The 82nd Annual Academy Awards are this weekend and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve always been a big fan of the whole spectacle with the red carpet, cheesy dance productions, and touching retrospectives. I also look forward to the musical performances of the nominees for best song. However, it was a little more than disheartening to see that there are only two songs nominated this year – “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets and “Real in Rio” from Rio. That’s it?
Two songs aren’t going to take up much time in the telecast and I’m sure the producers are scrambling to fill-up the time. Because, you know, the show NEVER runs over. So as a service to the Academy, I’ve put together this list of musical tributes to Oscar-nominated movies.
5. Bridesmaids
In this hilarious romp, the final scene has Wilson Philips performing their 1990 hit “Hold on” at a wedding. This song was, and still is, a pure Guilty Pleasure. But if you asked the 1990 version of me what I thought about Wilson Phillips being on the Oscars, I would’ve said the Cubs would win the World Series first.
4. The Iron Lady
Meryl Streep delivers her latest pitch-perfect portrayal of an iconic woman. What better way to pay tribute to that performance than to have anything from the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Think about it – the band peaked in Thatcher’s administration and that was many years ago. So not only should they perform, they should also change their name to “Iron Lady”.
3. Ides of March
I’m really surprised that I haven’t seen this movie yet as I’m a big George Clooney fan and several scenes were filmed here in Ann Arbor. I hear there’s some romantic intrigue involving Ryan Gosling’s character and a young intern. Wonder if he used this pickup line from The Ides of March’s hit “Vehicle”
“I’m your friendly stranger in a black sedan, won’t you hop into my car
I’ve got pictures, got candy, I’m a loveable man and I can take you to the nearest star”
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
I loved the first two Transformers movies, but I refused to see this because, let’s face it, without Megan Fox the quality level of acting just plummets. A lot of people (not me) love Pink Floyd, so having them come perform this track from their landmark “Darkside of the Moon” album would be a no-brainer. PLUS, this song would work for Moneyball.
1. The Artist
There’s a lot of buzz around this black-and-white romantic comedy. It’s a French movie set in Hollywood during the silent film era. It’s won a lot of international awards already and is considered a front-runner for Best Picture. Paying tribute to this movie in song would be a monumental challenge and I can only think of one person that’s up for it. This person’s a legend that filmed and starred in Under a Cherry Moon, a black-and-white movie set in France around the same timeframe. And heck, he even changed his name to “The Artist”.
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