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Awesome Music / Film

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"If our music survives, which I have no doubt it will, then it will be because it is good."
— Jerry Goldsmith

Drumroll, please…

Examples of Awesome Music in films.

Some of these are awesome enough to be played in actual concerts! Of the orchestra kind! How cool is that? Here's a short preview for what you will see and hear on this page.

Composers

Films/franchises:

Directors

Trailers

    Other Awesome Music 
  • Cloud Atlas has some amazing music. For example, the Credits Theme.
  • Kick-Ass has incredible music. Examples:
  • "To Be A Hero", the heart-stirring theme song of the Once Upon a Time in China franchise (starring Jet Li), based on the traditional Chinese Ballad "Jiang Jun Ling" ("General's Orders"). Unfortunately, every single kungfu clip on Youtube uses this song. In Hong Kong, this song is pretty much the default theme song to anything related to Chinese martial arts. It's that iconic.
  • Randy Edelman is so good at making awesome music that even though he hadn't won any Oscars, his music was being used at the Oscar ceremonies. Some of his famous works include the Dragonheart theme (another track was even used in the trailer for Disney film Mulan), and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story among others.
    • The classic example is in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story where Lee whups the bully who previously paralyzed him by kicking him in the back. At that moment of victory, there is a memorable swell of orchestral music that has been used in multiple trailers ever since.
    • He also composed the main theme for The Indian in the Cupboard.
  • Last of the Mohicans finale "Promontory" makes the (dialogue-free) last 10 minutes of the film breathtaking. It's also a Dark Reprise of two other pieces in the soundtrack, "The Gael" and "Main Theme", both of which are Awesome Music from the beginning and middle of the film; composed by Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman so you get two major composers for the price of one. The more lyrical music for the film (including the theme) is by Jones solo; Edelman does the more synth-overlaid cues. "Fort Battle"; "Elk Hunt"; "The Courier"; and "I Will Find You" by Clannad, which is played over the Stern Chase montage towards the end of the film. You may be noticing an energetic theme here...
  • The live-action remake of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, for an okay film, has a surprisingly beautiful and awesome use of One Republic's "Secrets". It's made even more awesome by the fact that there's synchronized Tesla coils shooting out bolts of electricity in tandem with the beat of the song.
  • Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny:
    • Kage and Jables fight the Devil, with rock. Hilarious for its frequent and creative use of the f-word.
      You hold the scepter
      We hold the key
      You are the Devil
      We are The D!
    • Master Exploder from the same movie. So epically awesome it will blow your mind. Extra fun trying to play it in Rock Band 2 and realizing just how hard it is.
  • Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe" was used as the theme for Vision Quest. From the same film, "Louden Versus Shute" by Tangerine Dream. Pure big game music.
  • Gettysburg:
    • The starting theme of the movie has become so iconic most film trailers involving the Civil War use it.
    • Randy Edelman. Huge mention goes to "Over the Fence", during Pickett's Charge sequence. So epic, Iced Earth copied the melody for their epic song trilogy "Gettysburg 1863" on Day Three.
  • Richard Kelly faced a problem when scoring the final sequence of Donnie Darko, a montage of characters visibly shaken by a disturbance in the space-time continuum: there was a song with haunting, bittersweet lyrics which summed up the entire film wonderfully, but musically...well...it sounded like this. After bringing in Gary Jules and Michael Andrews, there was no longer a problem. Under the Milky Way by the Church goes so unbelievably perfect with the party scene.
  • The use of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" at the beginning of the film Trainspotting. And "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed in the overdose scene.
  • Every single song in the 1972 film adaptation of 1776! A special note goes out to "The Lees of Old Virginia", in all its hammy glory.
  • Without Philip Glass's scores, the "Qatsi trilogy" (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi) would be a mildly interesting series of images, at best. With them (complete with Ominous Hopi Chanting), they're masterpieces.
    • The opening theme from Mishima A Life In Four Chapters. You may never have heard of the movie, but you've probably heard the soundtrack in trailers... and it is awesome.
  • The opening theme for Freaks. Incredibly creepy.
  • Dr. Strangelove: "We'll Meet Again", and Laurie Johnson's "Bomb Run Theme". The tune sung by the chorus is "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", which is ironic considering what's happening at the time...
