Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Two Ryans. The Sixty-Three Songs.

I'm sure someone else has already noticed and publicized this (I'm weeks behind on my web reading... so far behind I have almost no idea what's going on. Where am I?) but I can't get over the fact that there's two Ryan Binghams in the Oscar race this year.


There's "Ryan Bingham", the latest vessel for George Clooneyism in Up in the Air and Ryan Bingham the songwriter/performer who wrote the lovely theme song for Clooney's big Oscar competition "Bad Blake", the latest incarnation of Jeff Bridges. How weird is that?

And which films will find Oscar favor this year in the Original Song category? The category is tinier then usual with stricter rules in place (one of them is that a film can't have more than two song nominated anymore) so all 63 of these songs will have a mighty struggle making it to the short(est) list. I swiped this complete list of eligible candidates from IndieWire, a site that does a very fine job of sharing every press release on god's green earth. How do they do it? A staff of more than one helps, I'm sure. I've highlighted my favorites.

"All Is Love" from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Almost Over You” from “My One and Only”
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“AyAyAyAy” from “The Maid”
“Back to Tennessee” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“Being Bad” from “Duplicity”


Now, I have heard this Hannah Montana song. I blame that
on my friend Susan who has 73 tween nieces.

“Blanco” from “Fast & Furious”
“Brothers in Arms” from “Brothers at War”
“Butterfly Fly Away” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“Cinema Italiano” from “Nine”
“Colorblind” from “Invictus”
“Depression Era” from “That Evening Sun”
“Don’t Walk Away” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“Dove of Peace” from “Bruno”
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Fly Farm Blues” from “It Might Get Loud”
“Forget Me” from “I Love You, Beth Cooper”
“God Bless Us Everyone” from “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
“Here” from “Shrink”
“Hideaway” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Hoedown Throwdown” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“I Bring What I Love” from “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love”
“I See You” from “Avatar”
“(I Want to) Come Home” from “Everybody’s Fine”
“If You’re Wondering” from “The Lightkeepers”
“Impossible Fantasy” from “Adventures of Power”
“Innocent Child” from “Skin”
“Invictus 9,000 Days” from “Invictus”
“Legendary” from “Tyson”
“Let Freedom Reign” from “Skin”
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36”
“Ma Belle Evangeline” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“My One and Only” from “My One and Only”
“Na Na” from “Couples Retreat”
“Never Knew I Needed” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“New Divide” from “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
“New Jersey Nights” from “Adventures of Power”
“New York Is Where I Live” from “Did You Hear about the Morgans?”
“No Time for Love” from “Simon & Malou”
“One Day” from “Post Grad”
“Only You” from “The Young Victoria”


“Other Father Song” from “Coraline”
“Petey’s Song” from “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” from “Ponyo”
"Possibility” from “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”
“Raining Sunshine” from “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
“Running Out of Empty (Make Ourselves at Home)” from “Lymelife”
“Smoke without Fire” from “An Education”
“Somebody Else” from “Crazy Heart”
“Stu’s Song” from “The Hangover”
“Take It All” from “Nine”
“Through the Trees” from “Jennifer’s Body”
“Trust Me” from “The Informant!”
“Un Bouquet des Violettes” from “New York, I Love You”
“We Are the Children of the World” from “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“We Love Violence” from “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart”

Ryan Bingham. Beautiful song.

“When You Find Me” from “Adam”
“Winter” from “Brothers”
“The Word Is Love” from “Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!”
“You Got Me Wrapped around Your Little Finger” from “An Education”
“You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home” from “Hannah Montana The Movie”
“You’ve Been a Friend to Me” from “Old Dogs”

Yes, all three of my favorites were highlighted. In truth the other sixty might be even better but I either a) don't remember them from the movie (The Maid had a song? I just saw that, I loved it and I don't remember that) or b) have never heard them or noticed them. I wish I could see a clip reel on how all of them are used in their movies. But I guess that's for AMPAS eyes only.
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