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Worst use of songs in films.

  • 13-08-2011 10:51AM
    #1
    bnt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,116 ✭✭✭✭


    The other thread is very nice, but I think we need something to show the other side of the coin: how not to use songs in films.

    I have a particular gripe with films involving Nora Ephron: whether writing or directing, she uses songs as blunt weapons, hammering the topic of a scene in to your head with about as much subtlety as a kick in the teeth. "You will feel this way - or else!" A couple of examples:

    Tom Hanks is delivering flowers to Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail, so we get Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EbBPwEtEwU


    When Harry Met Sally for the first time, they drive across country and argue ... so we naturally get Louis Armstrong singing Let's Call The Whole Thing Off:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFWGOKuFyjk


    Other film-makers do it too, sadly. I like American Beauty, and most of the soundtrack is excellent, but there's one Ephronesque clanger in there. Lester is seeking a new way of life, so it was just too easy to wheel out The Seeker by The Who: :rolleyes:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlmDJbRsZjo

    You are the type of what the age is searching for, and what it is afraid it has found. I am so glad that you have never done anything, never carved a statue, or painted a picture, or produced anything outside of yourself! Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.

    ―Oscar Wilde predicting Social Media, in The Picture of Dorian Gray



Comments

  • #2
    Landoflemon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 424 ✭✭Landoflemon


    Nice idea for a thread. I have issues with the music in 'Kickass'. Firstly they stole the great theme from '28 days later', in an extremely tastless manner.

    In 28 days later:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmpZK28S0mk


    Now in Kickass:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHwsrYlDHE


    And then again in Kickass for one of the first fight scenes they used 'Omen' from the Prodigy which at the time was an extremely overexposed piece of music so it ruined that scene for me too!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTFv8zaoFdI


  • #3
    chin_grin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,808 ✭✭✭✭chin_grin


    I thought the whole score of Hanna was very out of place for what it was.


  • #4
    Sad Professor
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,699 CMod ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    Kick-Ass doesn't have a proper soundtrack. It's a temp track that they decided to keep. It gives the film a very unfinished feel.


  • #5
    FortuneChip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,840 ✭✭✭FortuneChip


    chin_grin wrote: »
    I thought the whole score of Hanna was very out of place for what it was.

    Hanna was a movie? I thought it was just a Chemical Brothers music video

    Hallalujah in The Watchmen. It was just strange.
    'The Time's They Are A Changin' was great at the start though


  • #6
    Dempsey
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,553 ✭✭✭✭Dempsey


    I thought the use of John Murphy's music in kickass was spot on tbh


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  • #7
    Miguel_Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,417 ✭✭✭Miguel_Sanchez


    Obvious choice is obvious and for that reason, a terrible choice.

    "What's that classical piece they played from the helicopters in Apocalypse Now? Oh yeah that worked, let's just use that instead of thinking of something ourselves."

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhKp72c6xCY


  • #8
    johnny_ultimate
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,342 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    The entirety of the Watchmen soundtrack is an abomination barring The Times They Are A Changin' (they were just lucky with that). Zack Snyder deserves a good smack in the ears. And one in the eyes while we're at it. That Hallelujah scene is probably the only time I've ever physically face-palmed in the middle of a cinema.


  • #9
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,686 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    There's some awful music choices in Watchmen alright. Times they are a'changin is great though and I thought the music in this scene worked well too.

    Another Zack Snyder movie now, Legend of the Guardians, not a classic by any means but it's quite serious in tone for the most part put in the middle of the film there's a montage sequence that uses this god-awful song, comletely derails the feel and tone of the film. Shocking stuff, way worse than the Hallelujah bit in Watchmen imo!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukhIweIASyk


  • #10
    Galvasean
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    That Linkin Park song they used in Transformers 3 was so cringe worthy. The lyrics described what was on screen. "Devastationnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn....." :rolleyes:


  • #11
    razorblunt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,300 ✭✭✭✭razorblunt


    +1 for Watchmen, bar the intro the rest were something you'd expect an amateur video maker to throw together on youtube.


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  • #12
    Mindkiller
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,200 ✭✭✭Mindkiller


    Well I was going to say Watchmen but it looks like that horse has been beat to death. Was the 'Hallelujah' scene a really weird rape scene?

    I didn't really like the Bob Dylan intro myself. About as subtle as Dr Manhattan's giant blue c*ck


  • #13
    johnny_ultimate
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,342 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    Speaking of Transformers, they must have played 21 Guns by Green Day something like twenty times during the second one. 19 of said uses were completely out of place.


