Marvel's The Avengers' Music Unfortunately Unparalleled by Avengers: Age of Ultron

Personally, The Avengers is a better movie than Age of Ultron overall, but that could just be because I like the music better, I'm probably a bit narrow-minded. The music in Age of Ultron was utterly forgettable and easily replaceable. The best song in the movie wasn't even in the movie, it was in the trailer! The remake of Disney's classic "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio is perfect for the movie and it's teaser-trailer. This version is dark and haunting, perfect for the scary feeling we get when we meet Ultron. Sung by Dickie Jones, its a familiar toon that is refreshed and re-experienced in a completely different way, making it fit in our modern movie that has an audience of all ages.
The trailer and its use of this song did do a good job for setting the tone of the movie before we saw it, but it wasn't enough to cover the fact that the rest of the music is vanilla and didn't take much thought. While the jazzy/blues songs played in the background set a cool vibe and feeling for the party, I have a hard time believing that Tony Stark would be playing it in his place. These songs, as well as the rest in the movie, get the job done, but don't wow us or make us remember them.
On the other hand, The Avenger's music is an entirely different ball game. It's music is much more thought out and tailored for the movie, which you'd think would be a given. When I say tailored, I mean fitted to each and every character that they play in the background of. When Loki is with his recently gathered team in Germany, he and Hawkeye are breaking into a museum in the middle of a party. As Loki peers over the balcony to see his soon-to-be victim, we hear in the background "String Quartet NO. 13 in A minor 'Rosamonde,' D. 804: III. Menuetto. Allegretto," a beautiful and thrilling song that fits Loki's demeanor perfectly, but also counters the action he's about to partake in. It's perfectly ironic, and, I believe, is the start of the viewers admiration for Loki and his style.
As I've mentioned in an earlier blog that compared the original Iron Man movie and Iron Man 3, a safe but signature move when representing Tony is always going to be a heavy metal song, and usually, it's an A.C.D.C. song. It's what we know and love about Tony- he's a badass who appreciates guns and rock and roll. So, when were outside of the museum, Cap is getting beaten by Loki, and we hear "Shoot to Thrill" come over the P.A. of the helicopter, we know exactly who's about to fly in. Sure enough, Tony barrels in, blasts Loki sending him backwards onto a staircase. To this day, every time I hear "Shoot to Thrill," I picture Loki landing and Tony raising his hand as he says "Make a move reindeer games."
Finally, in the end credits we hear "Live to Rise," by Soundgarden, another powerful and badass song that's not as well known, but that feels like its meant to be there, not just thrown in. It makes us feel how we should feel as we walk out of a Marvel movie, empowered and proud to be an American.

The Other Woman's Classically Modern Sound is a Winner

The Other Woman was sure to be a hit just looking at the A-list cast alone, but once viewed, we realize it was truly a hit because of the music. Yes, of course the combined comical talent of Leslie Mann, Cameron Diaz, Nicki Minaj, Don Johnson, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Taylor Kinney were responsible as well, but combined with the music, this movie was a true triumph- A triumph full of girl power, hilarity, and beautiful music moments tailored by the use of classic songs that fit this modern chick-flick perfectly.

We open the movie with an Etta James classic, "A Sunday Kind of Love," and our modern day sweetheart Cameron Diaz, seemingly on a date with her significant other, Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), in New York City. Of course we soon find out that he's a cheating pig when we see him wake up in bed next to his wife, Kate (Leslie Mann). Kate's world is turned upside down when Carly (Cameron Diaz) shows up at their house in a skimpy plumbers costume, looking to surprise her boyfriend, but is greeted by Kate, his unknowingly soon-to-be jilted wife. Kate suspects something's up so she tracks down Carly at her office and gets her to open up about Mark, which sends Kate into a very public and dramatically funny meltdown. Eventually, after much deliberation, Carly lets Kate come into her apartment so they can talk. We find Kate and Carly sitting together in a nook, talking more than civilly over a glass of wine (a couple bottles it looks like). Next the girls are in Carly's closet, trying on her gorgeous clothes, and the voices of Raining Jane creep in signing a familiar tune, Pat Benatar's   "Love is a Battlefield." Once an eighties pop hit, it's transformed into a coffeehouse sounding song that just works. We listen as we watch them drink and laugh and dance and its a perfect mix. 

The girls meet Amber (Kate Upton), a newer mistress whom Mark has told that his wife is a cheater. Pretty soon, all three girls who are now best friends, start conspiring against Mark. We get to watch the girls mess with him while we listen to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," a simple but  ironic and effective choice that does the job. I could go on and on about how well the music is done in this movie so I'll skip to the end. After the girls find out he's been framing Kate for his embezzlement, they fly to the Bahama's to end it. After a night of partying at the resort, "Gonna Miss You When You're Gone" by Patty Griffin plays in the background the next morning as we see Kate in a beautiful dress with a headscarf and sunglasses, ready to go in and close out the account of embezzled money. As she and Carly exchange readying glances, Carly hands her the envelope of information she needs to do the deed, and Kate strides into the bank to finally end it. This song was perfect for the ongoing theme of classic sounding songs, and it's sound was perfect for the ending theme. The rest of the soundtrack is perfect, and the movie ends how it should, with Mark exiled and jobless, and all three girls extremely happy, still best friends. 

