'Let it Be'

I first emmersed myself in The Replacements in college when I met a psychology grad student who always blared this album in this smallish "office" that he worked out of.

It always seemed like music that was fun to play. Real beer-soaked, basement racket. Until you actually read about The Replacements and how tumultuous they were.

Coincidentially, the psych grad student also listened to a lot of The Refreshments.

'Raging Bull'

The problem with sports movies is that directors do not know how to shoot them.

Thankfully, Martin Scorcese is pretty good. "Raging Bull" certainly pulls off being a fantastic sports movie, that hardly takes place at all in a boxing ring.

This movie and "Bad News Bears."

And if you want to see Robert DeNiro at his absolute best, watch this movie.

'Burmese Days'

Considering the chaos currently gripping Myanmar (formerly Burma), finishing this book about four days before the gigantic cyclone killed thousands seemed poignant (certainly not poetic).

'Cause, you see, "Burmese Days" is about chaos. It's about a ruling class that is mostly barbaric and unaware and bigoted. It's about a beautiful country that doesn't really know what to do with itself. It's more about the have nots than the haves.

Not to put any comparative value on a cyclone that wipes out entire villages, but, frankly, this isn't the first time Myanmar or Burma has had to fight against a storm that would just as well see the people swept into the sea than saved.

'Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury'

Any group or musician that tackles societal or political issues pretty much loses my interest quickly. I mean, people can do what they want and if that includes singing and playing an instrument railing against McDonalds and Coke, then fine.

I probably won't buy in. Not that I'm an unaware, uncaring dufus. I grew up with my mother's folk records like the Kingston Trio, Smothers Brothers and others who protested the Vietnam War with much aplomb, and I respect that. There was a target and they aimed at it.

I guess it's the scattershooting I abhor. Basically, that's the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy standard operating procedure. It's not bad music as much as the message that the "TV and consumerism are evil" seems misguided and without focus. It's like trying to catch fish by drinking all the water out of lake. Fruitless. Of course, so is singing "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" But at least the message was clear: "War sucks. Stop doing it."

The Heroes' message is: quit eating hamburgers and listening to what they want you to hear. Or not, but just realize you're a pawn in game where no one wins. But I don't know what the normal guy making an OK living as a trashman really cares if the government is a bunch of white dudes forcing their religion on people.

'Graceland'

She moves so easily/All I could think of is sunlight

Several months ago, I went to a pub to drink whiskey with friends. I took the train home, and on the platform were two college-agey girls, mildly attractive (but given it was a train platform at 9 p.m., they were closer to Ann Margaret in her heyday ... they were train-platform hot) and they had the chattey nature that the towel-snap boost of beer gives you.

They were talking Paul Simon's "Graceland." Which is only odd because you never find enough young, train-platform hot females talking about Paul Simon, more or less albums that were released the year they were born.

One girl was very informative about "Graceland." About how great it was. The other girl was not very aware of this album's greatness. The first girl implored her friend (there was a 60 percent chance that these girls just met) to listen to the album.

I've listened to the album, and I don't think it's very good. The overprocessed bass and drums. The African and Caribbean motifs. The synths. Blech. It reeks of the 1980s.

But, more so, I think the album title is misleading. When I think of Graceland, I think of the South. I think of rhythm and blues, a twang of a steel guitar, sweet melodies and grace. This album has no grace. If it were called "Overprocessed '80s Schlock" then I might think differently.

Frankly, I'd love to see Simon re-record this album. What would he do differently with those songs in the current musical environment? Or, more importantly, what do those songs sound like with just guitar or piano? Probably 300 percent better.

'Madame Bovary'

I think this was a great book, but I feel like I don't get it.

I understood the story, followed along and everything's OK. But this is one of the greatest novels of all time.

I think it has something to do with the role and image of women in 19th century society. If so, what is the message? That women are gold-digging whores? That they should be uncomfortable if their position is a vital cog in others' lives? Or maybe it's the animation of the female's sex drive!

I'm going with sex drives.

'There Will Be Blood'

As noted in a recent New Yorker profile about George Clooney, he and a handful of other actors were on hand for some pre-Oscar roundtable to discuss acting and boogers.

In reference to Daniel Day-Lewis, Clooney said, "You just kill it for the rest of us; we'll take care of you, pal."

There is not a more intense actor in the business right now -- the manifestations of human emotions are distinct and true, from Daniel Plainview playing with his adopted infant son on the train or the madness that overtakes him at the end.

There are many things right about this movie and so little wrong with it.

'Atonement'

I went into "Atonement" with little expectation. In light of it coming out the same year as "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood," I saw it as the lightweight of the triumvirate.

