Once

Title: Once
Year: 2006
Director: John Carney
Writer: John Carney
Starring: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
Music: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
Distinctions: Oscar for best original song; formerly on IMDb's Top 250
Synopsis: guy and girl meet and record an album together
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), March 2008
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh).
Objective Rating: 3/10 (gets points for story, special effects/design and acting) c. 2.3/4 (Okay).

Ugh. Okay, the script was refreshing in a number of ways, and the directing and acting were both very good. But that stuff doesn't really count for all that much, since this movie is basically a 90-minute music video. And the music is badly performed* and largely plagiarized. It's that last point that really gets me, especially since they won an Oscar for "You Really Got a Hold on Me" with new words -- I guess no one in the academy has heard of the Beatles. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against ripping off old music. Most of my favorite songwriters do it on a regular basis. But this isn't deliberately taking something and using it; this is the This Tune Just Came To Me school of songwriting.  As a musician, that kind of ignorant bullsh** pisses me off.

*Although, the acting is good, and you could argue that these characters probably shouldn't be great performers, but instead should be bursting with angst and soulless emotion, which they are.