Mt Rushmore of Movies Blogathon

This is hosted by Two Dollar Cinema, and in his words: To participate, simply choose the top four of anything cinematic and explain why they should be carved into the side of a mountain forever. Remember, these are real people carved into imaginary rock - so choose wisely!

I wrote about romantic comedy leads two years ago, but this year I decided to go with musical talent in movies. This can either be a solo performer or a band that performs a catchy or memorable song in their film. A lot of films could have been contenders, but most of my picks are of the recent past, and they made my mountain because of the songs performed.

Hearts Beat Loud

To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to the entire movie, until the performance by father-daughter duo, 'We're Not a Band', at their record store that was closing shop. Both of them were in different paths of their lives - Frank (Nick Offerman) is trying to hold on to the past, while Sam (Kiersey Clemons) was working on her future, but music connected them in such a strong way.

Begin Again

I was quite obsessed with this film when it came out, much so that the soundtrack was the only thing I was listening to while I was on a two-week holiday a few years ago. I was ecstatic when one of the songs got nominated (didn't love the Oscar performance though). I really loved Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in this one: music connected their characters when both were feeling lost, giving both of them some sense of purpose and a chance to move forward in their lives.

Sing Street

I was metaphorically hitting myself for putting off watching this a lot sooner. This was John Carney's follow up to Begin Again, and this was fantastic. It brought a group of teenage boys together and formed a band. They wrote their own songs, made their own music videos, and got themselves gigs. For the main character though, it was always about winning over this girl he had a massive crush on, even having her star in some of their videos, with the band hoping to make it big. I still think this flew under the radar despite its stellar reviews.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

This mockumentary-style film about the rise and fall of a popstar personality (Connor4Real) has The Lonely Island written all over it. The movie is basically a narrative version of their brand/SNL gig, and is one of the underlooked comedies the year it was released. This also had a slew of celebrity guests (it is a 'documentary' after all) that contributed to the full effect of the film.