Look at the Academy Award nominations and you just think that every year a limp movie gets Academy support and gets way more attention then they deserve.

I severely underestimated "Atonement." This is a fantastic film. Although I don't think the performances are as good as those other films, this film makes up for it in several ways.

"Atonement" has OK writing, but the film is built around dead space. The difficult pauses and things thought, but not said.

The score, which scored (ha!) one of those Academy nominations, is extremely creative with the rhythmic typewriter.

The 5-minute cinematography during the Dunkirk scene on the beach is the best segment of a movie of 2007.

Then there's the story. Just amazing.

'The Modern Lovers'

Someone who knows more about 20th and 21st century music should make a list of the truly influential bands and music artists.

Let's omit The Beatles, Stones, Bob Dylan, Beethoven, Mozart, Run DMC, the Ramones, et al. All the groups and faces that we all know changed the landscape of music and thus influenced the future of the medium.

In terms of independent rock music, where would The Modern Lovers rank? Top 5 for sure, right? Top 2?

It's a little eerie listening to "The Modern Lovers" because it's so close to what a number of indie rock bands do today and have done for the last 20 years.

Most extraordinary is that the band had this idea about music more than 30 years ago -- the original band existed from 1970-74 and this album was released in 1976. Ironically, The Modern Lovers hailed from the same city as the band that released their debut album the same year, which was probably the polar opposite of "The Modern Lovers" -- Boston.

'All Mod Cons'

I've always thought The Jam would be a cool band for high school kids to get into. I mean, it's an excellent way for them to be all retro and ironic and whatnot.

Just punk enough to be relevent, but melodic enough for dumb kids to listen.

All the kids wearing "The Clash" T-shirts can really get a jump on being cooler than everyone else and start pumping "All Mod Cons" from their Honda Civics.

'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'

Several points:

1. Paul Newman is so damn charismatic.

2. Brad Pitt is the modern-day Robert Redford. They kind of look alike. Their mannerisms are the same.

3. The movie? Eh. The only reason you like the title characters are due to the actors. Newman and Redford were so big ... it'd be like George Clooney and Pitt today.

What I dislike about the film about the old west bank robber or vigilante is the lack of emotion. You can find this in the modern western. But in the older westerns, you have a bunch of guys, who seem normal, killing and robbing with no remorse, psychological issues or regret.

Then there's the wife of Sundance, who thinks he's dead and is deeply thankful when he pops up. Guess what? He's a bank robber. I doubt the bank robber's life span was very long at the turn of the century. Get over it!

Just another film that aggrandizes the criminal as if they were noble or good. Like I connect with them on some level.

'Talking With the Taxman About Poetry'

A man, his electric guitar and a notebook full of conviction.

Billy Bragg, by default of his choice of non-acoustic instrumentation, gets lumped into some mutant folk-punk genre.

In all actuality, he's tons closer to the Kingston Trio than he is the Clash.

'Odgens' Nut Gone Flake'

The friend who burned this album for me noted that it was "extremely British" (and he would know because he's "extremely British").

And it is. But it's also extremely '60s. The organs. The mastodon plod bass. The drummer that finds no space too small to fill.

Not that it's bad; it's just "extremely British."

'Hannah and Her Sisters'

Woody Allen's biggest movie and probably my least favorite.

Nonetheless, Allen's character and Hannah (Mia Farrow) find out he's infertile:

Hannah: Could you have ruined yourself somehow?

Mickey: How could I ruin myself?

Hannah: I don't know. Excessive masturbation?

Mickey: You gonna start knockin' my hobbies?

'Nebraska'

Somehow, someway, Bruce Springsteen captured the essence of driving through old, cold, lonesome Nebraska. Like a ghost, it's eerie and almost not there.

Dark and flat and windswept like the prairie itself.

'I'm a Lonesome Fugitive'

God bless Merle Haggard's mother, or at least his fictional songwriting mother.

In "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive," Haggard was very busy raising cane, but "mama used to pray his crops would fail."

Get it?

Best song that would be a gigantic hit in modern country music: "Drink Up and Be Somebody." Toby Keith needs to record it now.

'Lolita'

It is funny how fundamentalists freak out about books and movies.

Growing up in the United States, the "banned book list" is more popular than 84 percent of the books on the list. The fundamentalists should just get rid of the list and many of these books wouldn't see the light of day.

"Lolita" by Vlad Nabokov is on that list. Mainly (well, wholly) because it's about a pedophile who gets mixed up with a steamy nymphette, who works him for junk as much as he works her for lovin'.

