Black and White Movies

I have been watching quite a few Black and White movies of late. There’s something about Black and White movies that adds charm to the movie. As Peter Bogdanovich (Actor and Director) puts it, “it’s the lack of distraction”. You focus on the movie and not on the color of the actors’ clothes or eye colour.

The best thing about black and white movies is the female lead actors. They look splendid. Infact, they all look so splendid on screen. I don’t know if they would have looked the same in this day and age in colour cinema.

Discrepancies in Billboard Charts

I found some problems with Billboard charts. Nothing serious though and no, I am not accusing Billboard of anything. It’s just that when I saw “What I’ve Done” by “Linkin Park” at the 38th position in the Hot 2007 Charts, I was a little troubled. It’s a kick ass song and Linkin Park are pretty famous too. Then why was this song rated 38th ?

It’s hard to say in this case as to why the song is rated 38th. I am sure Billboard was accurate with it’s ratings and all that, no doubt. I initially thought that the song might have bene released in late 2006 and still found its way on the 2007 chart. Not the case either. It was released in mid 2007 and debuted number 07 on the charts. (A relief there.)

But there have been cases where a song is on more than one years’ Hot 100 list. And depending on whether the song was released in the later part of the year or early part of the year, its ranking in the ensuing year’s Hot 100 could be higher or lower than the previous year rating respectively.

I think the bottom line is: Inside the Hot 100, it’s hard to compare songs based just on the Chart rankings.

Hey There Delilah[Plain White T's]

Song number 007 on the Billboard Hot 100 of 2007, this is probably better than the other 6 in my opinion. I’d say this deserved the first spot on the Chart. The other songs might have been more popular, but this trumps all of them. Having said that, you have to give credit to Billboard for rating this atleast number 7. Else, people like me might not even hear these songs.

Hey There Delilah is a song is by Plain White T’s. The song got them a Grammy nomination in 2008. IT climbed one position from 6 through 1 every week, making it the first chart-topping hit to have this pattern on the Hot 100 in 21 years.

Lyrics:

Hey there Delilah

What’s it like in New York City?

I’m a thousand miles away

But girl tonight you look so pretty

Yes you do

Times Square can’t shine as bright as you

I swear it’s true

Hey there Delilah

Don’t you worry about the distance

I’m right there if you get lonely

Give this song another listen

Close your eyes

Listen to my voice it’s my disguise

I’m by your side
Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

What you do to me

Hey there Delilah

I know times are getting hard

But just believe me girl

Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar

We’ll have it good

We’ll have the life we knew we would

My word is good

Hey there Delilah

I’ve got so much left to say

If every simple song I wrote to you

Would take your breath awayI’d write it all

Even more in love with me you’d fall

We’d have it all
Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far

But they’ve got planes and trains and cars

I’d walk to you if I had no other way

Our friends would all make fun of us

and we’ll just laugh along because we know

That none of them have felt this way

Delilah I can promise you

That by the time we get through

The world will never ever be the same

And you’re to blame

Hey there Delilah

You be good and don’t you miss me

Two more years and you’ll be done with school

And I’ll be making history like I do

You know it’s all because of you

We can do whatever we want to

Hey there Delilah here’s to you

This ones for you
Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

What you do to me.

Oh ohOOOoohhhh

Oh ohOoooooohhhhh

Oh OhOOOoohhhhOOOOooohhhhhOh Oh

You Tube Links:
Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah - Official
Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah

Hey There Delilah[Plain White T's]

Song number 007 on the Billboard Hot 100 of 2007, this is probably better than the other 6 in my opinion. I’d say this deserved the first spot on the Chart. The other songs might have been more popular, but this trumps all of them. Having said that, you have to give credit to Billboard for rating this atleast number 7. Else, people like me might not even hear these songs.

Hey There Delilah is a song is by Plain White T’s. The song got them a Grammy nomination in 2008. IT climbed one position from 6 through 1 every week, making it the first chart-topping hit to have this pattern on the Hot 100 in 21 years.

