Friday, December 9, 2011

Howard Shore

Howard Shore became a big name in 2001 with his music for The Lord of the Rings films, but he has written many scores of similar quality since 1979. Shore began his musical career playing saxophone for the band Lighthouse. Soon after, he became the musical director for Saturday Night Live from its debut, writing the show's theme and arranging and performing for sketches until 1980. Shore's first film score, The Brood, was for director David Cronenberg, and Shore would go on to score all of Cronenberg's subsequent films with the exception of Michael Kamen's The Dead Zone. These films include Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, M. Butterfly, Crash, eXIstenZ, Spider, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, A Dangerous Method, Cosmopolis, and Maps to the Stars. Befitting Cronenberg's vision, Shore wrote most of the scores in a dark, brooding, almost minimalistic style, filled with unsettling orchestrations and strange harmonies. Even Naked Lunch, which features the performance of Ornette Coleman, is a complex and unusual composition for those more familiar with more popular and upbeat jazz. He wrote similarly dark scores for David Fincher's films Se7en, The Game, and Panic Room as well as Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, The Cell, Doubt, and Edge of Darkness (for which John Corigliano had written a superior rejected score). He scored After Hours with Martin Scorsese, and later formed a relationship with the director on Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, and the wonderfully magical Hugo. But as this last film attests to, Shore is not all about doom and gloom, and he has written scores for films like Big, Mrs. Doubtfire, Analyze This, The Last Mimzy, and (rather bizarrely) The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. He also scored Ed Wood, the one Tim Burton film with original music not by Danny Elfman (Sweeney Todd's music was based on Stephen Sondheim's already-existing musical). Shore wrote an alternately cheesy and emotionally affecting score to reflect Wood's horrible films and the plight of Bela Lugosi. His score for Peter Jackson's King Kong was rejected, though James Newton Howard's replacement was great. Of course, it is Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy for which Shore is best known. He was given a luxuriously long time to compose a score with a mind-numbing amount of themes that connect to each other in ingenious ways. And the themes themselves are, for the most part, glorious, though the score itself has its own share of uninteresting passages with thin orchestrations. But all in all, it is a marvelous composition, and musicologist Doug Adams wrote a fantastic and hefty tome about it that is a must-buy.

Dogma
Ed Wood
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Hugo
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring**
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King**
Naked Lunch
Philadelphia

David Shire

David Shire has scored for both film and theater, though he has unfortunately not been getting many film assignments the last several years. He has written the music for the Broadway shows Baby and Big as well as the plays Closer than Ever and Starting Here, Starting Now. On the film front, he has written scores for All the President's Men, Short Circuit, 2010 (the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Saturday Night Fever. For Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, Shire used distorted piano to underline the film's sense of paranoia. For The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, he wrote an innovative, complex, yet still highly entertaining twelve-tone funk score. Return to Oz enjoys the benefit of Shire's full-bodied, soaring, emotional, and thematically complex music and is one of the most compositionally satisfying film scores ever. Shire had a recent triumph with his score to David Fincher's Zodiac, where he composed brooding melodies and angular themes reflecting the film's mystery and ambiguity. Shire used to be the wife of Talia Shire (Francis Coppola's sister) and is currently married to Didi Conn, who is best known for her roles as Frenchy in Grease and as the train station manager in the children's show Shining Time Station. It would be great if other directors followed Fincher's lead and used Shire's considerable talent on their films.

Return to Oz**
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three**
Zodiac

Yoko Shimomura

Yoko Shimomura is one of the most popular, well-known, and talented composers of video game music. She has written varied music for games such as Street Fighter II, Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. However, she is most well-known for her music for the Kingdom Hearts series produced by Square and Disney. Her music for the games in the series runs the gamut from lyrical and lighthearted to dark and apocalyptic. She even incorporates themes by Jimmie Dodd, Richard and Robert Sherman, Hans Zimmer, Alan Menken, and Danny Elfman. The music is unfortunately limited in terms of performance as it is played on synthesizers emulating the orchestra (apart from a few tracks) and the compositions would undoubtedly benefit greatly by being played by a real orchestra. Nevertheless, the music itself is well-written and effective, and its popularity is, for the most part, well deserved.

Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts II

Edward Shearmur

Edward Shearmur is like David Newman, Christopher Lennertz and Cliff Eidelman. All are enormously talented composers who get a decent amount of work--but unfortunately, it is often for lightweight and silly comedies that do not allow them to show off their chops. Shearmur started as an assistant to Michael Kamen, and also arranged and played for artists such as Annie Lennox, Bryan Adams, Pink Floyd, and Eric Clapton. As mentioned, many of his scores are for films such as the Charlie's Angels films, Miss Congeniality, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Laws of Attraction, Wimbledon, Epic Movie, College Road Trip, Furry Vengeance, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules. But he has also written effective varied music for Wings of a Dove, Cruel Intentions, K-Pax, The Count of Monte Cristo, Reign of Fire, Skeleton Key, and Abduction. He also wrote a rejected score to The Other Boleyn Girl and wrote additional music for The Wolfman (director Joe Johnston decided to retain Danny Elfman's score after the producers rejected it, but Elfman was unavailable to write music for the new edits). Johnny English allowed Shearmur to write a stylish, ballsy, jazzy score to accompany the main character's ignoble feats. His score for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow contains adventurous fanfares and action music that hearkens back to John Williams's classics. Hopefully he will get the chance to write more scores on this vein.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Naoki Sato

Naoki Sato is a composer who has written mainly for anime and other Japanese films. Notable works include Eureka Seven and Yoshiaki Kawajiri's adaptation of Clamp's X manga. His music for the live-action film version of Space Battleship Yamato is one of the richest, most exciting scores in recent years, combining Yoshinobu Nishizaki's original themes with expansive and epic orchestrations.

Always: Sunset on Third Street*
Always: Sunset on Third Street 2*
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom) Anime
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom) Live-Action
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (Assassination Classroom): Graduation
Eureka Seven
Gaku (Peak)
Giniro no Season (Silver Season)*
Heroic Age
Hidden Fortress: The Last Princess
K-20*
Kano
Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean*
Parasyte
Priceless*
Rudolf to Ippaiattena (Rudolf the Black Cat)
Sengoku Enbu -Kizna-
Seirei no Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
Shizumanu Taiyo (The Unbroken)
Space Battleship Yamato**
Stand By Me Doraemon*
Sugihara Chiune
Sword of the Stranger
The Top Secret: Murder in Mind
Umizaru**
Umizaru: Limit of Love
Umizaru: The Last Message
Umizaru 4: Brave Hearts Umizaru
We Are Pretty Cure
We Are Pretty Cure Max Heart*
We Are Pretty Cure Max Heart Movie
We Are Pretty Cure Max Heart Movie 2
We Are Pretty Cure Splash Star
We Are Pretty Cure Splash Star Movie
Yes! Pretty Cure 5
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Movie
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo Movie

Laurence Rosenthal

Laurence Rosenthal is a highly talented composer in the classical vein, but many of the films he has scored are sadly unknown to the general public. I myself admit to not knowing his work too well, but what I have heard from him is top notch. Rosenthal's works include the scores for A Raisin in the Sun, The Miracle Worker, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Man of La Mancha, Hotel Paradiso, and Inherit the Wind. He also scored the TV shows Logan's Run with Bruce Broughton and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles with Joel McNeely. A definite highlight is his rich, lush score to the original Clash of the Titans, for which Rosenthal provided a plethora of memorable themes and adventurous fantasy music.

Clash of the Titans*

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Trent Reznor is the leader of the renowned industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and later created his own albums of textural music. Atticus Ross composed the score for The Book of Eli, and worked with Reznor on several albums, most notably on the textural Ghosts I-IV. This type of music formed the basis for the score to David Fincher's The Social Network. Unfortunately, despite the strength of the film and the talent of the two musicians, the score is, in my opinion, compositionally and intellectually shallow and does not add anything to the film. Truly innovative and interesting electronic music can be found elsewhere. The two also collaborated on the equally dull scores for Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl. Reznor did provide a rather nondescript theme for the popular video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but the actual score (which is much more interesting, effective, and accomplished than the theme) was written by video game composer veteran Jack Wall.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (theme only, score by Jack Wall)
The Social Network

