This thing is listing

Good movies (non-concert) made by musicians:

Rude Boy
Help!
Quadrophenia
Hard Day's Night

Bad Ones:

8 Mile (in the so bad it's good category?)
Spice World
Tommy
Purple Rain (god, I was watching it yesterday, forgot how bad it was)

And_________________?
(what else)

interestingly sting and joey fantone and bowie belong in both camps

sting good Dune
Sting Bad Bride
Bowie Good Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence
Bowie Bad Hunger
joey bad: EVERYTHING (but)
The Cooler


Good movies with rockers

Head
Blow Up
Carny
Coal Miner's Daughter
Sling Blade
How I Won the War
From Here To Eternity (Hoboken's own)
Absolute Beginners
Juice (my man Tupac)

Bad Movies with rock stars

EVERY ELVIS--sorry Greil
Mariah's Glitter--truly so bad it's very funny
Crossroads, by some Louisianananana skank: i forget her name

Generally, rock stars make poor choices for casting in movies (unless serious typecasting is involved), regardless of any actual thespian talent they may possess.

The reason for this is simple. A good actor is able to disappear into the role he or she is playing. But a rock star spends years creating an identifiable image, and isn't likely to part with it gladly, just because he or she is on a movie set.

Whether Robert De Niro plays a boxer (*Raging Bull*), a psycho bent on vengeance (*Cape Fear*) or a gangster (*Goodfellas* or its longer yet lesser cousin *Casino*), he's believable in the role; the audience can forget they're watching De Niro. On the other hand, it doens't matter if the movie is *Labyrinth*, *The Hunger*, *Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence* or *The Man Who Fell to Earth*. No matter how different the roles he's playing, that's David Bowie you're watching on the screen, and it ain't anyone else.

Generally true.
I haven't seen Mick in 'Ned Kelley' but it's said to be a good performance. 'Performance' is just hard to watch. Tom Waits is good in his appearances as is Lyle Lovett, John Doe, J-Lo, Madonna, Courtney (sounds crazy but it's true)...
And Bowie can be a great actor (see above Bowie post). When Roeg's 'Man Who Fell to Earth' was first seen in the US, Bowie had no image here. His performance in that film remains applauded. Dave has a also done studied and well received portrayals of Warhol as well as recognized stage work.

Great lists above, people! (m'kay)



Post Edited (11-12-04 22:28)

Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains (The Professionals, Fee Waybill, others)

Get Crazy (Lee Ving)

Expresso Bongo (Cliff Richard)

The Magic Christian (Ringo)

Desperately Seeking Susan (Madonna)

Actually, to be more descriptive,
I was thinking of movies, not where a musician is employed as an actor, but where a band or individual fund and are in a dramatic piece and/or biopic where it's not simply a concert with extra bits. I.E. it's their project.

What are more of those?

Another fun string might be movies where an artist's appearance saves the film (I'm looking at you, Rock 'n' Roll High School)

Slade In Flame


Not sure about Rude Boy, but it certainly gives an accurate snapshot of Britain in the late seventies.

That'll Be the Day - David Essex, Ringo, Keith Moon, Billy Fury

A (mostly) underrated pic.

Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses
Pink Floyd's The Wall