These days, movie soundtracks can go many different ways. There’s the compilation of pop songs,  songs scored specifically for the movie, and the original scores. Whether the movie or the music came first, a good soundtrack makes you feel like you’re watching the movie again when you’re listening to it. Following up J.D.’s Top 10 Soundtracks list from last week, here is an updated version of my favorite soundtracks, featuring me taking every possible chance I can get to cram more than one soundtracks under each number. I simply have too many to fit in one ordinary Top 10. Enjoy!

10. Over the Edge (1979)

In the wake of controversy over gang violence movie “The Warriors,” this teen angst classic was prevented a theatrical release, doomed to find its audience on HBO. This twist of fate couldn’t diminish its honesty and power, as a whole host of teens who saw Matt Dillon in his first role ever can attest. The soundtrack was hip and angry for its time, and is still a great, edgy rock listen today. Featuring multiple songs by Cheap Trick, Van Halen, The Cars, and “Teenage Lobotomy” by the Ramones, the music illustrates the sense of futility and raw anger expressed by the teens in the movie, who live in a generic suburban planned community. Unfortunately, it has never been released on CD, so you’ll have to look up the track listing and make your own (or play inflated collector’s prices for vinyl)!

9. The Graduate (1967)

The movie that really began the trend of using original rock songs (not performed onscreen) as a score, this Simon & Garfunkel-heavy soundtrack doesn’t hold up quite as good as the movie does. Dustin Hoffman’s alienation is echoed by “The Sound of Silence,” while his parents’ era is epitomized by the other half of the record, Dave Grusin’s foxtrots and instrumental jazz numbers. It’s an uncomfortable marriage that re-iterate’s the movie’s themes, but makes for a challenging listening experience. You may want to pick up some Simon & Garfunkel seperately, because the versions here were slightly altered for the film. This one is on the list, though, because it started the era of the rock-scored soundtrack. Legend has it that when director Mike Nichols showed the duo a rough cut of the movie, they took a song they had about Joe DiMaggio and other American icons, changed some lyrics and the title in another room, and came back some minutes later to play him “Mrs. Robinson.”

8. This is Spinal Tap (1984)

The best movie ever made has an attention to detail that most films can’t even come close to. Because of this, the “black album” (Sorry Metallica and Prince, the Tap was ridiculing your pretentiousness before you even came up with it!) is a soundtrack of hilariously convincing original songs written by its director Rob Reiner, stars Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer (better known as Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, and Derek Smalls, the core of Spinal Tap). Performed by the Tap (the actors actually singing and playing their own instruments), this soundtrack is full of pitch-perfect parodies of all different touchstones of rock history. There’s innocent 50s rock (”Gimme Some Money“, psychedelic 60s rock (”Listen to the Flower People“), and a lot of bombastically silly late 70s/early 80s heavy metal (“Big Bottom,” “Sex Farm”). Not since Neil Innes and Eric Idle’s Beatles take-off (The Rutles in “All You Need is Cash“) has rock been lampooned so precisely. What’s more, the infectious little numbers on this classic album are now lodged securely in their own myth, ensuring the fake British “band who couldn’t” a special place in rock n’ roll history and several legitimate wordwide tours. Tap lives!

7. Boogie Nights Volume 1 and 2 (1997), Magnolia (1999), and There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic portrait of outsiders on the porn fringe is a constant high followed by an extended hangover. The music is the same way, mixing 70s disco hits like The Emotions’ “Best of my Love” with oddball one hit wonders like Melanie’s “Brand New Key,” all the while carefully avoiding the more campy hits like Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting,” an annoying piece of kitsch that ruins every disco/funk compilation it touches. The one exception, beware: Volume 2 includes “You Sexy Thing”—have your skip finger ready! Besides mixing in the macho-tuneful earnestness of the 80s with Night Ranger and Rick Springfield, the soundtrack also veers off successfully into non-era specific tunes like the Beach Boys’ lilting “God Only Knows” that recall the film’s emotional montage and wrap things up, like Dirk Diggler and Amber Waves’ lives, on a melancholy note. As an extra added bonus, Dirk and Reed’s hilarious studio magic on “Feel the Heat” and “You Got the Touch” appear on Volume 1. Following in the footsteps of “The Graduate” and more contemporary soundtracks like “Good Will Hunting” featuring Elliott Smith, one artist makes up the majority of the music in Paul Thomas Anderson’s bold, adventurous L.A. ensemble piece “Magnolia.” That artist is Aimee Mann, and Anderson says her music actually inspired him to write the movie. The director weaves it in and out of the film as if the songs themselves were the narrator. At one point, all the characters actually sing with Mann’s “Wise Up” during a riveting montage. It makes for a more cohesive record, too, until the end when two Supertramp songs and somebody named Gabrielle threaten to mess it up. Jon Brion’s “Magnolia” theme blends in well, however, since it was he who produced most of Mann’s tracks. Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic, nihilistic “There Will Be Blood” features the most memorable soundrack of any movie in recent memory. Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead composed the score, which featured excerpts from a work he was comissioned to compose for the BBC in 2004, and therefore made him ineligible for the Oscar for Best Original Film Score earlier this year. Too bad. This disturbing and sinister score evokes the turn of the 19th Century even at it lambasts you with dissonant strings and rhythmic punches to the gut. If anything in this movie truly lived up to the horror that it’s title suggested, it would be Greenwood’s haunting score.