  • #14
    Turtyturd
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,400 ✭✭✭✭Turtyturd


    johnny_ultimate wrote: »
    Speaking of Transformers, they must have played 21 Guns by Green Day something like twenty times during the second one. 19 of said uses were completely out of place.

    Beat me to it..same goes for Linkin Park in the 2nd one or could be the first one. Their career appears to be linked to Transformer movies.


  • #15
    Im Only 71Kg
    Closed Accounts Posts: 400 ✭✭Im Only 71Kg


    Braveheart...10 versions of the same tune..painfull after a while


  • #16
    Tipsy McSwagger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,072 ✭✭✭Tipsy McSwagger


    That piece of music in Home Alone when they are late for their flight and running through the airport has been done to death ever since. It usually shows up in the trailer for some kids movie and it melts my head.


  • #17
    Superbus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,784 ✭✭✭Superbus


    I watched the French movie 'l'Auberge Espagnole' recently; Radiohead's 'No Surprises' was used 3 times in total. Subtle as a sledgehammer and emotional overkill.


  • #18
    Coriolanus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,879 ✭✭✭Coriolanus


    I'd have to disagree with the Times they are a Changin in Watchmen. I knew from the second it rolled that it was a bad sign for the rest of the film.


  • #19
    MagicMarker
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    As soon as I saw the thread title I immediately clicked in to mention Hallelujah in Watchmen, most ridiculous scene in cinematic history.


  • #20
    Mellor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,259 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    Mindkiller wrote: »
    Well I was going to say Watchmen but it looks like that horse has been beat to death. Was the 'Hallelujah' scene a really weird rape scene?

    I didn't really like the Bob Dylan intro myself. About as subtle as Dr Manhattan's giant blue c*ck
    Nah just a really corny sex scene.

    The [attempted] rape scent had no music at all


  • #21
    Batigol
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭Batigol


    Already mentioned multiple times already but Hallelujah in Watchmen. Easily the worst song choice ever for any scene.

    I didnt like Red Right Hand in Dumb and Dumber either


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  • #22
    abouttobebanned
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,943 ✭✭✭abouttobebanned


    I didn't particularly see the point of "you could be mine" in T2


  • #23
    Goldstein
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,551 ✭✭✭Goldstein


    abouttobebanned wrote: »
    I didn't particularly see the point of "you could be mine" in T2

    Don't ever watch Terminator:Salvation :D


    Megamind is another that comes to mind. Several jaringly obvious and blatant choices you'd get if you asked a 12 year old or someone who doesn't listen to much music to pick the tracks.
    • Bad to the Bone
    • Back in Black / Highway to Hell / Crazy Train
    • A Little Less Conversation
    • Bad
    • Welcome to the Jungle

    It's no excuse to say it's just a kid's movie either as all you have to do is look at: Wall-e, Toy Story, Monster's Inc. etc to see amazingly complimentary original compositions & well chosen music which are so effective and apt they become totally synonymous with the movies they feature in.


  • #24
    MagicMarker
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 32,865 ✭✭✭✭MagicMarker


    abouttobebanned wrote: »
    I didn't particularly see the point of "you could be mine" in T2
    It's a kick ass song in a kick ass movie, no other point necessary.


  • #25
    TheIrishGrover
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,347 ✭✭✭TheIrishGrover


    I was actually thinking about this the other day when Ladyhawke was on television. I remember loving the film as a kid and it's not bad but the music has dated TERRIBLY! Have a listen, bearing in mind that this was supposed to be a medieval movie. Starts off OK but about 30 seconds in it turns into the ultimate in 80's synth score and at 50 secs it could be a parody. It just sticks out like a sore thumb.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bugi35v1CKk


    Oh, and G n' R in T2? Awesome. You don't know what you're talking about. Nah, just messin' I loved it but each to their own.


  • #26
    The Scientician
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,724 ✭✭✭The Scientician


    I felt some of the Dropkick Murphys music in The Departed was shoehorned in and really distracting.


  • #27
    JohnnyRyan99
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,169 ✭✭✭JohnnyRyan99


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHeosejXX18


    Even if it was a fight in jest I still thought it was pretty ridiculous tune to go with it!


  • #28
    Mellor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,259 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    The Scientician wrote: »
    I felt some of the Dropkick Murphys music in The Departed was shoehorned in and really distracting.

    Can you go a bit furter on that?
    The only Dropkick Murphys song I know on the soundtrack is Shipping up to Boston, are there more?
    I thought that one worked pretty well, for those that don't know its played just after after Costigan (DiCaprio) agrees to go undercover. It plays over the prison montage, and it's basically right before he returns to Boston.


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