10 Best Appearances by Real Bands in a Movie

As part of the 2011 Halloween fare Cinemax served up in the month of October, the 1999 horror comedy, Idle Hands, came into rotation. In case you haven't seen it, you need only know three things about it - the first, it was the death knell of Devon Sawa's film career which didn't make it past Y2K (Final Destination being the nail on that coffin); the second, it features a young Jessica Alba showcasing her entire acting range - a sexy sultry wooden log - which she continues to pass of as talent till this day; and the third, Seth Green, being a stoner, which everybody knows is the best kind of Seth Green available on film. Here's the Wiki, if it piqued your interest.

The film's climax, which in horror movie speak, is when shit has just been launched, is now hacking away at everything in sight and is T-minus 5 seconds away from the fan, revolves around a prom scene with the obligatory band. Cool because prom scene climaxes are such a relic of the '90s teen movie genre and also because the band doing a cover of the The Ramones, 'I Wanna Be Sedated' was none other than The Offspring. Cue metal gears creakily spinning in head and consequently, this list. In the interest of keeping this list to just band cameos in a movie, all things The Beatles-related, Detroit Rock City and Tenacious D and the The Pick of Destiny were not included. Behold, the 10 best appearances by real bands in a movie that wasn't build around them!

1. The Offspring - Idle Hands (1999)


As mentioned above, The Offspring appear in the movie. What I failed to mention was what happens to Dexter Holland when the 'idle hand' gets busy. SPOILER ALERT: You might lose your head after viewing the clip.

2. Save Ferris and Letters to Cleo - 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)


Yes, Letters to Cleo was instrumental in the soundtrack for 10 Things I Hate About You. But let's not forget that Save Ferris was also in the movie. The above YouTube video was the only one I could find of them, but every 90's teen movie prom needs a live band, and Save Ferris was this film's.

3. Gwar - Empire Records (1995)


What do you do when you have a hallucinogenic day dream of being the main course on your favourite thrash metal band's plate? As Mark/c demonstrated in Empire Records, just keep on keeping on and bite off another piece of that special cake.

4. Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Clueless (1995)


As you might have noticed, the 1990s were a banner decade for band's appearing in films, ska punk bands, in particular. Probably because that was the genre's heyday. (Don't act so outraged fanboys, even No Doubt knows the truth and have moved on). While The Mighty Mighty Bosstones wasn't part of a prom scene in Clueless, it still led to the delivery of a brilliant payload - Paul Rudd dancing.

5. Reel Big Fish - BASEketball (1998)


See above statement and apply tenfold before the year 2000 swings about. Reel Big Fish in particular is a perfect fit for this movie which stars Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the masterminds behind South Park (fun fact). It's ridiculous levels of fun that gets you insane in the membrane.

And on that Cypress Hill note, we leave the '90s and move ahead to the 'Naughties and beyond.

6. Smash Mouth - Rat Race (2001)


Just before Shrek cannibalized Smash Mouth's 'All Star' down to its bare marrow and the world collectively sipped on the haterade, the song made a lovely soundtrack to Mystery Men and Rat Race. The former, an underrated comedy which the original music video featured snippets out of; and in the latter, a finale with much endearing goofiness, as was the running theme throughout the film. Fun fact: Seth Green plays a greedy asshole, which as you know is the best kind of Seth Green available on film.

7. Coldplay - Shaun of the Dead (2004)


While Coldplay did not actually perform in Shaun of the Dead, their little bit in the end news footage round-up was another gold star in a movie that is a nerd's wet dream. The movie came out at a time when Live Aid was the band's pet project, so to have them satirize that with Zomb Aid, is charmingly self-effacing. For full effect and to see Chris Martin hide behind his knees in a gigglefest, watch the full skit here.

8. Fall Out Boy - Sex Drive (2008)


Back in 1999, American Pie featured a blink-or-you'll-miss-them moment with Blink 182. It was a microsecond where Mark, Tom and Travis were one of the crowd viewing the Internet clip of Jason Biggs doing the strip dance. Many years later, in the same vein of teen R-rated comedies, Sex Drive featured an appearance by Fall Out Boy. The 2008 offering wasn't as good as the 1999 one, both in plot and musical guest stars, to use the term loosely. But Sex Drive had Seth Green, playing a sarcastic Amish, which as you might have guessed, is the best kind of Seth Green available on screen.

9. Rush - I Love You, Man (2009)


Perhaps it's the holdover from Jason Segel's role in the phenomenal TV series Freaks and Geeks but watching Rush-obsessed Nick Andopolis geek out to the band tugs at the heartstrings. Also, more Paul Rudd dance moves and much slapping of da [sic] bass.

10. Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy (2010)


While it might not be fair to include Daft Punk in this list given that they were responsible for the entire Tron: Legacy soundtrack, there's no better example of the perfect meeting between movie and music when news came out of the band's involvement. That scene where Michael Sheen's Castor gives a head nod to the helmet-wearing robot-suited French duo - nothing but spine-tingling chills and mind-plosion fanboy squeals. It may have dampered as the movie plodded on, but hey, that's why we have the soundtrack to relive the magical moment.