In actuality, the book is banned because of the idea of "consensual" sex with 12 year old. The books vaguely references actual sex. Definitely no details (which was a bummer [kidding]) and it's relatively a harmless book about a total creep and a young slut.

People should spend more title battling "Catcher in the Rye," about a teenager who's moody, angry and doesn't know what he wants out of life. Where does that come from?

'The Last Picture Show'

By far, West Texas is the third best place to film a movie. The kicker is that the other two are probably New York or London or Paris or wherever. Why is this significant? Because you can film whatever movie you want (romantic comedy, drama, "Jury Duty") in those other cities.

But you have to be doing a film about loneliness, despair, yearning, youth, old age and death to be in West Texas.

Or football. Which is basically all of what's mentioned above in helmet and pads.

'The Godfather II'

Poor Fredo. Has there ever been a character in filmdom that could not handle life as much as him? Hell, Forrest Gump ran a shrimp business and invested in Macintosh.

Raymond Babbitt was a fantastic gambler.

Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" raised a kid (although it was a smart kid).

Then there's Fredo. Not necessarily retarded, but pretty dumb, and he couldn't run a business, gamble or raise a kid. Then he backstabbed his brother. What a worm.

'Juno'

One word: Overrated.

For one, this movie was great when it was first made and titled "Ghost World," sans the pregnancy with more young Scarlett Johansson.

Two, it's not funny. It's one thing to be not hilarious. But this simply isn't funny. It's sweet. Not funny.

Three, nobody in the movie is even remotely believable. I can imagine why writers wrote over the heads of the younger characters. But the parents and adults? Why do Juno's parents talk like that? Why is the daughter named Liberty Bell? Why did they make Jason Bateman A) an asshole; B) a former rock god from the 1990s who was somehow impressed with Sonic Youth covering The Carpenters?

This movie sucked.

'Ghostbusters'

Nowadays, whenever a really dumb movie comes out, people always comment, "Well, Hollywood's officially run out of ideas."

In 1984, were people saying the same thing about "Ghostbusters." A story about three fringe scientists, who are fired from a university and start a business to deal with paranormal nuisances. Are you serious? Add some cornball special effects and you have a simple synopsis of the film.

On another note, Bill Murray is on the short list of comedic actors that seem to just ad lib everything they do on screen. It's as if they don't give him lines, but he is forced to react to whatever everyone else is scripted to do.

Or maybe, just maybe, he's a fantastic comedic actor. I'm sticking to the former.

'Siddhartha'

What we learn is that humanity, life is a river. And everything is equal in a river. Mixed in is the good and bad, happy and sad, violence and peace, truth and fallacy and everything else that we encounter.

It's all comingled and the same, and it's impossible to have one without the other so why try running from disappointment when you can never, ever avoid it.

Without the bad, terrible and disappointing things in life, there is no pleasure.

'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'

Growing up, having never watched the film in its entirety, I assumed "Fast Times" was a series of comical vignettes all with the common theme of showcasing the "fast times" at a generic American high school in the 1980s. I thought once I watched it, a plot would form and it would all make sense.

When in fact, it is a series of comical vignettes (except for the abortion thing) all with the common theme of showcasing the "fast times" at a generic American high school in the 1980s.

'Harold and Maude'

A sweet satire about the value of life, the senselessness of war and the detached upper-class America. A very funny film despite it being tragically dark. Most notable was the film-defining moment of seeing Maude's forearm and the faded numerals tattooed on her skin. Then there's the performance of Bud Cort as Harold, which is as poignant as any in the 1970s.

For the record, I would choose Todd Rundgren to do my life soundtrack (all apologies to Cat Stevens).

'An American In Paris'

Watching Gene Kelly films and the endless series of tap sequences, it makes you think about space. Kelly dancing is no big deal. He's great and him playing twinkle toes for an hour and a half just proves that. But space is the most intriguing part of his talent. Like the scene where he dances on top of the baby grand piano and in the small room. Or when he does the sequence with the children on the sidewalk -- just a 10-foot stretch of walkway to do his entire 5- or so minute sequence. It's not what he does, but where he does it.

As for the film, there is no doubt "An American in Paris" is one of the vastly overrated films of American cinema. I can handle 2-hour films. But when the characters are largely unlikeable (hell, we barely get to know these people), the writing is not nearly as funny for a comic-romantic musical, the songs are so-so and there is relatively no plot ... well, it all adds up to be one crappy cinematic stew.

'The Godfather'

Considering the schlock he does now, it's really easy to dismiss Al Pacino. But he is easily one of the top 3 actors of the past 40 years. His metamorphosis in "The Godfather" is arguably the best part of the entire film.

