WALL*EMEN : The Impact of a Little Music Change

I recently saw this on Firstshowing.net. It's a great little mashup of Wall*E and Watchmen of all things! Of course, what makes it great is that most of us would never think of trying to "mash" those two things together. Still...

With some nice editing of WALL*E footage and music (and voice over) from the WATCHMEN trailer, we have a totally different experience created. Of course the music is The Beginning is the End is the Beginning by Smashing Pumpkins. Most of the insanely dark tone felt in this mashup comes from this song...making the insanely cute Wall*E footage suddenly ooze with the morbid weight found in Watchmen.

What a great example of the power of music in film.

Peter Gabriel Pulls Out of Oscar Performance

A part of the Academy's fiddling with the Oscar Award show this year has meant trimming down performances of the Best Song nominees. They did promise some surprises afterall.

Instead of full performances of all 3 songs, there was to be a medley comprised of each. Gabriel said he was only offered 65 seconds for an arrangement of his song "Down to Earth" from Wall*E. Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood has the full story including Gabriel's letter to AMPAS.

I have had no problem with the running time of the Oscars. Why people cry about it being 4 hours or more is beyond me. I'm pretty sure everyone can work a remote control. Well, the show's producers have sought to shorten the show down to 3 hours....and apparently the music category is going to suffer for it.

I definitely support Peter Gabriel's move. Don't let them dis your music that way. If it was good enough to be nominated, it's good enough to be heard...in its totality. The last thing the soundtrack genre needs now is to be marginalized even further by the mainstream.

I can't wait for next year when they relegate the BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Award to the untelevised Scientific and Technical Award Presentation.

I guess we'll have to settle for a two song medley from SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Perhaps they'll allow for more songs to be nominated next year...and hope that more than 1 artist will be willing to hack up their music for the show.

Hope you all are happy with your shorter Award show this year.

Zimmer and Powell Take Home Annie for Kung Fu Panda

For months I have taken shot after shot from the Wall-E faithful, because I preferred KUNG FU PANDA. Well...so does the International Animation Society, as they handed out some 15 Annie Awards to the film last night! Besting the record set by Pixar's RATATOUILLE only last year with its nine awards.

Now, to be clear, I enjoyed WALL-E a great deal...and on many levels. It is a beautiful picture and THOMAS NEWMAN's score functions very well within. And, to be honest, I thought WALL-E would win more than KUNG FU PANDA (please, don't even bring up BOLT). When it comes to the Oscars though...I still expect a different turn out.

As much as I love Pixar films (although Ratatouille seemed to get a bit more praise than I thought it was due), it is great to see another Animation studio get in there and show that they can make a quality feature. Some of Dreamworks other animated features have left A LOT to be desired, so I'm very pleased to see them produce something this good and even more pleased to see them get rewarded for their efforts.

The fifteen awards included the Annie for Music in an Animated Feature film, so congrats to HANS ZIMMER and JOHN POWELL are due. Zimmer and Powell also won another award, along with HENRY JACKMAN for their work on the related short, THE SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE.

You can see the Panda's total domination here.

Caption Contest Finalists Announced (Wall-E)

Thanks to all of you who entered last month's Caption Contest!

Below are the three finalists for the WALL*E Soundtrack by Thomas Newman. The final winner will be announced soon.



This summer, the last man on earth... is not a man. I Am Wall-E
(FunnyGirl33)

When the Autobots left earth, they forgot just one thing. The cube.
(FunnyGirl33)


"I knew these 'Gigli' soundtrack CDs would come in handy someday!"
(ramen99)





Enter to win the HANCOCK Soundtrack by John Powell in the new Caption contest

The Dark Knight Poster Contest Winners Annouced

Our two winners of their choice of poster prints from THE DARK KNIGHT (courtesy of Moviegoods.com). This month's randomly drawn winners are:

Kristyn Corace
Robert Bierly


If you didn't win, never fear. You can enter the current contest for your choice of poster from WALL*E.

Enter the new contest here.

Who wants to win WALL*E? (Poster Print)

Tracksounds and Moviegoods are proud to bring you the WHO WANTS TO WIN MEMORABILIA poster contest! You could be ONE of TWO WINNERS of a poster print from the film WALL*E! This month the two winners can CHOOSE from four different poster designs!

Also, thanks to the tons of you who entered THE DARK KNIGHT poster contest. The winners will be announced right here...right soon.


Enter the contest here