“The Weary Kind” is a Shoe In for Original Song!

Well the Academy Awards are coming to town on Sunday night. Obviously, Avatar will sweep many of the categories. I`m looking at music related categories this morning, and I suspect that Avatar will win in Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. Inglourious Bastards, you might remember, pulled some punches to your eardrums too. Avatar will probably win in Original Score also. I`ve only seen half of the movie so far?

For Original Song I think The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart) is a shoe in. That entire soundtrack is a must have for all of us. The movie-muse is with T-Bone Burnett! It will be interesting to take a look at the sales figures for this soundtrack after say, one month. I do wonder why a song from Up In the Air, Goin` Home by Dan Auerbach, was not included in the Original Song category.

Okay, so Up In the Air and Crazy Heart are my two favorite films for 2009. I`m no Avatar NUT myself, but what can you do. I`ll root for the underdogs and good tunes anytime!

Up In The Air-A Marriage of Downsizing and Easy Going Tunes

I saw Up in the Air yesterday and thought it was a breath of fresh air (oxygen). Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has a hard job flying around the country and giving people a pink slip, trying to be as tactful as possible. Jason Reitman is the director and co-writer of the screenplay; Jason brought us Juno and Up in the Air is equally as charming.

The music was a major part of the film experience, and so I picked up the soundtrack afterwards to better focus on some of the best songs. The song Up in the Air was used for the closing credits. Kevin Renick wrote it two years prior to the making of the film, and gave a cassette demo to Jason Reitman at a Q & A at Webster University. Reitman used it as is.

The best song in the film is Help Yourself written and performed by a Chicago artist Sad Brad Smith. I believe it was a perfect fit for the wedding scene, which was also the best scene of the movie. Goin` Home is another great one, by Dan Auerbach. Auerbach included Goin` Home on his debut solo album, Keep It Hid, which was released in February of 2009. And there`s one by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Taken At All plus a solo piece by Graham Nash, a demo from 1971, Be Yourself.

These easy-going, jangily folk tunes are a perfect fit with the tense ambience of the lay-off-laden, Ryan Bingham. All in a day`s work, downsizing that is. (Wiki)