Music! . Woodstock happened in August. So I'm dedicating this month to anything music related in film. Docs, concert films, musicals, movies with memorable songs, scores, or soundtracks. Mostly first watches. Let's play it loud!

A Beautiful Mind got the sole vote for Ron Howard. Selected by Penelope Spheeris. I'm surprised Apollo 13 didn't get any S&S votes. It's probably my favorite RH movie.

Ron Howard directed one film that received a vote in 2022's Sight & Sound greatest films poll. Which is it?.

ROGER WATERS: THE WALL - LIVE IN BERLIN (1990). Another tape I wore out. A double tape. Never saw the video until today. Van soaring through Comfortably Numb still gives chills. Sinéad doing Mother still brings tears. She's gone. And three members of The Band who accompanied

BLACK JOURNAL: ALICE COLTRANE (1970). A short segment from a TV show. Three years after John's death. Alice, John's wife, reflects on her life now. I'm not that familiar with her musical work. Jazz harp (!). Must download

I discovered a key American text this year. John Ford's Wagon Master . Everybody gets along. People of different religions. Men and women. American indigenous and settlers. It's racist, corrupt, selfish white people that fuck it up.

BILLY JOEL: LIVE AT YANKEE STADIUM (1990). The House That Ruth Built . Joel returns home and bangs out some tunes. Mostly from the Storm Front album . I wore out that tape back in the day . I have flawlessly karaoked We Didn't Start the Fire. That's a workout, let me tell ya

Reading this film was an influence on the Liverpool lads John and Paul. Especially in terms of music. Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, The Platters, among others, all appear. All killing it.

THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT (1956). 2 S&S votes, Critics . Jayne Mansfield and Tom Ewell. Edmond O'Brien's gangster is cranked to 11. Movie feels like a crazy cartoon. Great 50s music. And pokes fun at it . A bit Pygmalion-ish. Mansfield cleverly plays around with bombshell persona

LOVING YOU (1957). Early Elvis movie . He plays Deke Rivers, a guy off the street they want to make into a singing star . Very meta. Kinda clever . Wendell Corey might be the MVP here. Didn't know his game. Drunk acting, divorced-guy banter . Teddy Bear is a highlight

Jonathan Kaplan had one film on the 2022 Sight & Sound poll. And it's OVER THE EDGE.

GIMME SOME TRUTH: THE MAKING OF JOHN LENNON'S IMAGINE ALBUM (2000). Excellent album. Even with the titular song hard to take seriously now . I liked seeing John's process. Nice sense of his relationship with Yoko . Too much Phil Spector lol. Grammy winner for Best Music Film

PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS: ONE HAND CLAPPING (1974). A live studio session with Wings. What could be finer?. A 4K-Peter Jackson cleanup might ruin the unearthed film canister/home movie vibe. McCartney says in the movie that he'd like to keep playing music till he drops. Please do

GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (1969). A John Williams Oscar nom for music. Songs aren't memorable. But they portray a lusher inner life in contrast to Chips' chilly, marmoreal persona. O'Toole's Oscar nom surprising? Maybe. But watching his soul get crushed onscreen is masterclass

THE RUTLES 2: CAN'T BUY ME LUNCH (2003). Full of recycled material and first film outtakes. Modern interviews are funny, yet bittersweet (Robin Williams, Carrie Fisher, Gary Shandling, Mike Nichols gone). Was nice to revisit this world even if it's inferior and cobbled together

LET IT BE (1970). Cleaned up Jackson restoration. Less about inner-dynamics of the band (we get some, and we can infer), more about noodling on tunes and process . Has anyone looked cooler than on that rooftop concert?

Watching something for his birthday

John Cassavetes, the E.T. fan.

DATE WITH DIZZY (1958). I chuckled a few times. Dizzy Gillespie in a recording session for a commercial . Can't seem to give them what they want 😆. Directed by John Hubley

TEN SUMMONER'S TALES (1993). Grammy for Best Music Film. Sting in his big estate performing songs from this album. All live. They're having a good time. Some of Sumner's solo work has become self-parody. But everyone I knew back in the day had this album. I listened to it a lot

How do we feel about Sting's solo music?.