  • Zulu has a great main theme but the awesome is when to respond to the Zulus' war chants the redcoats start singing 'Men of Harlech'. Found, in all its glory, at the end of this finely crafted link.
  • "Ride of the Valkyries" in Apocalypse Now (starts at 3:15 here.) And of course, The End, by The Doors.
  • Also sprach Zarathustra, the 2001 opening theme. And by a different Strauss, the "Blue Danube" Waltz is awesome in its own right, but when played over futuristic space stations and spaceships travelling to the moon it cranks up another few notches of awesome!
  • For an awesome theme...in a movie film...who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!!
    • Not quite as iconic, but the use of Mick Smiley's "Magic" as the spirits released from the Ghostbusters' containment facility float through the Manhattan skyline and wreak havoc throughout the city sets a high standard of creepy awesomeness for the film. And Alessi's "Saving The Day" gives the Big Damn Heroes moment just that little bit extra 'umph' of awesomeness.
    • "Cleaning Up The Town" off that CD. Not just appropriate, but a nice little piano-led stomp to tap your feet to.
    • "Dana's Theme", composed by Elmer Bernstein, added a sense of class and yet otherworldness to the main female protagonist of the picture.
  • What was that other famous movie that opened the same weekend as Ghostbusters? Gremlins! And that gave us the "Gremlin Rag".
  • Neil Young's Opening Credits "Freight Train" Theme for Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch (w/ Johnny Depp).
  • Rodrigo's "Concierto De Aranjuez, originally written for classical guitar, is brilliant of itself - but when rearranged for flugelhorn and full silver band in Brassed Off and set against the failing negotiations to save the mine, becomes something even more transcendent. Also the famous "William Tell Overture" in the finale.
  • Klaus Badelt's work for this scene from The Time Machine.
  • "Hello Zepp", a.k.a. "The Shithole Theme," the main theme of the Saw films.
  • Tubular Bells, probably best known as the creepy song from The Exorcist. Although, if you actually manage to listen to the entirety of its roughly 48 MINUTE runtime, it turns out to be a bunch of Moments of Awesome played one after the other.
  • Twilight: "Decode" by Paramore and "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse.
    • Bella's Lullaby is beautiful, as is the rest of the score composed by Carter Burwell.
    • Iron & Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" and the wedding version used in the fourth film.
  • Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain at the end of Lost in Translation. In fact, most of the Lost in Translation soundtrack (see also: Girls by Death in Vegas at the start of the film).
  • Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. End of the movie, at the Battle of the Bands. "The best place is here. The best time is now. And all's we can say is... LET'S ROCK!!" Cue the epic guitar intronote  leading into "God Gave Rock And Roll To You" by KISS.
  • The Back to the Future theme. So awesome you can hear the DeLorean shifting up gears and acceleration as the full piece proceeds. Put this one in your CD player and find an accommodating freeway somewhere.
    • The iconic performance of "Johnny B. Goode" at the end was awesome, too. Not only were the vocals provided by Mark Campbell brilliant (contrasting with Michael J. Fox's speaking voice just enough to create a realistic case of Singing Voice Dissonance), but that face melting guitar solo...which, unfortunately, the teenagers of the 50's were not ready for. But their kids would love it.
    • The complete score is an essential buy, particularly for the entire clocktower scene.
    • "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News. The 80's keyboard and the smooth guitar riff used throughout are just cool. It WAS nominated for "Best Original Song" at the Oscars, after all.
    • There's also "Back in Time", also by Huey Lewis and the News, which sums up the movie's main themes extremely well.
  • From the 1984 cult noir film Streets of Fire, the opening song, sung by the main damsel in distress Ellen Aim, is one of Jim Steinman's best songs ever: "Nowhere Fast". Topped only by "Tonight is What It Means to be Young". An epic conclusion to an otherwise forgettable movie.
  • Fans of George Romero's zombie films generally consider John Harrison's score for Day of the Dead (1985) to be the best of the series. Like the songs "Breakdown" and "Escape Invasion".
  • The opening to Olympia set to the music from Alexander.
  • Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno features a very moving use of the unpublished Live song "Hold Me Up", which inexplicably was not included on the soundtrack.
  • Men in Black already had a great Danny Elfman score, and Will Smith stepped up and provided a very fun rap theme backed by the bassline of "Forget Me Nots". It worked so well that his contribution to the sequel couldn't live up to it.
