i luv cinema

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • TCMFF 2019
    • TCMFF 2019: Reflections on a Favorite Film Festival
  • Tribeca 2019
    • When Your Time is Short, Go See a Short! (Tribeca 2019)
    • LINDA RONSTADT: The Sound of My Voice
  • London Film Festival 2019
    • BFI London Film Festival 2019 – My 1st Time!
    • The Aeronauts (2019) was Fun (Kinda)
    • Knives Out: A Highlight on My Cinematic Calendar
    • A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: A Review
    • Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ’66)
  • 100 “Must-See”
  • About Me
Home Lists Makes Me (Stevie) Wonder

September 15, 2010 By iluvcinema Leave a Comment

Makes Me (Stevie) Wonder

As much as I love motion pictures, I am almost as equally fond of music. And when I say music, I mean music in nearly all forms. In fact in my moments of of feeling awfully low, music is my refuge and salvation.  The refuge almost takes on an obsessive immersion. My latest obsession/immersion experience  into pop/rock/whatever escapism is Maroon 5. As I listened to their music, I started to think about Maroon 5/movie tie-ins, partly as a result of a conversation I had with my brother about Jennifer’s Body in which the character portrayed by Adam Brody asks his mates (prior to sacrificing Jennifer):

Do you wanna be a big loser, or do you wanna be rich and awesome like that guy from Maroon 5?

Maroon 5.

Okay. That’s what I thought.

Well with that my mission was clear. I started my obligatory research on IMDB and soon realized that I have only seen two theatrically released films of that met my requirement of having an awesomely placed Maroon 5 song. The first movie was Love Actually (2003) in which a version of “The Sweetest Goodbye.” I love this movie and I LOVE this song.

The second film, I was not so fond of – the 2005 Debra Messing vehicle The Wedding Date was a bit of a mess. The movie itself was a bit of a hodge-podge; the people behind the making of the picture thought it would be a great idea to take elements from a variety of wedding-themed movies from the past 10 years or so and put them in here (they even “borrowed” a star, Dermott Mulroney). That is the bad news. The one element that I enjoyed in the film was the use of the song “Secret.” It came at a very critical “interlude” between the primary characters. This was the one thing right about the picture in my opinion.

So there I was – this exercise was a pretty short one. But it really got me thinking … about other music that I love that has been featured in movies that I actually loved too? Since I was still in Maroon 5-mode I decided to look at some of their musical influences. Stevie Wonder immediately came to mind. In choosing Stevie I knew I had landed the motherlode of good movies and great music.In fact on my IMDB research I noticed that I had over 200 film and TV credits to choose from; I obviously stuck with the film selections.

So in order of the film’s release, here are some of my favorite Stevie music/movie combinations:

  • 1988 Die Hard – “Skeleton”
  • 1995 Dead Presidents – “I Was Made to Love Her”
  • 1998 You’ve Got Mail – “Signed, Sealed Delivered I’m Yours”
  • 1999 The Best Man – “As”
  • 2000 Center Stage – “Higher Ground”
  • 2000 High Fidelity – “I Believe When I Fall in Love It Will be Forever” – in this film, the closing credits use the songs but it is a great way to end a really enjoyable movie. What makes it even sweeter is that Stevie Wonder is mentioned in the film.

I may have missed a few but these are ones that stand out in my mind.

Overall this exercise was a lot of fun and I am thinking about broadening this out to other artists. In fact, I have already started to takes notes on another Motown legend, Marvin Gaye.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Tumblr

Filed Under: Lists Tagged With: maroon 5, movies, music, soundtrack, stevie wonder

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recommended Read

contender

Added to My Video Library

the blob

Subscribe to iluvcinema

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts.

Centers of Film Study

  • JBFC
  • MoMA Film Screenings
  • The Picture House
  • University of California Press (Cinema and Media Texts)

Fast Film Resources

  • Alfred Hitchcock Wiki
  • Alfred Hitchcock-Master of Suspense
  • Film | The Guardian
  • Kermode & Mayo's Film Reviews
  • Park Circus
  • Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Internet Movie Database
  • Tribeca Film

Film Societies

  • BAMcinématek
  • Film Society of Lincoln Center

This is How We Blogroll

  • BBC Film: The Bulletin
  • Cinematic Corner
  • Comet Over Hollywood
  • Critical Women on Film
  • FlixChatter
  • Future of Flim (Tribeca Film Blog)
  • in so many words …
  • Kermode's Film Blog
  • Paula's Cinema Club
  • Roger Ebert
  • Sobriety Test Movie Reviews
  • Superhero Movie Talk
  • Sweet Freedom

Archives

Tweets by @iluvcinema
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact iluvcinema
totalfilm600movieblogs

Copyright © 2021, iluvcinema ·Streamline Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.