Southpaw Ends With Frank Ocean Magic

This masterpiece tells the extremely sad tale of a once unstoppable World Champion boxer "Billy The Great" (Jake Gyllenhaal) falling from grace when his world is turned upside down when his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) gets shot and killed at a charity event, leaving him a devastated, helpless widower, with a daughter whom he loves but doesn't fully know how to care for. After losing his rock and voice of reason, his life soon spirals out of control, eventually losing his house, his contract, and even his daughter. After a seemingly endless chain of devastating events, he decides to get up and get his life (his daughter) back through joining a gym owned by a retired, once successful trainer (Forrest Whitaker). True to form, he has a more than bumpy start, but finally things start to look up when he shows the court that he's done well; he got a steady job at the gym, he's stopped with the alcohol, and he's ready to take care of his daughter. 

Throughout the movie the viewer hears familiar voices. To name a few, The Weeknd plays in the background of the bedroom scene of him and his wife talking- a fantastic choice because not only does it show who the couple is, but the song itself is haunting and sexy, which sets the perfect tone for the scene; A new Eminem song plays in a montage of him training before the big "revenge" fight (Unfortunately.) While Eminem is a fantastic rapper and lyricist, this song is just awful. It's not catchy, its not clever, and its not very deep, which doesn't suit this movie at all. The choice of using Eminem is an obvious one, but the song feels misplaced and distracting. However, we end the movie with another familiar voice: Frank Ocean. After he wins the amazingly intense fight, he goes back to the dressing room to be greeted by the paparazzi, and then his daughter, who is a bit shaken after seeing her dad fight for the first time. He hugs her and we start to hear Frank Ocean's voice in the back, singing the beginning of "Wise Man." "I was so scared for you, it was so scary," she says. "Your mother would be so proud of you," Billy says muffled through tears, just as we hear the same line in the Frank Ocean song- A brilliant move. It was so beautifully personal that it almost felt like the song was written for that exact moment in their story. This scene, which made the movie the masterpiece that it is, wouldn't have been the same without the choice to use Wise Man. It was a perfect marriage of movie and music and I'm so glad I got to experience the magic. 

Watch the whole scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjgtht3sX0

Iron Man 3: Lacking a Couple Heavy Hitters

Iron Man opens with tanks rolling in, Tony is in the tank second from the front, holding a glass of scotch, and A.C.D.C.'s "Back in Black" is blasting from a boom box- thus the beginning of the badass theme we know and love that carries through the Iron Man movies.. at least until the third. The "badass theme" I'm referring to doesn't just pertain to the rock music used, although it is mostly comprised of songs by heavy hitters such as A.C.D.C., Black Sabbath, Queen, The Clash, and many more, but also includes that Ghostface Killah song in the first Iron Man, the one that plays in the airplane scene when Tony and Rhodey drunkenly clank their drinks as they watch the flight attendants dance; or Tupac's "California Love" which plays at Tony's party in Iron Man 2. While these songs aren't in the same genre, all of these songs are "heavy hitters." 

Unfortunately, Iron Man 3 doesn't follow this same, successful pattern, and personally, I believe it made Iron Man 3 sub-par. While I loved watching Tony dance to the modern version of "Jingle Bells," it wasn't enough to keep the movie at the same level as the first two. The opening and ending scene's music made it feel foreign as well. I do understand the use of "Blue (da ba dee)" because of the time period in the opening scene, but I can't forgive the ending credits' music. It sounds like it could double as the theme of a 70's cop show and it almost left a bad taste in my mouth. All I wanted as I walked out of the movie theater was some A.C.D.C. or Led Zeppelin to seal the deal, but I walked out disappointed and unsatisfied. I'm all for innovation or improvement, but you don't mess with perfection, and the first two movies were, in fact, perfection. 

While I didn't truly enjoy any of the music in the third Iron Man movie, I do truly believe it could've been saved by a kick-ass closing credits song. The first Iron Man ends with "Iron Man," by Black Sabbath- an easy but effective move that did the job. The second Iron Man ends with "Highway to Hell," by A.C.D.C.- a badass ending as well. Personally, the whole movie felt out of place, probably because the first two movies were directed by Jon Favreau, who also plays Happy, Tony's security detail in the trilogy, and the third was directed by some other guy, who apparently had a different vision. Also, the "Iron Man Theme" gets tied into the first Avengers movie when Tony flies in to help Cap' fight Loki in Germany, and "Shoot to Thrill" is playing in the helicopter because Tony hacked their system; even though the song plays before he is even visible, you know who is about to fly in. This makes the viewer, if they're a fan like me, think back to Iron Man 2, when Tony flies into the opening night of the Expo, while, you guessed it, "Shoot to Thrill" is blaring. It only solidifies the fact that Iron Man 3 doesn't belong, or that at least the music could have been done MUCH better. 

P.S. Jon Favreau never would've let a continuity error such as Tony's leg getting cut off in the final battle scene slip through- that I know for sure.