  • The Dust Brothers provided an energetic electronic score for Fight Club, highlighted by the opening credits. It also makes excellent use of The Pixies' 'Where is My Mind' in the final scene.
  • Jerome Moross's ''The Big Country'' theme predates The Magnificent Seven (1960) by a few years, and is officially the first real Western film score.
  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold's theme for King's Row, which should sound familiar. Apparently, when John Williams was writing the Star Wars soundtrack, George Lucas specifically asked him to emulate this.
  • V (of V for Vendetta fame) blows up the Old Bailey and the Houses of Parliament to the stirring strains of the 1812 Overture. Never has classical music been so incredibly badass.
  • The Fifth Element with Lucia di Lammermoor/The Diva Dance.
    • While the original performance by Inva Mula has contradictory sources as to whether it was digitally manipulated (it appears to be); but the semi-professional singer Laura Workman was able to do the piece for real.
    • Also, the bit that plays as Leeloo escapes containment and gives us our first look at Future!New York. Absolutely mesmerizing.
    • The song that plays over the credits: "The Little Light of Love", by Eric Serra, is laid back, exotic, and romantic.
  • From Sunshine, "Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor)" is likely to get more exposure on trailers than it did in the movie, but it was a perfect accompaniment to the scene, and made it the emotional climax that it was meant to be.
  • Queen's theme for Flash Gordon. Viewable here.
    • HE'S FOR EVERY ONE OF US! STANDS FOR EVERY ONE OF US! HE STANDS, WITH A MIGHTY HAND, F' EVERY MAN, EVERY WOMAN, EVERY CHILD, HE'S THE MIGHTY FLAAAA-ASH!
    • The battle between the Hawkmen and War Rocket Ajax is four-and-a-half minutes of entirely uninterrupted awesome, even discounting the presence of BRIAN BLESSED and his signature DIIIVVVEEE!!!: The triumphant, rollicking synths and rumble-tumble drums of the first theme (starting at :52 in the following clip) segue into an all-out CMOA around 2:25 as Queen just goes for it. Ready?
  • The songs for Highlander (which led to their own album) as well. "Born to be kings, we're the princes of the uuuniverse!" Special mention to an insane guitar solo from Brian May at the beginning of "Gimme the Prize" that did not make it into the movie but which quite possibly broke time.
  • Love Actually has the triumphant-in-the-face-of-adversity PM's Love Theme. And pretty awesome cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" by then 10-year-old Olivia Olson. She actually had to not sing as good as she could for the movie because the producers were worried that if she sang at full strength, the audience might not think it was actually her singing. For reference, here's how she sounds on the ''Love Actually'' soundtrack.
  • Kenny Loggins' Danger Zone from Top Gun.
  • Easy Rider brought in many of the best rock artists of 1969 (The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, a Bob Dylan cover), and above all starts off epically with "Born To Be Wild", turning that into a Standard Snippet for bikers.
  • Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's Oscar-winning theme from Finding Neverland.
  • "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It's easy to hear (and see) why.
    • The song "O Saya" was equally awesome and used perfectly during the chase scene at the beginning.
    • "Mausam & Escape" reeks of epic.
    • Aaj Ki Raat, an astonishingly trippy remix of a disco tune almost sounds like Matrix music.
    • Really, any work by A. R. Rahman would count as CMOA. The man is prolific. Some of the work he did in India is [gasp] as good as Slumdog, though not always as showy or...techno-sounding. Even his debut became a classic.
  • Casablanca: "Play 'La Marseillaise.' Play it." Prefigured five years earlier by the rousing performance of 'La Marseillaise' in The Grand Illusion. Here the Germans celebrate the taking of Fort Douaumont during the Battle of Verdun, ringing the church bells and singing 'The Watch on the Rhine' (sung by Major Strasser and his henchmen in Casablanca, even though this song was no longer the 'hit' it had been during the Franco-German War of 1870/71 and, to a lesser extent, World War I), but the Allied officers in the POW camp decide to put on their variety show anyhow. Then that show is interrupted by the news that the French have retaken Douaumont, and the performers just on stage - a group of British officers in drag - lead the audience in 'La Marseillaise' to the fury of the camp commandant and his officers, who are sitting in the front row. (Marcel Dalio, one of the stars of The Grand Illusion, had a bit part in Casablanca as one of Rick's employees).
