Soundtrack of the Week: Titanic

Despite the over-exposure of "My Heart Will Go On" during the late '90's, the soundtrack for the movie Titanic was nearly as epic as the movie itself.

James Cameron intended for Enya to write the score for the movie. However, Enya declined and James Horner stepped in. There is quite a bit of wordless vocals in the soundtrack provided by Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkiebø. The background choir is digital.

"My Heart Will Go On" won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture was released in 1997.

A second soundtrack, Back to Titanic, contains new recordings, unreleased recordings, and source music for the film. This includes the music from the party below decks, and music from the string quartet that played on the deck as the ship sank. This soundtrack was released eight months after the first, but still achieved commercial success.

Adaptations and Coming Soon

Warner Bros. Pictures has secured Phil Lord and Chris Miller of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to write and direct the LEGO movie. The studio is keeping the plot under wraps, but supposedly will take place in a LEGO environment.

Miller and Lord are first developing the movie for 21 Jump Street.

And, just when you thought your vampire fix was almost over, Preger Entertainment has acquired the rights to Richelle M

ead's Vampire Academy series. It is classified as "paranormal romance".

Within the first week of publication, the fifth book, "Sprit Bound", achieved the number one bestseller spot on both the New York Times Bestseller list and USA Today's bestsellers, while debuting at number 1 in Australia and New Zealand.

Trailer of the Week: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The beginning of the trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers features music from Howard Shore's score of the series.

At about 1:35, the music changes to a piece known as Requiem for a Tower.

The origin of the piece is the movie Requiem for a Dream. Any fan of that movie will recognize the piece, Lux Aeterna, written by Clint Mansell. The track was re-orchestrated with choir and full orchestra specifically for The Two Towers trailer. After considerable demands by fans, the piece was released by Corner Stone Cues on the album of the same name.

Clint Mansell has since released a version with the London Ensemble.

It was also used in the trailer for Babylon, A.D. and Sunshine.

Dreamworks adapts "The Help"

Dreamworks is adapting the bestselling novel The Help for the big screen. The book, by Kathryn Stockett, is about black maids working in white households in the 1960's.

Tate Taylor wrote the script and is directing. Shooting starts at the end of July in Greenwood, Mississippi.

Jessica Chastain recently signed on to play Celia Foote, an insecure Southern woman trying to fit into high society.

Confirmed Captain America

Chris Evans will be playing Captain America, Marvel says.

Kevin Feige of Marvel Studios will produce "The First Avenger: Captain America" with Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, Stratton Leopold and Louis D'Esposito as executive producers.

This does raise an interesting question. Chris Evans is no stranger to superpower films. He played (plays) Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies. Not only did he play Johnny Storm, it seems he played Johnny Storm well. Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but in the Marvel Universe, there is a sense of continuity. It is all the same place.

How can Johnny Storm also be Steve Rogers?

It's not the first time Marvel has cast an individual in two separate rolls in the same universe. Ryan Reynolds played Deadpool in "X-men Origins: Wolverine" and Hannibal King in "Blade Trinity".

I suppose if one reads too closely between the lines, Johnny Storm and Captain America are never going to interact with each other in a Marvel film.

Or, just like Clark Kent and Superman, they can never be in the same room at the same time.

Soundtrack of the Week: Ally McBeal

The television show Ally McBeal ran from 1997 to 2002, a strong five season run. Ratings began to drop by the third season, but jumped back up in the fourth when Robert Downey, Jr. joined the cast as Ally's boyfriend.

Quite a bit of the show revolved around the music, provided by Vonda Shepard. Shepard played the singer in the bar on the first floor of the same building of Ally's law firm. Ally often had an inner soundtrack running that the audience was privy to.

Several gags for the show came from the music cues, as well. One of the firm's partners, John Cage, had to listen to Barry White in order to get in the mood. The famous dancing baby danced to "Hooked on Feeling".

Only two seasons have been released individually, with the third set to drop on July 13, 2010.

The entire series has been released in a box set.

Five albums were released for Ally McBeal.

Songs from Ally McBeal May 5, 1998

Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal November 9, 1999

Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas November 7, 2000

Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life April 24, 2001

The Best of Ally McBeal October 6, 2009

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Soundtrack

Beck fans will get an ear-full with the new Scott Pilgrim vs. The World soundtrack.

In the movie where Michael Cera must battle his new girlfriend's seven evil exes, there are several fictional bands. Beck provides the music for Scott Pilgrim's band, SEX BOB-OMB.

