What Movie Features Careless Whisper By George Michael?

Yooo, another video hole for me - this time a bunch of ‘Careless Whisper’ movie and anime covers. A bunch of them are by Tamaki, and while that one is nice and pretty, there’s also an instrumental version of it in that Korean drama I was watching, I think. The melody is really versatile. I suppose because the song is about guilt and cheating, it’s become sort of a generic ‘romantic’ tune - but I think that’s partly because the guilt isn’t expressed in the melody itself, it just sounds smooth and sad and sexy. So while the lyrics are one thing, the instrumental is another, and because of that it makes for really good visual media - the guilt/cheating part of the song isn’t always audible, so it’s up to the director to interpret it in whichever way suits their movie. The ‘Deadpool’ version is ironic violence, while in Naruto it’s used to portray unspoken love and promise. The song is basically a blank canvas with a specific color palette.

That iconic song 'I Will Always Love You' instantly takes me back to 'The Bodyguard' (1992), starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. Whitney's powerhouse vocals turned Dolly Parton's original country ballad into a global phenomenon—it was everywhere in the '90s! The scene where Rachel (Houston) sings it to Frank Farmer (Costner) gives me chills every time; the way the camera lingers on her emotional performance feels so raw. Funny thing, though—the song almost didn't make it into the movie. Kevin Costner fought for it after hearing Whitney's demo. Imagine if they'd gone with another track? The film's soundtrack became the best-selling of all time for a reason—those soaring notes defined an era. I still belt it out in my car like it's 1993.

On the business side of this, it probably boiled down to Touchstone/CDisney having a cross-promotion deal with Columbia Records to market the song off of the movie. Such deals are written with exclusivity to recoup investment. Millions were spent making that song a signature part of the Disney movie and its subsequent marketing efforts. Bad branding would ensue if a competitor were allowed to utilize the song in their marketing efforts just a year or so later. Contracturally and from a strategic standpoint, it was in the best interest of Touchstone, Disney and Columbia to make the pairing of the song and movie a long-term exclusive deal. By the time the windows of exclusivity for that song would have ended, the connection had become so indelibly linked that no one would seriously consider utilizing it.

My two cents: the song is better than the movie. The movie is a solid 7/10 kids’ film. The song is a 10/10 vocal masterpiece. The movie benefits from being associated with this song, not the other way around. Without the song, that big training sequence montage is just another scene. With the song, it becomes legendary and a cultural touchstone. The song makes great material even better. It’s a good reminder of how important music curation is in film. A great song can make a good scene legendary.

This is Battleship. Two hours of completely unnecessary movie most of which one could throw popcorn at. And yet–as with most movies these days–one song in a three minute spurts of almost-resolution. As with most movies these days the song is by far the best part, here salvaged by Rihanna from the mire of underwater silliness in “Stay”. A completely-without-irony great soundtrack, and also–there’s no reasoning for this–a board game made into a movie needs a break-up song.

I would suggest you start with Lanie's film "How to Build a Better Boy" which is a really fun movie to watch. Mae is a character who starts off as a control freak but learns to roll with life's messiness. Her journey is really relatable and Lanie does a great job of bringing warmth to her role as the strange girl with a robot boyfriend. The movie has a lot of heart and a lot of humor. It's just a really fun movie and it has that classic Disney Channel feel to it. It's a really good "watch on a lazy day" kind of movie.

There are so many small scenes which I remember, when I hear the song ‘We’ve Got Tonight’ in a movie: a declaration of love in a parking-lot, a slow dance through a kitchen, or two people finally confessing something to each other which they had been hiding for so long. The song has a compact and fine structure: from private to communal. I am very much aware, whether a scene is supported by the original version of ‘We’ve Got Tonight’ with all its gritty, nostalgic quality, or by a softer, jazzy cover version to add more vulnerability to the situation. In any case, it is a turning-point in the movie. And the best things are, when the music does all the talking, and the actors only are doing the admitting. The quiet honesty of these scenes stays with me longest.

This is another beloved character that we love to watch in films. He is typically a bit gruff and perhaps not part of the main family but in the end he is so lovable that he ends up being the greatest father figure to this other person outside of his own family. We can recall the classic ‘Big Daddy’ starring Adam Sandler as Sonny, an eccentric and quirky man who after a night out drinking wakes up the next morning to find a baby in his care. Despite it all he goes on to care for the baby until the real father turns up. This film packs a lot of laughs throughout but it is a beautifully warming movie at the end of the day too. The ‘fun uncle’ or ‘best friend dad’ is once again another great example of why the ‘unconventional dad’ is so popular with audiences today. The biggest symbol of love and learning for how to be a parent is found in the movie “Mrs. Doubtfire”. In the movie Robin Williams plays the part of Daniel, a male spouse who wants to spend more time with his children after a divorce, so he dresses up as a female nanny named Mrs. Doubtfire. Most of the movie he is in ‘nanny’ mode, playing the part of a fun, loving, young, and loose ‘uncle’ to the children, but eventually the mask comes off and he exposes himself as their real dad. The movie not only shows him learning to be a father to his children but also a better husband to his wife. Taking a different turn, ‘The Game Plan’ is an action-packed film where a football player (Dwayne Johnson) finds his life turned upside down when he discovers he has a daughter he never knew existed. Fumbling his way through parenting and accidentally finding humor in moments meant for tears, he attempts to learn how to be a good dad. Scenes of him awkwardly attempting to braid his daughter’s hair and sitting at a tea party with her were sweet. Recent films are bringing another twist to this gruff but lovable father figure: even when he makes mistakes, simply showing up for his children is enough. This is particularly evident in the recent true story of Instant Family, in which Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne adopt three children including a hardened teenager. Watching the father figure struggle to connect with the teenager, often getting things wrong but realising she needs a friend as much as a parent, is a very real and powerful take on this.

A very specific question within the remit of film tourism, Wren Library must be catnip for many film producers seeking locations to shoot scenes which require absolute intellectual credibility. The reverse of modern, edgy shooting locations, Wren Library conveys a feeling of tradition, of high academia, of privilege. The clue is found in a detective’s story within its walls, the secret trysts of lovers in a romance, the crisis of faith of a protagonist in a drama surrounded by hundreds of silent, yellowing books. It’s never the scene of the big showdown, but it’s where the crucial clue is found or the big revelation made that leads to the big showdown. Filming here is always with great respect, lots of wide shots of the space, then the actors in close up, their faces softly lit by the natural light pouring in from the high windows. A true character actor, always delivering.

This is ‘The Best Things In Life Are Free’ from the film ‘Cocktail.’ Starring Tom Hanks, Elisabeth Shue and Bryan Brown. A huge hit when released as a single, the decision to include the track in the film must have been a no-brainer for the studio. It’s used diegetically throughout the movie and viewers can clearly hear it on radios and in various backgrounds in many scenes. This is different from the typical situation where a song is used over a montage of shots of a character. The use of this song in Cocktail is not just as background music to scenes, it is part of the diegesis, or the world in which the characters exist. As a result, the movie conveys the fact that the song’s philosophy is part of the culture that the characters are living in and that they are dealing with. This is a small difference from typical use of songs in films, but it is a difference that makes a large difference in terms of conveying realism in an otherwise very realistic movie. The song is not commenting on the action from outside the action, it is part of the action.