  • Some highlights from Repo! The Genetic Opera include Zydrate Anatomy, Chromaggia, Seventeen, and ''We Started This Op'ra Shit''.
    • "Chromaggia" also counts as an in-universe example. Particularly the line "I would rather be blind".
    • "Let the Monster Rise". Anthony Stewart Head holds his last note like nobody's business.
    • "21st Century Cure", on the grounds of Terrance Zdunich's amazing low note on "concrete beloooooow..."
    • "Legal Assassin" does a great job of portraying Nathan's inner conflict while sounding awesome.
    • "Gold" gives Paul Sorvino a chance to show off his pipes.
    • "I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much" is tender and tearjerking.
  • Michael Mann has a knack for choosing Awesome Music to cap his films. To wit:
    • Heat, while Lt. Hanna stands vigil as McCauley dies: "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" by Moby.
    • Miami Vice, while Crockett watches Isabella leave, Tubbs watches Trudy wake up, and Crockett goes back to hospital where Trudy is recovering: "Auto Rock" by Mogwai.
    • Ali, while Ali defeats George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle: "Tomorrow" by Salif Keita.
    • "Shadow on the Sun" by Audioslave in Collateral.
  • Clint Mansell:
  • Tuck Everlasting's ominously epic "Jail Break" and hauntingly lovely music box whistling.
  • The theme to StarGate is so awesome that trailers can't help but use it to make ''their'' movies look awesome.
  • The use of Brian Eno's "Ending (An Ascent)" at the end of Traffic (2000) was pretty inspired, especially considering the final scene is of Javier finally getting to watch kids play baseball at night.
  • The live action adaptation of Twentieth Century Boys already has one in the first film, with the classical Golden Age superhero inspired theme for Kenji and the rest of the gang joining together again. When we finally get to hear the whole thing as they prepare for the climactic battle against Friend's giant robot, it makes what was already an incredibly emotional scene in the manga even more of a Tearjerker, Heartwarming Moment, and Moment of Awesome all rolled into one. Starts at 2:30 here.
  • The resurrection scene in Casshern is elevated to ridiculous levels of epic thanks to Sagisu Shiro. And then the choir kicks in at 4:22, and it's elevated even higher. The song "Requiem" from the Back Horn was quite epic as well, if not for the awesome ass kicking that goes along with it. When Casshern gets pissed, EVERYTHING pays.
  • The entire shootout scene from In Bruges had absolutely wonderful music.
  • When R.E.M. stepped in to score Man on the Moon, a film named after one of their songs, they delivered a lovely instrumental soundtrack plus the new song "The Great Beyond". It's a companion piece that manages to be poignant yet triumphant, wistful yet joyful, and more than worthy of the original (to say nothing of its subject).
  • Kenneth Branagh's Henry V's "Non Nobis Domine." It's a bit of Soundtrack Dissonance with the soft single voice starting the song and the voices that join it to finish in triumph as a bloodied Henry walks the muddy battlefield with a dead boy (a young Christian Bale) on his shoulder. It's still a great piece of music for a great film. The fact that the scene is a single shot is pretty awesome too. Trivia: the single voice that begins "Non Nobis Domine" is the composer Patrick Doyle.
  • Again in a Kenneth Branagh film: the music for the opening titles of Much Ado About Nothing (1993).
  • The beats from the final fight in Jackie Chans Georgeous will mesmerise you. Part of why it's one of the most glorious fight scenes ever.
  • Cinema Paradiso's main theme is nothing short of amazingly beautiful. Bonus points for a nostalgic feel.
  • Trevor Rabin's HANDS-DOWN greatest work (it's a travesty the entire score hasn't been released) is the music for Remember the Titans. The only official release of music from the score (found in the last track of the CD) combines all the movie's main pieces into seven-and-a-half minutes of music that alternately makes you want to sprint up Mt. Everest, beat the living daylights out of opponents, cry, and, well, outrun a football team to win the state championship.
  • "Big Boots" by Hello Stranger. The opening song of Good Dick, and you won't even find the lyrics online.
