Top 10 Tracks I'm Digging Right Now
I saw Valentine's Day yesterday so I'm loving the soundtrack. The actual movie was good, too. Taylor Swift was great in the role of the dorky spaz teenager in love. And Ashton Kutcher was adorable. As were Julia Roberts and Jennifer Garner. It's just that once I found out Bradley Cooper's character was gay, and therefore couldn't hook up with Julia Roberts in some kind of happy ending, I left the movie feeling very, very sad. So for now, I'm just going to stick with digging the music. Some of the songs on my list are not actually on the official soundtrack, though, so be careful when you download.
"Today Was a Fairytale," Taylor Swift
"I'm Into Something Good," the Bird and the Bee
"Feels Like the First Time," Foreigner
"Stay Here Forever," Jewel
"Say Hey (I Love You)," Michael Franti & Spearhead
"For Once in My Life," Stevie Wonder
"Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours," Anju Ramapriyam
"Somebody to Love," Leighton Meester and Robin Thicke
"Quit Your Job," Jamie Foxx
"When a Man Loves a Woman," Percy Sledge
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
fantasia says:
Not according to reviews.
Alison W says:
Why would you give that away?!?!?
barb b says:
alison is at it again blogging about
ts it did not take alison long i heard
the movie was not good read the reviews
alison and then comment
S says:
The movie made the most money over the weekend but the reviews are terrible. One web site that does movie reviews has 142 reviews for this movie - 120 of them are bad and only 22 are good.
I’m not surprised that Alison liked Taylor in the movie. I don’t think Taylor can do anything wrong in Alison’s eyes. But, people who review movies for a living had a different opinion. Here are a few of the reviews.
“Let’s talk about the over-rated Taylor Swift. I’m sorry Taylor, but your acting was awful. It was overplayed and so annoying that I was waiting for your heart to break. Stick to your singing as a career, acting is not your forte.”
“The over-hailed singer/phenomenon Taylor Swift is awful in her movie debut. Sometimes, a girl needs training and a little indie-movie cred. Her faux romance in the movie (and off-screen until the movie opens) with co-star Taylor Lautner, as a jock, is painful to watch.”
“And also present is Taylor Swift, even though she’s not an actress and proves the point with a regrettable female Napoleon Dynamite act.”
“Most Annoying Cast Member: Taylor Swift. She’s super cute and pretty in her first film role, but is ultimately even more irritating than the irritating, superficial teenager she’s trying to play. It doesn’t help that she spends every scene fawning psychotically over Taylor Lautner. Or that her hit single about today being a fairy tale plays over the end credits. You can’t escape the reach of her sugary country pop supremacy, even in the multiplex.”
“Directed by Garry Marshall, whose comic edge has grown hair in the years since Pretty Woman, this labored artifice strings together an “all-star cast” (by today’s dubious definition, anyway) that runs the gamut from tone-deaf Flavor of the Moment Taylor Swift and movie werewolf Taylor Lautner to veteran Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine.”
“I could have done without a couple high school-set sideplots, which add nothing to the overall arc and seem to exist as a personal favor to the Taylor Swift marketing machine. The movie isn’t awful, and nor is it an award winner, unless you count Swift’s frontrunner status to add a worst supporting actress Razzie to her shelf full of Grammys.”
“Any attempts at laughs are botched badly by actors who have yet to realize that comedy isn’t their strong suit. The worst example of this comes in the form of the Terribly Talentless Taylor Twins, Lautner and Swift, and thank heavens they broke up before we might ever be subjected to another movie with both of them. Lautner’s attempt at self-parody is weak–the guy has only been in two “Twilight” movies!–and Swift is actually a worse actress than she is a singer. Who knows what Marshall was thinking casting them and giving them possibly one of the dumbest scenes to ever make it into a final cut of a movie?”
“Some teen viewers may be drawn by the lure of the two Taylors, but their time onscreen together arguably reps the film’s low point; Swift, especially, seems entirely undirected, as she jumps around, makes faces and jabbers on inanely. If she’s to have a film career, she needs to find a skilled director to tamp her down and channel her obviously abundant energy.”
“Casting Taylor Swift in a small role as a smitten teen only accelerates the headache, with the embryonic singer given free range to test out her deplorable improvisational skills.”
“The other nitwits in this hit parade include high school airheads played by Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift.”
“Marshall could have made a cute movie out of the Kutcher-Alba-Dempsey-Garner-Hathaway and Grace characters, keeping high school goofs Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift for their doe-eyed silliness.”
“Poor Taylor Swift. Turns out everyone liked her a lot better when she was an underdog struggling to get a word in. Now that the teen singer — whose MTV VMA speech was famously, rudely, interrupted by Kanye West back in September — has our undivided attention, she’s facing a growing backlash that’s getting stronger and snarkier by the minute. The tide began turning for the statuesque country upstart after a less-than-dazzling (most frequently described as “pitchy”) performance with Stevie Nicks at this year’s Grammys — where she won four awards including album of the year. Following the debacle, her label head — and Naomi Judd — came to her defense, which only rankled the masses including Kelly Clarkson. Now, with Friday’s release of “Valentine’s Day,” which nearly sags under the weight of so many Hollywood heavy-hitters, everyone’s about to get a glimpse of her acting chops, which seemed more than passable when she hosted SNL in November. But early reports about the movie have been unkind, to put it mildly.”
