Top 5

Top Five Movies About Music

This category can be music documentaries, musicals, performance films, movies about the music industry (please no one say empire records PLEASE.)

 1.  Once - I cannot say/blog enough good things about this special special film.  It is so lovely and heartbreaking.  Watch it.  I am not a Frames fan, but the melodramatic rock is perfect for this kind of movie.

 2. Spinal Tap - yeah yeah kind of obvious, but it IS great.

3.  Hedwig and the Angry Inch -one of my favorite musicals, and my favorite rock opera definitely.

4.  The Devil and Daniel Johnston - Not my favorite of musicians by far (i mean how much Daniel Johnston can one listen to?), but this is probably my favorite music documentary.  

5.   Amadeus - it has been years since i've seen this but as i recall it is an amazing film.

I love music. i love films. enlighten me. 

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

Awww.  No Empire Records?  Just kidding. 

Your category is so broad!  I mean, I could maybe do top 5s in musicals, in performance films, etc. etc. There are whole Spout groups devoted to each of these little subtopics.  So, I'll throw out one or two favorites of each, in no specific order:

--In music documentaries, my number one favorite is The Beatles Anthology.  Yes, it was originally relegated to TV because it's so huge, but it's one of the most comprehensive music documentaries in existence by the greatest rock n roll band ever (and also my favorite).  It's very complete and well-filmed.  I just bought it, matter of fact, though I had a previous VCR version taped from those TV segments however many years ago.

--In musicals, my two hands-down favorites are The Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain.  They are widely regarded as the best movie musicals, and while from the classic era, are just fun movies to watch, and they are two of my nerd movies (as in, I can recite them).  Yet, I have a whole movie musical collection from old to new, so I could keep going....

--In performance films, I like A Hard Day's Night.  It's the first best music video, also by the Beatles, and while they are caricatures of themselves, it's really very funny and showcases tunes from one of their better early albums.  I also like watching Woodstock, which could fall under either documentaries or performance films.  It's a great piece of history to see all those bands gathered together.  Woodstock '94 and '99 were good for the music selections/artists themselves, but the concept was dead by that time.  I'm betraying my generation by saying it, but the originals are always better than sequels anyhow, and all of that crime and fire and stuff was kind of a bummer, man.

--I can't think of any music industry related films right now that strike me as super-awesome.  Hm.  I'll get back to you on that one.

Yet, I love watching musicals and movies about music and movies with music.  I'm with you, tmoney.  I like watching concept films like Pink Floyd's The Wall (trippy that) or Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same or concert films by my favorite artists (Dave Matthews, U2, and so on).  Amadeus is an awesome movie (though Falco's song is not an awesome song).  Great topic!

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

tmoney -- I love Empire Records so much!  Don't you?  But I wouldn't include it in a discussion about music, since it's mostly a movie about bonding.

At any rate, let's not forget Tommy, the story of the Pinball Wizard.  To be honest, I don't even really like this film, but it does have some truly phenomenal scenes in it.  I'm particularly in love with the "Acid Queen" segment and the "Do You Think It's Alright?" bits.  The Preacher is cool, as is the Pinball Wizard scene.  It's fun to see all those famous rock stars of the day (Tina Turner, Eric Clapton, Elton John, etc.) singing songs by The Who.  Plus, watching Ann-Margaret roll around in champagne foam which quickly turns to Rex beans (fit for a king!) which quickly turns to human excrement is SO HOT!

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

GradysGhost:

Plus, watching Ann-Margaret roll around in champagne foam which quickly turns to Rex beans (fit for a king!) which quickly turns to human excrement is SO HOT!

YIKES!

Actually I did just watch Tommy recently.  Maybe if I'd been more familiar with the music I would have got into it, but the only song I knew and loved really was Pinball Wizard.  I guess I'm not a true Who fan.  But that was my favorite sequence too.  Elton John with the big shoes and playing his pinball machine keyboard.

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

tmoney:

I've not seen Empire Records.  The cover alone was a cautionary sign not to watch it.   Liv Tyler in a record store movie?Convince me.

Tmoney, I'll convince you your instincts were correct.  DON'T GO NEAR THIS MOVIE!

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

Re: Top Five Movies About Music

i completely agree with Once and Amadeus. i've seen Once twice now and the second time it struck me how much it was about the music -- it was like a music video, with a simple story that hardly needed dialogue. anyway, my five would include:

1. Woodstock: i know it's an old chestnut but the music and the whole mood of the movie is perfect, especially if you haven't seen it for a while.
2. Standing In The Shadows Of Motown: Great documentary about the Motown session players. if you're like me, you've forgotten how much you liked this music until you hear it again.
3. All That Jazz: Dancing to die for!
4. Almost Famous: The movie is inseparable from the soundtrack and both are pretty great.
5. One-Trick Pony: i think Paul Simon's movie about a band on the road is a "hidden gem" and needs to be made available on DVD now!

Re: Top Five Movies About Music