TheRetroCritic

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Yes, it's true. I'm the real maestro behind the Star Wars theme.

I talk a bit about Pixar's Coco .

Critically acclaimed and comfortably ruling the top of the box-office, it looks like nothing can stop Pixar's Coco from becoming another significant hit for Disney, not even sticking a vastly unpopular Frozen  20 minute short at the front of it. Coco is the story of 12 year-old Miguel who dreams of becoming a musician like his idol Ernesto De La Cruz except his family has firmly been anti-music for generations so when they destroy his home-made guitar and forbid him to follow that path, he runs away to prove himself by playing music during the Día De Muertos festival. As he attempts to steal the long-dead De La Cruz's guitar in a cemetery, he is somehow transported to the Land Of The Dead where he learns that he'll need to get his family's blessing in order to come back to the land of the living. Revealing any more than that would be cruel so let's leave it at that story-wise. There's something familiar about Coco from the musical skeletons ( Corpse Bride

David Brent, Ricky Gervais' entertainingly pathetic creation from cult series The Office , finally gets his own spin-off movie as the boss-turned-sales rep attempts to make his rock star dreams come true on a misguided UK tour. David Brent: Life On The Road first introduces us to Brent's new life as a sales rep for a bathroom supply firm and, this time, his co-workers aren't all that willing to politely play along with his ebullient cluelessness even if a couple of them do genuinely like him. The film is shot in the same mockumentary style as The Office with Brent and his bandmates talking to the camera throughout their journey. The tour is obviously a disaster from the get-go as the band members are instantly put off by Brent's blatant desperation, awful songwriting and bad sense of humour. The gigs are one catastrophe after another between Brent's naively offensive songs, no-one coming to see the band play and countless mishaps. Fans of awkward humour should

Yes, Miss Peregrine has a song now. Enjoy. Song For Miss Peregrine by TheRetroCritic

What if Dr. Strange had a song? Which movie should I write a song about next? Dr. Strange (The Looking Glass) by TheRetroCritic

Because it had to be done. He's The Hobbit (Smaller Than A Rabbit) by TheRetroCritic

Just for fun, here's a cover of Christophe Beck's excellent Ant-Man theme as I tap and scratch on an acoustic guitar maniacally.

Well it's Star Wars Month (duh!) and since there's never a bad time to revisit this little gem, here we go!

So the Coen Brothers are finally back with yet another Oscar-nominated effort, Inside Llewyn Davis , starring the conveniently first-named Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman. The movie follows a fictional folk singer's journey to try and make his music relevant at a time when folk music was transitioning more towards commercial pop. Llewyn Davis is a bit of a loser, that's hard to deny, jumping from couch to couch, always crashing at family/friends/ex-girlfriends/strangers' apartments, not really working. At the same time, though, there's a purity and an honesty to his music you do respect and want to see be rewarded in the end. This is a much less caricatural Coen Brothers film than we're used to, none of it is over-the-top and, although Davis is a made-up dude, this still feels like it could easily be a true story. Much more so than Fargo , a film which actually claimed to be based on true events. You still get some memorable char

Ever wonder what the singers of some of your favourite anime themes actually look like? Well, here's a selection of classic intro songs sung live! First, Ichiro Mizuki singing the Mazinger Z theme and being awesome: Now, a truly energetic performance by Hironobu Kageyama singing "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" , the immortal intro theme to Dragon Ball Z : Let's get some Doraemon action going with Satoko Yamano singing her intro for the show (the one after Kumiko Osugi's original): Time to step things up a notch with Make-Up's classic Saint Seya theme : Another memorable one you might recall is Yoko Takahashi's theme for Neon Genesis Evangelion : And, to end things with a bang, here's Gundam Wing 's intro song "Just Communication" by Two-Mix: Any more to recommend or any specific ones you'd like me to post? Let us know in the comments below ;)

Growing up in France, where I discovered anime, I was introduced to Grendizer under the name Goldorak and it was all kinds of badass. The show boasted not one, not two but FOUR different intros. The first one, sung by Enrique, was a direct adaptation of the original Japanese intro and, apparently, it ended up being censored because the word "race" was used in the lyrics even if it was referring to big-ass robots: The second intro, by Noam, was much more light-hearted and kid-friendly. Also much more boring: The third intro was another version of Enrique's first intro, this time sung by The Goldies and improved slightly: French anime theme go-to guy back in the day, Bernard Minet, then gave us this intro which, weirdly, ended up being my favourite of the bunch: Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane, here's the original Grendizer theme which is, of course, just as epic as it always was:

Yes. It's exactly what you're thinking.

Here are a couple of Maison Ikkoku -related music videos for all you fans of the classic anime series starting with the popular Japanese song Kanashimi Yo Konnichiwa sung back in the day by Yuki Saito: Here's another live performance of the song, this time with... less flowers: You can check out those classic opening titles HERE . And finally, here's French singer Bernard Minet's own song for the show which, in France, was known as Juliette, Je T'Aime : The French opening titles for the show can be found HERE .

From punk supergroup Osaka Popstar (John Cafiero, Jerry Only, Marky Ramone, Dez Cadena, Ivan Julian) comes a couple of anime intro songs done in their own, unique way. You can find them all on their 2006 album Osaka Popstar And The American Legends Of Punk . Of course, Youtube being Youtube, it was pretty easy to find people who made fan videos from those songs so here's Sailor Moon , first off: Now, how about some Astro Boy ? Unfortunately the video's modelled on the CG movie rather than the original series but hey, it still works really well: Alas, Shaolin Monkeys may not be a real anime series (even though it really should be) so the song didn't get its own video but here it is regardless: Besides, the Shaolin Monkeys have their own website , and in my book that means they're real. You can also find a cute little flash animation for one of the band's songs called Wicked World : More cool stuff on the band's website: osakapopst

Growing up in France, I was exposed so several delicious things: croissants, the word "merde", American B-movies and Japanese anime. Every anime series was, of course, dubbed and entire new opening title sequences were designed to the sound of unique French tunes which usually had nothing to do with the original Japanese songs. Usually this was thanks to a TV show called Le Club Dorothée . Some are corny, some are hilarious, some are brilliant, some are just bad, some are combinations. Here are my personal favourites: 10 JULIETTE JE T'AIME (MAISON IKKOKU) Let's start with a guilty pleasure, shall we? Juliette Je T'Aime 's opening theme was nothing epic or particularly exciting but it was catchy and you'll find it hard to meet a French person who doesn't remember, at the very least, the chorus. Sung by French anime theme mastermind Bernard Minet, it's corny but it's cute and puts you in a good, cosy mood before the show, wha

Just something silly I cooked up to entertain y'all over the weekend :P