes in there too.  I’m fairly sure you can listen to all of these songs on Last.FM or LaLa.com

I’ll put the list in so you can track them down, I know I’ll be listening to it a lot.

Here is the full list

Acid Tongue – Jenny Lewis
Drop Thumb Medley – Steve Martin
Pitter-Pat – Erin McCarley
Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi (from the America Tribute Album)
LA Song – Christian Kane
Volcano – Damien Rice
Gravedigger - Dave Matthews
Let’s Dance – M. Ward
FM Radio – Joshua James
The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room – Flight of the Conchords (live)
Skeletons – Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the acoustic version is only on the deluxe version of the album)
Sure as S**t – Kathleen Edwards
Soggy Daisy – Bare Jr.
It Doesn’t Matter – Alison Krauss + Union Station
Sea of Love - Cat Power
Put Your Records On – Corinne Baily Rae
Steady, As She Goes – The Raconteurs

While I think all of the songs are good, I’d say my top 5 suggestions to take out it are:

Jenny Lewis
Kathleen Edwards
Joshua James
M. Ward
and
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 58 – Singin’ in the Rain

Now a days if we see a movie where the main actor can actually act, dance and sing they are considered some amazing triple threat; but there was a time when almost every actor out there was required to be able to do that.

 Singin’ in the Rain is a great example of this.  I’m not a huge fan of musicals but this is definitly one I would reccomend.  Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Conner and Debbie Reynolds, Singin’ in the Rain is a fun movie that is fun to watch from start to finish.  This movie was filmed in 1952 but is set in the roaring 20′s at the dawn of the “talking” picture.

Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think all movies should be musicals but there is something magical about them when they are done right, just look at the sucess of the remake of Chicago.  Singin’ in the Rain is chock full of great song and dance numbers and there’s a reason it’s considered a classic.

Singin’ in the Rain is rated “G”.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 57 – Spider-man 3

I feel that if you liked the first two you will love this one.

 There are some people who will say that this movie has too much going on in it and I agree that there is a lot of plot to follow, but Sam Raimi does an excellent job pulling it all together.  There is also more of Sam Raimi’s trademark humor in this one but not so much as to “camp” up any of the scenes it is in.

 At about 2 and a half hours I almost with they would have taken and extra 30 minutes to spread a few scenes out more but all in all I would still give it an “A” rating.  The fight scenes are once again superb in that great comic book fashion.  All of the actors do an excellent job, you can feel they have really grown into the roles.

Now this movie is going to make money hand over fist in the theatres but I would still recommend you seeing it there.  So much of the movie is better seen on a 30 foot screen.

If you are new to the Spider-man franchise I would recommend watching 1 & 2 before going to see this one.  They do a good job of catching you up on the plot in the opening credits but it would still be in your best interest to watch the previous two films so you can get the full character development in.

Spider-man 3 is rated “PG-13″ and playing in your local theatre.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 56 – A Clockwork Orange

I don’t think any one description can fully define A Clockwork Orange.  Stanley Kubrick’s dark interpretation of the future and the gangs that live in it.

A Clockwork Orange tells the tale of Alex de Large played by Malcolm McDowell.  He and his gang of droogs live for rape and ultraviolence and like to relax in milk bars.  This film is set in the far flung future of 1995, far flung because the book was written in 1965 and filmed in 1971. 

Alex is betrayed by his mates during a particularly nasty crime and sentenced to 14 years in prison.  After two years he is volunteered for an experimental process that will make him avoid violence.  The process they use to desensitize him is one of the most copied you’ll ever see in film.

I’ll leave the story at that to not give anything away.  A Clockwork Orange was originally rated “X” but after 30 seconds were removed it was then rated “R”.

I could not find the original trailer so I’m using a good fan one I found.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 54 – The Goonies

C’mon who doesn’t like The Goonies.  Directed by Richard Donner and produced by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay written by Chris Columbus this 1985 movie has gone from modest hit to, what I would call a must own DVD.

Starring Sean Astin, Corey Feldman and Martha Plimpton just to name a few; this movie hosts a number of memorable characters all of which become your favorite in one way or another.

 The Goonies is a classic underdog story were a group of friends, who represent the “freaks & geeks” of their local area try to go out on one last adventure to save their homes and end up on the adventure of a lifetime.