John Powell

If high energy has a name, then it must be John Powell. Powell is a former Zimmer apprentice, and indeed his scores often share the same harmonic language and progressions as the Big Z's at times. But like fellow Media Ventures/Remote Control alumnus Harry Gregson-Williams, Powell has established his own style, one of busy orchestrations, heroic themes, and bursts of snazzy color. Although Powell's approach to electronics is not revolutionary, he combines them with the orchestra better than almost any other living composer. Combine this with the rapid-fire energy that he often infuses into his scores, and one gets a pleasing product.

Powell started out by forming his own company that provided music for commercials, and provided technical assistance to composer Patrick Doyle. Zimmer soon picked Powell up, and his first major solo score was for John Woo's Face/Off. Although he worked with Zimmer on projects like The Road to El Dorado and Chill Factor, his biggest splashes came with his collaborations with Harry Gregson-Williams on Antz, Chicken Run, and the first Shrek. After working on these stylish and highly entertaining scores, Powell became a regular composer for animation, scoring Happy Feet; The Lorax; Blue Sky's Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Horton Hears A Who, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio Ice Age: Continental Divide, and Rio 2 ; and Disney's Bolt and Mars Needs Moms. He worked with Zimmer again on Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2, combining catchy riffs with boisterous action music.


In the world of live action, Powell established a highly influential style for action thrillers with Doug Liman's The Bourne Identity. Powell would develop this propulsive, driving style to pleasing effect in the sequels, Paul Greengrass's The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Powell became the composer of choice for both Liman and Greengrass, scoring the former's Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper, and Fair Game, and the latter's United 93 and Green Zone. These scores, along with The Italian Job, John Woo's Paycheck, and James Mangold's Knight and Day allowed Powell to develop his highly distinctive and addictive action style. Powell also got to dabble in the superhero genre, giving X-Men: The Last Stand the series' best score, featuring busy orchestral action, bold fanfares, and a raging female choir. His score for Hancock was for the most part more laid back, with the stunning exception of the explosive and triumphant final two cues. 


One of Powell's best scores is for Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois's animated feature How to Train Your Dragon. In this score, Powell combines the energy of his previous animated scores with powerful themes and a thematic and musical cohesiveness not found in many of his other animated projects (except Mars Needs Moms and the fantastic, theme-heavy Bolt). If any score that year deserved an Oscar for Best Original Score, then How to Train Your Dragon was it. His score for the sequel (helmed by DeBlois alone) is equally impressive.

 
Agent Cody Banks
Antz* (with Harry Gregson-Williams)
Bolt*
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Chicken Run** (with Harry Gregson-Williams)
Endurance
Ferdinand
Hancock
How to Train Your Dragon**
How to Train Your Dragon 2**
The Italian Job
Knight and Day
Kung Fu Panda (with Hans Zimmer)
Kung Fu Panda 2 (with Hans Zimmer)
Mars Needs Moms
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Pan
Paycheck
Shrek (with Harry Gregson-Williams)
X-Men: The Last Stand*

