I couldn't help but fill with glee when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won the Song Oscar for "Falling Slowly" Sunday night from their movie "Once." If you don't know the past few years of Hansard's life, it's truly wound together as a fairy tale, culminating at the Oscars. He was originally only supposed to write the music for the movie, but when the lead role dropped out, the director pushed Hansard in as leading man since he wrote the music. He was weary at first about it since he had no training in acting, but next thing you know, he's dating costar Irglova, and the low-budget Once slowly takes off, from being received well at Sundance, to winning an Oscar for best original song. Go Hansard! He was no doubt, the happiest man alive on Sunday when he hoisted that golden man in the air.

This week's Top 5 are our favorite music-centered films here at Scene & Heard HQ.

5. SLC Punk
I read somewhere that this movie is what would happen if you crossed "Sid & Nancy" with a John Hughes flick. Couldn't say it any better myself.

4. Spinal Tap
The mother mock-rock-doc of em' all. It's one of those rare movies that turns it up to 11 just because it's higher than 10, if you know what I mean. And you can't talk about music movies and somehow ignore this comedic hair metal extravaganza.

3. I'm Not There
They keep saying it's a Bob Dylan biopic, but that's not exactly true. Quite the contrary, it's about the songs that have come out of the Dylan, not the Dylan that's come out of the songs. And thus, it's one of the most colorful and unique movies ever put to tape, with 6 different people all putting their own spin on Bobby and even more songwriters putting their spin on his music. It's like the Fight Club of music films.

2. High Fidelity
John Cusack owns a record shop, tries to figure out his long and troubled romantic life through Top Five lists and records (and with some help from The Boss too) while waxing intellect with his zaney music-dork employees.

1. Almost Famous
The one, the only. This fictional re-creation of Cameron Crowe's young life is colored with the life any young writer can only dream of. If you don't 'get' why people love music, this movie will change that. If you are looking for a reason to start a band, this movie will give you many. But even more so, in a movie full of rockstars it makes the vastly uncool look like the coolest people of all.

Heath Ledger died one week ago today, at the age of 28. While he didn't leave a wealth of work behind for us to pour over and help fuel our inevitable "what if.." questions, he left enough greats to get his own Top 5 Tuesday. So here are the five must sees from Ledger's career. (Oh, that's funny, I don't see Brokeback anywhere? Wierd.)

5. Skip Engblom in Lords of Dogtown
Written by Stacey Peralta himself. Ledger leads a pack of youngsters, looking to change the world with their skateboards, one kickflip at a time. It puts the 'roll' in rock and roll, dude.

4. Dan in Candy
So you got this 3-act Australian film about a poet (Ledger) who falls in love with a student, and next thing you know, they're shooting heroine together in the midst of their young wild romance, and it quite easily propels into one of those explosive Sid and Nancy love stories. And then you add Geoffrey Rush to the cast? I'll take this Candy from a stranger any day. (You get indie film cred points for knowing this one too.)

3. Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You
Every 90's high school dramatic comedy needed house parties (check), kegs (check), bodaciously beautiful babes (Julia Stiles? check!), and ensemble casts packed with rising stars (check). But Ledger made this more than every other 90's high school flick. Right before your eyes, the withdrawn badboy unfolds into an aussi-accented romancing charmer. Girls around the world started eating there hearts out right then, as he sung Franki Valli to Julia Styles from the bleachers at soccer practice.

2. Robbie Clark, the bearded actor side of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There
While Cate Blanchet easily nabbed the spotlight by portraying the most famous Dylan era in the only movie with a lot of Bob Dylans, Ledger got to portray one of the more treasured eras--The whole "finding himself again" era, centered around "Blood on the Tracks" where he struggled with divorce, and himself.

1. The Joker in The Dark Knight trailer
The movie doesn't hit theaters to July, but the tiny bits of Ledger we've seen as the chaotic face-painted bazooka-wielding anarchist have already chalked up as one of the greatest roles we've seen in ages. In other words, this trailer is better than most movies, and Ledger's psychotic turn as one of the most lauded villains of all time is exactly why.

Sometimes I feel like I'm tangled up in rolls and rolls of film reel here at work.

A lot of us here at The Mercury watch a lot of movies, and consequently wax our thoughts about them together like we're Ebert and Roeper or something. So it's only right to include The Merc's most enthusiastic film buffs (and buffettes) in choosing this year's finest films to grace the big screens, from cult-creating classics, to bloody monster fests, to massive money-raking blockbusters. Everything you should have seen, is here.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Mercury's panel of film enthusiasts and their favorite flicks of 2007:

Bill Coldren's picks
1. Live Free or Die Hard - As a faithful follower of John McClane, I was totally satisfied with this latest installment.


