Monday, November 7, 2016

Discovering Johnny

You might think me a nerd, but I’ll confess to being a huge fan of movie previews. I await them with the same eager anticipation most reserve for the feature presentation, and despite the grumblings of other movie goers around me, never feel you have too many. I’ll admit though that the experience is usually so fleeting that between the too-brief trailers and watching the 2-hour movie that got me there in the first place, I usually end up only remembering the 1 or 2 most memorable ones. During yesterday’s screening of Hacksaw Ridge, one trailer worked its magic, obliterating all the rest, leaving me utterly enraptured and searching not for the trailer of the film, but for the singer and song in the trailer’s soundtrack.

The film was Logan, but much more importantly, the singer was Johnny Cash and the song was his cover of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt. As I’ve mentioned countless times, I’m not a music buff; I only have a handful of CDs that I keep in my car and otherwise listen to news radio. Yet, much like heavy metal band Disturbed’s cover of The Sound of Silence which left me singing its praises, Cash’s cover was so utterly gut-wrenching and haunting in its delivery that it stayed with me long after leaving the theater. Here’s the breathtaking video of the song which throbs with palpable emotion.



Released back in 2002, the video went on to win a Grammy award for Video of the Year, so I’m only 14 years late, and a dollar short in my discovery, but alas, this is one time when I can say with heartfelt conviction, better late than never. Oh, and by the way, here’s the trailer to Logan. I’m not an X-Men fan, I only ever saw the first film in the series, but I must admit Cash aside, the trailer looks fantastic and Hugh Jackman’s buff physique has nothing to do with it.