Friday, December 2, 2011

Basil Poledouris

Basil Poledouris was a mighty force in film music, composing some of the most powerful and lyrical scores of his time. He had a strongly melodic style with an emphasis on bold themes. Poledouris studied film at USC along with George Lucas and John Milius. Poledouris found himself scoring numerous student and instructional films, and Milius gave him his first major assignment with the surfing film Big Wednesday. Poledouris eschewed stereotypical surf guitar music and wrote grand, symphonic tunes worthy of an epic. His next film with Milius proved to be one of the greatest film scores of all time--Conan the Barbarian. The film had minimal dialogue, and much of the drama was carried by Poledouris's massive score, punctuating the film with brutality, beauty, and lyricism. Poledouris scored three more films with Milius; writing noble, militaristic strains for Red Dawn; lush, flowing music for Farewell to the King; and adventurous tunes for Flight of the Intruder. Along with Jerry Goldsmith, Poledouris also became the composer of choice for Paul Verhoeven, composing swashbuckling heroics for Flesh and Blood, creating an orchestral-electronic soundscape with a rousing main theme for Robocop, and playing noble military action for the satirical Starship Troopers. These scores proved Poledouris a master of action scoring, along with Hot Shots! Part Deux, On Deadly Ground, No Man's Land, The Jungle Book, and Under Siege 2. His robust score for The Hunt for Red October features a powerful Russian chant for the titles, while Cherry 2000 mixes Poledouris's futuristic writing with Morricone Westernisms. Yet Poledouris also wrote wonderful scores for more romantic films, assignments that he enjoyed. Blue Lagoon, Wind, Free Willy, Lassie, It's My Party, Les Miserables, and Kimberly showcase the gentler side of Poledouris, and it is no less spectacular than his action side. He also had an affinity for Westerns, with Quigley Down Under, The Legend of Butch and Sundance, and the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove containing stunningly emotional themes. One of his last major Hollywood assignments was for Sam Raimi's baseball drama For Love of the Game; Poledouris wrote an epic finale for the main character's final pitch conveying more drama and emotion than there is to be found in the film itself. Unfortunately, he did not get as many prestigious assignments towards the end of his career, scoring masterpieces like Serial Mom, Mickey Blue Eyes, Cecil B Demented, and Crocodile Dundee in LA. His approach to scoring fell by the wayside in favor of more atmospheric, droning approaches. His original score for Breakdown was rejected, and his replacement score is highly textural and far removed from many of his other scores. One of his very last films, for the Chinese film The Touch, offered one last hurrah, combining the best of his action and romantic styles. He was one of the composers considered for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which would have been fascinating, but it was not to be. Poledouris passed away in 2006, with an incredible musical legacy behind him.

Big Wednesday**
The Blue Lagoon
Breakdown
Cherry 2000
Conan the Barbarian**
Conan the Destroyer
Farewell to the King*
Flesh and Blood*
Flight of the Navigator
For Love of the Game
Free Willy*
Hot Shots! Part Deux
House of God
The Hunt for Red October*
The Jungle Book
Kimberly
Les Miserables*
Lonesome Dove*
No Man’s Land
Quigley Down Under
Red Dawn
Return to the Blue Lagoon
Robocop*
Robocop 3
Spellbinder
Starship Troopers*
Switchback
The Touch
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory
A Whale for the Killing
White Fang
Wind

Thursday, December 1, 2011

James Peterson

James Peterson is simply one of the most promising and exciting film composers to emerge in a long time. Although he has not scored any prominent films, his one released score for The Red Canvas shows that Peterson has what it takes to write complex yet highly affecting music, merging the best techniques of Hollywood's Golden Age composers with modern compositional styles. This score and the Moving Images Suite also included on the CD display Peterson has technical and dramatic chops to spare. If I were so lucky to be involved with the making of a film, I would be thrilled to be able to have his services. More realistically, I hope that prestigious directors as well as talented newcomers will discover him.

The Red Canvas**

John Ottman

John Ottman is not only a film composer, but also a film editor for director Bryan Singer. He also directed, edited, and scored the film Urban Legends: Final Cut. As a film composer, Ottman got started with scoring Singer's Public Access and next scored The Usual Suspects, deftly scoring the superb film with expressive melodies, full orchestrations, and dramatic accents. Ottman subsequently scored the Singer films Apt Pupil, X2, Superman Returns, Valkyrie, Jack the Giant Slayer, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Many Ottman scores are dark and brooding, as in Incognito, Lake Placid, Gothika, Cellular, Hide and Seek, House of Wax, Orphan, The Resident, and Unknown. His score for Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a stylish departure from Ottman's usual darker fare. Ottman has also scored a handful of superhero films, including X2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Superman Returns, and two Fantastic Four movies. Unfortunately, the scores for these films tend toward the bland side, especially given the high standards of music in many superhero films. A happy exception is his score for the animated film Astro Boy, a wonderfully whimsical confection with driving adventure music, soaring melodies, and a spectacular main theme. Hopefully, his future assignments will allow his to use his gifts for brooding suspense and high-flying enterprises.

