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Usually when I talk about music around these parts, it's with an eye on the movies. But even though most of my inspirations come from movies -- with the music as a vital, but supporting player -- today I thought I would try to do things a little differently. Which is why today is all about music that was inspired by the movies.

Pop music is littered with movie references, and sometimes the references are a little more obscure, as is the case with the genesis of Bob Seger's classic Night Moves. Legend has it that the idea for the song was born as Seger walked out of the theater for George Lucas' American Graffiti and he realized that he had his own stories of a misspent youth to share. But other inspirations can be a little more obvious, like with Jay Z's tribute to Frank Lucas and American Gangster with his album of the same name.

We all know inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places (yes, even from within darkened movie theaters), and so here are five songs that could never have existed without a little inspiration from the silver screen.

Having tried something professionally, succeeded in my ambitions and yet still somehow fallen short, I can empathize with Anton Corbijn. His new film, The American, feels like exactly the movie he wanted to make, and it also feels like the movie his investors and collaborators knew they were making. But it doesn't feel like the movie they thought they would get from doing exactly what they wanted, which is why audiences will probably feel like it's not the movie they want to see. Corbijn, who previously directed the elegant, tragic Ian Curtis biopic, has crafted an equally elegant film for his follow-up, but its only genuine tragedy is that it doesn't feel more, well, tragic, leaving The American relegated to the status of noble failure even as it delivers an otherwise pretty (and pretty familiar) thriller about an aging hitman.

George Clooney plays Jack, an assassin who departs for parts unknown after his Icelandic hideout is attacked by revenge-seeking Swedes. Arriving in the Italian countryside at the behest of his boss Pavel (Johan Leysen), he strikes up an unexpected friendship with a local priest (Paolo Bonacetti) before being recruited for a new job: build a weapon for another assassin named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten). He agrees to deliver the weapon, but soon realizes that even its considerable payday may not be enough to help him escape his shadowy past, especially after he meets a young prostitute named Clara (Violante Placido) whose companionship makes him begin to long for a more normal life.

I remember the hype surrounding La Haine at the time of its release in the mid-1990s, and I also remember thinking that much of the adulation offered for Mathieu Kassovitz' feature directorial debut was a little excessive. But what I remember most is its star, an oddly handsome young actor who, perhaps not unlike his character in the film, was in the process of defining himself, and for better or worse left an indelible impression. Fifteen years later, Vincent Cassel has become one of the most acclaimed and successful actors in the world; not only did he go one to become one of France's best-known leading men, he has worked the world over in everything from genre films to harrowing dramas to breezy Hollywood thrill rides. And in his latest, the epic, two part true-crime French film Mesrine, he seems to combine all of those experiences into one epic performance that shows him at his most charming and terrifying, intelligent and animalistic, grandiose and understated, but as always, unforgettable.

Cinematical recently sat down with Cassel at the Los Angeles press day for Mesrine, where the actor waxed poetic about playing the on screen version of one of France's most notorious criminals. In addition to discussing the challenges of tackling a role based on a real-life person, Cassel examined his ongoing process as a performer, and reflected on an eclectic career that continues to grow and expand with each new effort.

Now this is the pick-me-up I needed on a slow news day. Jon and Al Kaplan, the minds behind Conan the Barbarian: The Musicaland Fatal Attraction: The Musical, are back at it with two new fan made tributes to two of the greatest sci-fi action films ever made (yep, I used the E-word): Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop and James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

There's really not a ton more to say about the videos, other than I guarantee that at least one of them will brighten up your afternoon. If hearing Peter Weller and Nancy Allen perform "Murphy It's You" doesn't make you crack a smile, then Arnold Schwarzenegger's mournful lament of his human overlords no doubt will (it gets really good around the 40-second mark). If neither do, then you, good sir or madame, are the robot.

Just when you thought you were safe from moon-walking at your local multiplex, rumblings are descending about another Michael Jackson concert film. This time the source material stretches back to 1981, and the culprit responsible party is a man named Ron Newt. He tells TMZ that Jackson gave him the footage, and that he's put together a 64-minute feature film which has drawn offers reaching into "seven figures."

From a historical perspective, the tour material could be fascinating. The Triumph Tour was a huge deal at the time; Michael was between Off the Wall and Thriller, and the tour reunited the Jackson brothers for a series of sold-out concerts. A live album from the tour, The Jacksons Live!, was released in 1981. Last year's rehearsal footage documentary, Michael Jackson's This Is It, made more than $260 million worldwide, but that was in the wake of Jackson's death. It came out in time to satisfy hunger by his fans for the concert tour that never was. Would archival footage from 30 years ago be able to tap into that same interest?

In the annals of hip-hop history, I don't think the lovable duo of Kid N' Play will probably ever get the musical respect of some of your more 'serious' rap artists out there. But they did do one thing right; they made House Party, and their induction into the hall of fame for Scenes (Songs) We Love, has been long overdue. But today we fix that, so let's all go back to 1990 for Kid Vs. Play, and some good natured (but quality) rap battling.

