“Come and get your love.”
Robert Pattinson Sings "Pretty Girl Rock." (The Rover)
David Michôd's post-apocalyptic movie is set in an Australia filled with brutality, in which people have begun murdering each other over sparse resources and personal slights. It's not a place for upbeat musical cues, which is why there's something particularly jolting about the moment when the gruff Eric (Guy Pearce) and his hostage-turned-helper Rey (Robert Pattinson) make their way over the rough terrain to the shiny sounds of Keri Hilson's "Pretty Girl Rock." Better still is the cut to Rey alone in a car, aimlessly singing along to Hilson's entreaties that people not hate her because she's beautiful. Civilization may be dying, but some songs, like cockroaches, will apparently live on forever.
A24
"Midnight Train to Georgia" Plays Over the Home Mart Loudspeakers. (The Equalizer)
When Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) signals to the gang of Russian gangsters gathered at his old Home Depot-ish workplace that he's come to obliterate them, he naturally does so by blasting "Midnight Train to Georgia" over the loudspeakers. It's a perfectly timed reference to an early scene where Robert jokingly tells his co-workers he used to be a Pip, as in Gladys Knight & the Pips. As Knight sings that "He said he's going back to find / What's left of his world / The world he left behind not so long ago," we can bask in McCall's appreciation for a good callback as well as his awesomely resourceful killing abilities.
Sony Pictures Releasing
Invisible Musicians Play Backup for Keira Knightley. (Begin Again)
John Carney's latest musical drama is slicker and more star-filled than his breakout Once, but not nearly as charming, despite the presence of Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo as a broken-hearted singer-songwriter and a down-and-out producer who meet at an open mic night in New York. But that first meeting does have a burst of magic, as Gretta (Knightley) performs a song solo, with just her guitar, to a room of people who aren't really paying attention. The exception is Dan (Ruffalo), who hears a future hit in the song — as inspiration strikes him, he sees the instruments behind Gretta come to life, animated by invisible players, filling out her sound until what we're hearing is richer and practically radio-ready.
Anchor Bay Entertainment
The Classroom Ode To The Eternal Engine. (Snowpiercer)
What does a patriotic anthem look like in Bong Joon-ho's frosty dystopia in which humanity's been wiped out, aside from the residents of a high-tech train forever circling the globe? Well, it's cheery-sounding, at least, though the lyrics are a little grim: "What happens if the engine stops?" chirps the perky teacher (Alison Pill), and her students obediently chime in response, "We all freeze and die!" It's a darkly satirical encapsulation of the messaging those in charge of the train use to maintain order — that the classes everyone's been organized into must be accepted, and that everyone should be continually grateful for just having a place on board.
Radius-TWC
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