Astro Boy
Jack the Giant Slayer
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Superman Returns
The Usual Suspects
X2: X-Men United
X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men: Apocalypse

Julian Nott

Julian Nott is the composer for all the Wallace and Gromit short films (A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, Cracking Contraptions, A Matter of Loaf and Death) as well as the feature, The Curse of The Were-Rabbit. His music for these masterful films perfectly captures their distinct English flavor with a healthy dose of freewheeling parody and straightforward adventure music.

Wallace and Gromit*

Thomas Newman

Thomas Newman has established a new and unique voice in music that unfortunately has been ripped off in numerous TV shows and commercials. Newman is the son of the great Alfred Newman, the nephew of conductor Lionel Newman, the cousin of Randy Newman, and the brother of violist Maria Newman (who performs on many film scores) and composer David Newman. Considering his rich classical musical heritage, it is somewhat surprising that Thomas Newman's preferred style uses experimental instruments, evocative and strange colors, and often minimalist structures. What is not surprising is that he excels at the classical style of writing with full orchestra that his relatives prefer. Newman's sparse, experimental music is often balanced by rich passages of unrestrained emotion. Newman's early films included the cult classic Revenge of the Nerds, Desperately Seeking Susan, Ron Howard's Gung Ho, and The Lost Boys. His score for Robert Altman's The Player shows an early inkling of his signature style, which really burst forth in Scent of a Woman (for which Danny Elfman recommended Newman). From then on, Newman's career really exploded, and he wrote wonderful scores to prestigious films such as Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Erin Brockovich, In the Bedroom, Ron Howard's Cinderella Man, and Little Children. Newman's most recognizable and imitated music is from Sam Mendes's American Beauty, which perhaps best represents the height of his style and penchant for odd instruments. Newman subsequently forged a relationship with Mendes, scoring Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, and the James Bond film Skyfall. He has also scored two Pixar films directed by Andrew Stanton, Finding Nemo and WALL-E. Newman has written plenty of scores featuring his emphasis on musical colors, including Unstrung Heroes, Oscar and Lucinda, The Debt, and The Adjustment Bureau. But his more emotional, classical side can be found in scores like Little Women, The Horse Whisperer, Meet Joe Black, The Good German, and The Help. His best scores often combine these two traits, such as in the aforementioned Pixar films, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the superb Angels in America. Despite his obvious talent, impressive body of work, and nine Oscar nominations, he has yet to win a Best Score award. Hopefully he will win one eventually, but if not, he will still be in the prestigious company of Alex North, Ennio Morricone, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, and other talented composers who never received or have yet to receive the Best Score Oscar. As mentioned before, his influence is widespread, and ripoffs of his sound can be found in films like National Treasure and Transformers. But there's nothing like the real thing.

The Adjustment Bureau
American Beauty**
Angels in America**
Bridge of Spies
Cinderella Man
The Debt
Finding Nemo
Finding Dory
The Good German
The Green Mile
He Named Me Malala
The Help
In the Bedroom
Jarhead
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events*
Less Than Zero
Little Women*
Meet Joe Black
Oscar and Lucinda
Passengers
Phenomenon
The Player
Road to Perdition
Saving Mr. Banks
Scent of a Woman
The Shawshank Redemption**
Skyfall
SPECTRE
Unstrung Heroes
Wall-E
Whispers in the Dark

