Musical Artist Movie Hall of Fame

I just watched Pick of Destiny. That song isn't in it, though the song they play at the end is probably the actual greatest song in the world referenced in "Tribute".

I liked the song that played during the credits, so I left it running and saw that there's an extra scene at the very end. So if anyone is interested, there is something more after the credits.

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Coal Miner’s Daughter

Aside from some timeline problems, (mostly relating to the Patsy Cline storyline), this is a great movie. The music was great, and Sissy Spacek did a terrific job as Loretta Lynn. She even did her own singing, and even though she doesn't look enough like Loretta Lynn, she was very convincing in the role.

I like Tommy Lee Jones, and he was great as her husband, but he's a somewhat unlikable character at times, but that seems to be the way her husband was in real life too. I love the way her husband answered the phone, "It's 1:00 in the morning. What the hell do you want?". It reminded me of the way my father used to answer the phone during prime time TV hours. He would pick up the ringing phone, say "Don't you own a television set?", and immediately hang up the phone without even finding out who called.

But back to the movie, it felt like they glossed over some of the events of her life, and didn't make the time jumps clear as to how long they were, but overall, this was a very well done movie.

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Walk the Line

This was another great movie with my kind of music. Johnny Cash was one of the greatest country music singers ever, and this movie shows us how he got his start, and eventually became a superstar.

Overall Joaquin Phoenix did a great job as Johnny Cash, but there were a few times when it felt glaringly obvious that he wasn't Johnny Cash, and that momentarily took me out of the movie, but then within a few minutes, he was back on track, and I was back in the movie again. On the other hand, Reese Witherspoon was terrific as June Carter.

I thought they did a good job of casting talented people in the roles of Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, and it was a nice touch that they cast Shooter Jennings in the role of his father, Waylon Jennings.

The Buddy Holly Story

I'm not as familiar with Buddy Holly as I am with Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash, so I don't know how close this was to reality, but it's a very interesting movie.

Gary Busey was great as Buddy Holly, and he even did his own singing. I didn't really understand why everyone seemed to think that Holly was black, and then when they met him, they were surprised to see that he was a white guy. I don't know if it was his voice or the type of music he sang, but that part didn't make much sense to me.

I wish they would have focused a little bit more on the romance part of his life. It seemed like he met the girl, went out with her once, and then the next thing they said was that they were married. I don't know if it happened that way in real life, but it just seemed like they skipped over the whole romance.

I like that they focused enough on his career to show that he not only sang, but he also wrote and produced his own music. I wish they would have shown a little bit more about the plane crash and the affect it had on his love ones, because there are some interesting facts about the aftermath of his death. The movie only showed it as a footnote, but his death and the affect it had on his wife and mother are the reasons why victims' names are no longer released until after their family has been notified.

Another interesting bit of trivia is that after the original Crickets left Holly's band, one of his new bandmates was Waylon Jennings. Jennings was supposed to be on the plane that crashed, but he gave up his seat to The Big Bopper, who was sick with the flu at the time. The last conversation they had was when Holly jokingly told Jennings, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up!", and Jennings jokingly replied, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes!". That one line haunted Jennings for the rest of his life.

La Bamba

The story of Ritchie Valens is an interesting one, not only because he was a great singer, but because he had a fear of flying all his life, and he would eventually die in a plane crash, after what he said was "the only coin toss he ever won".

The biggest problem in this movie is Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens. His acting is very good, and he's convincing as Valens, but his lip-synching is terrible. It doesn't look like he's singing, because he isn't. (His voice was dubbed by David Hidalgo of the band Los Lobos.) It would have been better if they had avoided closeups of Lou Diamond Phillips "singing".

Again, I don't know much about Valens in real life, so I don't know how close this story is to reality, but it's an interesting story of his rise to fame. And again, like in the Buddy Holly movie, they don't go into any details about the plane crash, other than to show that Valens won the coin toss. (Sadly, the guy who "lost" the coin toss, Tommy Allsup, (who was one of Buddy Holly's new band members after the original Crickets left), died earlier this year.)

But at least this movie has a better ending because it takes it a step further, and shows how his death affected the people he left behind.

Wow! you're on a roll GBG

That's interesting because I tend to feel the complete opposite with those two in this film. Meaning, I thought Joaquin was the better of the two. I won't go too much into that opinion, though, until I get to my review.

I believe Buddy Holly's wife was something of a consultant with the film. Who knows? Maybe she agreed to be that if they didn't go too much into his personal life with her.

The crash was so soon and so fast after they took off that there really isn't too much to say about the crash itself. And, to be honest, I don't think you want to know that much about it because it was pretty bad. But I see what you are saying in regards to how the family was affected by it. I am surprised there wasn't something like that in there. But, again, with his wife being some sort of consultant, maybe she didn't want that part in there.


I think it is because of the way he moves his mouth when he is singing. I don't know why, but he just doesn't seem to relax it (I guess I could describe it that way) like he should as if he is just speaking. I think that has a lot to do with it. I am saying this because I always noticed the funny way he moves his mouth when it is a singing scene.


OK. I've now listed gbgoodies' reviews on the first page. So once this HoF really gets going and some of the other reviews might get lost in the mix, just refer back to that page.

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excellent little run, gbg!!

I remember having a few of those moments when I first saw Walk the Line with Phoenix and since I can only remember Carter from childhood in various variety show appearances with Cash on shows like Hee Haw I cannot truly say if that happened with Reese or not. Though a lot of times I see Reese as Reese in the movies I watch her.