  • "It's not. Going to stop. 'Til you wise up." Magnolia was partly based on Aimee Mann songs, and one is actually sung by the characters in a key (and iconic) scene. It was also hilariously parodied by Flight of the Conchords.
  • The title theme of the film Blue Thunder is a classic, unforgettable riff that shows up whenever the titular helicopter appears.
  • Arthur Benjamin's Storm Clouds Cantata with words by D. B. Wyndham-Lewis, as used in the climactic Albert Hall sequence of both versions of Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, where it effectively becomes a silent film for several minutes, no dialogue, only music. Bernard Herrmann, given the option to compose his own piece for the 1956 remake, stated that the original piece was perfect for the scene, and only expanded it. Have a listen.
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc. Yes it's a silent movie, but Richard Einhorn released a definitive score, "Voices of Light" in 1994. Have a listen to a bit, read the libretto.
  • Thomas Newman. He scored The Shawshank Redemption, for goodness' sake! In the same movie, you KNOW you choked up when that aria from The Marriage of Figaro swelled on the loudspeakers and all over the prison.
  • Dune (1984):
    • Whatever its issues, the film has an epic main theme. Especially when it's reprised to scenes of Fremen mounting giant SandWorms into battle!
    • "Paul Meets Chani" by Brian Eno is truly haunting. It definitely makes you think of a desert fortress on some lost planet. Tell me of your homeworld Usul...
  • The Rock-Comedy The Rocker has the cast perform an incredible cover-version of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes", which prompts the band's drummer to lose it and fire off an AWESOME and completely mood-killing drum-solo. The song isn't to be found on the OST or anywhere at all.
  • While Stranger Than Fiction has one of the best scores of all time, one moment which is particularly awesome is at Ana's apartment, when Harold begins playing and singing the only song he knows on the guitar - Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World". When he gets interrupted, the soundtrack cuts in with the original track. Rock.
  • Amélie's main theme, "La Valse D'Amélie" and "Comptine d'un autre été: L'après-midi", which was also used in Good Bye, Lenin!. La Valse D'Amélie is so popular Yann Tiersen performs them at most of his concerts.
  • City of Ember's "One Last Message", perfectly fits over the credits and end sequences.
  • The performance of The American Symphony at the end of Mr. Holland's Opus. The whole movie covered the creation of this piece of music, and it did NOT disappoint.
  • Serenity. The music that plays as River Tam says "My turn." and charges down the hall to decimate the Reavers and close the blast door is just epic.
    • The end credits music is good too.
    • The Serenity theme. When we first see the ship the music starts out so soft and melancholic and then turns into this energetic and cheerful ode to freedom... Awesome!
  • In The Devil's Rejects, the Allman Brothers "Midnight Rider" over the opening credits.
  • The Disney movie Hocus Pocus is nothing particularly special, but in one sequence Bette Midler does a performance of "I Put a Spell on You" that has to be heard to be believed. As does Sarah Jessica Parker singing Come Little Children.
  • Peter Murphy singing 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' in the opening sequence in The Hunger, a scene that is more or less the orgasm of goth culture.
  • From The Blues Brothers:
  • Blues Brothers 2000 had its faults. "How Blue Can You Get" featuring B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Travis Tritt, Paul Schaffer, Koko Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Steve Winwood, Isaac Hayes, Charlie Musselwhite, Clarence Clemons, Lou Rawls, and every major living blues performer from the past 50 years, is not one of them.
  • From the movie Enchanted comes Ever Ever After.
  • Georgi Sviridov's waltz from the Russian movie The Blizzard. It's way more famous than the movie itself. The same goes for his fast-paced, aggressively awesome orchestral tune for the film Time Forward, which even ended up becoming the ident of the Soviet Union's Vremya news.
  • Eugen Doga's wedding waltz from A Hunting Accident is so popular it's often played at real weddings.
  • The Soviet-French film Teheran 43 has the beautiful Une vie d'amour.
  • Charles Aznavour's Et pourtant is a classic now though the movie it was written for, Cherchez l'idole, seems to be completely forgotten.
  • Bob Fosse's All That Jazz gives us this climactic cover of "Bye Bye Love".
  • The both upbeat and haunting theme from Das Boot. Good movie, too.
  • Although most of The Passion of the Christ is extremely sad, the "Resurrection" ending theme can just blow you away.
