I liked this movie but the music was terrible. Even if it was suppose to be ironic, which I didn't really pick up on, it was like watching something on the disney channel. What the hell Todd? I didn't think Life During Wartime was that strong and I was hoping this would bring it all back home, and in some ways it did, but man did I dislike that music.
Though under Earth and throneless now I be,
Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me.
That being said it is his strongest movie since Happiness. I also quite liked storytelling and to a somewhat lesser degree Palindromes, but Happiness and WTTDH are masterpieces.
Though under Earth and throneless now I be,
Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me.
I agree completely. They felt like they were from another movie and that they were added later by a producer other than Solondz.
shareI think it's the point of what crap music that's popular right now. I was just at a movie theater in the middle of the day, and it was all empty, and they had that stupid celebrity trivia that's there to make you feel knowledgeable but really just programming you for celebrity worship. That's what I think anyway. And afterwards they started playing this music that sounded right out of this movie! I was like "Oh no! I'm such an Abe!" I think Todd is great at pointing out reality. This is where we are at right now! The fact that the Disney channel and American Idol is pumping this crap out there doesn't mean Todd isn't mocking it. It was pretty obvious to me, especially when played with someone like Abe!
...even in a valley without mountains the wind could still blow.
Yep, it was meant to be heavily ironic, and it worked perfectly.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI5hrcwU7Dk
I think the argument that bad music is just what is happening right now, and that Todd's use of bad music is a direct comment is a pretty lazy one. No matter what era, there is good music being produced all the time. Just because there is a particular group of "popular" music doesn't actually mean that is actually what is popular. Not to mention the fact that if I was gonna comment on bad music now (or in 2011) I would not hesitate to use $hitty hip hop. Bad teeny bobber stuff is more like a 2005 comment or 1999, or 1978. Hip hop isnt bad in principle, in fact at its core it's wonderful, but bad hip hop is what I find completely unnavoidable on the radio today. Lil Wayne is no Biggie, Drake is no Pac, where the hell did the Fugees go? And why do people think this new $hit sounds good? The music turned me off to the whole thing. If it is a comment, it is misplaced, and if not, then what the hell?
Though under Earth and throneless now I be,
Yet, while I lived, all Earth was under me.
The choice of music is not a misplaced commentary because it is directly tied to the character and his emotional state. He listens to this stuff because it's like candy for his denial and his volatile feelings, as if affirming that everything is going to be okay when it clearly isn't. One could see the inanity of modern pop culture as serving that very purpose: Soothing us with sickly sweet/sexual/romantic perfection while we're all going to hell and don't want to admit it.
shareMy interpretation was a little more literal, where I figured that the main characters taste never really matured since he's a toy collecting, man child. So he's listening to music made for a younger audience and driving a yellow hummer, and not a more reserved adult styled car.
shareGood thought.
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You felt a lump in your breast, you looked at your wife and saw a stranger
I thought the music was horrible and PERFECT for the film and Abe's character.
shareOf course it was ironic. And it was a great joke, how it was played as though it was the soundtrack commenting on the action, but then would stop cold when Abe turned off the car, showing it was actually what he had been playing on the stereo.
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My top 250: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250