Hello! If you haven't yet heard the awesome news, CineTV has partnered up with Rising Star to bring a new card into the Rising Star game - the Video Vic. I am extremely excited to see partnerships like this one and already picked up one of the cards. This is even more amazing, as there are only 100 of them, so having one means that you are one of the few in possession of a real gem! I picked mine up a little late, when they were already 400 CINE, but was still happy to have one on my hands.
That's not what this post is about though, as there is one more awesome thing happening thanks to the partnership: a CineTV contest! This post will be my entry and prizes are quite good, with CINE and STARBITS to be given away to the top 3 authors. Fittingly for this type of a partnership, the contest is to write about your favourite usage of a song in a movie. For me, I will go in with an entry that might seem quite lazy, as it comes from a musical - but it is a song from a movie I loved back when I was a teenager: Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny.
The Song
Let's start with actually saying which song is THE one for me. To be honest, I instantly knew I wanted to include one from this movie, so I just had to choose which one - and it really wasn't easy. There are many choices and this music just speaks to me a lot - especially with my love towards Jack Black's and Kyle Gass' performances. First I thought of Master Exploder, but I swept that idea away quite quickly. Then it was Pick of Destiny, but the final two that I had to make the choice from ended up being the two most iconic songs: the opening sequence song - Kickapoo, as well as the culmination song: The Final Showdown, also known as the Beelzeboss.
While Kickapoo is fantastic and I love it.. The Final Showdown has a pretty clear reason to be the winner - my absolute all-time favourite artist being a guest star in the movie: Dave Grohl. I could not possibly choose any other song instead of this one. Now, of course, Dave Grohl was not the only reason I went for this one as my favourite song used in a movie.. albeit one of the main ones.
It is just perfect in the context of the movie. It has it all and it fits perfectly with where it is. The whole idea of the culmination of the movie in a big rock-off challenge is fantastic to me and I really enjoyed the way it was performed. Aside from just the song being enjoyable itself, it is a great way to show the ending of the story.
Additionally, it is very in line with the comedy of the movie, as obviously the whole song is also meant to have hilariously cheesy/cringe lyrics so as to fit with the rest of the show. It does it very well, especially when you also take into account the on-screen acting of JB and KG, who sell it off in a way that I find really funny.
Overall, it was a difficult decision but I gave it to Beelzeboss, even though I definitely listen to Kickapoo more often outside of the movie. If I wasn't so tunnelvisioned on including a song from The Pick of Destiny, I would definitely consider Queen songs from Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as perhaps some of the "A Star is Born" performances - but this is it, Beelzeboss wins!
The Movie
This isn't a full-fledged review obviously, so I will just write a quick two paragraphs about the movie. First of all, I know that it hasn't received the greatest critic appraisal (albeit not bad either) and well.. I can tell why. It feels cheap and honestly it is cheap - but in my opinion that is exactly where the comedic genius of JB and KG comes in. The whole movie is like an inside joke with fans and I found it absolutely hilarious - but I am a fan of both of the musicians.
The story is loose and obviously surreal - almost an excuse to include more and more ridiculously funny songs and performances that include huge stars of the rock world. Can you imagine?! It is a movie that essentially half-mocks the metal world and it manages to star musicians such as not only Dave Grohl, but also Meat Loaf and DIO himself. Simply out of this world.
Personally I loved the movie and I rewatched it a countless of times - a feat easy to achieve considering that it is very much comprised mostly of music I enjoy. Jables and Cage set out to make a funny movie and that they succeeded in doing!
Closing Words
Here it is - my favourite song used in a movie.. Or my favourite way to use a song in a movie. Beelzeboss is great and you won't change my mind! Go and participate in the CineTV contest yourself - you can find the contest post on their peakd profile!