I've posted something in the Music section that might be of interest to movie buffs...

http://forums.metacritic.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=354108&f=646109&m=2880075292&r=2880075292#2880075292

The gist...best acting performance by someone who is known primarily as a musician.

Come on over and join us!

The Beatles "A hard days night" is, hands down, the best prformance in a movie by any musicians!!!!

I can't really think of any good performance by a musician. But Snoop Dog was somewhat funny in the remake of "Starsky and Hutch." And although I dislike Eminem and the movie "8 Mile" he didn't give as bad a performance as I expected. But I can think of many musicians that are bad actors:

Ja Rule
Lil Bow Wow
Britney Spears
Mandy Moore
Beyonce
Will Smith

What do all of these people have in common? They are all bad musicians and average (if that) actors. I'm sure that there are many more, but just none that I can think of.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike Angelo,

I actually really liked David Bowie in films such as: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell To Earth and The Hunger as well as his hilarious performance in Basquiat as Andy Warhol.
He may not be a great actor but he's weird and charismatic.

Two more that come to mind for Bowie are The Man Who Fell to Earth and Absolute Beginners, both of which I like and both of which seem largely forgotten to me.

I also liked Basquiat a great deal, Mister E. I'm glad somebody else around here remembers it.

Another that occurred to me the other day is Lou Reed. He appeared in the film One Trick Pony starring Paul Simon. The film on the whole is only so-so, but Reed does a splendid job as a schmarmy, sleezy producer, which is pretty funny considering his own role in the music business.

Lou Reed also appears in one of my favorite, truly forgotten rock 'n' roll films, Get Crazy. I'm curious if anybody else (mark? pE?) remembers this one. It's the same kind of campy good fun as Rock 'N' Roll High School.

Now Playing: "The Big Push" Dave Ellis Raven (Monarch)

I don't recall Get Crazy but I did think of at least two more performances that were pretty funny:

Henry Rollins as an overzealous cop and Anthnoy Kiedis and Flea as a couple of stoners in the Charlie Sheen/Kristy Swanson remake of The Chase.

A good musician in a bad film? Britta Phillips, of Luna, was one of the 3 female leads in the Justine Bateman stinkerSatisfaction

quote:

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Originally posted by philosopherEric:
I don't recall _Get Crazy_...

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Check out the description in the All Movie Guide.

Sadly, it appears to be out of print.

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quote:

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Lou Reed also appears in one of my favorite, truly forgotten rock 'n' roll films, _Get Crazy_. I'm curious if anybody else (mark? pE?) remembers this one. It's the same kind of campy good fun as _Rock 'N' Roll High School_.

Now Playing: "The Big Push" Dave Ellis _Raven_ (Monarch)

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Yes!!!!!!!!!!!! This movie is great, and Lou Reeds perfermance is, as you rightly point out, top notch. He works that song up as the taxi he's in takes him on a scenic ride through the countryside. Hilarious. And the song he sings at the end is magnificent. Does any one know if its available? I haven't been able to find it any where so I've resorted to taping it of my copy of the video.

I'm embarrassed to say, LT, that I missed "Get Crazy", although the guy I worked for saw it and he seemed to like it, and he's a major L7. Yes, from my own research of it (20 years ago), it could pass for an-almost sequel to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" (many similar credits...I'd LOVE to see Daniel Stern, Malcolm McDowell, Allen Goorwitz (Garfield), Lou Reed AND Lee Ving all in one movie!)

I nominate Bobby Darin in both "Pressure Point" and "Captain Newman, M.D.". The guy was pretty damned intense for such a cool pop songsmith. Of course his biopic, "Beyond the Sea", directed by and starring Kevin Spacey, may raise his current VQ even more. "Pressure Point" with Sidney Poitier is playing often on cable and it's newly-released to DVD. Good flick!

P.S. Inconsequential, but I always loved Flea on the bigscreen videophone in "Back to the Future II."

Lest we forget that great performance by Iggy Pop in the much maligned "Hardware". Ya never actually see him, but that disembodied voice of doom is crawling like a king snake all over this flick.

Oh , and that's not countin' the blink-and -you'll-miss-it cameo from Lemmy.

"No flesh shall be spared"
Mark 13

I thought Queen Latifa has been quite good in a few movies. Recently, she's been playing the exact same character but I thought she was different in Chicago.

Well, she was ok in Chicago butI found her really annoying in Taxi and average in Bringing down the house (thank God for Steve Martin)

Yes, as I said I thought recently she was the same repeatedly, bringing down the house, taxi, barber shop 2, the cookout. I still liked her in Chicago though.

I keep thinking of musicians who have appeared in films, but in keeping with the subject of the thread, I'm having a harder time thinking of performances that are good examples of acting.

One that occurred to me last night is Art Garfunkel in Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge. I think it's something of an overlooked film, which is surprising given the fact that it also stars Jack Nicholson and is really a very good film. It does, however, delve deeply into the effects of the 70s sexual revolution, which may seem increasingly dated.

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Don't be too hard on yer self eL T. You pulled "Get crazy" outcha wazzoo and that is enough. By the way, this should go in the "Favorite credits" thread, but get crazy is one of only two movies I can watch to the absolute end. Until it goes dark. The other is "Skidoo", with a great little stint from Nillson as "the tower guard".

DMX and Nas did a pretty good job in Belly. I think that was a great film....

Alanis Morrisette in Dogma.

jesus, how could you start this thread without mentioning Tupac? granted, he started as an actor then got big for music, and his movies aren't *amazing*, but he really shines in them.

Also David Bowie is the shit in Labyrinth.

what about Will Smith? his early albums are good and Six Degrees of Separation's good too

it's all about the CubeVision.

Yes, he's made some really bad movies, but i gotta give Ice Cube some credit (Boyz 'N the Hood, Three Kings, Friday). even films like Barbershop and The Players Club at least had good intentions. one of the few rapper turned actors that actually seems to care about what he's doing... even if the end result is a little iffy.

I forgot how good three kings was... i might buy that movie. and spike jonze, the music video director, also acts in that film. Which also leads us to perhaps the greatest musician turned actor period - MARKY MARK!

Boogie Nights is one of my favorite movies, he's incredible