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Song of the Day #34: ‘Your Song’ – Ewan McGregor

Moulin Rouge is one huge heaping mess of a film. At times it feels like a runaway train in danger of flying off the tracks into a fiery pileup. But somehow it keeps its balance and emerges as one of the most memorable films of the 00s.

Most of the credit, in my opinion, belongs to Ewan McGregor. I can’t imagine another actor pulling off the naive innocence and the unabashed romanticism of his Christian, let alone one with a terrific singing voice to match. Nicole Kidman got the Oscar nod for this film, but McGregor was its MVP.

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Song of the Day #33: ‘Cucurrucucu Paloma’ – Caetano Veloso

My second foreign-language selection, this time by Brazilian troubador Caetano Veloso. He’s one of those people I feel ashamed for not knowing more about considering Wikipedia has references calling him “one of the most respected and prolific international pop stars” and the “Bob Dylan of Brazil.”

His voice is better than Dylan’s, that’s for sure. In fact, it’s so achingly lovely that I was shocked to read he is more known for his songwriting than his singing. That said, he did record an album of English-language covers a couple years back.

But enough about the singer; on to the film.

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Tropic Thunder

Date: August 23, 2008
Location: AMC Sunset Place

Is there any actor out there on a better roll than Robert Downey Jr.? In the past three years he’s turned in extraordinary comedic (and dramatic) performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A Scanner Darkly, Zodiac and Iron Man — four completely different films all made even more special through his presence. He brings an electricity to his roles that I don’t see matched by many actors working today.

Now, add Tropic Thunder to the list of Downey’s triumphs. As Kirk Lazarus, an Australian method actor who has his skin darkened to play a Black soldier in a Vietnam war film, Downey delivers gut-busting laughs while impressing with his chameleonic ability. If he’s passed up for a Best Supporting Actor nomination, it’ll be a crime.

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Sugarland – Love On the Inside

I always rejected the sterotypical country music genre, the crying-in-my-boots Garth Brooks and Toby Keith kind of thing. But I’ve realized over the past ten years or so that it really is just a stereotype, and there’s a wide variety of country music as good as anything else I listen to.

It probably started with Lyle Lovett, who is certainly many things, but a country music singer is very high on the list. And it branched out from there to include k.d. lang, The Dixie Chicks, Loretta Lynn, Ryan Adams, Neko Case, Tift Merritt, Lucinda Williams and on and on. Some of those artists are more “country” than others, but they all prove how effective the genre can be.

My latest country success story is Sugarland, a duo who are currently lighting up both country and pop charts with their new album Love on the Inside and its first single ‘All I Want To Do.’

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