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Under discussion:

The Golden Compass  (2007)

• I can’t quite get it up to care about The Golden Compass. Apparently people are worried that it’s going to create godless youth? I’m pretty sure There Will Be Blood has a better chance of doing that than just about anything else, but in any case, Vulture says we have nothing to worry about. Perhaps the five minute clip Anne Thompson’s linking to will help you make up your own mind.
• “Be warned: if you let your children see Alvin & The Chipmunks they will eat their own shit.” That, and three other Awful Things The New Alvin & The Chipmunks Movie Is Responsible For, courtesy of The Hater.
• “I am perhaps not the best person to write about Control, and what follows is not a review.” Natalie Curtis, daughter of Ian Curtis, writes about watching Anton Corbijn’s biopic about her dad. Via The Underwire.
• Film critic Annette Insdorf has allegedly been edged out of the National Board of Review, who are coincidentally announcing their annual awards this week. Jeff Wells explains why this matters.
• “Yeah, I’m a lesbian. You wanna make somethin’ of it, or do you want me to help you hotwire that getaway car? That’s what I thought. Now step aside, little lady.” On the eve of Queen Latifah’s apparent coming out party, Defamer remembers one of her finest on-screen moments.
• Filmdrunk has taken to calling Ben Kingsley “Special K.” I think that made me laugh a little bit harder than it probably should have.

Prompted by a Twitter from Chris Thilk, last week I set out to solve a long-burning conundrum, once and for all: of the two songs Huey Lewis wrote and performed on the Back to the Future soundtrack, which is better: Back in Time, or The Power of Love?

I was so enamored with the first BttF film as a child that I actually owned the soundtrack–on cassette!–but I haven’t listened to either song divorced from the film as an adult. I intended to give this matter the utmost serious consideration. But then I actually listened to the songs all the way through…and they both pretty much made me want to throw myself in front of the Delorean (the pre-Mr. Fusion, non-flying Delorean). The best analysis I can offer? Time’s awkward shoehorning of references to the movie (”Get back, Marty!”) aside, they’re kind of the same song. Love is, marginally, more enjoyable, if only because it’s blissfully free of Time’s gratuitous saxophone. But that guitar solo … ouch.

I’ve embedded two Back to the Future fan tributes: one set to The Power of Love above, one set to Back in Time below the jump. Watch them if you dare, and if there’s some kind of essential greatness to one or the other that I missed, let me know.

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