The Eligible Songs for the coming Oscars - part 5

Hello, everybody! This is the ultimate episode of our Oscar-eligible songs presentation. I hope that you had a good time so far.

As we did until now, we begin with a favorite. In fact, we begin with two favorites, that both fight for a place in the top 5 with almost equal chances.

First, there's Stand Up for Something, by Andra Day featuring Common. It comes from the movie Marshall, a film about a young Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases. The film was decently reviewed and had modest box-office returns, while the song stood out:

The other is Mighty River, performed by the great Mary J. Blige. It appears on the movie Mudbound, a saga of two families in the American South, one black and one white, and how their fates are tragically intermingled. The film is good, it stands a chance to be nominated for Best Picture, and Mary J. Blige stands an even better chance to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The song should get nominated, but if it misses, it will miss by a hair's breadth:

Pitch Perfect 3 is the not-so-perfect new entry in the Pitch Perfect franchise. How A Heart Unbreaks is the eligible song:

Same Kind of Different as Me didn't make much of an impact. Stubborn Angels, by Country star Brad Paisley, doesn't really stand a chance, although it's OK for what it is:

If it's geo-blocked for you, catch it on Deezer: Stubborn Angels

Documentaries often contain interesting songs and they sometimes re-introduce us to old favorites. Case in point: Served Like a Girl brings back the fabulous Pat Benatar, singing Dancing Through The Wreckage:

Another documentary that has an eligible song is Egyptian-themed Tickling Giants. The title track, performed by Anteka and Omar Boflot, is Oscar-eligible:

The Shack was badly-reviewed, but it made money. Country's reigning power couple, Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, sing Keep Your Eyes On Me:

On The Music Goes, by Crystal Starr, from the movie Slipaway, is nowhere to be found. So, moving on...

The Star is a computer-animated Christian adventure comedy film; that's quite a mouthful. If it weren't for Mariah Carey singing, the title track wouldn't even be in the conversation. It's not like it's a favorite, but its inclusion in the top 5 isn't that improbable either:

Jump, performed by Cynthia Erivo, is found in the acclaimed high-school step dance documentary called Step. It is an improbable but not impossible nominee:

Trafficked is yet another badly-reviewed drama. Ginny Owens' song, Fly Away, is eligible, but not quite a top 5 candidate:

If it's geo-blocked for you, catch it on Deezer: Fly Away

Voice from the Stone is a thriller that didn't quite set the world on fire. Evanescence's Amy Lee was a good choice, however, to perform the film's song, the Oscar-eligible Speak To Me:

Finally, Year by the Sea is yet another badly-reviewed drama. This one is faith-based. Appropriately, a Canadian gospel artist and missionary, Bruce Rawling, performs the Oscar-eligible song, Walk On Faith:

As I promised you yesterday, here are my predictions for the Best Song nominations: Remember Me from Coco and The Mystery of Love from Call Me By Your Name will surely be two. Evermore from Beauty and the Beast and This Is Me from The Greatest Showman will probably also be in the top 5. The fifth place will be claimed by either Stand Up for Something from Marshall, or Mighty River, from Mudbound.

Other songs that I'd like to see nominated include, Visions of Gideon from Call Me By Your Name, the title song from The Promise, You Shouldn't Look at Me That Way from Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, It Ain't Fair from Detroit, The Pure And The Damned from Good Time, and Dancing Through The Wreckage from Served Like a Girl.

Finally, songs whose presence in the top 5 wouldn't really surprise me include Prayers for This World from Cries From Syria, Never Forget from Murder on the Orient Express, I Don't Wanna Live Forever from Fifty Shades Darker, Truth to Power from An Inconvenient Sequel, How Does a Moment Last Forever from Beauty and the Beast, and If I Dare from Battle of the Sexes. In 25 days, we'll all know if I'm right or wrong...

The Eligible Songs for the coming Oscars - part 4

Hello, everybody! This is the penultimate episode of our Oscar-eligible songs presentation. Here we go!

As we did yesterday and the day before, we begin with a favorite. The film itself, a badly-reviewed musical inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum, is definitely not a favorite for any major Oscar. This song, however, will probably sneak into the top 5. This is Keala Settle performing This Is Me from The Greatest Showman:

The remake of Murder on the Orient Express is certainly inferior to the 1974 original. Michelle Pfeiffer, however, does a good job with the song Never Forget, which means that it might amount to an Oscar nomination for the movie:

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is considered a flop. The song The Devil & The Huntsman, performed by Sam Lee & Daniel Pemberton, is eligible, but it's highly unlikely to make the top 5:

Following the success of the original Lego Movie, two new ones arrived this year: The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie. Both are possible Best Animated Feature nominations - and both have Oscar-eligible songs. From the former, this is Friends Are Family, performed by Will Arnett:

From the latter, this is Found My Place, performed by Oh, Hush! feat. Jeff Lewis:

Another good animated feature, this time coming from Japan (a major force in the field) is Mary and the Witch’s Flower. However, a Best Animated Feature nomination is more likely than a Best Song nomination for Rain, performed by Mafumafu:

Another song, originating in an animated film, is Longing For Summer, from Moomins and the Winter Wonderland:

Another unlikely nomination is Myron/Byron, performed by Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller and Elizabeth Marvel from The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). It's nowhere to be found, so, moving on...