  • Say what you will about its overuse in film trailers, but Craig Armstrong's "Escape" from Plunkett & Macleane more than deserves its awesome status, particularly with the truly awesome Big Damn Heroes moment that it's used for in the movie.
  • The thunderous "O Verona" from the Baz Luhrmann William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet movie, as well as its reprise later in the movie. The all-male choir Only Men Aloud has covered this awesome track.
  • In Zombieland, after the main characters have just kicked a metric ton of zombie ass in the theme park, the Raconteurs' "Salute Your Solution" plays as they ride off and the credits roll. AWESOME.
    • Also, Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" plays over the opening credits set to slow-mo zombie attacks.
    • Also, The song "Ecstasy of Blood" by David Sardy which is played at Tallahassee's amazing zombie stand off. Where it is implied that he is sacrificing himself, when in reality he ends up killing all the zombies that chase him.
  • The song "Axel F" from Beverly Hills Cop is incredibly catchy. Even though it is two decades old, it was featured on an episode of Family Guy and also used in a scene in Monsters vs. Aliens. According to The Other Wiki, it topped musical charts in 1985, and remixes of it topped European musical charts in 2003! Also awesome are "The Heat is On", the opening theme of the first movie, and "Shakedown", the opening theme from the first sequel.
  • The theme from the teasers for the still-in-production movie Iron Sky, a comedy about Nazi spacemen.
  • Shoot 'Em Up takes very little time to bust out the guns and high octane action sequences. "Breed" (by Nirvana) kicks in and sets the tone for the movie: super awesome.
  • The Villain Song "Choose Your Poison" from The Return of Captain Invincible gets bonus points for being sung by none other than Christopher Lee.
  • Paint Your Wagon has They Call the Wind Maria.
  • Oldboy (2003) has a lyrical and creepy theme, epecially if you picture Oh Dae-Su as he walks, smiling when the suicidal guy hits the ground behind him. And the words in his head: "Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone." AWESOME!
  • Steven Soderbergh's movie The Informant! is awesome enough to begin with, but the music by Marvin Hamlisch is even better. Especially "Car Meeting."
  • The Jam's "A Town Called Malice" in Billy Elliot, when Billy just explodes from his Small Town Boredom and goes dancing thorugh the streets.
  • Brandon Lee's transformation scene in The Crow — set off to The Cure's "Burn."
    Oh, yes....
  • From Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, we have the songs Decimation Proclamation, Requiem Overture, and the end credits, which combine both.
  • At the end of Xanadu, Kira and the other muses perform a montage of random songs. And after a truly godawful stereotypical country debacle the movie X wipes and the muses dance to a low key instrumental humming accompanied by a choir. Suddenly the music takes a turn for the best and violins chime in heralding a reprise of the title song. And... it... is... awesome!
  • School of Rock. "And if you wanna be the teacher's pet..." Also, "The legend of the rent was WAY HARDCORE!!!"
  • 1969's Battle of Britain was scored mostly by fairly standard martial music — a bombastic march for the Germans, and a heroic theme for the British. Then they reached the final air battle, turned off the sound effects, and let William Walton's music take over. No machine-guns, no explosions, no dialogue, just amazingly, hauntingly awesome music as two air forces fight tooth and nail in the skies of southern England.
  • The famous Dambusters March, which has arguably become more famous than the movie it is from. It's even more awesome because (according to the composer's son), the piece was not actually written for the film, but as a stand-alone, Elgarian style march, as the march's composer Eric Coates disliked writing film music.
  • The Departed has an amazing soundtrack, but the greatest song in the set is undoubtedly Dropkick Murphys' "Shipping up to Boston". You know, the punk rock song with bagpipes.
  • Office Space "Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!!" Especially with Peter's stone cold indifference in that scene, as well as "Still" by Geto Boys, the music in the copier scene.
  • From Mr. and Mrs. Smith, El Tango de los Assassinos.
  • Kenji Kawai's masterpieces from the Kung-Fu movie Ip Man, one of the best and most memorable being "Battle for Righteousness".
  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure:
    • 'In Time', the song heard in the background when the malfunctioning booth sends Bill and Ted into the enlightened future to a pre-emptive heroes' welcome. It underpins perfectly a sequence that shows the value of what they've been asked to protect.
    • Bricklin - Walk Away? It's the music that the report begins to and it gets better if you listen to the whole song.
