Skip to main content
  • TotalFilm
  • Edge
  • Newsarama
  • Retrogamer
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Best Netflix Shows
Don't miss these
Mass Effect 2 - Garrus
Adventure Games The 25 best video game stories of all-time
Dune 2
Movies Upcoming movies: The most exciting new movies coming in 2026 and beyond
Cillian Murphy as Tommy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch right now
The Lion King is undoubtedly one of the best movies on Disney Plus
Movies The 30 best movies on Disney Plus to watch right now
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
Streaming Services The 20 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob in One Battle After Another
Film Festivals & Awards Oscars 2026 predictions: who will win Best Picture, Best Director, and the major acting awards?
Walton Goggins as the Ghoul in Fallout season 2
TV The 25 best shows on Amazon Prime Video to watch right now
Return to Silent Hill protagonist James Sunderland
Horror Movies Return to Silent Hill review: "Neither an impressive adaptation nor coherent enough to act as a standalone film"
Elden Ring
Fantasy Movies Elden Ring movie release date speculation, cast, director, and more
Best anime movies: Chihiro and No-Face sitting in a train carriage during Spirited Away.
Anime Movies The 30 best anime movies to watch right now
best Pixar movies
Animated Movies The best Pixar movies, ranked! From Toy Story to Hoppers
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Sonic 3
Amazon Prime Video The 25 best movies on Prime Video to watch right now
The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time: pictures of Alien, Arrival, Terminator, Brazil and 2001.
Sci-Fi Movies The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time
Tom Hanks as Commander Ernie Krause during one of the best Apple TV movies, Greyhound.
Apple TV Plus The 10 best movies on Apple TV to stream right now
Nathan Gamble as Billy, Laurie Holden as Amanda, Jeffrey DeMunn as Dan, and Thomas Jane as David in Frank Darabont's The Mist
Horror Movies Upcoming Stephen King movies and TV shows in 2026 and beyond
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

Radiohead: Songs That Could Be Movies

Features
By Sam Ashurst published 19 February 2011

From Pablo Honey to The King Of Limbs...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Optimistic

Optimistic

From: Kid A

The Song:

The Movie Version:

When John Crumb is sentenced to 1000 years on the prison ship 0pt1m15t1c for a crime he didn't commit, he immediately starts devising an escape plan.

But his plot to wrestle the controls from his captors goes awry, and he crash-lands 0pt1m15t1c onto a prehistoric planet earth.

Suddenly, Crumb finds himself having to fight dinosaurs, prison guards, and the murderous alien survivors of the wrecked prison ship in his search for civilisation.

Rescuing a walkie-talkie from the wreckage, Crumb makes contact with Cassandra - the only guard on the ship to treat him like a human being - who guides him through the wilderness.

But is Cassandra all she seems? And is the planet as far from home as it appears?

Key Quote:

Crumb: "Flies are buzzing around my head. Vultures circling the dead."
Cassandra: "Try the best you can. The best you can is good enough."

Page 1 of 10
Page 1 of 10
Lotus Flower

Lotus Flower

From: The King Of Limbs

The Song

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

The Movie Version:

Dr. Pablo Lotus has lived his life free of all emotional attachments, choosing to focus exclusively on his work as a botanist.

But when his beautiful lab assistant Patricia Flower accompanies him on a research trip to Australia, Vietnam and India, he finds himself falling in love.

The new feelings stir up more than emotions, however.

Lotus finds himself having powerful visions of a desolate earth that has been entirely reclaimed by wildlife. Great buildings have turned from grey to green. Seas are choked with algae. Cars lie rusted and filled with flowers. And at the centre of every vision - a strange man in a bowler hat, dancing between the blooms.

As the visions become more and more extreme, Lotus decides to end the relationship with Patricia. He walks away from her, immediately bumping into a man in a bowler hat. And the man starts to dance...

Key Quote:

Lotus: "There's an empty space in my heart, where the weeds take root."

Page 2 of 10
Page 2 of 10
Morning Mr Magpie

Morning Mr Magpie

From: The King Of Limbs

The Song:

Download The King Of Limbs here .

The Movie Version:

Mary Magpie is married to Martin Magpie - an corrupt banker whose financial dealings exploit the poor and reward the rich.