Lyrics:

Hey there Delilah

What’s it like in New York City?

I’m a thousand miles away

But girl tonight you look so pretty

Yes you do

Times Square can’t shine as bright as you

I swear it’s true

Hey there Delilah

Don’t you worry about the distance

I’m right there if you get lonely

Give this song another listen

Close your eyes

Listen to my voice it’s my disguise

I’m by your side
Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

What you do to me

Hey there Delilah

I know times are getting hard

But just believe me girl

Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar

We’ll have it good

We’ll have the life we knew we would

My word is good

Hey there Delilah

I’ve got so much left to say

If every simple song I wrote to you

Would take your breath awayI’d write it all

Even more in love with me you’d fall

We’d have it all
Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far

But they’ve got planes and trains and cars

I’d walk to you if I had no other way

Our friends would all make fun of us

and we’ll just laugh along because we know

That none of them have felt this way

Delilah I can promise you

That by the time we get through

The world will never ever be the same

And you’re to blame

Hey there Delilah

You be good and don’t you miss me

Two more years and you’ll be done with school

And I’ll be making history like I do

You know it’s all because of you

We can do whatever we want to

Hey there Delilah here’s to you

This ones for you
Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

Oh it’s what you do to me

What you do to me.

Oh ohOOOoohhhh

Oh ohOoooooohhhhh

Oh OhOOOoohhhhOOOOooohhhhhOh Oh

You Tube Links:

Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah - Official
Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah

Billboard Top/Hot-100 2007 - Post # 02

Continuing my earlier post Billboard Top/Hot 100-2007 , here I present the songs 21-40 of the top 100 for the year 2007.

21 GIVE IT TO ME Timbaland Featuring Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake Mosley/Blackground/Interscope

22 WHAT GOES AROUND…COMES AROUND Justin Timberlake Jive/Zomba

23 CUPID’S CHOKEHOLD/BREAKFAST IN AMERICA Gym Class Heroes Featuring Patrick Stump Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen/Atlantic/Lava

24 HOW TO SAVE A LIFE The Fray Epic

25 HOME Daughtry RCA/RMG

26 MY LOVE Justin Timberlake Featuring T.I. Jive/Zomba

27 STRONGER Kanye West Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam/IDJMG

28 WE FLY HIGH Jim Jones Koch

29 U + UR HAND Pink LaFace/Zomba

30 WALK IT OUT Unk Big Oomp/Koch

31 BEAUTIFUL GIRLS Sean Kingston Beluga Heights/Epic/Koch

32 THIS AIN’T A SCENE, IT’S AN ARMS RACE Fall Out Boy Fueled By Ramen/Island/IDJMG

33 BARTENDER T-Pain Featuring Akon Konvict/Nappy Boy/Jive/Zomba

34 POP, LOCK & DROP IT Huey HiTz Committee/Jive/Zomba

35 RUNAWAY LOVE Ludacris Featuring Mary J. Blige DTP/Def Jam/IDJMG

36 ROCKSTAR Nickelback Roadrunner/Atlantic/Lava

37 THNKS FR TH MMRS Fall Out Boy Fueled By Ramen/Island/IDJMG

38 WHAT I’VE DONE Linkin Park Warner Bros.

39 SUMMER LOVE Justin Timberlake Jive/Zomba

40 YOU Lloyd Featuring Lil’ Wayne The Inc./Universal Motown
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Movie Review:Arsenic and Old Lace[1944]

My Rating: (3.0/5)

Another of Frank Capra’s movies. You will have to excuse me, but I am on a Capra movie watching spree. This is just the second of some 7 movies. This movie was released before It’s a Wonderful Life. After having watched It’s a Wonderful life, this movie didn’t come across as a master piece. It’s a good movie, mind you. Just not in the same league as IAWL.

IMDB Rating:
IMDB rates the movie 8.0/10. The movie however does not find a place in the top 250 best movies ever list. Clearly not as good as some of the other Capra movies.

