“Coppolla’s soundtrack is an attempt to claim that Marie Antoinette was the first “modern” teen, which is a typical example of Generation X’s inability to engage with history and customs outside their navel-gazing bubble of cynicism.”

Pay attention, fans of the film. Fine if you like it, but understand this is a major reason why people don’t. It’s not the anachronistic use of music per se, it’s what she’s saying with it. Whether or not you feel the music aesthetically suits the film is going to be pretty subjective (I personally found it clumsy, though I too love most of the music individually), but when someone offers up a fantastic, succinct analysis like the above, it should at least provoke thought and prompt debate at a similarly insightful level. If it doesn’t, I’m afraid YOU’RE the ones missing out on something, not someone who is not swayed by any supposed charms this film holds.

“i wasn’t too happy with our presence in the movie,” states georg holm, the band’s bass player, hours before sigur ros mesmerised dublin audiences some weeks back. “i didn’t like the movie, either. i thought the track itself and how it was utilised worked really well, but the other songs on the soundtrack were a bit weird. i think it was cameron crowe doing his 10 favourite tracks and putting them into a film.

“that said, it raised our profile in america, i don’t regret that, but there are two sides to the story. i wouldn’t do it again, i don’t think. we’d synchronise music to film, but it would have to be a movie i was particularly interested in.”

Music and its proper use can truly make or break a film. In some cases, it is difficult to imagine a film without its music, eg. I can’t think of “Terminator” without immediately imagining the metallic percussion and haunting music of Brad Fiedel’s theme and “Amelie” owes much of her charm to Yann Tiersen’s inspired score. It all comes down to personal preference, of course, but I think everyone has similar examples from film/music combinations they like.

However, like the article suggests, some filmmakers are trying to create such associations preemptively, by splicing together a “cool” soundtrack in the hopes that it will draw attention to their otherwise mediocre film. I wholeheartedly agree with Eoin O’Faolain’s take on the Sofia Coppola films and their soundtracks – while I like and respect the artists and the individual songs, their use in the films, as well as the films themselves, can be summed up in one word – “pretentious”.

If I had to point a finger at the original culprit who started this trend, my money would be on the Bond films. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, it seemed that the most important things regarding the iconic spy’s movies were a) who will be his female co-star (read “Bond girl”), and b) who sings the opening credits song. I remember how each and every Bond theme song became an instant hit right before the corresponding film’s release, then faded into (justified, most of the time) obscurity immediately after. This is not absolute, of course – some Bond theme songs are classics, but others are totally forgettable (eg. “Die Another Day” by Madonna). Thankfully, things have taken a turn for the better with the Bond “reset” in Casino Royale.

Last but not least, I’d like to mention Darren Aronofsky’s “?” (Pi) as an example of a film soundtrack that is not only fab on its own, but it is also used to great effect in the movie. The soundtrack featured some of the best electronic music artists of the previous decade (Aphex Twin, Orbital, Massive Attack to name but a few) as well as original compositions by Clint Mansell (previously of Pop Will Eat Itself) and when played on its own, it’s a fantastic collection of contemporary electronic music. In the film, it accentuates the timelessness of the images (contemporary setting shot in black & white) and the confusion of the flawed genius that is the main character.

You are dead on about Vanilla Sky and Platoon. I’ve never seen Young Adam though, so you slide this time.

I believe Lost in Translation to be one of the best movies of its time and appropriately popular with critics and audiences alike. Marie Antoinette was unfairly trashed largely because of its use of anachronistic dialogue and music – as if other period pieces have production teams which manage to go back in time and figure out exactly how things were back then.

Comparing Platoon with Apocalypse Now in such a way makes it glaringly obvious how little the writer understands what he is talking about.

I will say that I have found Cameron Crowe’s use of rock songs overbearing and inappropriate, but possibly least of all in Vanilla Sky – a film which received a good deal of flak from people who didn’t like the original in the first place. I enjoyed it.

There must be dozens of Hollywood blockbuster clunkers with scores by luminary composers such as Howard Shore, Mark Kamen, Max Steiner, Dmitri Tomkin or Ernest Korngold which could have easily made for a more substantial, but possibly less interesting, list.