The 10 best musical moments in Edgar Wright movies, from Shaun to Soho
Of all the groovy ear worms in Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and Baby Driver, which are the best?
Film Features Edgar Wright
There’s an argument to be made that Edgar Wright has been doing stealth musicals his entire career. His Cornetto trilogy—Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End—feature Simon Pegg and Nick Frost battling hordes of zombies, brainwashed countryfolk, and robots, but many of their fight scenes are choreographed to music that’s seemingly hand-picked from Wright’s record collection. On the other hand, two of his other features, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and Baby Driver, feature lengthy musical sequences that might as well be literal song-and-dance numbers. While the characters in Scott Pilgrim move through the insular Toronto indie rock scene, Baby Driver takes the concept of “a soundtrack” to its logical conclusion by editing almost all of its action in time with a highly curated mixtape.
A true-blue music obsessive, Wright lends each of his films their own mood by instilling them with songs that reflect or comment upon their environments. His latest film, Last Night In Soho, is no different: Wright transports us to 1960s London by luxuriating in the glamor, clothes, and, yes, music of the setting, except that the nostalgia trip quickly curdles into something darker. Just in time for Last Night In Soho’s Halloween release, The A.V. Club has ranked the 10 best musical moments of Wright’s feature film career. Disagree with our picks? Sound off with our mixtape ranking in the comments.
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“Bellbottoms,” Baby Driver
-One of the greatest choreographed scenes ever produced
Simon Skinner taunting Nicholas Angle Angel with Dire Straits’s Romeo And Juliet and Fire by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown doesn’t really speak to Wright’s ability as a director, but it let Timothy Dalton have a ton of fun.
His line reading of “super maché” is certainly sublime.
I know there’s no music being played, but I’ll still put on the record-throwing scene from Shaun Of The Dead.
The “Second Coming” pun gets me every time. Should’ve turfed the fucker, tho.
“Attack the Block” uses its music in an Edgar Wright fashion. From the master to the emerging director.
I recently rewatched “The World’s End” again for the first time in awhile, and god damn if I’m not torn about whether it might actually be my favorite of the three. Just so expertly written, directed, and acted at every moment.
Also, I really want to watch it sometime with someone who has never heard of it, just to see how they react when this interesting character piece about a guy who peaked in high school and refuses to grow up suddenly turns into Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
I probably need to give it another go – there are bits I really like, but overall it’s the weakest of the three for me. It does however always leave me craving a marmalade sandwich.
I think it’s Simon Pegg’s best performance.
Agreed. Both on its own merits as a fantastic performance as a deeply depressed individual trying desperately to hide that fact, and in the “this time he’s the wild one and Nick Frost is the straight man” reversal from the prior two. They both absolutely nail their parts.
While Hot Fuzz is probably my pick for the best, I think The World’s End might be my secret favourite. Partly because I really disliked it when it was released and it’s grown on me with every viewing, but also, I think the slightly more melancholic tone gives it that extra depth that the other films don’t have.
The scene where Gary and Andy are really finally getting to the heart of their argument and Gary’s actual issues is actually pretty searing. The line “How can you know you’re drunk when you’re never sober?” really hit hard, both in itself and in Frost’s heartbroken delivery.
It’s my favorite Wright movie (with respect to Baby Driver, which bangs on a positively intergalactic level). It has all the humor of Shaun and Hot Fuzz as well as some truly terrific action, as the article points out, but what has always separated it for me is how emotionally resonant it is.
I still haven’t actually been able to see Baby Driver, but I sure intend to.
i did that! i figured the roommate i was watching it with knew the twist and then when the guy’s head comes off he practically jerked out of his seat in confusion. it was fun
I remember seeing Hot Fuzz in the theater, and when the local theater production of Romeo & Juliet ends with the cast singing “Lovefool” I was the only person in the theater who got the joke. Or at least I was the only person who laughed. Either way, I love that bit.
I love the classic piano fill they use to kick it off.
I’m probably going to start a fight here, but does anyone care to rank the movies of the Cornetto trilogy? In descending order, for me it’s Hot Fuzz clearly at the top, with The World’s End slightly beating Shaun of the Dead. My reasoning is that the tone in Shaun gets a little too dark towards the end for what the first half established. The second half of World’s End isn’t perfect either, but I love the Simon Pegg’s very relatable performance of that one guy we all knew from high school. The movie walks a fine line between showing how sad his life has become, while acknowledging that a straight middle class existence simply would not be possible for him.
I’m the same, for pretty much exactly the same reasons. While I’m very fond of Shaun of the Dead because it was my introduction to Wright, Pegg and Frost (as well as possibly the first zombie film I ever saw), rewatching it again recently made me realise that the final 30 minutes or so has never really worked for me. Like you say, it gets very dark and serious once (spoilers for a near 20 year old film) Barbara dies, and it feels like it almost forgets to still be a comedy.
See my comment above – I think I’ll put The World’s End on top, with Shaun very slightly beating out Hot Fuzz. There isn’t one of them I wouldn’t sit down and watch just about any time, though.
I think AWE is underrated, though I enjoyed it right away and noticed it does seem to grow on people. Will respectfully disagree, at least for me, I have that first Wright/Pegg/Frost giddy glow from Shaun, and I was a fan of Pegg beforehand. I can watch Shaun at any point, anytime it is on and it is not usually my style to do so. Hot Fuzz, my number 2 has got so many fun side plots and weird twists it is always a treat. Tomato-Tomatoh I suppose.
Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, The World’s End.
I think “Village Green Preservation Society” gets more discourse than it probably deserves. It’s fine to pine for simplicity and quiet beauty, so long as you don’t complain about how they don’t burn homosexuals anymore or whatever.
I don’t know exactly what you mean by “the discourse”, but there is a pretty consistent strain of small-c conservatism running through the Kinks’ catalog, along with a lot of pretty explicit political references, and Davies himself has clearly thought a lot about what it means to live in the modern world (most explicitly in his weirdly meta autobiography) and what an ideal society might look like. So I don’t think it’s wrong to think about the song and its implications – and Hot Fuzz as a whole is partly about pointing out the folly of the sentiment expressed by the song’s narrator.
In this case, the whole point of Hot Fuzz *is* that discourse. The whole idea of “quiet beauty” (Village of the Year!) built on a fundament of intolerance is pretty core, and Wright definitely knew that.
Great soundtrack to Last Night in Soho. The atmosphere of the movie (music, fashions) was better than the plot of the movie.
Also, as good as the “Don’t Stop Me Now” sequence is I don’t think there’s anything touching “Bellbottoms.”
Yeah the entire chase scene, right down to the staccato screeching of tires when Baby drifts the car, is synchronized with the song. The 3:50 mark is where it just totally takes off.
They could have switched it, and I would have been fine. But, I gotta give the slight edge to Shaun Of The Dead because it introduced me to that song.
Honorable Mentions to “You’re My Best Friend” over Shaun’s closing credits, and the literal gunshot by gunshot choreography of the warehouse shootout in Baby Driver to “Tequila”.
Songwriter Ray Davies swears the song is merely nostalgic rather than explicitly right-wingWell, shit. And here’s me all this time thinking it was satire.
It’s satire, but it’s one with some affection. The VGPS is a Quixotic enterprise, but there’s something noble about it all the same, isn’t there?
The best satires are always done with affection, wouldn’t you say? (See “This Is Spinal Tap”, or the explicitly-clownish portrayal of David Lee Roth in “Metalocalypse”.)
it wouldn’t be high on the list, but i can’t believe you didn’t mention Matthew Patel’s out-of-nowhere musical number in Scott Pilgrim. i remember seeing it in theaters and there was this ripple in the audience, and a sense of “oh christ is this the kind of movie we’re watching”. fortunately they cut to anna kendrick to express what we’re all feeling
Wright’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” moment became such an iconic use of the song. Umbrella Academy later made use of it, it felt flat and uninspired.
Two from Baby Driver, neither of which is Hocus Pocus? What the hell
Poor Sparks, Two and a half hours devoted to them and they can’t even squeeze into the top 10.
Enough with the fucking slideshows!
Holy *crap* Brie Larson was Envy? I keep forgetting I’m now old enough to have seen famous actors in their pre-headlining roles.
She was 19 when she filmed Scott Pilgrim, I think. Her screentest is among the extras on the DVD. It’s amazing how she’s a normal, sweet young woman at first, and then just flips a switch and becomes Envy. No surprise that she wound up with an Oscar eventually…
Oooh, neat. I saw it once in theaters and that was it, but I remember Envy standing out among the 50 billion characters. (I still maintain this would’ve been a better miniseries, haha.)
I will always associate the Wild Angels clip with In ‘N’ Out of Grace by Mudhoney.
[Scott Pilgrim’s] best music sequence, however, involves Japanese experimental pop artist Cornelius, who created the music of the Katayanagi Twins…You are fucking high. That is by far the most boring, forgettable sequence, and music, in the movie. I didn’t even know it was Cornelius (who has done stuff I’ve liked) until now, but since we all are now aware of what an abusive piece of shit Cornelius is, it’s in pretty poor taste to include him in this list.
Baby Driver’s opening titles – “Harlem Shuffle” mixed with on point diegetic sound and visual knowing winks to the lyrics – is way better than Bellbottoms.
I’m also sad that the actual original Mint Royale music vid didn’t at least get a mention since it was the original demo to Baby Driver’s full album so to speak. Also Noel Fielding, Julian Barrett, Nick Frost, Michael Smiley. Sure it doesn’t have the awesome car chase but I love all the bits where he’s trying to seem unsuspicious
Absolutely. One of the greatest opening title sequences ever, I think.
I always looked at “Bell Bottom” and “Harlem Shuffle” as being of a piece. One of the best introductions for a movie ever. The layering of the lyrics in the background was wonderful. Now, when I get new a/v equipment this is what I use, since it pushes both well.
Just looking at the track list for The Worlds End, you’ve got the lads returning to their hometown to ‘Come Home’ by James and ‘Old Red Eyes Is Back’ by the Beautiful South, their trip to the retro ‘School Disco’ has Kylie Minogue’s ‘Step Back in Time’ playing in the background, quickly followed by St Etienne’s ‘Join Our Club’ when the true nature of the situation is revealed.
I also feel that honourable mentions should go to the use of The Specials ‘Ghost Town’ and Kernkraft 400’s ‘Zombie Nation’ in Shaun of The Dead.That said, Pegg, Wright and Frost have always had a knack for choosing a great tune. The clubbing scene with Kamisra’s ‘Let Me Show You’ in Season 1 of Spaced has forever cemented that tune in my brain and I can never hear Lemon Jelly’s ‘The Staunton Lick without getting a nostalgic tear in my eye over its use as the background music in the final scene of the show.