By any reckoning, Queen is one of the best rock bands of all time. They had a knack for writing complex, layered music that moved in quite a few bizarre and eccentric directions. Nevertheless, they managed to also be on of the most popular bands of all time. In large part, I believe, because of their utter, brazen embrace of melodrama in their music. (Mind you, this is not a bad thing.)

Because of that penchant for melodrama, it’s no surprise that the songs of Queen are often featured in the movies. Don’t believe me? There’s a quite long list here. Some of the uses of Queen on this list are inspired–catching perfectly the mood being conveyed by the film. Other uses include, well, The Pacifier.

Clearly, there needs to be a mechanism by which a person knows which uses of Queen are good and which aren’t. With that in mind, and inspired by watching a lot of movies lately that had Queen featured in them, here are the top five uses of Queen in the movies:

5. Moulin Rouge! - “The Show Must Go On”

At first, I was averse to including any covers of Queen songs on this list, but as I was rewatching scenes and looking at the different ways that Queen was used, not just as a stop-gap or filler, but as a way to move the story forward, I had to include this one from Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!. I know that this movie has quite a few people who aren’t fans, but I’ve always enjoyed its completely bold deconstruction of the traditional musical. The integration of “The Show Must Go On” into the story is probably the best integration in the film, except perhaps for the cover of “Roxane.”

4. Grosse Pointe Blank - “Under Pressure”

When you hear the concept of Grosse Pointe Blank spelled out — 28 year old hitman is doing his last job while he attends his high school reunion — it sounds completely ridiculous. And yet, the movie completely works, thanks to John Cusack’s and Minnie Driver’s grounded performances and George Armitage’s subdued direction. This scene is one of the great moments in the film, where the titular hitman connects with a baby. By all accounts, this should be a silly, cliche-ridden scene, but throw in a little Queen and it works just fine.

3. Wayne’s World - “Bohemian Rhapsody”

This is probably the most famous integration of Queen into a major movie, due in part to the fact that the release of Wayne’s World also saw a re-release of the single. And since the original single was released in 1975, it was necessary to do a video, in which the Wayne’s World scene was highlighted. This is actually part of the opening scene to Wayne’s World, and it does a great job introducing us to the main players.

2. Blades of Glory - “Flash’s Theme”

In 1980, Queen developed the score and sound track to the film Flash Gordon. The movie, which features some of the greatest scenery chewing of all time (unavoidable in any film with Brian Blessed), is accompanied by Queen’s deliciously campy songs, the most famous of which is “Flash’s Theme.” However, ironically, the best use of this song isn’t in the original Flash Gordon but rather in the comedy Blades of Glory, where the song is used to great effect as the accompaniment to the final skating performance of the first male-male figure skating doubles team. I laugh out loud every single time I see this.

1. Shaun of the Dead - “Don’t Stop Me Now”

The best use of Queen in the movies. Period. The pacing, the dialog, the action, the lighting… everything is perfectly syncopated with one of Queen’s best songs.

“David, kill the Queen!”

Conclusion

For the record, this ended up being a much harder top five list than I thought this would be initially. For one thing, when I initially drafted my list, “Bohemian Rhapsody”’s use in Wayne’s World was number one. My initial list also included two uses of Queen that aren’t up above anymore–”One Vision” from Iron Eagle and “We Will Rock You” from A Knight’s Tale. I’m sure there’s plenty of room for argument, but in the end, I went with the uses of Queen songs that were the most integrated into the film and would have been completely ruined by the lack of Queen in them.

However, I’m sure there will be plenty of arguing in the comments.