This is a random movie list. Now the following are not particular songs that I liked and they used in a movie, nor are they showtune style pieces. Those belong in a category of their own. No, instead these are scenes where the music complimented what was taking place, such as the snap of a camera or added that extra dimension. Nor am I speaking of an overpowering score, where the music is so overwhelming it forces the emotions out of you, such as say Armageddon, you have a blubbering Ben Affleck and a tough Bruce Willis, with an overwhelming emotional score, you can't help but possibly tear up. Even if the rest of the movie sucked. So to make it clear on my list, here's an example. Be forewarned if you haven't seen some of these movies I may spoil the plots or some important moments, but i'll try to stay vague.
American Psycho - in the particular scene i want to describe here our yuppie serial killer has invited his "arch nemesis" over after getting him drunk at a dinner. He puts on Huey Lewis and the News, and begins to describe the song and why its so good, while he preps himself to murder this guy. The reason the music is so effective here, is that its both at odds with what is about to take place, and in the same vain as the world Patrick Bateman lives in on the outside. "Hip to be Square" is the song, it doesn't even do it justice to describe it but all of these things put together make it incredibly effective and amusing moment, one of my favorites.
Casino - I can't claim to know the exact name of the song, I know when it starts out it proclaims "goddammit!" and then Robert De Niro goes into a lengthy narration on how the casino keeps an eye on everything, the song is effective against all the backdrops, and wicked bad ass cinematography and editing that is a benchmark of Scorsese, but my favorite part about this whole sequence is when De Niro's character Sam Rothstein see's Sharon Stones character on the security monitors,and song snaps back into full life and the camera quickly pans to De Niro from the monitor and slowly zooms in on him, just that word, and the snap of the music, that pan and zoom, is amazing. Its brilliant, and a cool slick De Niro is at the heart of it, just staring.