Cast:
Cary Grant (Mortimer Brewster) and Priscilla Lane (Elaine Harper) play the leads. Other cast members include Josephine Hull and Jean Adair as the two aunts, Raymond Massey as Jonathan Brewster, Mortimer’s brother, Peter Lone as Dr. Herman Einstein and John Alexander as Theodore Brewster.

I have earlier seen Cart Grant (Archibald Alec Leach) in the movie North By Northwest. (The irony is North by Northwest was shot much later compared to Arsenic and Old Lace.) However, I was not aware of this fact till I saw the list of movies in which Grant had acted. Like James Stewart in his older movies, Cary Grant also looks almost completely different. Grant did get an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1970.

Priscilla lane looked wonderful in the movie. (Even if her on screen appearance is only for a short while.) She is one of the four Lane sisters and the youngest.

The Movie:

The movie is based on a play by the same name by Joseph Kesselring. There was also a play which ran in Broadway. Because of this, the movie was released only in 1944 even if it was completed in 1941. Even Ronald Reagan was approached to play the lead role.

The movie was interesting and the story was definitely not run of the mill. However, Grant’s acting though good comes across as a little unnatural. But I imagine that can be said about all actors from the black and white age. Subtle acting was simply not an option I guess. You had to look and sound animated.

Capra does well as director. The movie kept me engaged almost till the very end. Somewhere towards the end, things did become a little predictable.

You can read the entire plot and more here.

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Movie Review:It's a Wonderful Life[1946]

My Rating:(4.75/5)

I happened to know about this movie as it is in the IMDB top 250 movies of all time. Otherwise, chances are I would never have heard about this movie. Man, am I glad that there’s this site called IMDB where users/readers/members watch movies and comment on it and rate it.

IMDB rating:
IMDB rates the movie 8.6/10 and the movie is 31st on the best 250 movies ever. (As on date at-least)

Cast:

James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore are prominent figures in the star cast. I know James Stewart from a couple of Hitchcock movies I had watched earlier. (Funny isn’t it ? He looked much older in those movies of course and his acting seemed a little mellowed. His voice however remains almost the same.) As for Donna Reed, I am in love with this woman. Or at-least with the character portrayed by her in the movie. (Well, it’s easy to sit here and say almost 60 years later that such things don’t happen in real life. Maybe these things were that way 60 years back.)

The Movie:

Directed by Frank Capra, this is probably Capra’s best movie. It had the working title “The Greatest Gift”. The movie is in Black and White. It’s based on a short story by Philip Van Doren Stern.

I consider the movie one of the best movie I have ever seen. I just loved it. It probably trumps every other movie I have seen till date with the possible exception of Schindler’s List. What’s funny is, I have seen all the other 30 movies in the IMDB top 250. (This movie is 31st)

James Stewart as George Bailey is excellent. The character is amazing and very well portrayed. Donna Reed as Mary Hatch is absolutely lovely. Lionel Barrymore portrays his role with ease and it comes across as intended.

More than anything, this movie touched me in a way few other movies have. It had it’s share of faults, no doubt. For instance, James Stewart’s style of acting may be considered these days as overdoing it, some instances in the movie being predictable and a girl as pretty as Mary getting married to George.

It’s a must watch movie for people of all ages.

You can read the entire plot and more here (Wikipedia)

Notable Things about the movie:

(source: IMDB)

• In 2004 the BBC TV listings magazine “Radio Times” conducted a poll into the Best Film Never to Have Won an Oscar. “It’s a Wonderful Life” came second (The Shawshank Redemption (1994) was first).
• In 1947, an FBI analyst submitted, without comment, an addition to a running memo on “Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry,” recording the opinion of an industry source who said that the film’s “obvious” attempt to discredit bankers “is a common trick used by Communists.”

Soundtrack:

I loved the song Buffalo Gals(Won’t You Come Out Tonight) in the movie. I Love You Truly was also pretty good. I remember Auld Lang Syne from Sainik School days. We sang it for our seniors’ farewell as a part of the band/music club.