2. 28 Weeks Later - A ghoulishly tantalizing tale following the under-the-radar smash hit "28 Days Later." The thought of total wide spread chaos throughout the world has always been as appealing as slowing on the highway to view an accident.


3. 300 - This movie is a must-see.


4. I Am Legend - Will Smith has developed into a fine actor. This movie was well done.


5. Superbad - Nothing explains teen angst quite like this movie. I enjoyed the ride.


Kim Toth's picks
1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- Bloody good!! Tim Burton at his best!


2. 300 -- Graphically amazing! And a good story too (even if it fudges the truth a bit). Should easily win an Oscar for best special effects and/or art direction. (It's got my vote for Best Costume too!)


3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- Tall ships blasting each other into oblivion, and Davey Jones, Barbosa and Sparrow -- 3 of the best summer blockbuster movie characters ever ... Arrrrgh!


4. Eastern Promises -- here's my pick for drama. If you liked The Departed, give this Russian mob flick a try.


5. 1408 -- A Stephen King story done right on the big screen. Scary, intriguing and keeps you guessing to the end.


Honorable Mention: American Gangster, Superbad, 28 Weeks Later, Ratatouille and Planet Terror.
Forgive me, I didn't see: I Am Legend, Atonement or No Country for Old Men, which I hear are all excellent.
Most looking forward to in 2008: The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Chris March's Picks
1. Superbad - Sure, it's about some high school friends expending all their energy on getting drunk, as well as their rocks off; it's not revolutionary storytelling. But when you dress up a truly meaningful flick about friendship and growing up with complete nonsense and dirty hilarity like Judd Apatow did here, you have done more than make a movie that will disgust your mom. Beneath the dirt, this movie has a real vibrant heart and tells a strong "coming of age" story. And yet, there's to much great comedic banter to take it too seriously. That, my friends, is top-notch movie-making genius. And who knew a movie could actually make van Halen's "Panama" sound so stinkin' good? And of course, McLovin is easily the most memorable character of the year.


2. I'm Not There - A movie about Bob Dylan, where they never mention the name "Bob Dylan" in it? Yeah. A movie where 6 magnificent actors, including Cate Blanchett, all play different eras of Bob Dylan? Yeah. A movie with a whole treasure trove of Dylan music, covers and originals? Yeah. Sounds pretty weird, doesn't it? Yeah. Well, it totally works, and is probably the most accurate way to tell a story about a man who is made of countless stories, fictional and non-fictional.


3. Spiderman 3 - It wasn't Spiderman 2, but it certainly wasn't bad either. The Spidey Trilogy is to me what Star Wars is to all you Lucas nuts, if not more.


4. Transformers - Hands down, the blockbuster of the year. Old school Transformers fan boys dug it, and massive audiences dug it. When was the last time something like that happened?


5. Zodiac - David Fincher directed a movie about a puzzling killer we've never caught. Need I say more?


As you can see, I'm a bit of a kid when it comes to movies. I'll always be a sucker for the coming-of-age teen comedy ripe with filthy humor, and the comic book movies. Across The Universe and Aqua Teen Hunger Force the movie are also worth some mentioning.

Coming Tomorrow: free downloadable mix of Scene & Heard's favorite songs 0f 2007

While I try to think of a good "top 5" for today, I'm gonna let you with some tid bits first.

Christian Bale. AS JOHN CONNOR in the new Terminator flick? It's beginning to look like more than just a rumor. As for who to play a new terminator.. I'd like to request Ving Rhames. (tell me that wouldn't kick butt?)

"I'm Not There" is astoundingly rad, tho a bit dizzying for those outside of the Dylaniverse. But, Cate Blanchet's remarkable performance as one of the handful of Todd Haynes' Dylans, makes it a must see. Show times.

Next year's Bonaroo Festival headliner? Talk is swirling around a little band from England. You might know them. Led Zeppelin. It's just a rumor, sure, but this is exactly how The Police's reunion this past year came to be--talk of Bonaroo.

Also, I've grown a beard for the winter. Just saying.

The new official "I'm Not There" theatrical trailer has finally surfaced.



Musician biopics are usually pretty cut and dry. Some young musical prodigy gets famous, falls in love, gets married, starts a family, then plummets into a pitfall of drugs and money problems, nearly loses it all, but then reconciles and wins the girl back and proceeds in becoming a legend. Something like that.

But the biopic treatment for Bob Dylan isn't the same song and dance. Which makes sense because there really is no separating the fact from the fiction with an artist who has worn a whole closet of different masks throughout his life. "I'm Not There" looks like one of the most promising films set to sweep through theaters this fall. Limited release on Nov. 21. Scope a scene from the film below.