soundtracks

A consideration for the lead actress, director, and mixtape that make Lynne Ramsay's Morvern Callar one of my favorite films.

This week a query in the Bitch office got me thinking about John Hughes films. And that got me thinking in soundtrack mode. And that lead to the realization that many of my favorite (or at least memorable on some level) 80s films have title tracks or songs that always accompany any thought of them. Read on for the list, and listen with caution: these will get stuck on replay in your head.

Artsy kids' film Where the Wild Things Are is doing great at the box office, and the soundtrack, written by Yeah Yeah Yeahs' frontwoman Karen O, is one of the best things about the movie (along with all those big hairy monsters with broken hearts)--and you can listen to the whole thing online!

O says "I guess I got involved because of Spike [Jonze, the director], because I guess there is a childlike innocence about my music or my persona or whatever that he always just kind of dialed into." And she's a perfect fit: like the movie, the soundtrack is both raucous and quietly stirring (apropos for recess or for lullabies).