Mary has a luxurious life, with plenty of distractions to stop her from considering the implications of her husband's actions.

But a series of events directly linked to the government's austerity cuts effect her sanity.

Her mother dies of a heart attack after she's sacked from her beloved librarian job, her father is stabbed in a mugging and left to die after short-staffed ambulance drivers fail to reach him in time, and when Mary goes to spread their ashes on their favourite National Trust beauty spot she finds it's been turned into an office block.

Devastated, she decides to go on a rampage of revenge, ending with a confrontation with her husband over breakfast.

It's Kill Bill meets Falling Down, essentially.

Key Quote:

Mary: "You stole it all, give it back."

Page 3 of 10
Page 3 of 10
Just

Just

From: The Bends

The Song:

The Movie Version:

Andrew Byrne is a chronic masturbator, finding it impossible to form meaningful relationships with other people, or even hold down a job.

His one successful relationship ended when his first love, Sarah, caught him masturbating at a family dinner.

He seeks counseling, and makes progress with a psychiatrist who helps him control his urges, to the extent he's even able to find work as an office assistant.

But when his psychiatrist retires, replaced by the most beautiful woman Andrew has ever seen, Byrne falls into a spiral of sex addiction - his repressed urges forcing him to seek out more and more dangerous highs.

Key Quote:

Sarah: "You do it to yourself, you do. And that's what really hurts."

Page 4 of 10
Page 4 of 10
Creep

Creep

From : Pablo Honey

The Song:

The Movie Version:

When the demon Nelumbo Nicifera is given a glimpse of heaven as a punishment for refusing to torture a lost soul, he falls in love with an angel he sees in his vision.

Resolving to escape hell and invade heaven so that he can be with his new-found love, Nicifera takes on giagantic devils and huge seraphims alike, on the path to a third-act confrontation with God and Satan themselves.

Key Quote:

Nicifera: "I don't belong here."

Page 5 of 10
Page 5 of 10
Paranoid Android

Paranoid Android

From: OK Computer

The Song:

The Movie Version:

Generation X slacker Bobby Guts is the lead-singer of punk band Paranoid Android.

When the band gets one too many bad reviews, Bobby and the band tool up and decide to invade the local newsroom, taking the camera crew hostage and forcing them to broadcast their music non-stop live.

When other local bands - Pig Skin, The Panic, The Vomit - hear about the situation they join Paranoid Android in broadcasting their music to the nation.

Key Quote:


Bobby Guts: "When I am king you will be first against the wall."

Page 6 of 10
Page 6 of 10
House Of Cards

House Of Cards

From: In Rainbows

The Song:

The Movie Version:

Thriller following the lives of several swingers in seventies suburbia, and how their key-swap parties affect the society that surrounds them.

When investigative reporter Danielle Davies finds herself in the home of a prominent politician after a particularly intense key-swap party, she discovers documents that could bring down parliament, the government and the House Of Lords.

Key Quote:

Danielle: "Your ears should be burning."

Page 7 of 10
Page 7 of 10
Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was

Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was

From: The Bends

The Song:

The Movie Version:

In the future war of 3023, cyborg solider B225 is a genetic and scientific freak.

Through an accident of design, he's the only cyborg solider that can experience pain.

As a result, he's experimented on mercilessly - with army scientists considering him to be the key to unlocking the secret to defeating enemy cyborg soldiers.

But when B225 can't take it anymore, he escapes and goes on the run.

Finding himself in the middle of a worldwide war, he starts to wish he was back in the lab...

Key Quote:


B225: "You have turned me into this!"

Page 8 of 10
Page 8 of 10
There There

There There

From: Hail To The Thief

The Song:

The Movie Version:

A pirate ship is shipwrecked on a strange desert island.

When the pirates start to explore, the landscape seems to shift and change around them. Night falls, and strange green creatures start to attack them, killing several members of the crew, before apparently vanishing into the woods when dawn breaks.

It's Pirates Of The Caribbean meets Evil Dead 2, basically.

Key Quote:

Blackbeard: "Just because you feel it, doesn't mean it's there."

Page 9 of 10
Page 9 of 10
Pyramid Song

Pyramid Song

From: Amnesiac

The Song:

The Movie Version:

Experimental animation featuring literal adaptations of Pyramid Song's lyrical imagery.