Been WAAY to long ago to remark on Buddy Holly or Valens but they, like the others were great reads.
I do know that for the families of both of them, they did not want to revisit that crash whatsoever and following their wishes they kept that aspect as minimal as possible.
I remember seeing an interview with Phillips remarking how he had spent a lot of time with Valens' family and when it came to that final shot, things got VERY emotional for all of them.

Coal Miner's Daughter is one I haven't seen and kinda curious to see when I do.

I did rent Once and School of Rock from my library so I'll be checking them out within the week, hopefully.

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Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny

Should you have any concerns about what kind of movie this will be, all will be answered before the opening credits even begin.

It did for me.

Let's put it this way:
I'm a guy. Therefore I do enjoy a good fart joke. I love swearing and enjoy movies that use it with an over abundance. In my youth I loved Heavy Metal music and during that time Ronnie James Dio WAS my spiritual guide. Bongs are great and tripping IS a very awesome thing from those daze.

Now, I really don't like Jack Black. On rare occasions like Bernie and Kung Fu Panda I do enjoy him. But when he's playing, well, himself. . . .
Perhaps that was the fly in the ointment for me from the get-go, no matter how much I tried to enjoy this, I could not.

I won't elaborate, because that would be just rude and I truly have enjoyed a number of things Clazor has nominated - so, instead, I will mention that I thought it was VERY cool to see Meatloaf play Jack's religious dad. It was a great lil 180 degree turn from him playing roles like Eddie in Rocky Horror to this and his confrontation with a young Black showed all kinds of promise.
I also enjoyed Gass' character as well. Didn't love him, but I honestly did enjoy him. Chuckled a few times with him.

I am truly sorry, Clazor. I know not every thing is for every one, but still.

Oh oh! I was thinking of watching that one too.

it does have a lot going for it. I just have a problem with Jack Black. You definitely should give it a try.

Yeah, I tried to get some of the bios of singers I'm familiar with out of the way first. I thought it was interesting to see how they each got their start in the music business.

I watched another movie this afternoon, but I'm going to wait to post anything about it because I didn't like it, so I'd rather a few other people give it good reviews first, so I don't give anyone a bad first impression of the movie.

I don't really think they should have shown the actual crash, or speculated about anything that might have happened on the plane, but maybe a little bit more about how those specific people ended up on the plane, rather than Buddy Holly and the Crickets, (as that's who Holly chartered the plane for), or even a little bit about who the people who didn't get on the plane, and how it affected them. And a bit about the people and the legacy that the people who died left behind would have been interesting. There's a whole untold story about before and after the plane crash, and it just felt like that was missing.

But if the wives were consultants, that's probably why that stuff was left out of the movies.

The Idolmaker

This was a fun, easy watch. I can't say I loved it, but it had it's moments and kept me interested. At times it felt like a made for TV movie, but that's not a bad thing as it was trying to be entertaining and it was. My favorite part was with Marcia (Maureen McCormick) woohoo!...and the house band at the small club. I also liked the story of the first performer Tommy Dee. The live TV show on Saturday night Bandstand was also fun.

Geez, the promoter was sure a jerk, but the actor did a really excellent job at being a jerk. Everybody sang pretty good, especially his second star Peter Gallagher. It was funny that the songs from the late 50s, early 60s all sounded like the early 80s. But that's not a big deal.

Tovah Feldshuh who played Brenda Roberts the magazine lady, really reminded me of Captain Janeway from Star Trek Voyager. I swear they could be sisters.

GBG I have to ask what is it that you like about this movie? Is it the songs? the performers or?




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I like the story and the songs. It's definitely not the "beefcake" because neither guy is really my type of guy. The first guy, (Tommy Dee) seems pretty obnoxious at times, and that's just a turn off for me, and the second guy, (Caesare) just isn't very attractive to me.

I like the story of how the promoter found two young guys and knew how to groom them properly to make them superstars. He knew what they should look like, how they should sound, and even how they should dance. I like watching him work with them to get everything perfect for their performances. I like the tension between him and the singers when he knows what's right, but they think they know better, and they try to break away from his management.

And I like the songs by both singers. I just don't really care much for the song that the promoter sings at the end.

You quoted me as I was editing. I do that a lot, post and edit and redit...I added this

And I liked her too. I thought all the actors were pretty good.

Yeah, I noticed a bit of a resemblance to Captain Janeway too, but I think part of it is her voice and her screen presence, more than just her looks.

I liked Tovah Feldshuh in the TV show "Law & Order" too, but she wasn't in a lot of episodes.

I watched this movie yesterday and I wondered who would be the first person to point out the fact that she was in the film.

I thought the same thing, actually. I really liked the music, but it was funny that they didn't put more of an effort into making it sound more authentic to the times.

Am I a bad person for nominating this and half expecting this to be the general consensus? And laughing while I do it?

To be serious for a moment, though. I do think this is a good movie with some really good music. But I also realized that the level of enjoyment you get out of it stands in direct proportion to how much Jack Black you can stand at his fullest Jack Blackness. I didn't nominate it just to be a douch to those of you who can't stand the man. Just thought I'd point that out.

To Ed, there's no worries. Black can be a bit much and here I believe he's as much as he ever is. I had forgotten about the intro, to be honest, and I can see how it sets the tone. It might very well make many people stop it there and never return to it. That you pushed on means alot and all credit to you. That goes for all of you watching this during the HoF.

Hopefully you'll find School of Rock a more enjoyable watch, as Black's a bit more restrained in that and isn't let of the chain quite as much.

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Yes, yes you are.


I actually have School of Rock from my library and it is a re-watch from when it came out and yes, "restrained' is a great word and I did like it back then, so I'm pretty sure I will again.

And thanks, Clazor. I still feel pretty bad and really don't like posting a bad review, especially for my very first one AND for this nom's first as well.