Trailer Tuesday on Wednesday

I'm in! I'll try to type so fast in case I get kicked out again.

Not being able to post on Tuesday was apropos, because I didn't have any trailers that I wanted to post. Nothing's really grabbing me. So I decided to post about two of my favorite movie soundtracks. One from a movie I love, and one from a movie I wish I could love. And, coincidentally, both soundtracks are by French composers and performers.

Les Choristes (The Chorus in the U.S.) is a movie that I love. It's a story of a new teacher at a school for orphaned and troubled boys. The boys are unruly, the rules are strict, and the punishments are harsh, but with little effect. So the teacher, in an attempt to refocus energies, starts a chorus. It's such a sweet, tender, and heartbreaking movie. The soundtrack is by French composer Bruno Coulais, and it mostly consistes of songs sung by the boys chorus, but the whole soundtrack is beautiful. "Les Avions en Papier" ("Paper Airplanes") is my favorite song, but you really have to see the movie to appreciate why; it's from my favorite scene in the movie. Here is the trailer, which is also a nice preview of the music. "Les Avions en Papier" is played in part during the last moments of the trailer.

Now for the movie I wish I loved: Pride & Prejudice (2005) with Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFadyen. The soundtrack is great, the visuals are stunning, but the casting was kind of terrible. I didn't like Keira Knightly, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone, or even Matthew MacFadyen in their roles. I should just frame stills stills from the movie and longingly gaze at them while I listen to the soundtrack. It's composed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, French composer and piano performer. My favorite bits in the soundtrack are the piano solos. The whole soundtrack is uncomplicated or even simple, yet effective. Here is the first track and one of the piano solos, "Dawn." 

Forced to Like Taylor Swift

I do not like pop or rock country music in the slightest. Generally it all sounds like the same loudness to me. However I do like other music that fits into the country category: you got your classic country with people like Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash; then there's Bluegrass and Americana which covers a heap of classic and new music ranging from Ralph Stanley to Gillian Welch; and then there are the bands that are moderately to heavily influenced by some sort of country, but I don't think of them as such, like Jack White, Mumford and Sons, The Decemberists, and The Civil Wars.

Cut to pop country's Taylor Swift and her new song"Safe and Sound," featuring The Civil Wars. It's dark, haunting, and pretty--three things that I never associate with Taylor Swift's usual pop country flavor. I'm sure this is due in part to collaborating with The Civil Wars, and due in part to the fact that the song is  on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games, which is a rather dark and haunting story. So kudos to Taylor Swift for basically forcing (yes, forcing) me like her.



The Hunger Games soundtrack will be released tomorrow. Based on the lineup, it may even be a winner of an album. I'm particularly excited about The Decemberists, Birdy, The Secret Sisters, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Glen Hansard.