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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Thoughts on Composers, Giant Woman Crush, and Cars 2

Often times, after I've seen the movie, the soundtrack is an instant buy for me. Music is vital to me in liking a movie. It sets a tone for a scene and really adds to everything in a theater. Plus, often times it helps to be great writing playlists too.

And when I hear a soundtrack is done by a particular composer, I'm even more excited. My favorites are:
Danny Eflman (Nightmare Before Christmas, Meet the Robinsons)
Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, Enchanted)
Marty O'Donnell (Halo series)
Nicholas Hooper (Harry Potter OoTP and HBP)
John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Horton Hears a Who, Bourne Ultimatum)
Hans Zimmer (Pirates series, Inception, The Dark Knight)
Michael Giacchino (UP, The Incredibles)
Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd)
Daft Punk (Tron Legacy)
Stephen Schwartz (Wicked)
John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter SS and PoA)

They're composers that really have done so many soundtracks that are part of my writing playlists, that I can't praise them enough. Each has their strengths, and their weaknesses. But when they write an incredible soundtrack, they don't disappoint. I could go into each composer separately - I might - but this post would go on for hours.

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Every person probably has a crush on an actor or actress that is their same-gender. And honestly, I see nothing wrong with that. My friends and I acknowledge hot women we see in the mall all the time. It's not just being able to appreciate your own beauty for your uniqueness, but that of people around you. Sure, that chick that just passed you in the mall is hot, don't be jealous at her for it; she just happened to get good genes. Or perhaps she's all plastic.

But I fully support having a "Giant Woman Crush" on an actress, or two. One of my male coworkers has a huge "Man Crush" on Bruce Willis. Nothing wrong with that.

My "Woman Crush" is on Olivia Wilde.

How could you not love that? For realz.
Yeah, I have crushes on other actresses, but Olivia Wilde is most certainly the one I would pine after or become a lesbian for if I ever got offered. She's just awesome in so many ways, playing so many different characters (Quorra and Thirteen, I'm looking at you), that I've never been disappointed to watch something she's in. 

I suppose it's why I have her as my profile picture on Facebook.

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I've never been disappointed by Pixar. In recent years, they've done a great job at always making me cry during one of their films. Toy Story 3 had me balling my eyes out because it was so damn touching and nostalgic.

I rarely doubt Pixar when it comes to sequels. Toy Story 2 and 3 were both fantastic in their own right, so I shouldn't be as concerned about Cars 2. But I am. The Cars movie - and now it's sequel - are the films where you can see Disney has had a huge hand in. They've crafted it to be their little merchandise cash cow. Girls have Disney Princesses, boys have Cars.

Of course, when I was younger, it was that boys had Buzz and Woody. Putting aside the childhood toys, kids are ever evolving into being more tech savvy and wanting toys to do more. They don't just want some simple cowboy anymore; that cowboy better have lasers that blink and darts that shoot, or else he's not worth anyone's time. Not to mention perhaps being a transforming robot helps too.

So now we have Cars 2, which is a Bond-esque film in which Mater is mistaken as a spy. The plot seems pretty simple, as basically most Pixar film plots are. But they add such depth to them that as an audience, you're never disappointed. I can understand the skepticism people have about this film. It's another addition to their cash cow that will easily rake in plenty of money.

I'll see it no matter what, though. Even if people give it poor ratings.

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