Another fictional band, Crash and the Boys, will be made up of unreleased material from Beck, Metric, and Broken Social Scene.

Nigel Godrich was the soundtrack's executive producer and has also penned the score for the film.

The soundtrack will be released on August 10th.

The full tracklist comes from Superherohype

01 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): We Are SEX BOB-OMB

02 Plumtree: Scott Pilgrim

03 Frank Black: I Heard Ramona Sing

04 Beachwood Sparks: By Your Side

05 Black Lips: O Katrina!

06 Crash and the Boys (Broken Social Scene): I'm So Sad, So Very, Very Sad

07 Crash and the Boys (Broken Social Scene): We Hate You Please Die

08 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): Garbage Truck

09 T. Rex: Teenage Dream

10 The Bluetones: Sleazy Bed Track

11 Blood Red Shoes: It's Getting Boring by the Sea

12 Metric: Black Sheep

13 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): Threshold

14 Broken Social Scene: Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl

15 The Rolling Stones: Under My Thumb

16 Beck: Ramona (Acoustic)

17 Beck: Ramona

18 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): Summertime

19 Brian LeBarton: Threshold 8 Bit

Trailer of the Week: Sherlock Holmes

It's an interesting thing about movie trailers. The score for the movie itself has not yet been completed, so the music in the preview is not necessarily the music from the movie.

In Sherlock Holmes, the main score is provided by E.S. Posthumus. The track is called "Unstoppable" from their album Makara.

"Unstoppable" originally appeared as the theme for the 2007 AFC Championship on CBS. They provided the theme song "Arise" for the 2008 AFC Championship on CBS.

E.S. Posthumus formed in 2000 and has licensed their music to many movie and television production companies. Any fan of soundtrack music should definitely give them a look.

Despicable Me

The original soundtrack for Despicable Me will be released on July 6th, three days before the films opening. The soundtrack features new music by Pharrell, Robin Thicke, Destinee & Paris, and others. Also appearing are the Bee Gees and the Sylvers.

The score is also written by Pharell.

Save our Seeker!

The Save our Seeker campaign continues, there is something that a few of the fans have forgotten. The Legend of the Seeker soundtrack, composed by Joseph LoDuca of Xena and Hercules fame, won an Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition in a Series.

Seeker fans still fight for the future of their hero. You can view clips of the show and limited episodes on Hulu.com. Both seasons are available to watch on Netflix, as well.

The soundtrack is definitely worth a listen.

If you are a fan of Legend of the Seeker, you can join the good fight at saveourseeker.com.

Glee, Twilight, and Soundtracks on the Charts

The finale of Glee is a week gone, but that doesn't mean we have forgotten our favorite high school misfits. On iTunes, the Journey to Regionals (pun intended) album features six songs from the finale including Journey's "Faithfully", "Don't Stop Believin'" and the mash-up of "Any Way You Want It/Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'".

Glee: The Music Vol. 3 is currently ranked 12th in albums on iTunes. This is the Deluxe addition with 20 songs vs. the poor man's version that only has 14 tracks. Before you decide, keep in mind that Deluxe has both songs that Broadway powerhouse Idina Menzel did for the show, while the regular version does not.

Meanwhile, holdout Coldplay has granted the Glee producers use of their catalogue for the show. It seems that Coldplay and Bryan Adams have so far been the only holdouts for the show.

If you are wondering if the score for Glee will be released, there is no word on that yet, but the vocals are provided by the Swingle Singers, who have several albums available for purchase. They have appeared on other soundtracks including Thank You for Smoking and Milk.

Also muscling its way into the Top Albums on iTunes is The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack. Currently ranked 9th, the soundtrack features an original song by MUSE written exclusively for the soundtrack.

MGM CEO hunt on pause

The hunt for the new CEO of MGM has proved more difficult than originally thought.

Jonathan Dolgen, Peter Chernin and Bill Mechanic have all said they are not interested in leading the lion.

MGM is struggling under the weight of $4 billion of debt. The owners have been unable to find a buyer for the studio and have instead settled for financial and management restructuring.

One-third of the debt now is held by Highland Capital and a handful of other lenders. Lenders holding two-thirds of the studio's debt would have to approve any prepackaged bankruptcy.

With upcoming "Red Dawn" set for release in November and the horror thriller "Cabin in the Woods" slotted for January, no trailers have been shot, and it's assumed both will be pushed to later release dates.