Three New Movies For Inspiring Your Musical Career

TThere are so many different types of production in the film industry today. There are epic movies for watching them in 3D theaters, there are soup operas for giggling from your TV screen while you are at home, and there are films for revival of thoughts and inspiration, among dozens of others. Inspiration. That’s what all of us need at particular times of our lives, especially when if comes to such unstable thing as a musical career.

During the week, I have discovered three brand new movies that I take the liberty of describing as “inspiring” even before actually watching them (yet). Here they are, for your consideration:

72 Musicians

72 Musicians asks the question, “Why the hell do we chase this music dream, anyway?” The film was made and released by Topspin’s VP of Product Design Bob Moczydlowsky, so the creation, pretty obviously, uses Topspin platform for marketing and distribution (which is a unique and a promising collaboration on its own).

The documentary chronicles the struggles of 72 Kansas City musicians, “speaking with a single, anonymous voice about art, poverty, booze, lies, class, hardship, food and failure. Oh, and day care. And rock ‘n’ roll.” It features interviews and/or performances from members of Spoon, White Whale, The Architects, Coalesce, The Get Up Kids, The Republic Tigers, Mac Lethal, The Life & Times, Roman Numerals, SSION and more.

The movie has been released in a variety of formats, from an $8 iPhone version to HD downloads and DVDs with T-shirts and posters, to 50 DVDs in bulk, all the way to a $400 version which comes on a hard drive with all the assets, Creative Commons-licensed to edit and release your own version. Go read more at Topspin’s Ian Rogers‘ post here.

Don’t Quit Your Daydream

Don’t Quit Your Daydream was created by Los Angeles-based musicians Clark Stiles and Nathan Khyber from the band The Good Listeners and was produced in association with JLoar, Inc and Adrian Grenier’s Reckless Productions.

“It is a story of two musicians approaching their 40th birthday unwilling to relinquish their love of music. Not wanting to give up the dream of being rock stars after hitting 40, the duo set off to do what most said they couldn’t – record the album of their dreams on the road and document every second creating this film. Leaving their day jobs behind, they set off on a 24-day cross-country road trip in an RV recording and filming both the album and documentary, Don’t Quit Your Daydream, while spanning 12 cities across the heart of America.

“Stiles and Khyber were on a mission to find the answer many musicians search for: why risk it all for a pursuit in music? To answer this question, Stiles and Khyber set up their recording studio in each city, collaborated on a song with a local musician and asked them why, like themselves, were they drawn to do what they love most… which is to play music.”

The Runaways

The Runaways is the music-fueled story of the groundbreaking, all girl 1970s rock band, with Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning starring as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. The film is written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, and Apparition will release it on March 19, 2010.

“The two teenage valley girls with punk in their blood, meet and become the heart and soul of the seminal all girl band, The Runaways. Floria Sigismondi brings The Runaways to the big screen in this story of a group of extraordinary young women as they rise from rebellious Southern California kids to rock stars of the now legendary band that paved the way for future generations of girl musicians. Under the Svengali-like influence of rock impresario Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), the group evolves into an outrageous success and a family of misfits. With its tough-chick image and raw talent, the band quickly earns a name for itself — and so do its two leads: Joan is the band’s pure rock’ n’ roll heart, while Cherie, with her Bowie-Bardot looks, is the sex kitten.”

The Runaways is produced by John Linson, Art Linson and Bill Pohlad. Joan Jett, Kenny Laguna and Brian Young serve as executive producers.

Have you had a chance to watch any of the movies? (Or have you decided that you should go to The Runaways premiere?) Share your thoughts in the comments!