6. Dancer in the Dark, Bjork - Selmasongs (2000)

There is no official soundtrack to Lars Von Trier’s disturbing “Dancer in the Dark,” but this is as close as you’ll get. It is also the rare soundtrack album that improves upon the music that’s actually heard in the movie. Since actors David Morse and Peter Stormare weren’t really up to the task of singing in the first place, Bjork replaced and rearranged all their original vocal tracks from the movie, where, freed from the structural limitations of a musical, they become an even more pleasurable listening experience. In the film itself, the tenuous singing voices and rambling arrangements suit the characters and storyline. (One classy lady who pulled it all off is legendary actress Catherine Deneuve—watch and listen here!) But listening to the album alone immediately gives you that familiar feeling from the movie with a clearer focus on the songs. Thom Yorke (the second Radiohead member to make an appearance in this Top 10) even shows up to duet with Bjork on “I’ve Seen It All.” (Although she was solo on the Oscars that year- click on the song title to see the infamous swan dress performance!) I was way behind on appreciating Bjork’s music, but “Dancer in the Dark” made me an instant fan. This is my favorite record of hers, and the movie is assuredly the most emotionally raw musical I’ve ever seen.

5.  L.A. Confidential (1997) 

Sandwiched between two short bits from Jerry Goldsmith’s brilliant score (which is available in its entirety on a seperate album) are 12 playful and moody jazz vocal classics from the likes of Dean Martin, Johnny Mercer, and more. Proof that the songs in “L.A. Confidential” is especially potent: the DVD itself includes a special feature where you can just listen to the film’s music. With its long stretches of silence during extended scenes of dialogue with no music, it’s a strange way to listen to the soundtrack, but perfect for mundane house chores like cleanng the kitchen. The movie is easily the best neo-noir since “Chinatown,” and like the other films on my Top 10, this evocative use of songs help bring the film’s time period to life, this time transporting the listener to 1950s Los Angeles, where booze and bullets flow freely. I usually prefer instrumental jazz, but lovely renditions of standards like Chet Baker’s “Look for the Silver Lining” instantly melt my cold heart. Kay Starr’s playful “Wheel of Fortune” is at the other end of the emotional spectrum , but no less fantastic.

4. Superfly (1972)

American soul icon Curtis Mayfield (formerly of the Impressions) had the high point of his career with this unlikely hit record, a soundtrack to the blaxploitation film of the same name. This record was so good that it shot to the top of the charts immediately and became one of the few albums to actually outgross in record sales its accompanying movie at the box office. Not only was Mayfield’s concept album socially aware without explicit moralizing (unlike the movie, which pretty much glorifies drug dealing), but the songs on it are amazing and nearly all of them are considered  classics now—“Pusherman,” “Freddie’s Dead,” “Superfly,” “Little Child Runnin’ Wild.” It’s the kind of record that, when you listen to it for the first time, you’ll recognize certain beats and bass lines and realize where half the stuff you hear in contemporary soul and rap came from. And here’s the thing—put it on today and it still sounds like the coolest thing you’ve ever heard.

3. Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Volume I and II (2003/4), and Death Proof (2007)

