Last Sunday millions of people around the world where stunned when the news broke that Tony Scott, big time Hollywood director and younger brother of Ridley Scott, had committed suicide for reasons yet to be explained. You can read Empress Eve’s wonderful obituary of the late filmmaker here. Although Scott’s movies were never granted the often unfettered adulation critics and cinéastes willingly gave his brother, he was responsible for some of the coolest and most popular modern Hollywood action films. After scoring two back-to-back blockbusters with Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II, Scott started to make the more interesting movies that would come to define his later years as a director. Some of them were smash hits, but rarely scaled the heights as his earlier career-making successes, and several of them were box office flops that later found new life on home video and cable.

Submitted for your approval are the five films I believe in my heart of hearts to be the essentials of Tony Scott’s unusual but beloved and rewarding filmography. If your knowledge of the man’s work doesn’t extend beyond his ability to make Tom Cruise look good in the cockpit of a fighter jet and the front seat of a battered stock car then you might find this list worth a read.

The Runaways
Directed by Floria Sigismondi
Starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Stella Maeve, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon
Rated R
Release date(s) January 24, 2010 (SFF)
March 19, 2010 (limited)
April 9, 2010 (wide)

The Runaways is a film is based on lead singer Cherie Currie’s memoir, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway and it does a pretty good job of showing us what life was like for a teenage Runaway.

For those uninitiated (like myself before seeing the film) The Runaways were a 1970s rock band that broke musical taboos with their all-girl lineup. While I was watching the film I was thinking about how those same taboos, to a large extent, still exist in today’s musical world. In 2006, I remember Beyoncé Knowles making a huge fuss when she introduced her all-female tour band Suga Mama, which includes bassists, drummers, guitarists, horn players, keyboardists and percussionists. I would’ve thought 35 years would be enough time to break down those male barriers in pop/rock music, but I guess not.

The Runaways, which stars of Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning at Cherie Currie, is based on Currie’s autobiography Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, so to celebrate the film’s wide release in theaters this weekend, we here at Geeks of Doom have five (5) copies to give away to some lucky readers!

Five (5) winners will each receive:

• One (1) copy of Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway

I’ve read the book and trust me, it’s a good one. Currie talks about her upbringing and then goes into detail about her time with The Runaways, which was an all-girl teenage rock band in the 1970s and if you see the movie (which I suggest you do), you’ll see how just how hard these young girls had it and what they did for rock and roll. Currie’s original version of the autobiography has been out of print since the 1990s, but thanks to It Books, the book is not only back in print, but has also been improved upon. I now only three copies of this book (2 of the original; one of the new version), so yeah, I’m lovin’ this contest. So, enter to win!!!

TO ENTER: There’s just two simple steps:

(1) Make sure you’re subscribed to the Geeks of Doom email digest. If you’re not then click here and sign up. (If you’re already a subscriber, then go right to the next step.)

(2) Fill out the entry form here below and submit. (Form is here after the jump.)

Good luck!

In just a few days, the digital download version of the official soundtrack album for The Runaways will be available. Some of the Runaways songs on the album are performed by the film’s stars Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, with one of the tracks — “Cherry Bomb” — already streaming online [Read: Listen Now: Dakota Fanning Sings “˜Cherry Bomb’ On “˜Runaways’ Soundtrack].

Now, a music video for “Cherry Bomb,” featuring vocals by Fanning and Stewart, has been posted online. Watch the video here below.

I haven’t seen The Runaways yet, but I’ve watched enough previews and seen enough images to deduce that this video is compiled from footage from the film. It looks like a combination of on- and off-stage performances from the film, and for the on-stage clips, the movie band is playing the song.

Two very cool items to report tonight regarding The Runaways movie.

First, there’s the final theatrical movie poster. Check it out there at right (click for larger, full view). It’s basically one of the previously released images of Dakota Fanning at Cherie Currie and Kirsten Stewart as Joan Jett. But, it’s one bad-ass picture!

This movie poster image also makes an appearance in the second Runaways news of the night — the full, theatrical trailer! It’s online right now and you can watch it right here below! In the trailer, there’s a quick shot of the two characters in the scene from the poster.

This new trailer gives us a lot more insight on the film, a biopic about the 1970s all-girl teenage rock band, The Runaways. We see a little bit about Joan Jett’s early ambition to start an all-girl rock band, and Cherie Currie’s desire to make a change in her life.

I talked a bit about the movie’s soundtrack earlier this evening [read Listen Now: Dakota Fanning Sings “˜Cherry Bomb’ On “˜Runaways’ Soundtrack for more about the soundtrack and how to hear a song from the album]. The soundtrack contains several Runaways covers, with Fanning and Stewart providing the vocals. In the new trailer, you hear “Cherry Bomb,” which was in the teaser trailer, and for the first time, two other songs: “California Paradise” and “Dead End Justice.”