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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

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1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Musical Oscar Politics

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The Envelope's Tom O'Neil is reporting how Fox Searchlight has decided to deliberately under-support M.I.A.'s "O Saya," one of the two Oscar-nominated songs from Slumdog Millionaire. Fox Searchlight's overt support (by way of a CD mailing) has gone instead to "Jai Ho," which, I'll admit, is the more catchy of the two.

"Fox Searchlight is daring to choose between its Oscar children," O'Neil writes. "The studio wants voters to focus their Slumdog Millionaire love on one song, fearing that the vote might split otherwise, causing both to lose. So this is good strategy, although poor politics. Inevitably, the studio is inviting a chorus of discontent from the folks behind the song not being hyped."

Of course, neither song is as power-poppy or soul-stirring as "Chaiyya Chiayya," the Indian-flavored Inside Man tune that I first heard in late '06. The song was composed, ironically, by Oscar-nominated Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman (who also wrote "O Saya"). "Chaiyya Chaiyya" was used as the opening-credit song for Spike Lee 's film as well for -- I think, not being 100% sure -- Bombay Dreams.

Was Inside Man's "Chaiyya Chaiyya" nominated for a Best Song Oscar in early '07? Of course not. Why? Because it wasn't written for the film. But it wouldn't have been nominated anyway because bank-job movies don't get nominated for anything, in any category.

Word to the Wise<< previous | next >>Reminder

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 7, 2009 at 7:35 AM

comment #1

Bart Smith says ...

"Chaiyya Chaiyya" wasn't nominated for the Oscars in 2007 because it wasn't written for INSIDE MAN and therefore not eligible. The song was originally written and released more than a decade ago.

Posted by Bart Smith at February 7, 2009 8:19 AM

comment #2

BurmaShave says ...

Chaiya Chaiya is about ten years old, it's from the movie DIL SE. If you think it sounds amazing, watch the clip of the movie. Most alluring than any of Danny Boyle's colonial admiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2gW3zwMMQ

A.R. Rahman is fucking talented. Been blasting this in my car for off and on for 3 years.

Posted by BurmaShave at February 7, 2009 8:21 AM

comment #3

btwnproductions says ...

"The Windmills of Your Mind," from the bank job movie THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, won for Best Song in 1968. The Oscar-lauded BONNIE AND CLYDE and THE ASPHALT JUNGLE are kind of bank job movies, no?

Posted by btwnproductions at February 7, 2009 9:22 AM

comment #4

Jeffrey Wells says ...

You know what I mean -- bank-job movies as in bank-job genre movies. The Asphalt Jungle and Bonnie and Clyde were stand-alone dramas that operated way above the genre mentality. 1968 was a flukey/flaky year and people were out of their gourds with Indian gurus and acid and too much pot smoke and too many orgasms at group-sex parties. That explains the popularity of "The Windmills of Your Mind."

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at February 7, 2009 10:35 AM

comment #5

btwnproductions says ...

Gotcha. But I'm gonna throw in Peter Ustinov in TOPKAPI.

Posted by btwnproductions at February 7, 2009 10:48 AM

comment #6

DarthCorleone says ...

*shrug* As a longtime fan of his, I'm cheering for Peter Gabriel.

Posted by DarthCorleone at February 7, 2009 11:11 AM

comment #7

/3rtfu11 says ...

I wanted M.I.A. to win an Oscar! That's the only Slumdog Oscar win I want to see happen of course what I want never comes to past.

Posted by /3rtfu11 at February 7, 2009 1:01 PM

comment #8

The Hoyk says ...

Have you heard the same rumors as I that only three nominations for Best Original Song were done not because they couldn't find enough of them, but because they wanted to shave time off the broadcast? If so, that's a damned disgrace. Besides slighting Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler," it's also a disservice to my favorite original movie song, Joey Curatolo's ersatz Wings tribute "Love Take Me Down (to the Streets)" from ROLE MODELS.

Posted by The Hoyk at February 7, 2009 2:41 PM

comment #9

Chicago48 says ...

Why isn't Slulmdog on more movie screens? Why isn't the Wrestler on more movie screens? What's going on here? Those were the two best movies this year.

Posted by Chicago48 at February 7, 2009 3:11 PM