Five Reasons Why You Should Watch Priest

Yes, this movie. No, it's not Legion. Yes, it has the same director and the same lead actor. Yes, it's cheese-tastic. And yes, these are indeed five legit reasons why you should go watch Priest at your local cinema this weekend.

Reason #5
I didn't think it possible, but Cam Gigandet's shirt stays on throughout the movie, quite possibly the first in his entire oeuvre (and yes, for shame, I've seen almost all of it). Given how he tends to lose his shirt mid-way in most of his movies, if ever he even had one from the start, Priest is quite the novelty watch. How often do you hear one say, "Wow, did you see Cam Gigandet with his shirt on?"

Reason #4
All you need to know about the movie is laid out in the pre-released movie posters below. Almost as if the marketing execs went, "yeah, so the plot isn't rocket science but let's simplify it further. AND STRESS REAL HARD THAT PAUL BETTANY IS NOT AN ANGEL THIS TIME AROUND."

Now that crucial information like plot, names and character arcs needn't be fussed with anymore, we, the audience, can now proceed to play the Priest drinking game. The rules are as follows; down one shot of alcohol of choice every time you see each character doing an action from the poster.

- The Priest (Paul Bettany) gazing grimly to the camera
- The Priestess' (Maggie Q) hard nipples that give Rachel Green's famed peaks a run for her money
- The Sheriff (Cam Gigandet) pointing his gun just to the side of the camera
- Lucy the Kidnapped (Lily Collins) on the brink of shedding tears
- Black Hat (Karl Urban) baring his fangs
- Vampires treating humans like paper, they of course being the terror-inspiring paper shredders.

With this Priest drinking game, you'll have nothing short of a real treat at the movie. You can even enjoy the 3D-effects post-movie, when the projectile vomiting starts!

Reason #3
In case you missed the wall of text above, here is reason number #3 recapped and in bold for the TL;DR folk on why Priest is a must-watch movie; "The Priestess' (Maggie Q) hard nipples that give Rachel Green's famed peaks a run for her money". Sadly, that particular brand of magic missed the 3D-conversion mark.

Reason #2
Paul Bettany. Even with a ridiculous 't' on his forehead, Paul Bettany remains a GQMF. Pictorial evidence below.

Reason #1
This Friday marks the sole Friday the 13th we'll enjoy on this year's calendar. Are you really going to spend the day watching mindless fluff like Something Borrowed? Respect the day. Choose theme-appropriate mindless fluff. Choose Priest.

For Your Consideration: 5 Hollywood Pairings Who Should Be Together in Real Life

On the back of watching Love and Other Drugs yesterday night, I came to a conclusion. I did not love the movie; no, it was rather like dealing with an Alzheimer's patient - during its lucid moments, it was witty, clever and playful, a joy to watch as the plot and character unraveled. But then the sickness would flip and the bad moments would start - the trite dialogue and the tired rom-com formulaic shtick, leaving you with your shaking head in your hands thinking, "this isn't what I signed up for". Anyway, this entire analogy, which I thought was rather apt, given the storyline of the film and the emphasis on sickness and drugs (but hey, nobody likes the self-fellating asshole) brings me to my point. I cannot love the movie, but that probably won't stop me from re-watching it further down the line, on TV, download or wherever else it might be played.

Love and Other Drugs; Come for the hot nekkid Hathaway and Gyllenhaal, stay for (not) exactly that

Because for all it's missteps and trying bits, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are brilliant to watch in Love and Other Drugs. It's more than just good acting skills. The two share a tangible chemistry that pulsates off the screen and worms its way into the blackest of hearts to make you want to believe that if all was good and perfect in this world, the two actors would actually be together in real life. The media circus the two have been on promoting the show have only seem to reinforce this belief so it's a bitter pill to take that Hathaway is dating some guy named Adam Schulman and Gyllenhaal, Taylor McSquinty. But hey, a girl can hope, right? (Plus, if all else fails, I'm sure there's always creep-tastic fanfiction to fall back upon). So on the back of Valentine's Day, here are other Hollywood pairings in recent history I wish were really madly in love with each other in reality.

5. James Franco and Anne Hathaway, Hosts of the 2011 Academy Awards



4. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine



3. John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer, The Office



2. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer


1. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights



As an added bonus, here be fictional couples who did cross the reel/real boundary and were perfect together in the whirlwind streak of romance that much like a comet's run, simply could not last. R.I.P fictional-turned-real-lovers. My heart mourns for the love lost.

my face, effectively, when pondering on these ex-couples

3. Michael Vartan and Jennifer Garner, Alias



2. Ryan Philippe and Reese Witherspoon, Cruel Intentions



1. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, The Notebook (I've still not completely recovered)


And since Tumblr is the new dumpsite of the Internet where the wild and wacky subsist, here's Fuck Yeah, Real Life Pairings for extra couply, totally non-stalkery [sarcasm font] goodness!