7 Great Music Video's Based on Movies

by Alexandra Savio

Who doesn’t appreciate a good combination of the arts? I love it when Music Video’s pay tributes to a film because I always assume the band members and Director are fans of the movie, and I like the thought of cinema appreciation.

Disclaimer: I love music, but I only listen. Don’t know anything about pitch or rhythm or anything really credible. Just a fan.  

7) Time Is Tunning Out- Muse

     Movie: Dr Strangelove: How I learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb. 

This video for ‘Time Is Running Out’ (Amazing Song) by British rock band Muse, features a bunch of Government official’s in a War Room acting silly, dancing and not getting any real work done. Muse is super opinionated about Government and War so this suits them well.
 
It is loosely inspired by Dr. Strangelove about the United States trying to recall nuclear bombs they sent to Russia. It’s a black comedy by Stanley Kubrick and features silly characters and The War Room as the USA tries to avoid Nuclear War (a parody of the nuclear scare.)

I’ve pulled away from Muse ever since Twilight and Kate Hudson has entered their lives but Dear God do I love being reminded of how good they are.

(Time Is Running Out, 2003)

(Dr.Strangelove, 1964)

6) Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) - Cobra Starship 

    Movie: Snakes on a Plane

Ah, the Shakespearean classic: Snakes on a Plane starring Sir Samuel L. Jackson. 

The music video for 'Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)' features the singers in an airport trying to get snakes on the plane. Straight and to the point! Cobra Starship along with The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes and The Sounds did a great job with this high energy song for the movie called Snakes on a Plane.

 Snakes on a Plane is about an FBI agent (Jackson) transporting a witness to LA to stand trial against a mobster. The mobster arranges for snakes to be released on the…well, you know. Drama insures and Samuel L. Jackson is badass and saves the universe.

This one was kind of easy to choose because the song is for the actual soundtrack of the film but they did a great job with it.

5) We Had Our Hands On The Future But Blew It To Save Our Own Lives- The Dialed

      Movie: The Goonies  

 
The song by The Dialed was inspired by the Steven Spielberg classic and is all about unity and friendship. You can’t get more Goonies than that.

The Goonies is about a rag-tag team of underdogs who go on an underground adventure in pursuit of pirate treasure with an old map they’ve found.
 
The music video follows a live performance from the band and remakes all the great moments from the film: from the map, to the guys as the Goonies, to One-Eyed Willie. It’s a great representation.

Remember: Goonies never say die.

4) Mr. Brightside- The Killers

      Movie: Moulin Rouge!

 
One of the greatest songs of all time (I do believe this) remakes one of the greatest movie-musicals of all time: Moulin Rouge!

The poor artist who is in love with a hooker who is forbidden fruit and is already claimed: this is the premise for The Killers music video for ‘Mr. Brightside’. Which makes sense since the song is all about jealously.  
 
The film Moulin Rouge! about Christian (Ewan McGregor) who is a poor writer who falls in love with prostitute Satine (Nicole Kidman) in 1899 bohemian France at the Moulin Rouge, she too forbidden and claimed by another man. The music video follows the movie closely with the dancing, costumes and plot and it’s just superb.

 (Mr. Brightside, 2004)

(Moulin Rouge!, 2001)

  3) California Love- 2Pac ft. Dr. Dre

      Movie: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

It’s one of the best known music videos in rap. 2Pac’s song ‘California Love’ is practically rap history.  Even though the music video is very gritty it’s extremely refreshing for its plot, cinematography and overall vibe.

The music video is based on the films of the Mad Max Series that follows Mad Max (Mel Gibson) as he tries to survive in a dystopian world filled with bad guys and technology.

2Pac, Dr. Dre, California and a great music video based on a violent Australian film series.

What more could you want?

 (California Love, 1995)

(Mad Max Beyone Thunderdome, 1985)

2) Cute Without the “E” (Cut From the Team) - Taking Back Sunday

      Movie: Fight Club

The music video features a live performance from the band and follows the film Fight Club: about an insomniac (Edward Norton) who meets soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and gets introduced to man’s violent nature through a fight club. Which we cannot talk about.  

A great film if you haven’t seen it. So see it.

Cute Without the “E” is a song that I’ve loved for a long time and even though the song is about jealousy (running theme with these songs) and a girl cheating on a guy it doesn’t exactly relate to Fight Club but the music video does a killer job of retelling the movie. They fit every major plot point into 3 minutes and 33 seconds and feature girls in the fight club! That’s really only the major difference since the film only featured men in the fight club.

The music video along with the film is just awesome action.

 (Cute Without The "E", 2002)

(Fight Club, 1999)

1) The Break Up Song- Wale

     Movie: 500 Days of Summer

The main reason I wanted to write this article: a rap music video based on 500 Days of Summer!

 
It’s more amazing than anything I could have dreamed of. The narration, the classic expectation vs. reality scenes, the ‘everything I love about her…”, the humor and pain of the film is all here in this music video by Wale (pronounced Wall-a) through his The Break Up Song (which features jealousy too…I swear I did not plan this)

I have mentioned it before but in case you forgot: 500 Days of Summer is about modern day romantic guy Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls for anti-romantic Summer. The film follows their break-up and Tom’s emotional journey through it all/getting her back.

I cannot praise the music video enough, maybe because it took me by surprise, but I love it.