Sarah says:
So what if Alison liked the movie & the reviews were bad? There is no law stating that people must hate movies if reviews are bad. I read some bad reviews about the movie but everyone I have talked to that has seen it loved it, including myself. I thought it was so cute & good. Taylor Swift wasn’t the greatest actress but she was cute & still did a pretty good job.
Peacock Queen says:
The critics are not always correct. Many movies get panned by the critics to simply go on to be successful. “Ghost” with Patrick Swayze is one example.
Yes, the tide does seem to be turning against Taylor Swift. I predicted this back in November after the CMA awards. I said it was wrong to make Taylor think she was more of an artist than she really is, and that really angered some Taylor fans, but I was being sincere. We (American society) seem to love to put people up on a pedestal just to tear them down. Too much exposure, which is what happened to Swift in the last half of 2009, seems to bring it on much faster. Just listen to some former “teen idols” talk about how hard it was to go from adored by millions to smeared then forgotten, seemingly overnight. It will break your heart. Now, it seems to be GLEEFULLY happening to Taylor Swift. She is so young, only 20, and now she gets to spend the rest of her life wondering “what happened?” She didn’t do anything to bring this about, the money-making machine does it by pushing the train too hard until it runs out of steam, but Taylor is too young at this point to understand that it is not her fault. Hopefully, her fans will stand by her no matter what the tabloids or the “critics” say, and she can keep on keeping on.
bkbs says:
the movie is a flop and swift got many bad reviews and once again we have allison praising swift when she does not deserve this attention, move on allison to someone that can use the constant press you give swift.
Robin says:
I’m not a fan of Taylor Swifts music, but must everyone be so happy that people didn’t like her in this acting role? She got good reviews after her stint on CSI. I didn’t see either so I have no opinion. But, she’s not trying to “be” an actress. She was just having fun.
I know she’s been over exposed too, but really is being part of a fast moving train trying to run a girl down over “nothing” fun? Legitimately arugue your music points since that is her career. But, the movie thing is silly to gripe about. It’s not her gig, just a side show.
rosyz says:
I am not a TS fan either but I agree with Robin. She did get bad reviews on this movie but then her fans still like her. I guess she has been overexposed so she is going to be scrutinized closely from now on.
trink says:
I didn’t see the movie waiting for the dvd to come out. Everyone I talked to loved the movie so I say it again to each their own. I did buy the soundtrack and have to say it’s gome some great songs besides Taylors.Like Willie Nelsons version of “On The Street Where You Live” awsome and Maroon Fives take on “On The Way You Look Tonight” also awesome.Oh and lets not forget Jewels song I like that one too. Anyway say what you want about Taylor but she isn’t going anywhere. I’ll be back here when her new album comes out in the fall and say “I told you so”.
Candy says:
I can’t believe S would waste so much time on Taylor swift. Get a Life and Move on. She is not an actress, her job was to attract her fans to watch her and she did that successfully. Despite the bad reviews, Taylor swift is one of the factor why the movie had a big opening.
rosyz says:
Candy is right. TS has a huge younger fan base who will watch her and who will also buy her albums no matter what. I am not a TS fan. I have not watched the movie either. I will watch it when the dvd comes out because I like Julia Roberts,Jennifer Gartner,Anne Hathaway and Jessica Alba.
D Trotter says:
Why would any one care about some quirky cameo that was written into the movie after the fact just to get Taylor’s name on the bill?
Be Real says:
The movie was nothing deep, but enjoyable in a bubblegum pop kind of way… not necessarily a bad thing at all. Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner’s characters could have been cut from the movie, and it would not have suffered in the least bit. But I think that’s more an indictment of the writing. As for the music, you blogger left off the only song that I actually went home and YouTubed: 4 and 20 by Joss Stone.
Jim says:
Oh Poo-Poo.
Gone With The Wind in 1939 got the same reviews, worst
movie ever made.
Alfred Hitchcock never won BEST DIRECTOR oscar.
Go figure.
Robin says:
Jim - while I think being worried about wether Taylor was good or bad at acting is just plain silly, to compare “this movvie” (not an indication of Taylor in it since I haven’t seen it), is NOT gone with the wind (nor was it intended to be).
D Trotter says:
bkbs, a “flop”???
Mostly bad critical reviews doesn’t make “Valentine’s Day” a flop, box office does, and it killed its competition there. Critics are supposed to be too intellectual to appreciate silly rom-coms — they would risk being stripped of their jaded critic cards.
But when a film does almost 67 Million Dollars business in only 4 days, you can just bet its the kind of “flop” the movie biz wants to make (word is a sequel is already in the works). It actually set a new RECORD for Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend sales, breaking the old mark by nearly $20M.
The critically-panned “Valentine’s Day” dethroned long-time king “Avatar” at the box office AND routed TWO NEW well-hyped competitors (”Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and “The Wolfman”), each of which did well (over $30M gross) but which cost nearly $100M apiece to make.
Compare that with Valentine’s Day, which cost HALF as much as either while nearly DOUBLING their revenues. “Valentine’s Day” actually recouped what it took to make it AND made another $15M profit or so, all in the first weekend!
And believe it not, the majority of the REAL people who went to see it — not expecting to watch a Best Picture nominee, just wanting some lighthearted entertainment and a few chuckles — walked out and said they had fun. Nobody asked for their money back.
And, like Paul McCartney once asked about “Silly Love Songs” … what’s wrong with that.