Patti Cake$ is a movie that impressed the audience and critics at the Sundance Film Festival. It didn't do great at the box-office though. There are two eligible songs from this film. First, comes PBNJ:

Then, there's Tuff Love (Finale). It's only found on Deezer: Tuff Love (Finale)

Pulimurugan is an Indian action film. It also has two eligible songs. First, there's Kaadanayum Kaalchilambe:

... There's also Maanathe Maarikurumbe:

Hold The Light from Only the Brave, a movie about firefighters is eligible. It is sung by Dierks Bentley:

Finally, for today, the Lost Souls from the movie The Pirates of Somalia, is nowhere to be found. Join us tomorrow for the final day of this 5-parter. I will also make my own predictions then. See you!

The Eligible Songs for the coming Oscars - part 3

Hello, everybody! This is the third day in a row that you get to hear the Oscar-eligible songs - so that, when the nominations are announced at the 23d January, you'll get to have an opinion. Here we go!

As we did yesterday and the day before, we begin with a favorite. Beauty and the Beast, the 1991 version, is one of the best Disney animated features ever. It was the first animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar (out of 6 nominations in total). It was that year's Best Song winner with the delectable title song. So, this year a gamble was taken. Beauty and the Beast was remade with actual actors. The gamble paid off: The movie was a worldwide hit. All the songs from the old film were used and a few new ones were written especially for this film by the same composer, Alan Menken, and lyricist Tim Rice, in place of the late Howard Ashman. Two of these are eligible, with Evermore being among the favorites. This is the film's version by Dan Stevens:

This is the credits' version by Josh Groban:

We continue with two songs whose chances for a nomination are quite good. Fifty Shades Of Grey, although badly-reviewed, made tons of money and had an Oscar-nominated song. The sequel, Fifty Shades Darker, was also badly-reviewed, made slightly less money, and contains an eligible song. The said song, I Don’t Wanna Live Forever, has already been a worldwide smash hit and is performed by two of the hottest pop stars today, ex One-Directioner, ZAYN, and the Pop Diva Taylor Swift. Will the song's high visibility help its chances - and will the fact that it comes from a badly-reviewed movie affect them negatively? We'll see. For the moment, listen to it:

The next song is my favorite one for today. It is a jazz-infused number by Elvis Costello called You Shouldn’t Look At Me That Way, from the film Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, in which Annette Bening appears as Gloria Grahame, a famous actress of the 40s and 50s who had quite a tumultuous life. Early on, Bening was seriously considered as a Best Actress nominee. Right now, it seems that the best bet for an Oscar nomination for the film is Elvis Costello:

This Is How You Walk On, an earnest ballad from a 'small movie', Gifted, doesn't really stand a chance. It is performed by Gary Lightbody & Johnny McDaid:

My second favorite song for today comes from the well-reviewed Safdie Brothers heist movie, Good Time. Unfortunately, The Pure And The Damned, by Oneohtrix Point Never and featuring the majestic Iggy Pop, is probably not exactly the Academy voters' cup of tea; its chances are slim.

The Hero is a movie that showcases the talent of veteran Sam Elliott. The Hero (the song), performed by Keegan DeWitt, is eligible but the chances are less than slim. It is geo-blocked for me, hope it's OK for you:

You can also listen to it on Deezer: The Hero

Ryan Bingham sings How Shall A Sparrow Fly in the violent Western called Hostiles and starring Christian Bale. I could only find it on Deezer: How Shall A Sparrow Fly

By the way, you can have a free account on Deezer. You just need to give them your email.

Two Oscar veterans, Alan Bergman & Dave Grusin, perform Just Getting Started from the documentary If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast. Alas, it is nowhere to be found...

Truth To Power, performed by OneRepublic, is from yet another documentary, the sequel to Best Song Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth, called An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. Will it make it?

Kepler’s Dream is a movie hardly anyone saw. Next Stop, The Stars, a conventional ballad by Patrick Neil Doyle, featuring Ana Richardson & Oliver Kenzie, doesn't stand a chance. I only found it on Deezer: Next Stop, The Stars

Lake of Fire hasn't even been released yet, still, three songs that appear in it were deemed eligible. These are, Have You Ever Wondered (catch it on Deezer): Have You Ever Wondered

... Then there's We Party All Night, performed by Alisha Thomas. If it's not geo-blocked for you, listen to it here:

If it is, you can catch it on Deezer: We Party All Night

The third song is supposed to be I'll Be Gone, but I think there's been a mistake: I'll Be Gone is a song by the group Lake of Fire which was released in 2016. Also, it doesn't appear on the soundtrack of the Lake of Fire film. Anyway, not one of these three songs stand a chance, so, moving on...

Like the first day, I will bookend this presentation with the other eligible song from Beauty and the Beast, How Does a Moment Last Forever; it's not a favorite, but receiving a nomination is not impossible. If both Beauty and the Beast songs receive nominations, then we'll have the extraordinary phenomenon of the two versions of the same film producing five nominated songs, since the 1991 original had three song nominations out of a total of six. Anyway, back to How Does a Moment Last Forever; this is the 'Montmartre' version:

This is Céline Dion from the end credits:

Remember the Facebook groups that I thanked yesterday for allowing me to post the links to my stories there? There's one more: Gay Sensibility & Culture is exactly what the title says, a group efficiently and discreetly run by Bob. You can find it here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GayBoomersFiftyPlus/

That's all for today. Until tomorrow...