As everyone looks back on the year that was, I've found myself returning to a few moments in the movies that resonated especially well thanks to a phenomenon that achieves soul-stirring status so rarely, though not for lack of frequency: Song choice. I'm not talking about dropping the latest Kelly Clarkson/Natasha Bedingfield ditty into a crap rom-com. I mean the special, skin-tingling magic that occurs when a song is married so perfectly to a character, story, or feeling that the music and the moment swell within us with new, layered meaning. Join me and let's hash it out: Which movie(s) used music the best in 2011?
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Ryan Gosling fans, Nicolas Winding Refn devotees, and soundtrack obsessives, take note: As of today, you can download the '80s/electronica-influenced soundtrack to Drive, the crime-thriller-romance that should be on your must-see list for fall. Available for purchase on Amazon today, the album -- combining original tracks by the likes of Johnny Jewel's Desire and Chromatics with an atmospheric electronic score by Cliff Martinez -- should make the perfect aural accompaniment to your Drive tour of L.A.!
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Along with fellow documentarians Paolo Cavara and Franco Prosperi, Italian filmmaker Gualtiero Jacopetti helped to birth the exploitation cinema genre known as the mondo film, which took off following the success of their 1962 shockumentary classic Mondo Cane. Jacopetti, aged 92, died this week in Rome; his most provocative films include Africa Addio and Addio zio Tom (Goodbye, Uncle Tom), the latter of which happens to earn a nod in a certain upcoming Ryan Gosling automotive thriller opening next month.
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