How’s this for cheating? The one thing these amazing soundtracks all have in common is that they were put together with an encyclopedic knowledge of film and music, making something new and exciting from the old and forgotten. “Pulp Fiction” (recenly named the best film of the last 25 years by EW) is here because with this formula, director Quentin Tarantino re-invented the modern soundtrack. Who else would put the Statler Brothers and Dick Dale on the same album as Al Green and be able to make it all work? Urge Overkill’s is-it-tongue-in-cheek-or-not tribute to Neil Diamond, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” reamins their best known song. “Jackie Brown” is similar, combining obscure Johnny Cash with obscure soul by The Delfonics. But poo-poo to both soundtracks and QT for also rekindling the horrible and annoying idea of using dialogue from the movie between the song selections. It’s funny once, but it gets old real fast. And what of the “Kill Bill” music? The most obscure AND the most fun of them all. Tarantino singlehandedly made half these songs high profile, and now they’re all over commercials and other movies. (At least when he ripped them out of other movies, they were still obscure!)  Somewhere, the 5,6,7,8s and Tomoyasu Hotei are collecting some mad royalty checks. As far as “Death Proof” goes, which is another great collection of semi-obscurities featuring April March and Pacific Gas & Electric, I have QT to thank for exposing me (during the movie’s grisly and unforgettable collision) to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich’s dirty-guitar/poppy 60s anthem “Hold Tight.” Unfortunately, now every time I hear it in while driving or riding in a car, I get real nervous.

2. Yellow Submarine: Original Songtrack (1969/99) 

This is cheating, I know, but J.D. already put “A Hard Day’s Night” on his list, so now I have a chance to give props to an overlooked animated movie that warped my impressionable little mind at a very young age. This film is a strange little curiosity that still holds considerable charm and sounds even better on DVD. The original soundtrack paired four new Beatles songs with two previously released tracks, and a score by longtime producer George Martin. The movie itself, however, featured nine more Beatles originals. These nine were finally released with the first six on a “songtrack” upon the film’s re-release in 1999. The songtrack’s lineup brings me back to a beautiful time in my childhood when the Beatles and this psychedelic slice of movie weirdness had true transformative powers. This movie introduced me to “Nowhere Man,” one of the best Beatles songs ever, and the image of twisty-talker Jeremy is burned in my brain forever. And how about “Only a Northern Song” ? The animated Beatles (who were created and voiced by others) were my friends and opened up a whole world of British comedy to me that continued with “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” (The actual Beatles appear only during the movie’s last scene.) As for the songtrack, it is still the best Beatles compilation on the market (and yes, that includes “Love”).

1. Dead Presidents: Volumes I and II (1995)

Sometimes the best soundtracks come from the worst movies. The Hughes brothers’ film isn’t horrible, but it is too long and rambling; a forgettable nostalgic melodrama that may be most notable for a featuring a dramatic Chris Tucker role. Listening to the fantastic music in it, however, is a pure joy. I’ll say it here right now: There is no better introductory compilation of late 60s/early 70s soul around than Volumes I and II of this soundtrack. These two volumes mix in some widely known hits (O’Jays’ “Love Train,” Al Green’s “Tired of Being Alone,” Sly and the Family Stone’s “If You Want Me to Stay”) with some darker, lesser-known tunes (Curtis Mayfield’s “If There’s a Hell Below” and “Right on for Darkness” and The Intruders’ “Cowboys to Girls”) to create a more cohesive, moving experience than even the movie could. These albums jump-started my need to discover a fruitful time in R&B that is often times unfairly overshadowed by the oldies radio-dominated success of early Motown. So many compliations of this nature often focus on the cheesiest crap from the period (“Shake Your Booty,” anyone?) in order to sell the most records they can to soccer moms who love to karaoke once a year when they’re feeling “crazy.” Skip the movie, buy the soundtracks.

Eric’s Runners-up: The Blues Brothers, More, The Valley, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Good Will Hunting, I Heart Huckabees, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Pieces of April, Rushmore, The Last Waltz, Trouble Man, Help!

Tags: boogie nights, Dancer in the Dark, dead presidents, pulp fiction, There Will Be Blood, This is Spinal Tap, top 10 movie soundtracks, top ten movie soundtracks, yellow submarine

I watch movies for one reason. I want to experience something emotionally. I want to be moved—it’s that simple. Whether it’s the high-flying action and romance of “Spider-Man 2” the introspective chaos of “Fight Club,” or the non-stop absurdity of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” I want to feel something. The blackest and bleakest of dramas have a tough road to travel. In order for it to be worth two hours of depression, I have to feel like there is some kind of enlightenment, some human truth. Many of these dark films, like Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist,” keep me coming back for repeated viewings. Some, on the other hand, give me that cathartic experience but also take to me to a place I’m not likely to visit again. I’m not sure that “enjoy” is the right word for this, but try renting one of these exceptional films some night when you’re ready for some artistically disturbing material. I’ve stuck to modern films to keep it to 10, but feel free to comment with additions from any era of filmmaking. Also, here’s J.D.’s response!

