MOVIE REVIEW: The Commitments
(Your Wildest Dreams - The Moody Blues)
Music is a force unto itself, and while poets have tried to make us all understand its power, no one really understands why it moves us the way that it does. Its influence is undeniable to anyone. It can drive you to do things you might not otherwise. You could run farther, lift more weight, focus on what you're doing, lower your inhibitions...
Or, you could get a group of white Irish men and women together to form a group dedicated to Soul music in Dublin.
If you're sitting there wondering how much of a train-wreck that might be, you're not alone. Is it worth watching, or should you look away?
THE SHORT VERSION:
You should certainly watch, and listen also!
THE LONG VERSION:
I'm going to rant about music in movies for a moment, and you need to understand that I am a huge and unapologetic snob when it comes to this type of thing.
I think that music in movies is extremely important, and using the right music in a movie is an art that isn't appreciated nearly enough. Finding a composer that can capture the essence of a movie is a difficult task. Perhaps an even more difficult task is building a soundtrack around a movie that supports what the film is about without also taking away from it at the same time.
2014's 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' is a perfect example of an amazing soundtrack that had no business being paired with the movie it was in. While the songs were all toe-tappers and hits in their own right, the use of them in almost every aspect of the film was at best awkward, and at worst completely inappropriate. Case in point: You can't do a Hero Slow Walk to 'Cherry Bomb' in 2014. Sorry, you just can't. Or rather, you can, it just won't do the Walk any justice whatsoever, in which case...what was the point in the first place? People will immediately cry, "But Steve, everyone loved how those songs were used in the movie! Everyone loves the soundtrack!" I ask you to consider a few very crucial things here:
- I never said there was anything wrong with the soundtrack.
- People loved the fact that those great songs were in the movie, but this love completely overshadowed the fact that the use of said songs was at best sub-optimal, and at worst grossly distracting.
GOTG is a music video where people really love the music even though the music video has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MUSIC. One of the biggest crimes with this movie is that it could have been so much better if -the right- music was used, but most people will never see that.
And hey, it made a truckload of cash, as did sales of the soundtrack, so maybe I should just fuck off. There's a point to this rambling though, and it's this:
'The Commitments' is what 'Guardians' should have been in terms of soundtrack. Every song on this movie's soundtrack is NAILS, and they're all used perfectly within the film, supporting it without taking away from it. I get that we haven't actually talked about the movie itself yet, but the music is arguably the most important part of the movie that it needs to be mentioned up front.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way and I've put out the burning GOTG sign on my lawn, we can talk about the movie itself.
As mentioned above, this movie is about a man who decides he wants to form a Soul cover band in Dublin, Ireland. If you're sitting there wondering how a bunch of skinny, white gingers is going to pull this off, you're not alone. That's part of the movie's delight, because they absolutely do. The process is done with all of the hilarity and irreverence that you've come to expect from the Irish in cinema, and it's done with a crop of relative unknowns. I would list their names off here, but other than a few quick moments with Colm Meany, you wouldn't know who any of them were. What you need to know is that every single one of the actors that play members of The Commitments can -sing-. Holy cow, can they ever sing!
The film doesn't feel like it has much of a beginning, and the ending is certainly left of where you think it should be. A moment of something brief and remarkable happens between long periods of the daily grind in this movie, and it's amazing to watch. Fans of soul music will go back to this movie repeatedly for the music and the ones who made it. Music lovers will appreciate the film for how many amazing songs are on it that they never really realized were 'soul'.
Everyone else will go back for Jimmy 'The Lips'.
If you enjoy music, you have got to watch this flick at least once.
Music is a force unto itself, and while poets have tried to make us all understand its power, no one really understands why it moves us the way that it does. Its influence is undeniable to anyone. It can drive you to do things you might not otherwise. You could run farther, lift more weight, focus on what you're doing, lower your inhibitions...
Or, you could get a group of white Irish men and women together to form a group dedicated to Soul music in Dublin.
If you're sitting there wondering how much of a train-wreck that might be, you're not alone. Is it worth watching, or should you look away?
THE SHORT VERSION:
You should certainly watch, and listen also!
THE LONG VERSION:
I'm going to rant about music in movies for a moment, and you need to understand that I am a huge and unapologetic snob when it comes to this type of thing.
I think that music in movies is extremely important, and using the right music in a movie is an art that isn't appreciated nearly enough. Finding a composer that can capture the essence of a movie is a difficult task. Perhaps an even more difficult task is building a soundtrack around a movie that supports what the film is about without also taking away from it at the same time.
2014's 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' is a perfect example of an amazing soundtrack that had no business being paired with the movie it was in. While the songs were all toe-tappers and hits in their own right, the use of them in almost every aspect of the film was at best awkward, and at worst completely inappropriate. Case in point: You can't do a Hero Slow Walk to 'Cherry Bomb' in 2014. Sorry, you just can't. Or rather, you can, it just won't do the Walk any justice whatsoever, in which case...what was the point in the first place? People will immediately cry, "But Steve, everyone loved how those songs were used in the movie! Everyone loves the soundtrack!" I ask you to consider a few very crucial things here:
- I never said there was anything wrong with the soundtrack.
- People loved the fact that those great songs were in the movie, but this love completely overshadowed the fact that the use of said songs was at best sub-optimal, and at worst grossly distracting.
GOTG is a music video where people really love the music even though the music video has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MUSIC. One of the biggest crimes with this movie is that it could have been so much better if -the right- music was used, but most people will never see that.
And hey, it made a truckload of cash, as did sales of the soundtrack, so maybe I should just fuck off. There's a point to this rambling though, and it's this:
'The Commitments' is what 'Guardians' should have been in terms of soundtrack. Every song on this movie's soundtrack is NAILS, and they're all used perfectly within the film, supporting it without taking away from it. I get that we haven't actually talked about the movie itself yet, but the music is arguably the most important part of the movie that it needs to be mentioned up front.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way and I've put out the burning GOTG sign on my lawn, we can talk about the movie itself.
As mentioned above, this movie is about a man who decides he wants to form a Soul cover band in Dublin, Ireland. If you're sitting there wondering how a bunch of skinny, white gingers is going to pull this off, you're not alone. That's part of the movie's delight, because they absolutely do. The process is done with all of the hilarity and irreverence that you've come to expect from the Irish in cinema, and it's done with a crop of relative unknowns. I would list their names off here, but other than a few quick moments with Colm Meany, you wouldn't know who any of them were. What you need to know is that every single one of the actors that play members of The Commitments can -sing-. Holy cow, can they ever sing!
The film doesn't feel like it has much of a beginning, and the ending is certainly left of where you think it should be. A moment of something brief and remarkable happens between long periods of the daily grind in this movie, and it's amazing to watch. Fans of soul music will go back to this movie repeatedly for the music and the ones who made it. Music lovers will appreciate the film for how many amazing songs are on it that they never really realized were 'soul'.
Everyone else will go back for Jimmy 'The Lips'.
If you enjoy music, you have got to watch this flick at least once.
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