The Goonies is rated “PG”.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 53 – The Mummy

Indiana who?

 In The Mummy Brendon Fraser proves that he can do action as well as comedy.  While it seem inevitable that you would compare this Stephen Sommers hit to the Indiana Jones movies; this movie does have plenty of original content so that is does not seem like a copy cat movie.

I think the key is pairing Brendan Fraser as the muscle and Rachel Weisz as the brains, plus it allows a level of romantic comedy that never really exists in the “other” movies.

The basic premise of the movie is explained in the trailer below, but it doesn’t spoil all of the good parts either.  This movie is fun to watch on many levels from the great special effects, to the great story and the many funny moments peppered throughout.

There is a sequel to this movie, The Mummy Returns, I would say that it is a good sequel but not as good as the original movie.  A third movie for this series is currently in pre-production.

The Mummy is rated “PG”.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 52 – Three O’Clock High

You may or may not have seen this film but after you do you’ll be telling all of your friends to see it.

Three O’Clock High premiered in 1987 and to be honest I never saw it then.  I think it was a year or so later on HBO or something like that.  Then after I started my DVD collection it became the must have but hard to find DVD.

Three O’Clock High tells the story of Jerry Mitchell who unluckily gets on the bad side of the new bad boy at his high school Buddy Revell.  Buddy says they are going to have to fight in the parking lot after school at 3.  From there the story takes many twists and turns from Jerry trying to get out of the fight, trying to get kicked out of school and trying to keep his friends from doing more harm than good.

 There is a great unknown cast in this film that you can really enjoy in the roles they play.  There are plenty of great scenes that while a little over top, just enough to enhance the humor.

 Three O’Clock High is rated “PG-13″.

The following video clip is not a trailer just a scene from the movie, this scene is rated “PG-13″.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 51 – Stand by Me

“We got dibs.”

Stand by Me is a great movie that you can watch over and over again.  Made in a time when Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell were considered some of the best up and coming child actors on the scene.  Stand by Me tells the story of four friends on a trek to see a dead body, but ends up being an experience that changes their lives forever.

Based on a novella by Stephen King and directed by Rob Reiner this film continues to resonate with me every time I see it.  From seeing a little bit of your self in one of the main stars or reliving your fears of the local bully, played in the movie by Kiefer Sutherland.

If you haven’t seen this movie you really should.

Stand by Me is rated “R” for language.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 50 – Ghostbusters

Who ya gonna call?

Ghostbusters spawned tons of merchandise, some mediocre sequels, a plethora of catch phrases and proved the original is the still the best version.

Written by Dan Akroyd & Harold Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman became and instant hit and probably the biggest comedy of 1984.  Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harlod Ramis are would be scientists that stumble into the profession of catching and detaining ghosts. 

Things take a turn for the worse once portal is discovered in Sigourney Weaver’s appartment building.  Their jobs go from small to “twinkie” sized.  The plot to this movie is thin but the comedy is thick with laughs.  There are an endless stream of memorable one liners that come from this film.  But instead of just joke a minute moments the are written well enough that while funny they do move the story forward.

If you haven’t seen the original movie in it’s non-edited TV version I highly recommend it.

Ghostbusters is rated “PG”.

I couldn’t find the trailer but here is the video based on the theme song by Ray Parker Jr.

100 Movies in 100 Days: Day 49 – The Professional

The Professional or Leon as it was know internationally is a great action/drama that you can enjoy time and time again.

Written and directed by Luc Besson and brought to theatres in the fall of 1994.  The Professional stars Jean Reno as Leon, a hit-man for the mob who lives a very solitary life until a young girl, Natalie Portman, changes everything.  Matilda (Natalie Portman) is forced into his life by Gary Oldeman, who plays a corrupt cop.  Beyond this I don’t want to reveal any more of the story so you can enjoy it without spoilers.

The drama is slow so you can really see the characters develop and the action is fast so you can really appreciate how good Leon is at his job.  I would recommend both the theatrical version and the extended international version.  The extended version shows just a few extra scenes that add to the film but not enough that you really miss anything without them. 

The Professional is rated “R” for language and violence.