  • The wrenching scene in Hotel Rwanda which finds a priest and several nuns escorting orphans to the hotel, where they and other foreigners are to be safely evacuated while the Rwandans are left behind is accompanied by a beautiful piece of African choral music that just makes the scene all the sadder—but the same music is played over the ending, where having escaped the slaughter, the main character and his wife reach a refugee camp where they are reunited with his brother's children.
  • The song that plays over the start of the end credits for Snow White & the Huntsman is the absolutely epic Breath of Life by Florence + The Machine.
  • In the French film Le Concert, the main orchestra is going to play Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, and they haven't rehearsed at all. The start is a bit wobbly due to the lack of rehearsing, but after Anne-Marie begins her solo, the orchestra manages to reach spontaneous harmony. See the concert here (all speaking in Spanish).
  • From Millions, "House Building", which combines a serene, beautiful, heavenly choir with something truly badass.
  • Silent Hill: Revelation 3D has some music based off of tracks from the original games. "Vincent Condemned" is a pretty awesome and heavy piece of music that sounds like one half Terminator theme, with the other half being "Memory of the Waters" from Silent Hill 3.
  • Several performances from Velvet Goldmine could qualify, but a particular standout is Ewan McGregor's rendition of Iggy Pop's "Gimme Danger." Sadly, it was not included on the soundtrack. The instrumental section in the middle featuring two different lead guitar solos being played simultaneously is an incredible trip!
  • Whiplash: Being a film about jazz and the perfection of executing, this is to be expected. The sound mixing goes a long way to immersing the viewer in the characters' main performance showcase, with the climactic drum solo standing out.
  • "Prologue: Into the Woods" is amazing in the stage version of Into the Woods, but the film version is really something special. Especially at the very end, where all the different voices and lyrics come together and flawlessly harmonize and flow with each other... it's enough to drive you to tears, and for fans of the stage show, this was the first major sign that all their worries about the adaptation were for naught, and that this was going to be a good movie. Also "Hello, Little Girl" combines Evil Is Sexy with One-Scene Wonder for a seductive Villain Song. Who knew Johnny Depp could sing so well?
  • Although this tends to fall under Recycled Trailer Music (but still a good movie trailer song), probably the most awesome usage of the Zack Hemsey song "Vengeance" was in the final battle of The Equalizer, when McCall gruesomely dispatches Teddy and his men at the Home Mart that was taken over by them, as well as the Moby song New Dawn Fades, and the ending theme, the Eminem song Guts Over Fear.
  • The first Blade film had a techno-based soundtrack. "Confusion (1995 Pump Panel Remix)" by New Order is the most noteworthy example (interestingly, it's one of the few songs in the movie that made it to the soundtrack album, which mostly kept to hip-hop songs not in the movie).
  • American Pie: After two naffy cover versions in Wedding and two of the spinoffs, the series theme song "Laid" finally appears in the original James form for Reunion's end credits.
  • Strange Magic: The title song "Strange Magic" sung by Marianne and the Bog King is the best song in the film. It does a fantastic job of selling a fairly compact romance and shows a softer side to both characters. It really conveys how they are unable to stop themselves from falling in love, no matter how much they'd want to otherwise.
  • Composer John Ottman's contributions to the two Fantastic Four (2005) movies, particularly the "Main Title" piece in the 2005 movie and the "Silver Surfer Theme" in Rise of the Silver Surfer. The first movie had an eclectic soundtrack album featuring the likes of Velvet Revolver, Chingy, Taking Back Sunday, and Lloyd Banks, to name a few. Highlights include Joss Stone's "Whatever Happened to the Heroes" and "New World Order" by Miri Ben-Ari.
  • "In the Music" by The Roots for Stomp the Yard. The song feels like a climactic showdown. And "Come On" by rapper Bonecrusher and his band Onslaught open up the film with a burst of energy.
  • Both the soundtrack and the pre-existing songs used for Kingsman: The Secret Service are not only pretty good and/or catchy; but they are all on-point and fit the movie perfectly. Some examples:
    • "The Medallion", going from a slow, somber rhythm while Galahad is telling about Eggsy's father's death to his family, to a raising, epic tune in time for the title card.
    • "Bonkers", every time pre-training Eggsy does something cool.