Despite being entirely silent for its duration, it wins the best screenplay, film, director and music Oscars.

It breaks all box office records and inspires Michael Bay to quit the film industry in disgust.

Suffice to say, it's the greatest film of all time.

Key Quote:

Opening dedication: "There was nothing to fear, nothing at all."

Page 10 of 10
Page 10 of 10
Sam Ashurst
Social Links Navigation

Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at GamesRadar+.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Read more
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Sonic 3
Amazon Prime Video The 25 best movies on Prime Video to watch right now
 
 
Keanu Reeves as FBI Agent Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as Bodhi "Bodhisattva" in the movie Point Break.
Hulu The best movies on Hulu to watch right now
 
 
Cillian Murphy as Tommy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch right now
 
 
Sam Rockwell as The Man From the Future in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die
Sci-Fi Movies Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die got me in the mood for more time-travelling fun and these 6 sci-fi comedies fit the bill
 
 
Bruno Núñez Arjona and Sergi López as Esteban and Luis in Sirat
Drama Movies An unlikely Oscars 2026 nominee is a tense, gut-wrenching odyssey through the desert
 
 
Miles Caton as Sammie in Sinners
Horror Movies Many have tried to dethrone it, but Sinners' time-travelling juke joint scene is still 2025's best set-piece
 
 
Latest in Movies
Halloween Kills
Horror Movies Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis says she wouldn't have returned for the Blumhouse sequel if she'd known it was a trilogy
 
 
Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin unmasked in The Mandalorian and Grogu
Star Wars Movies The Mandalorian and Grogu runtime may have been revealed by a UK theater chain listing, but take it with a pinch of salt
 
 
Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps in Zootopia 2
Film Festivals & Awards After missing out KPop Demon Hunters, Disney has made surprising Oscars history with its unlikely losing streak
 
 
Leon frowns in the care center in Resident Evil Requiem
Horror Movies Resident Evil director Zach Cregger proves he's the right person for the job after beating Requiem twice already
 
 
Tim Roth as Beckett reading with his feet on a desk in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Crime Movies Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man villain Tim Roth starred in The Incredible Hulk to "embarrass" his kids
 
 
Michael B. Jordan in Ryan Coogler's vampire horror Sinners
Drama Movies Oscars 2026 live coverage: All the winners, red carpet, and the 97th Academy Awards' biggest moments – as it happens
 
 
Latest in Features
Future Games Show
Games Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2026
 
 
Artwork showing Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a remake of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, with protagonist Edward Kenway looking out from the side of ship
Assassin's Creed Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced – Everything you need to know about the Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake
 
 
The Talking Flower toy sitting next to its box.
Toys & Collectibles The Super Mario Talking Flower told me the "ocean tastes like tears" but I like this Nintendo toy
 
 
Resident Evil accessories and merch on a forest background
Toys & Collectibles It's been 30 years since we first entered the Spencer Mansion, so I'm building the ultimate Resident Evil starter kit
 
 
A still from Kiki's Delivery Service featuring Kiki and her feline familiar Jiji flying on a broom with some seagulls, with a Big Screen Spotlight logo ini the corner
Anime Movies Kiki's Delivery Service's return to theaters proves we need hand-drawn animation now more than ever
 
 
In Collector's Cove, the collector protagonist who has short brown hair and wears a jumper with cherries on it hugs the Fable Fin companion who wears a witch hat. GamesRadar+'s Indie Spotlight series logo can be seen in the top right-hand corner
Adventure Games If you're feeling Pokemon Pokopia FOMO, this farming adventure lets you explore on the back of a Lapras-like companion
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Leon exits his Porsche into streets at night in Resident Evil Requiem
    1
    Resident Evil Requiem's Leon actor doesn't know who he's married to either: "That's a Capcom question"
  2. 2
    1,200 hours in, Final Fantasy 14 player trying to beat the MMO under RuneScape's Ironman rules clears biggest obstacle yet thanks to a backup strategy that took 300 hours to prepare
  3. 3
    6 of the best new shows and movies streaming this week on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, and more (March 16–March 22)
  4. 4
    PSSR 2 is finally here, and the tech that made Resident Evil Requiem look so good promises a big PS5 Pro upgrade for Crimson Desert this week
  5. 5
    Acer's "do-it-all" RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop just dropped back to a record-low price at Best Buy

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...