Friday, November 18, 2011

Randy Newman

Randy Newman (cousin of Thomas and David and nephew of Alfred) was best known early in his career for his songwriting, penning and performing such satirical hits as "Short People," "I Love LA," and "Louisiana 1927." Growing up in New Orleans gave him an excellent background for his first major score, Ragtime. His distinct style of Americana blossomed in his scores for The Natural and Avalon. He collaborated with director Ron Howard on Parenthood and The Paper and with Gary Ross on Pleasantville and Seabiscuit. Other credits include the stop motion musical James and the Giant Peach, Meet the Parents (and its sequel Meet the Fockers), George Clooney's Leatherheads, and Richard Donner's Maverick. Disney's The Princess and the Frog allowed Newman to use his knowledge of the many musical styles found in New Orleans for both songs and the score. Newman became the first composer for Pixar Animation Studios, scoring its first four features and three more since. His Toy Story scores feature lushly orchestrated yet frantic cartoon music, overshadowed by classic songs such as "You've Got a Friend In Me" and "When She Loved Me." Cars mixes small-town folk for scenes set in Radiator Springs with high energy rock for the racing sequences, though the film features much more pop songs than typical in a Pixar feature. Monsters, Inc. contains a highly entertaining blend of swinging jazz and a tender theme for the relationship between Sulley and Boo. Its prequel, Monsters University, eschews the jazz angle for a rousing fight theme complete with marching band snares and quads. A Bug's Life is, for me, his best score (which is not adequately represented on the commercial CD), with an epic theme, menacing music for the grasshoppers, adventurous action, and a tone more serious than that of his other Pixar films. Newman finally got two well deserved Oscars for "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc. and "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3. For those wondering how Newman got so sentimental lately, they only need listen to his acceptance speeches to witness that the bite is still there.

A Bug’s Life*
Cars
Cars 3
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters University
The Natural
The Princess and the Frog
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3

David Newman

David Newman is one of the mighty Newman clan, brother to Thomas, cousin to Randy, and son of Alfred. Compared to Thomas and Randy, David writes in a more classically orchestral vein. His longest collaboration has been with Danny DeVito, on the films Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, Other People's Money, Hoffa, Matilda, and Death to Smoochy. His most prominent features have been comedies such as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Mighty Ducks, The Sandlot, The Flintstones, The Nutty Professor, Scooby-Doo, Daddy Day Care, and The Spy Next Door. A particular fan favorite is Galaxy Quest, which he scores as if it were an epic, serious sci-fi adventure film. But Newman has also scored for more serious films like The Affair of the Necklace and the comic book films The Phantom and The Spirit. He has also dabbled in animation, lending scores to The Brave Little Toaster, Anastasia (though he didn't write the mediocre songs), and Ice Age. When Joss Whedon requested a score with many disparate types of music for Serenity, Newman cooked up a complex, ambitious score. Newman was elected as president of the Film Music Society in 2007.

Fire Birds
Galaxy Quest
Jingle All the Way
The Phantom
Serenity

John Murphy

John Murphy's work tends toward the experimental. He uses innovative electronic methods and thrashing guitars that in depth, compositional skill, and dramatic suitability far exceed superficially similar music in films such as the first Iron Man, The Social Network, and Inception. Despite his preference for this type of music, Murphy can also write for orchestra. He deftly wrote around the needle-drop songs in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels as well as Snatch. City by the Sea displays Murphy's ability to write in a wide variety of styles while Last House on the Left features his adeptness at horror. But Murphy's most fruitful collaboration has been with director Danny Boyle. In 28 Days Later, Murphy uses his signature guitars and eerie effects to create a bold new style of horror scoring. The sequel 28 Weeks Later extends this approach even further, adding an expanded instrumental palette and new melodic ideas. His tender score for Millions perfectly expresses the selfless quest of the two young brothers. In Sunshine, Murphy takes his experimental, electronic approach to create a surprisingly moving and emotional musical accompaniment to the sci-fi film. Murphy modified a couple of cues from 28 Days Later and Sunshine and added some new material for Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. The contributions he and Henry Jackman made to the score are unexpectedly entertaining, rousing, and, at times, poignant. One can only hope that this talented composer will find more assignments and maybe reunite with Boyle. While A.R. Rahman's Bollywood style was appropriate (and not much more) for Slumdog Millionaire, one can only imagine what Murphy would have done with 127 Hours.