10. In the Bedroom (2001)

A whopper of a directorial debut, Todd Field’s adaptation of the Andre Dubus short story “Killings” earned five Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Grief overtakes married couple Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson after their 18 year-old son is unexpectedly murdered by the separated husband of his older girlfriend, played by Marisa Tomei. A slow burning rage in both of them eventually boils to a head after the murderer gets out on bail and keeps showing his face in the small Maine fishing community where they live. Wilkinson’s attraction to Tomei and his wife’s accusing glances only make the tension even more unbearable. The ending seems a little incongruent since the rest of the film kept the fury to a simmering level, but “In the Bedroom” remains an illuminating look at the unexpected side effects of severe grief.

9. Happiness (1998)

Todd Solondz followed up his darkly hilarious “Welcome to the Dollhouse” with another seriously twisted and (depending on your aptitude for masturbation and human misery) funny film. “Happiness” depicts the social misadventures of three sisters and the pathetically disturbed freaks that surround them. Philip Seymour Hoffman is a maladjusted introvert whose only social interaction with women is filthy prank phone calls. Dylan Baker plays a suburban father who turns out to also be a child molester (and who has the most stomach-churning conversation in recent memory with his 11 year-old son). Many of Solondz’s characters come to the eventual revelation that they are incapable of any real emotion at all. There are so many wrong things happening here that the iconic writer/director seems to be suggesting that the kind of behavior depicted in his characters’ search for happiness is not abnormal, but instead the norm for today’s society. It’s been ten years since I first saw this movie, and I have only been recently considering that I may be ready to watch it again.

8. Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

This beautifully-shot independent movie moved me so much when I saw it in the theaters that I bought it on DVD as soon as it was released—and then never watched it again. Hilary Swank won an Oscar for playing the true-life transgendered Brandon Teena, who lived life in a small Nebraska town as a boy until it was discovered he was really a girl. Brandon develops friendships both romantic and platonic, but his friends’ confusion manifests itself in extreme violence and guilt. Brandon himself was unprepared to deal with his own gender identity crisis, and first-time feature writer/director Kimberly Peirce (“Stop-Loss”) elucidates why none of his friends were either. The whole experience is enlightening, tragic, and completely maddening.

7. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (2007), The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)

Cinematographer Oleg Mutu shot both of these disturbing neo-realist pictures, which herald a burgeoning new movement in Romanian film. Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes Palm d’Or winner“4 Months” follows the trials of two female college students in 1980s Communist Romania who seek out an illegal abortion, while Cristi Puiu’s “Mr. Lazarescu” follows an aged alcoholic widow who has a terrible headache and is puking blood through the ailing Bucharest medical system. The low-light documentary style of the camerawork and elimination of any soundtrack music only serve to heighten the reality of these awful situations. The events in each film provide very little relief from the insensitivity of human beings, even though the DVD box of “Mr. Lazarescu” calls it a black comedy. I admired both movies, and am glad to have achieved a level of emotional participation, but I never cracked a smile during either film, and I never want to watch either of them again.

6. In the Company of Men (1997)

Two misogynist yuppies set out to ruin the life of the most innocent young woman they can find in this difficult play-turned-independent feature from writer/director Neil LaBute. An ultra low-budget sledgehammer satire on modern corporate power and the male libido, “In the Company of Men” can be as funny as it is malicious, but it is anything but an easy watch. It launched the film career of Aaron Eckhart, who plays the most single-mindedly evil office worker ever—a man drunk with power and so heartless that he gets off on toying with the affections of a pretty, deaf subordinate just so he can crush her completely. There is something to be said for the unusually high level of uncompromising cruelty that LaBute puts on display here. As hard as the movie is to get through, “In the Company of Men” has a lot to say about the fear-driven complex that can lead to this kind of abuse.

5. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

If grief was the overriding emotion that drove “In the Bedroom,” then is the soul of every frame of director Atom Egoyan’s adaptation of the novel of the same name by Russell Banks. A school bus accident in a small Canadian town leaves the residents crippled with loss. Ian Holm plays a lawyer who tries to convince the families to sue for damages (and thus keeps the town’s wounds open and fresh), and Sarah Polley is a survivor who lies to keep her sexually-abusive father from benefiting financially from the crash. This haunting movie draws a sympathetic portrait of everyone, including Holm’s lawyer, who’s dealing with his own family tragedy as well. More than any other film on this list, the pervasive downbeat mood of “The Sweet Hereafter” outweighs any specific plot developments, making it one singular, depressing examination of human suffering and healing.

4. Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Often inappropriately devalued as nothing more than an extremely graphic anti-drug PSA, Darren Aronofsky’s imaginative and kinetic film will stay with you long after the final credits roll. Based on Hubert Selby Jr.’s book, “Requiem for a Dream” is really about the dangers of an unattainable dream. Every character in the movie—from Ellen Burstyn’s diet-pill abusing, infomercial-addicted elderly mother to her weak, heroin-addicted son (played by Jared Leto)—makes desperate, stupid attempts to achieve their dreams, and each are thwarted in their own unfortunate way. “Requiem for a Dream” isn’t always as downbeat as some of the other films on this list, but in one particular way, it is way, way harder on an audience than the others: Its characters have hope, and they live for that hope with every passing season. And then reality comes back into focus and kicks every single one of them in the nuts.

3. Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

This remarkable movie, helmed by Mike Figgis and starring Best Actor winner Nicolas Cage and Best Actress nominee Elisabeth Shue, is the least judgmental love story ever written. It achieves a clarity and beauty of vision that few movies about alcoholics ever have, mainly because it is all about acceptance. “Leaving Las Vegas” refuses to engage with the typical “life-changing moment” formula that almost every screenplay in the world sticks to. Instead, it observes the often stubborn immovability of the human will. By the time Hollywood screenwriter Cage reaches Sin City, he has left the shattered remains of his life behind and his goal is clear—to spend the last of his money drinking himself to death. An unlikely relationship with Shue’s hooker gives Cage something to look forward to each day, but only under the condition that his ultimate fatalistic goal remains undeterred. Figgis co-wrote the screenplay with the novel’s author John O’Brien, who committed suicide himself two weeks into the shooting of the film.

2. Dancer in the Dark (2000)

A Czech immigrant factory worker named Selma (played by musician Bjork) has a degenerative disease that’s causing her to go blind in Lars Von Trier’s emotionally draining, digitally-shot musical. Horrible situations keeping piling up for our heroine, who retreats into her mind to stage elaborate musical numbers that feature the characters in her miserable life. She holds out hope that one day she’ll be able to pay for an operation that will save her son from the same fate. Tragedy and uplifting music have been combined in many a musical before, but because Von Trier shoots in a handheld realist style and the level of heartbreak is so enormous, the effect is very jarring in “Dancer in the Dark.” Selma’s situation goes from bad to worse, but she shows great courage in the face of her misfortune and uses music to escape from an increasingly grim reality. The movie won the Palm d’Or and Bjork was awarded Best Actress at Cannes that year, but not without controversy. Supposedly, Von Trier’s method of directing Bjork was so harsh and personally abusive that the singer swore off acting for good after this. A friend of mine was so angry at the movie that he bolted out the door after its conclusion and ran down the street screaming—a reaction that I don’t find to be all that strange, all things considered.

1. I Stand Alone (1998)

There are plenty of movies out there, like Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible,” that I never want to watch again because I learned absolutely nothing from them. But before that film, Noe made “I Stand Alone”—a movie that stands alone for me as the single most grueling cinematic experience I’ve ever had. At least the despair in “Dancer in the Dark” is broken up with false joy every now and then. “I Stand Alone” is one gut-wrenching sucker punch after another, climaxing with a title screen that abruptly comes up and warns theatergoers that they have 30 seconds to leave the theater. There I sat. For 30 seconds, it counted down: 29, 28, and so on. Some people, fed up with the relentless despair and shocking violence they had seen up to that point already, 15, 14…promptly got out of their seats and headed for the exits. 2,1…I sat there, riveted, with the hair on my arms standing at end. Set in Paris in 1980, the film follows a former butcher who lashes out at a world that condemns the lower class to abject poverty. Stuck in a loveless relationship with an overweight, screeching, pregnant woman, he grabs his gun and sets out to find the mentally-deficient teenage daughter he gave up years ago when he went to prison. As hopeless as his outlook is, we get to know the butcher through his inner monologue, which is more than I can say for the poor saps that inhabit the equally shocking but pointless “Irreversible,” which looks at the how one little decision can change the course of your life. “I Stand Alone” involved me emotionally and gave me something to think about, while “Irreversible” just pissed me off and made me feel like I’d seen an NC-17 version of “Sliding Doors” but with no Gwyneth Paltrow.

Here’s a toughie. In what 2000 movie did Aaron Eckhart get scalped by this guy?

Tags: 2 Days, 3 Weeks, 4 Months, best movies, Boys Don’t Cry, brutal movies, cruel movies, Dancer in the Dark, depressing movies, gASPAR nOE, Happiness, I stand ALONE, In the Bedroom, In the Company of Men, iRREVERSIBLE, lars von trier, Leaving Las Vegas, list, Requiem for a Dream, Solondz, Swank, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, The Sweet Hereafter, Top 10 Lists, top ten