The Swell Season is here in town this week, which is a concert done by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova from the movie Once.

We’ll get a lot of songs from the movie, plus a few others I believe, like the title of the concert, The Swell Season, which was not in the film.

It should be a great night. As most of you know, Once was one of my favorite movies of 2007, and probably easily one of my top 50 movies of all-time. The music was a huge reason why, and seeing these two amazing artists in person performing will be inspiring I’m sure.

You can hear a lot of their music over on their MySpace page.

The big scene I would tell people about was where Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova sang the song Falling Slowly in a music store on their lunch break.

There was such simplicity, passion and beauty in that scene. When I did my top 10 pop culture moments of 2007, it made the list.

Well, the movie was made in 2006, with two handy cams and a budget of around $100,000, and that song was honored with a Best Original Song Oscar Award on Sunday night.

Maybe I’m becoming an old sap, but this movie meant so much to me that I got a bit teary eyed over the win and couldn’t have been happier. Of all the awards given out this year, this was the only one I really cared about. There is just something so cool about two musicians who put so much love and passion into a song and to see them rewarded for it is awesome.

The amazing thing is that I sort of saw it coming when they performed the song earlier in the ceremony. You could see the reaction from the audience before and after, and the love they all had for it was evident.

And when it was read that they won, you could see the happiness on almost everyone’s faces. I think for many people, this was a great win for independent films, musicians and others artists out there.

I also thought it was classy that after Glen gave his acceptance speech and Marketa got cut off, Jon Stewart brought her out after the commercial break and gave her the moment she deserved for winning. She did a great job, as did Glen.

Here is it below. Truly, one of the best moments of the night I felt.

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My congrats to them both because they totally deserved it. You can watch their Oscar performance of the song below. And after you watch it, go rent the movie!

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Yet there was apparently some controversy over it since the song was first seen by the public in mid-2006. The album, “The Swell Season“, which was recorded by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (the two stars of the film), came out in April, 2006.

The same song was re-recorded for another album called The Cost, this time it was for Hansard’s group The Frames.

Oscar officials were concerned over whether or not the song was actually written for Once or not. The fact was discovered that the scene in which the song appears in the film, was shot well before April in 2006. In fact, the entire movie was shot over 17 days in early January of that year.

But the good news is that today OOncescar officials ruled in favor of allowing to remain an Oscar hopeful. I had no idea things were taken so seriously over at the Academy Awards. Here is the official statement from Oscar town:

The Academy’s music branch executive committee has met and endorsed the validity of “Falling Slowly� as a nominated achievement. The committee relied on written assurances and detailed chronologies provided by songwriter of “Falling Slowly,� the writer-director of “Once� and Fox Searchlight.

The genesis of the picture was unusually protracted, but director John Carney and songwriter Glen Hansard were working closely together in 2002 when the project that became ‘Once’ was discussed. ‘Falling Slowly’ began to be composed, but the actual script and financing for the picture was delayed for several years, during which time Mr. Hansard and his collaborator Marketa Irglova played the song in some venues that were deemed inconsequential enough to not change the song’s eligibility.

Other than the film Juno and all its awards, there isn’t another nomination I want to see win MORE than this song. The movie touched me like only Juno did last year and that song and scene when you first here it was simply amazing.

Good luck to Glen and Marketa for this beautiful piece of music and writing.

“Once” comes out on DVD this week and it has to be my favorite movie of the year so far. Granted, there are a lot of good movies out there to watch yet for Oscar season, but I think this one is more of a sentimental favorite.

There are just those films that hit you in an emotional way that most others have no chance of doing. “Saving Private Ryan” was one of those films that left you feeling the sadness for what you just witnessed. A few more examples would be “Shawshank Redemption” and “Little Miss Sunshine.”

So why is “Once” such a great movie? The best way I can describe it is a simple movie about love, passion and music. Two people, a guy from Dublin who is a guitarist/musician meets a girl from Czech who plays the piano. You never find out their names, but they meet because she sees him playing the guitar on a local busy street one day.

What happens next is where the movie takes off. They decide to go play some of his songs together, her piano with his guitar and lyrics. They walk into a music store where they have permission to use a piano over lunch.

That scene defines the movie and catapults you into the heart of the story. The way he starts to play and sing, and she tries to figures out the notes and melody, and how they become one voice at the end of the song is captivating and moving. I’m pretty sure my eyes watered a bit there (and at other times during the movie).

The guy is played by Glen Hansard of The Frames and the girl by Marketa Irglova. The music makes the film amazing. You’ve never heard such passion in lyrics and singing before in a movie, I guarantee it.

I hope you DVD renters take a chance on this or just go buy it. My fear is that I build it up too much, but I honestly don’t see how it’s possible. The movie grabs you and takes you along for a beautiful ride, no matter who you are.

Check out the trailer for the movie below, and then read on for more DVD picks.

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The Simpsons

Switching major gears here, I’ve not seen this, nor do I really watch the show, but every time I have, I usually laugh hysterically. I heard the movie was pretty funny and I’m sure this DVD will sell like hotcakes.

It’s also a title that’s out on Blu-Ray, so it could really kick some butt and perhaps help tip the tide Blu-Ray’s direction? I hope not.

Blade Runner: Five-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition

Another movie I need to see again since the first time I must have been tired or something, because I found it amazingly boring. But so many people have called it a classic, I need to give it a second try. And I think I will now, because not only is this new release pretty kick butt, it’s also out on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray as well.

Here are some other releases this week, including a list further down of all new HD versions:

DVD (buy these titles at Amazon)

• Stardust – Starring Michelle Pfieffer and Robert DeNiro, a supposedly good movie in the vein of Princess Bride?
• Braveheart: Special Collector’s Edition – Braveheart rocks, period.
• The Moody Blues: Lovely to see you Live (HD-DVD) – For my Dad, who raised us listening to nothing but this band, and made me love them to this day.
• The Evil Dead: Ultimate Edition – For you Bruce Campbell lovers out there.
• Sunrise Earth: American Sunsets Volume 1 – I would only get this to annoy my wife.

Blu-ray (buy these titles at Amazon)

• Blade Runner (Complete Collector’s Ed.) (Warner)
• Blade Runner (Ultimate Collector’s Ed.) (Warner)
• Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour (Sony BMG)
• The Simpsons Movie (Fox)
• Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises Vol 1 (Discovery Channel)
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Warner)
• That’s Entertainment: Complete Collection (Warner)
• Underdog (2007) (Walt Disney)

HD DVD (buy these titles at Amazon)

• Balls of Fury (Universal)
• Blade Runner (Complete Collector’s Ed.) (Warner)
• Blade Runner (Ultimate Collector’s Ed.) (Warner)
• The Moody Blues: Lovely to See You – Live (Image)
• R. Kelly Live – The Light It Up Tour (Image)
• Roy Orbison: A Black & White Night (Image)
• Stardust (Paramount)
• Sunrise Earth: American Sunrises Vol 1 (Discovery Channel)
• That’s Entertainment: Complete Collection (Warner)

Source: EngadgetHD