Amph Time Out's 50 Best Music Moments in Film: 26. ?Blue Moon,? Sam Cooke, An American Werewolf in Londo

50. ?Orinoco Flow (Sail Away),? Enya, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

"In David Fincher?s latest antiseptic thriller, the murderer has all the usual instruments of torture: poison gas, sharp scalpels, immobilizing slings. But most harrowing of all? A taste for blasting Enya?s cloying hit song at eye-glazing volume. (We don?t have the clip?and wouldn?t want to ruin the killer's identity for you anyway?but here?s that cool trailer again.)?KU"

Trailer

 

It's pretty funny and all, but if this is their entry from 2011 and they neglect "La Mer" in Tinker Tailor then they've failed.

I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be the 50th best musical moment in film of all time, anyway. But we'll see.

 

49. ?Hip to Be Square,? Huey Lewis and the News, American Psycho (2000)

"True to the spirit of the novel, this adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis?s serial-killer satire uses Huey?s catchy hit single to score the cutthroat dispatching of a Wall Street rival. Christian Bale alternates gleeful critical assessments with grisly ax thwacks, making this superficially slick ?80s tune emblematic of the ultimate Reagan-era hollow man.?DF"

Video clip

 

48. ?You Never Can Tell,? Chuck Berry, Pulp Fiction (1994)

"Of the many peppy, pop-culture-charged scenes in Quentin Tarantino?s landmark crime comedy, few pack the giddy punch of this Jack Rabbit Slim?s musical number, set to a Chuck Berry jaunt. Uma Thurman slinks with feline grace, and John Travolta proves he?s still got the Tony Manero moves.?KU"

Video Clip

 

I know it's incredibly boring, me just following you around and agreeing with every word you say about Tinker Tailor, but you're absolutely right again.

You Never Can Tell is great in Pulp Fiction; it's an iconic moment for sure. Will they make room for two Tarantino moments on the list or does this mean the ear scene from Reservoir Dogs is out? Nah, no way could they leave that one off. It'll probably be in the top ten.

 

47. ?He Needs Me,? Shelley Duvall, Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

"The lilting love anthem from Robert Altman?s 1980 Popeye was brilliantly repurposed by Paul Thomas Anderson for his quirky romance: Adam Sandler races to join inamorata Emily Watson in Hawaii. When they finally embrace, the music flourishes and the rush is palpable.?KU"

 

I obnoxiously bang the drum for one film around this time every year. I'm pretty sure I could make reference to it in a Russ Meyer thread or some such.

The use of "He Needs Me" in Punch-Drunk Love is far, far better than its original purpose. Much better film, to boot.

 

wow, i had no idea this was from popeye and that it was shelley duvall's voice i was hearing.

YALEARNSOMETHINGNEWEVERYDFAOEHT@&#%Q#YRQ#*$RY#*YW#*RU#*RUF

 

46. ?Some Velvet Morning,? Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, Morvern Callar (2002)

"A psychedelic groove of soap-opera strings and lyrical menace accompanies Samantha Morton, lost in her headphone cloud, as she cruises to her McJob at the supermarket. It?s a perfectly rendered Gen-Whatever moment, an interior mood that few filmmakers have nailed as expertly as Scotland?s Lynne Ramsay.?J"

AKA "Summer Wine"

 

45. ?The Times They Are a-Changin?,? Bob Dylan, Watchmen (2009)

"Zack Snyder?s faithful-to-a-fault adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons?s influential graphic novel is a dud, save its mesmerizing, Bob Dylan?scored opening-credits sequence. Dylan?s folk prophecy poetically complements the history of the story?s superhero protagonists, from their WWII heyday to a Vietnam-era fall from grace.?KU"

 

Like all of Zack Snyder's musical choices, mind-numbingly obvious. To his credit, this one actually works, though.

 

To give Snyder a little - but not much - credit, "The Times They Are a-Changin'," and indeed, Bob Dylan, had a pretty big influence on the original comic. The former was used as a slogan for Veidt's Nostalgia perfume line, as well as for one of the end chapter quotes, and Dylan is the most-quoted songwriter in the series.

Also, this is really the only sequence of the film that I thought was well done. Make of that what you will.

 

44. ?Natural?s Not in It,? Gang of Four, Marie Antoinette (2006)

"Sofia Coppola?s threading of anachronistic postpunk into her portrait of the 18th-century queen prompts head-scratching among historical purists. But kicking things off with Gang of Four?s Marxist critique is inspired: The song immediately puts displays of conspicuous consumption within contextual air quotes. (Here?s the trailer, with a taste of Gang of Four at the 0:30 mark, along with other artists.)?DF"

Video Clip

No. No. No.

 

great song tho

 

43. ?Danny Boy,? Frank Patterson, Miller?s Crossing (1990)

"It?s ironic enough for an Irish crime boss to be assassinated in his bedroom while listening to this ballad. Yet the Coen brothers rev up the humor massively by having the wistful gent (the mighty Albert Finney) actually survive the hit, returning a hail of submachine-gun fire while his favorite song calmly concludes.?JR"

 

It's a great sequence, with style winning out over realism (Finney fires what seems like hundreds of rounds from his Thompson sub-machine gun, far more than the drum magazine could possibly hold). But then the film is just superb in almost every respect.

 

42. ?These Days,? Nico, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

"Gwyneth Paltrow is immortalized as the alluring, raccoon-eyed Margot Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson?s slo-mo tracking shot, which captures a sweet reunion, a hint of nostalgia and the filmmaker?s signature coziness, all wrapped up in the Teutonic loveliness of Nico?s quiet voice. If Anderson's choices were always this restrained, he'd be a giant.?JR"

 

41. ?Imagine,? John Lennon, The Killing Fields (1984)

"This Oscar-winning drama about an American journalist and his captured Cambodian translator uses John Lennon?s hit to end on a high note. The former Beatle?s wish-list lyrics and the moment?s emotional uplift?a tearful reunion?make such utopian fantasies seem both noble and absolutely necessary.?DF"

 

Made amusing by the fact that Joffe used Band on the Run as well... to score a massacre.

 

40. ?Making Time,? the Creation, Rushmore (1998)

"Here?s the moment when Wes Anderson truly arrives, forever to live in the hearts of geeky obsessives with this montage of Max Fischer?s extracurriculars, ranging from ?bombardment society founder? to the director of the Max Fischer Players. The forgotten band that penned the tune, a lesser Who, supplies the attitude.?JR"

 

40. ?Making Time,? the Creation, Rushmore (1998)

"Here?s the moment when Wes Anderson truly arrives, forever to live in the hearts of geeky obsessives with this montage of Max Fischer?s extracurriculars, ranging from ?bombardment society founder? to the director of the Max Fischer Players. The forgotten band that penned the tune, a lesser Who, supplies the attitude.?JR"

 

Brilliant moment in a brilliant film full of such moments.

I should know, I'm a geeky obsessive!

 

Rushmore is sublime, one of my ten favorite movies.

 

It's still my fave Wes Anderson movie. And the soundtrack is terrific, between the original Mothersbaugh compositions and the ingenious use of classic "British Invasion" rock.

Plus the film was shot in Houston, where I spent my childhood and teenage years, so it has that going for it too.

 

39. ?Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In),? the First Edition, The Big Lebowski (1998)

"Jeff ?The Dude? Lebowski knows his way around narcotics, but he?s surely never had a trip quite like the bowling-alley dream sequence in the Coens? profanely funny comedy. Wagneresque chorines, scissor-wielding nihilists and a Kenny Rogers ditty combine for maximum, mind-altering surreality.?KU"