Furthermore, one of the top 5 actors of the past century, Marlon Brando, is a certifiable nut. In his dying days, I picture him being a mix of Vito Corleone and Dr. Moreau.

'War of the Worlds'

There's something magnetic about the survival story. The harrowing tale of living despite the circumstances. Whether they're fiction or not, it's impossible not to put yourself in the shoes of the characters.

Plus, the lessons learned will prove invaluable when the Martians really do attack and you're dodging heat rays.

Furthermore, it's clear why the Martians lost -- they had no plan, no agenda. If total destruction wasn't their primary goal, then what was? Without vision, the people will perish.

'Manhattan'

I've often wondered how one directs a film when they're in front of the camera 99 percent of the time. Not only has Woody Allen done it, he's done it a lot and done it well.

How do you direct when you have no real clue how the lighting, wardrobe, background, setting, actors and actresses look? Either lucky or good.

Another film in which the first five minutes are worth the price of admission. Those shots are breathtaking.

'Stranger in Strange Land'

When I first starting dating the woman I would eventually marry, her paternal grandmother had just died. She lived in house in South Dallas. Several months after her death, the family began assessing the items in the house — what to keep, what to giveaway. Who wanted what? In the living room were several built-in shelves stacked with books — old Reader’s Digest condensed editions, encyclopedias and old science fiction and spy novels which had belonged to my girlfriend’s father.

Having no place for it and knowing I liked old books, I was offered them and I took them. Having read a number of them, after I had married his eldest daughter, my father-in-law gave me his first-edition copy of “Stranger in a Strange Land” by his favorite author Robert Heinlein.

It’s a fine novel — although defintely not polished, as the dialogue is that of a 1960s detective film (see: stilted, raw) — which takes on the mores and culture of modern America and their ideas about religion, philosophy and sex.

Particularly sex.

I’ll never look at my father in law the same again.

'Singin' In The Rain'

For one, what specimens Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor are. Just freaks of nature, who have more talent in their left big toe than all of Hollywood today. (Then again, would we really enjoy our Brad Pitts and George Clooneys to be dancers, singers and general hams? Hardly.)

Secondly, for the record, the Kelly and Debbie Reynolds characters (Don Lockwood and Kathy Selden) eventually star in a film titled "Singin' in the Rain."

So, is that the same exact film that I just watched? Or is that a totally different film about singing in the rain. Would I enjoy that movie more or less than this "Singin' in the Rain"?

'Dog Day Afternoon'

When I began digging into the 1,001 Movies I Must See Before I Die, I realized two things.

One of those things I'll keep a secret. The other tidbit was that I was probably going to have a number of pop culture TV and movie references defined as I watched these films. "Attica! Attica!" makes so much more sense now.

Also, bank robber Sal was brilliantly played by John Cazale. Cazale was in five feature films. All five were nominated for "Best Picture" -- "Dog Day Afternoon," "The Godfather," "The Godfather II," "The Conversation" and "The Deer Hunter."

He died at age 42 from bone cancer after his final film was released. What a career.

'To Kill A Mockingbird'

So, you’re a young Robert Duvall. About two years into your professional acting career and what part do you land? Boo flippin’ Radley, one of the greatest characters in American literature in one of the best films in American cinema.

And all he had to do was look shocked and comatose. Some guys have all the luck.

For the record, the beginning credits are worth the price of admission. Fantastic.

'Annie Hall'

“ My grammy never gave gifts. She was too busy getting raped by Cossacks."

--Alvy Singer (Woody Allen)

'Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul'

When Otis Redding prays “It’s been a long, a long time coming/But I know a change gonna come” from a cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” it makes you hollow. Or at least feel hollow.

You realize it’s a broken man seeking salvation. He sings with such conviction and soul. Never has a man had the blues so bad.

'Sense and Sensibility'

Let me tell you something about Jane Austen: there is no greater con game being played on the female population of the world than the falacy that Austen is even a halfway decent writer — an idea that is not foreign to anyone who has picked up any of the woman’s work and actually read it without getting caught up in the romance and provincial mindset of the middle- and upper-class of 19th century England.

(Take note: the previous paragraph was one sentence nailed together with enough punctuation to sink the Titanic — that’s basically all she did. It’s called a period, Miss Austen!)

Austen is a liability on popular culture. For one, she’s not that great and everyone thinks she’s great, especially women and girls who don’t know any better. For one her characters are awful, her plotlines are straight out of Shakespeare, but twisted to fit some irregular and illogical set of circumstances that Austen makes in her head.

Plus, Austen single-handedly laid the groundwork for any and “Bridget Jones’ Diary” schlock and that’s criminal.