• The Duke or The Dude? Which Rooster has more true grit? [Entertainment Weekly]
• Russ Fischer has the music video for Jonsi’s “Sticks & Stones” from “How to Train Your Dragon.” [/Film]
• Brendon Connelly runs down all of the “Toy Story 3” ads so far featuring the “Not since…” campaign. [Bleeding Cool]
As we did last year, we’re going to bring you as many of the Best Original Song contenders as we can this season in these “listen to” posts. I’m going to aim for two or three per week, all leading up to the Best Original Song Tech Support column on December 9. By then, we should have a clearer idea of the category.
We kick things off with “Sticks & Stones,” a closing credits track from DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” by Sigur Rós front man Jónsi Birgisson. As we know, the Academy’s music branch views the original song contenders in the context of the films these days, so tunes that play over the closing credits have their work cut out for them.
Sometimes, if the credits are part of the story (i.e. “WALL-E” or “Waiting for Superman”), a song will have a fighting chance. That will be tough for Jónsi’s track, which just plays over a traditional credit roll (albeit accompanied by handsome storybook sketches of the film’s winged serpents).
As we get closer and closer to the film awards season, I thought maybe it was a good time to round up all the potential original song contenders. It’s generally a good idea to keep track of these things, so let’s see what we have so far.
One of the best bets is probably Randy Newman’s “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3.” As usual for Newman, it’s not the kind of song that dives too far beneath the surface, but it’s a delightful jingle that helped sum up one of the year’s biggest critical and popular hits, so it should be considered formidable.
Speaking of animated films,“How to Train Your Dragon” has an original song, “Sticks & Stones,” from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson. It’s a fast-paced bit of happiness that probably doesn’t have what it takes to push through to a nomination, but it’s in the field nevertheless.