Monday, June 9, 2014

F This Movie! The First!

by Melissa Henderson
Patrick here. Please join me in welcoming Melissa Henderson, a new contributor at F This Movie! She's a music journalist, she loves movies and she's Canadian. What else do you need to know?

Within each of us is an art fanatic of one sort or the other. Myself, I am a fan of movies. And music! Music in movies and movies about music! (I'm not picky). Throw the two together and BAM! That's where I'm a viking! (Now I am only going to do this once, so I hope you are paying attention: I apologize for the Simpsons quote... I know I know, MOVIES, NOT TV SHOWS!) I am not an expert by any means, nor am I able to put things quite as eloquently as our own Patrick Bromley, (ahem, “The movie is FINE”), but I know what I like and what works for me. And that is essentially what art comes down to, it is not? When someone's creation is able to move us in one way or the other... Albeit, “Art” is a loose category: one person's Crap-on-a-stick could still be someone's Mona Lisa. I guess it's all just a matter of opinion. I'll leave that to all you experts out there to decide, as I may just be one who could easily be lumped into the “I Love Crap-on-a-stick” category.

I must make this clear right off the bat: I am not a gung-ho fan of musicals (my fave “Musicals” being, Moulin Rouge!, Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny and Mary Poppins... Not sure exactly what my choices say about me?). When I talk about music in movies, I'm not technically referring to the genre -- more to the soundtracks and scores of the films, the twing twang of notes that pull on your heart at just the right moment, the lyrics that bring about a specific emotion. (You know, when you hear the “My Heart Will Go On” theme for the hundred and seventy seventh time in Titanic, doesn't it just scream, “James Cameron you filled all the empty spaces between your AWESOME dialogue with the most beautiful and moving song of all time??!!” ---insert eye roll here---) Yep. Hits and misses.
My profession is one that has me sitting down and chatting with musicians (ewestmusic.com), and it just so happens that my topic of choice while in conversation with them is their role in movies, whether it be by appearing and singing in person (Billy Idol in The Wedding Singer), their contributions to a film soundtrack, onscreen cameos, starring roles (50 Cent), what they would name their movie if their band could take a page from The Beatles and do A Hard Day's Night-esque style film, and just about any other movie related thing you might come up with. My new season of filming for the show is just getting started, and with a huge potential list of awesome interviews with musicians on my summer and fall horizon, I am thinking that my F This Movie! contributions might start out generally being themed around discussions with musicians and their roles in movies. (I sure do love me some good ol' horror though, so somehow I will have to get that worked in!) I will try and keep my off-topic rants to a minimum. No promises, however. I do talk for a living! And it certainly wouldn't be an F This Movie! first!
So I put it to you: What would you ask David Bowie about his roles in Labyrinth or The Prestige? Harry Connick Jr in Memphis Belle? Mariah Carey in Precious? (Do you even bring up Glitter?) Meatloaf as Bitch Tits in Fight Club? Marky Mark himself in almost every other movie nowadays (however Boogie Nights goes to the top of my list!)? And it goes on and on... The great, the good, the bad and the horrible, what they have done is give us something great to talk about. Or something to ignore and seek something better.

Like I said... It's all in the eye of the beholder. Crap-on-a-stick.

16 comments:

  1. Welcome to the site! I'm sure you'll be FINE.

    No but seriously, I look forward to what your pieces add to the F This Movie dynamic.

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  2. Well, this is a a pleasant surpise! A new face! Welcome, Melissa! :) You're speaking my language with your love of movies AND music. This should probably be saved for a later column, but it would be interesting to read what some of your favorite performances by musicians have been. Since you bring up Meatloaf in Fight Club, I feel like that performance is up there for me. I would have to think of others.

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  3. Glad to have another contribution to look forward to. Welcome Melissa!

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  4. Welcome aboard, Melissa! Happy to have you here and I like that you're going to be adding in a new focus here.

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  5. Hey Melissa - a fellow Canucker and (judging from your website) Saskatchewanian (born there, loads of family there, but living in NS now) - welcome!

    I'd ask David Bowie why he didn't do a better job concealing his stuff in Labyrinth so as to not scare the children!

    And I'd ask Meatloaf if he's a "hugger" in real life.

    Looking forward to your contributions this awesome site!

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    1. Hi Sol!

      Does it never cease to amaze how many people have not only heard of Saskatchewan, but have either lived there or know someone there? And now everyone knows us, which broadens that even more! 1 degree of separation in Saskatchewan HAHA!

      Meatloaf has got to be a hugger... Just look at him! He's got "Hug me I'm Meatloaf" written all over him!

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  6. Welcome Melissa! Really great to have a new person on board and one who isn't afraid to have off topic rants!

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  7. Hi Melissa! Being a musician, the score, soundtrack and sound design are a huge part of my film watching experience. Sometimes it MAKES a movie for me and sometimes just the opposite. Look forward to reading your stuff!

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  8. Welcome Melissa to the F This Movie family! Look forward to your column.

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  9. Go Away Melissa!

    Nah. Please don't. I just wanted to post something different. I can be a dick. Stay?

    Bowie: Do I remind you of a babe?
    Connick: I never saw it, can you sum it up in 7 words?
    Carey: How did you not slap that bitch, her story was fucked up!
    Meatloaf: Did you know that there's a woman called Melissa who goes around calling you "Bitch Tits"?
    Mark: Can I touch it?

    So I put it to you: Where can I get a Cat-Man t-shirt too?

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    1. HAHAHA! Oh don't you worry, you guys are stuck with me now! No matter how much I'm yelled at to go away! HA!

      You've never seen Memphis Belle???

      DROP EVERYTHING NOW AND WATCH MEMPHIS BELLE

      7 words.

      I am a sucker for most things war and planes and this has both AND Harry Connick Jr.

      HAHAHAHAHA. Meatloaf and I have an understanding. You should hear what he calls me!

      I am turned a bit to the side in my photo, so it's hard to see, but the shirt says CAT FAN (I love cats, and Batman and fun shirts!) Better than Cat-Man!... 'Cause I'm a GIRL! HAHA!

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  10. I look forward to these columns. I feel like, in a lot of ways that sometimes the music is just as important as the visuals. I often wonder if filmmakers already have a piece of music selected for a certain scene, then build the visual around it.

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  11. I think that Bowie's BEST performance was in "The Hunger".....Ever see Sting in "Brimstone and Treacle"??? I am a huge Fight club fan, but I had no idea that B. Tits was Meatloaf. Great actor.

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  12. Hey Guys!!!!

    A belated THANK YOU for all of your welcomes! I was trapped at the World Media Festival in Banff (although Patrick now has me thinking it and writing it as BAMF), and unable to focus my brain on anything aside from what was directly in front of me. Which at one point just so happened to the Fonz!

    I think its damn near impossible to pick either music or movies as a first love, so I am sticking with... CATS! (The critter, not the musical) Hahaha!

    I look forward to talking with you all more about music and movies, movies about music and.... well, you get it. EXCITED TO BE HERE! Yay F This Movie!!!

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    1. Don't worry, I read Banff as BAMF, too, haha. :)

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