P.S: If someone can find the song “Buffalo Gal (Won’t You Come Out Tonight)” on-line or you own it, then I may want a copy of the song. Kindly lend me the link or the file itself. Many Thanks.
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Billboard Top 100-2007

I somehow think Billboard is a decent Indication of good songs. If you are not happy with the Top 100 of a year, there’s always specific Genre Charts that you can choose from. It’s something like IMDB for Music, a reliable source of what’s good and not so good.

I have been listening to the Billboard Top 100 of 2007 for a while now and some of the songs seem pretty good. One or two were really good.

Here’s the top 20 of the year 2007

# Title Artist Labels
1 IRREPLACEABLE Beyonce Columbia
2 UMBRELLA Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z SRP/Def Jam/IDJMG
3 THE SWEET ESCAPE Gwen Stefani Featuring Akon Interscope
4 BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY Fergie will.i.am/A&M/Interscope
5 BUY U A DRANK (SHAWTY SNAPPIN’) T-Pain Featuring Yung Joc Konvict/Nappy Boy/Jive/Zomba
6 BEFORE HE CHEATS Carrie Underwood Arista/Arista Nashville/RMG
7 HEY THERE DELILAH Plain White T’s Fearless/Hollywood
8 I WANNA LOVE YOU Akon Featuring Snoop Dogg Konvict/Upfront/SRC/Universal Motown
9 SAY IT RIGHT Nelly Furtado Mosley/Geffen
10 GLAMOROUS Fergie Featuring Ludacris will.i.am/A&M/Interscope
11 DON’T MATTER Akon Konvict/Upfront/SRC/Universal Motown
12 GIRLFRIEND Avril Lavigne RCA/RMG
13 MAKES ME WONDER Maroon 5 A&M/Octone/Interscope
14 PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR Shop Boyz OnDeck/Universal Republic
15 SMACK THAT Akon Featuring Eminem Konvict/Upfront/SRC/Universal Motown
16 THIS IS WHY I’M HOT Mims Capitol
17 IT’S NOT OVER Daughtry RCA/RMG
18 THE WAY I ARE Timbaland Featuring Keri Hilson Mosley/Blackground/Interscope
19 FERGALICIOUS Fergie will.i.am/A&M/Interscope
20 CRANK THAT (SOULJA BOY) Soulja Boy Tell’em ColliPark/Interscope
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Pre Phillmy

Before starting this blog, I used to write reviews of movies on my other blog. First I thought I ‘d copy all those reviews here once more. But then, why duplicate data on the internet ? So I’ll just link you to some of the other reviews I have written on my other blog.

Movie Review - The Good German[2006]

Movie Review - Transformers[2007]

Movie Review - Swordfish[2001]

Movie Review-The Host[2006]/Gwoemul

Happy reading.
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Frank Capra Movies

After watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ by Frank Capra, I promised myself that I will dig for more movies by this director and watch them. If they were all going to be anything like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, it would definitely be worth the watch. So I set out to see if I could find the movies online. To my dismay I could not find any of the movies which he had directed after IaWL. I also found out that some of the movies he had directed were war time propaganda. So I shall be staying clear of those movies regardless of how good or bad they maybe. Read the IMDB article linked below to know more about Capra’s movies:

List of Frank Capra Movies

There are some 9 movies he has made after IaWL and most of the movies are highly rated as well. It’s a pity then that I could not find them online. Having said that, I did not search thoroughly. I did get a few of his movies like Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) , It Happened One Night (1934), Mr.Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Horizons (1937),Meet John Doe (1941),Mr.Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and You Can’t Take It With You (1938).

Of the above mentioned Movies, It Happened One Night (1934) is on # 138 on the top 250 movies ever and Mr.Smith Goes to Washington is on # 103. IaWL is rates higher ofcourse and understandably so.

Some of the movie titles were such that the search results yielded porn movies. Now how sad is that ? Thankfully either prefixes or suffixes to the movie name or in other cases the file size told the story immediately. Thank God I didn’t have to find out after watching them. If any of you could find other movies, you can post the links in the comments section. I thank you in advance.

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