“A Change is Gonna Come” – Sam Cooke (as used in Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X”)

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A brilliant use of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” from Spike Lee’s stellar 1992 biopic “Malcolm X.”  The scene where Cooke’s masterpiece is utilized is a triumph of acting (Denzel Washington), editing (Barry Alexander Brown), cinematography (Ernest Dickerson), and direction (Lee). Considering what Malcolm was up against at this point in his life, the scene really conveys the sense of a man who is tired of running and has accepted that death is inevitable for the path he has chosen.  When you also consider this was one of Cooke’s last recordings before his violent death, it’s hard to watch this with a dry eye.

On a side note, Washington seriously got robbed at the 1992 Oscars.  To say that he should have been the winner for Best Actor for “Malcolm X” that year is an understatement.  While I like Al Pacino (and, yes, even like “Scent of a Woman”), Pacino should have gotten the Oscar for “The Godfather” or “Dog Day Afternoon” or even “Glengarry Glen Ross.”  That hammy “Whooo-ah!” nonsense from “Woman” started Pacino down a very, very bad path.

“Gassenhauer” – Carl Orff

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The theme music from Terrence Malick’s bone-chilling and mordantly funny 1973 crime thriller “Badlands.”  If you’re a fan of the 1993 Tony Scott / Quentin Tarantino collaboration “True Romance,” you may notice that Hans Zimmer’s theme music from that film pretty much copies note for note Orff’s music. Forget “Carmina Burana,” THIS should be Orff’s best-known piece.

“Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun” – Mink Stole

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Here’s a real surprise!  John Waters superstar Mink Stole lends her pipes to this sultry cover of “Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun.”  All I can say is “Wow!”  No offense to her hilarious turns in Waters’ anti-masterpieces, but Stole should have pursued a singing career.  From the compilation “A Date with John Waters.”

“Short Cuts” (1993) dir. Robert Altman

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My favorite film of 1993 (aside from Tony Scott’s Quentin Tarantino-scripted “True Romance), was Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts.”  “Short Cuts” is a devastating 3 hour-plus epic about the damaged lives of multiple souls in the “City of Angels,” circa 1993.   The movie complies several short stories by Raymond Carver and intersects the stories, so that the characters of each story interact with each other at various times for various reasons.  It shows the randomness of life and how all of our actions (no matter how small) can have an impact on the world around us.   Seeing it during a not-so-great point in my life, the film hit me like a brick to the face and I was shaken for days.  This is not to say the film lacks humor.  The movie is oftentimes hysterically funny, albeit in a very dark way.  It also features brilliant performances by a diverse, all-star cast, including Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Penn, Fred Ward, Tom Waits, Anne Archer, Madeline Stowe, Jack Lemmon, Andie McDowell, Lily Tomlin, Lili Taylor, Frances McDormand, Buck Henry, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Matthew Modine, Julianne Moore, and several others.

“Short Cuts” was Altman’s ultra-ambitious follow-up to his 1992 comeback film “The Player.”  However, unlike “The Player,” “Short Cuts” didn’t fare too well at the box office.  Despite this, “Short Cuts” was on many Top 10 lists and Altman was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.   While I enjoy “The Player,” “Short Cuts” is a far better film and its influence has grown tremendously over the years and its format about multiple characters/stories intersecting has resulted in some great films (P.T. Anderson’s “Magnolia”) and not-so-great (Paul Haggis’s “Crash”).  An underrated masterpiece and my all-time favorite Robert Altman film.

“Better Things” – The Kinks … and Happy New Year!

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2012 was a decent year for me, but a rough year for a lot of folks I know.  Having been through bad years before, I know it doesn’t always seem like things will get better, but they always do.  Here’s hoping that “better things” will come quickly to everyone in the coming year.  Please have a terrific New Year!!!

“Much Ado About Nothing,” a retrospective of the movie “Diner” by S.L. Price, Vanity Fair March 2012

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http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/03/diner-201203

A really smart retrospective of Barry Levinson’s 1982 classic film “Diner,” by writer S.L. Price. Not only did the film launch the careers of Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Daniel Stern, Steve Guttenberg, and Tim Daly, Price argues that “Diner” was one of the major influences on pop culture in the past 30 years. Think about it: Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity,” the pop and junk culture dialogues in Quentin Tarantino’s oeuvre, “Seinfeld,” and Judd Apatow’s “bromance” genre can all be traced back to “Diner.” All I can say is “Damn, wish I had thought of that!” Nice shooting, Mr. Price.

The Oral History of Freaks and Geeks, Vanity Fair, January 2013

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www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/01/freaks-and-geeks-oral-history?mbid=social_mobile_email

The best TV show about teenagers of all time (and arguably one of the best TV shows about any subject, ever), “Freaks and Geeks” is one of those shows that continues to amaze, even after it was yanked after one season in 2000. If you’ve never seen it, the entire series is available on Netflix Instant and is a must-see. It’s one of the truest and painfully funny things you’ll ever watch. At the link above is a terrific and lengthy oral history of the show from the January 2013 issue of “Vanity Fair.” If you’re a fan of the show, or are fascinated by the severe ups and downs of the creative process in the entertainment industry, check it out.