In the teen comedy, the duo starred as high school buddies (in roles originally written for DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, aka Will Smith) who scheme and plot their way into having the party of the year while taking advantage of some parental absences. The usual obstacles from every teen movie find their way into the story, but thanks to performances from comedy heavyweights like Robin Harris (who passed away from a heart attack only nine days after the film's release), John Witherspoon, and Martin Lawrence, the movie is still funny 20 years later (20 years!? I think I may need to lie down).

George Clooney as a hit man planning his exit strategy in 'The American' follows a long line of assassins (and bank robbers and jewel thieves) who decide to pull that legendary "last job" before retiring to a hard-earned life of luxury.

Of course, everything always goes wrong as a lifetime of bad choices catch up with our antiheroes, who find that quitting is harder than it looks and that their last gig is usually final in more ways than one.

You may have already missed this because I don't think we've covered it yet (we all know Cinematical is your only source for everything, c'mon!), but Diablo Cody -- while she awaited the could-happen-in-five-minutes-from-now birth of her child (she just recently spit out a baby boy - congrats!)-- has decided to put together a little web series in which she interviews other Hollywood personalities in the most luxuriously exotic location known to man: the back of a trailer.

Titled Red Band Trailer, Cody has shoveled out four episodes so far, interviewing folks like Adam Brody, Chelsea Handler, Jason Bateman and, in her latest episode, Megan Fox. Each episode runs somewhere in the vicinity of 11 minutes, and they have this sort of vintage, happy-go-lucky game show-ish vibe that occasionally pokes through with some snark. Sorry fellas, but the Megan Fox episode is pretty tame. After talking briefly about traveling to Los Angeles with her mother at 17 and staying at this weird apartment complex that houses all child stars for some reason (seriously, they're called the Oakwood Apartments and they totally housed Frankie Munez, Shia LaBeouf and crazy Hilary Duff hot tub parties), Fox and Cody spend several minutes talking about the way she's been portrayed in the press; how her words are usually taken way out of context by some "journalist" looking for a sound bite.

The best part is not when they play Price is Right with make-out toothpaste and a Jennifer's Body DVD, but when Cody lays it all out on the table and tells Fox that she thinks she's "a very eccentric, strange, weird woman", and that the press can't comprehend the fact that this beautiful girl can also have this absurd sense of self, or as Cody puts it: "I just think you're Crispin Glover-like weird."

Watch the slightly NSFW (beware of F-bombs) video after the jump and let us know what you think. Is Megan Fox really that weird, or is it mostly for show?

An H.P. Lovecraft expert has supposedly read a draft of Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins' At the Mountains of Madness script, and his review - if legitimate - suggests that the film is going to be an absolute orgy of giant monster action, maybe at the expense of genuine Lovecraftian flavor. Twitchfilm.net brings us word that TempleofGhoul's Dejan Ognjanovic had a chance to read a version of the story, and he describes it as a "Hellboy movie without Hellboy, with a light dose of Carpenter's The Thing." The report states that the story is stripped bare of its thick mythos, and instead unspools without much concern for the ominous atmosphere so critical to Lovecraft's writing. Apparently, the plot boils down to scientists trekking to the South Pole in 1930 and inadvertently re-awakening massive (and likely disgusting) creatures that pose a bit of a threat to human civilization the world over. Madness ensues. Madness of either mountainous origin or quantity - the title is a bit unclear.

The review's author - who's a bit of a Lovecraft enthusiast - is dismayed but unsurprised that the rich and complex origins of the beasts has been dropped in favor of contextually hollow action beats that better allow for the plethora of creatures that del Toro will inevitably bring to the screen. In fact, he writes that "There's relatively little stress on atmosphere" and that "Once the action starts around the 30-minute mark, it never stops," suggesting that this James Cameron-produced 3-D Mountains of Madness is going to be powered by adrenaline rather than nightmarish spectacle.

I often wonder what anthropologists in the future will think of our civilization when they look back on it (provided the Earth doesn't esplode in 2012 ... ). What will scientific men make of our fascination with reality TV and popular culture? I'd love to be a fly on the wall as they puzzle out why, exactly, someone felt the need to create a "Klingon opera."

The villains of many a Star Trek film and episode have already spawned their own language -- and now they're getting a musical drama.

Entitled – u -, which translates roughly to "universe" or "universal", the opera will be the first ever Earth-based Klingon production. The orchestra is set to feature "indigenous Klingon instruments", some making their debut on this planet. Exciting!
The opera's website gives potential attendees a breakdown of what the production will sound like: "Klingon opera uses the principle of musical combat. Beauty in Klingon music comes from the impact of two opposing forces. To quote a well known Klingon proverb qa' wIje 'meH masuv or 'we fight to enrich the spirit.'"