(*Of course, the very notion of having one's opinions vindicated is a spurious one, since opinions are subjective anyway and you can't ever prove a subjective point of view empirically true. Still.)
I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 yesterday. For anyone who's seen the first film (and quite a few of you have, given recent posts about its soundtrack), I would recommend it. It's as funny as Volume 1, but proved a surprisingly emotional experience for me too. I hadn't expected that. Since I became a father, films that focus on father / son relationships often make me cry, but this one caught me out. I was sobbing at the end. (God help me if I ever try to watch Field Of Dreams again: that film used to destroy me BEFORE I became a dad. There's no telling what it'd do to me now.)
This is a music blog though, so let's get to the tune. I've discussed more than once here how movie soundtracks can make even the cheesiest old songs cool. I've also shared with you my idea that if an alien came down to earth tomorrow, it would be unable to tell the (subjective) difference between Radiohead and The Village People, The Clash and Rick Astley, Pink Floyd and Ed Sheeran. It'd all just be notes and words to the alien, and shorn of any cultural context, the little green man or woman would be just as likely to dig Billy Joel as Rag 'n' Bone Man.
The writers of GOTG V2 understand this very well; they even turn it into a plot element which the film hinges on. No real spoilers here, but when an alien god arrives on Earth, he reaches the conclusion that the song below is “possibly Earth’s finest composition”. And who am I to argue with that?
8. Looking Glass - Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)
Glad you can endorse the film. I'm interested in how the songs fit with the story. There's a lot to like on the soundtrack!
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about the soundtrack is that because of the way they set it up, the songs make sense, carry emotional resonance, and almost become a separate character in the film. I've seen other big budget movies try to copy this but fail miserably or make the song's inclusion seem crass (as in the most recent Star Trek movie). It's difficult to get right, but they get it SO right.
DeleteGlad you enjoyed it - We went to see it last weekend and enjoyed it just as much as the first one, if not more so actually which is unusual for a sequel. The stand out song for me was Brandy... and have listened to it lots over the last week. Will let that post go now as I couldn't possibly put into words how I felt about it all as well as you have here.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, little Ronan Keating was in the charts with that cover of Father and Son just after I'd had DD - I may have been a mother and she was a daughter (and I had a touch of the baby blues) but every time it came on the radio I was in pieces - Totally get where you're coming from with that one.
What with Car Share and now this, we all need this coming week to be a bit less emotional!
"Little Ronan Keating"? Is he a short-arse, then?
DeleteNo but he was very young back then, still a teenager, and as well as feeling all emotional about the song I was also feeling all maternal towards him. Strangely enough he ended up having a baby with his wife a couple of years later so our offspring are now roughly the same age!
DeleteI don't know quite why but that term, "Little Ronan Keating" is really tickling me, I can't stop smiling, it has such a ring to it - and I would therefore like to suggest that from now on he is only ever referred to in that way :-)
DeleteI will forever picture him played by Ronnie Corbett from now on.
DeleteAbsolutely intrigued now by what I've been missing with this Guardians of the Galaxy stuff; the whole thing passed me by until reading yours, Alyson's and Chris's posts.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone called Brandy in real life?! I only ever knew a pony with that name.
I was always a whiskey man myself...
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