    • And, of course, "Free Bird" as the backdrop for the church melee.
    • "Get Ready For It" by Take That. Definitely not what you'd expect for a gory spy action thriller, but perfectly fitting as the theme for stereotypical Lower-Class Lout Eggsy becoming his generation's James Bond expy.
  • National Lampoon's Vacation has Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road", a cheerful tone that sets the mood for a road trip.
  • Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome had Tina Turner in the cast, and sure enough, she goes all-in to deliver a memorable credits song, "We Don't Need Another Hero".
  • Divergent:
    • Woodkid's "Run Boy Run", an instrumental version of which essentially becomes the Dauntless theme music in the first movie. Additionally, the lyrics relate to the story of the series.
    • Ellie Goulding contributes a few songs like "Beating Heart" and "Dead in the Water" to the soundtrack. The film makers said she was "the voice for our film."
  • Mad Max: Fury Road:
  • All opinions you may have about Pixels, it should be said that its score by Henry Jackman is excellent, it has the right breathtaking visuals to go with it, and it's one of the few genuinely good things to come out of the movie. Special mention has to go to the version of "We Will Rock You" featured in the film - the signature backbeat with an orchestral accompaniment that rises to a crescendo, well suited for the two scenes it's featured in.
  • Both of The Addams Family theatrical films get their own.
    • The Mamushka, of course; Gomez in a Cossack hat, dancing to a Hungarian Czardas, with Morticia on violin, and knife-juggling.
    • The tango scene in Addams Family Values, where both the waltz theme from the first movie AND the theme music from the TV series are strung together to make a thoroughly incredibly piece of Latin dance music. The fact that Morticia gets spun about fast enough to become a blur, not to mention literally setting fire to the dance floor, makes it all the better. Ending, naturally enough, with a symbolic popping of every last champagne cork in the building.
  • In The Last Witch Hunter, there's Ciara's cover of Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black", a really climactic and hypnotic piece of music used in most of the trailers.
  • The title music from Five Weeks in a Balloon perfectly encapsulates the feeling of lighthearted, whimsical adventure central to the film.
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers:
  • Les Misérables (2012): A new technique of the film that was well publicized before its premiere was that the actors' vocals were recorded live on the set, in order that the music would be synched to them rather than the other way around. The result created a very natural performance, averting off-cue lip synching, and restored believability to some scenes, such as Éponine's death, which now could sound like one was actually in pain rather than continuing to project strong tones when one was supposedly dying.
  • The Bollywood film Ghatak: Lethal has "Koi Jaye To Le Aaye", a high-energy dance number.
  • The main theme of Steel. Say what you want about the rest of the movie, the main theme is an epic and triumphant anthem greatly suited to Steel, even if we're talking about the comics. If the movie had done better, the main theme might have been remembered as one of the great superhero themes of cinema, up there with the John Williams Superman theme and the Danny Elfman Batman theme.
  • The End Titles theme from the 1981 Michael Mann film Thief, titled "Confrontation" on the soundtrack, performed by Craig Safan. It features an awesome Pink Floyd-like guitar playing throughout the song.
  • The main theme for the Indian movie Singham. Considering the title character and the dance during the opening credits, it still comes off as a sort of Rocky theme for India.
  • The Fault in Our Stars's soundtrack is very well-chosen. "Boom Clap" is incredibly catchy and upbeat, while "Not About Angels" and "All of the Stars" are appropriately tearjerky and emotional pieces for the film's third act.
  • John Wick has plenty of tracks to choose from.
    • First, to get you in the mood to watch a 50-year-old Keanu Reeves kick some ass, here's Story of Wick. The inclusion of an actual candle being lit marks the song building up just like John's emotions as of late.
    • What better to underscore the relationship between Marcus and John, and how the former will betray Viggo for John's sake? Why, just let Marilyn Manson do it for you, with Killing Strangers.
    • John makes a badass entrance to the Red Circle's dance floor as LED Spirals plays, one of four contributions to the soundtrack by Le Castle Vania. It's followed by the shootout itself, set to Shots Fired. An energetic dance beat fits John's fast, precise Gun Fu style.
    • One from the sequel: John Wick Mode accompanies the Rome Catacombs shootout. Mixing cues from LED Spirals with its own musical progression, it really fits the increased tension and pace of the gunplay for the sequel.

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