Armored
Anonymous Rejected Filmscore
City by the Sea
Kick-Ass** (with Henry Jackman, Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri, Danny Elfman)
Last House on the Left
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
Millions
Snatch
Sunshine*
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later*

Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone is the most prolific living film composer, with over 500 scores to his name. Most of these films and shows are Italian, but Morricone has also composed for prominent Hollywood films as well, and his music has been tracked in films from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds to Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. His most influential work has been for director Sergio Leone, especially the spaghetti Westerns. A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, and Once Upon a Time in the West feature eccentric orchestrations, bold vocal chants, rapid trumpet calls, and the signature electric guitar that has become associated with the genre. The sound he creates is almost indescribable to one who hasn't heard it, but is immediately and distinctively recognizable. Apart from these groundbreaking Italian westerns, Morricone also composed atmospheric music for John Carpenter's The Thing, expressive love themes for Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven, a famous oboe melody and a stunning choral finale to The Mission, and the score to Brian DePalma's The Untouchables, including an exultant, triumphant fanfare. He also wrote a heavenly and glorious score to What Dreams May Come that was rejected in favor of Michael Kamen's more intimate (but still beautiful) approach. Although Morricone has won an honorary Oscar, he has for some reason never won an Oscar for Best Original Score. Nevertheless, his fantastic music will leave (and already has left) a legacy that will last far longer than the music of certain other composers who have won Oscars. Particularly one who inexplicably won two Oscars in a row in 2005 and 2006.

Fat Man and Little Boy
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly**
The Mission*
Once Upon a Time in the West*
The Untouchables**
What Dreams May Come (rejected)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Robyn Miller

Robyn Miller is best known for co-founding the computer game company Cyan and created with his brother Rand the landmark games Myst and Riven. Miller also played Sirrus in the first game and wrote the scores for both games. Myst features haunting electronic sounds and distinctive motifs that add an unsettling feeling to the already eerie game. (His themes for the brothers Sirrus and Achenar would be used by Jack Wall in his score for Myst IV: Revelation.) Riven's score is more atmospheric and less busy, with an emphasis on "ethnic" sounds. In 2005, Miller worked on a new musical project called Ambo.

Myst
Riven

Alan Menken

Alan Menken is nearly synonymous with the modern-day Disney musical. With lyricists Stephen Schwartz (of Wicked fame), Tim Rice, David Zippel, Glenn Slater, and the brilliant Howard Ashman, he has written songs that have become classics. One may take songs such as "Under the Sea," "Beauty and the Beast," "Friend Like Me," "Colors of the Wind," and "I See the Light" for granted. But one need only listen to the cringe-inducing songs in animated features like Thumbelina, The Pebble and the Penguin, Quest for Camelot, and the direct-to-video Disney sequels to witness how difficult it is to write a musical-style song that does not induce vomiting. Menken and Ashman's songs for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin contributed immensely to the revival and subsequent domination of Disney animation in the early '90s. Menken worked with Schwartz on Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Enchanted where the songs became darker and more dramatically complex. Hercules (with Zippel) and Home on the Range (with Slater) emphasized Menken's lighter side, while Tangled (with Slater) represented a recent, glorious return to his '90s work. Yet though Menken's songs take the spotlight, it is his scores that show his evolution and maturity as an orchestral composer, some of them among the most emotional and effective in modern film music. Menken really hit his stride with Beauty and the Beast, deftly capturing the drama and glory of the film's finale. Enchanted combines lush, fantasy scoring, modern pop, and a massive choral finale. Tangled features the requisite dramatic emotional cues, but also features folk stylings and swashbuckling, heroic fanfares. But The Hunchback of Notre Dame may be Menken's masterpiece score, with intense chanting and a sense of darkness and even apocalyptic doom that is only found briefly in his other scores. Menken will always be the master of the animated musical, but his scoring can, in some ways, be even more impressive.

Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast**
Beauty and the Beast (2017)*
Enchanted*
Hercules
The Hunchback of Notre Dame**
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Stage Musical)**
The Little Mermaid
Mirror Mirror
Pocahontas*
Sausage Party* (with Christopher Lennertz)
Tangled

Bear McCreary

Bear McCreary (awesome name) is primarily a composer for television, but his work is definitely of feature film quality. Science fiction geeks (and various other fiefdoms of the Geekery Kingdom) praise his music for the epic series Battlestar Galactica and its sister show, Caprica. McCreary also has scored Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Walking Dead as well as for the video games SOCOM 4 and Dark Void. His work for The Cape and the first season of Human Target display his potent orchestral chops, using streamlined yet thematically flexible writing to underscore the action and emotion.

The Cape
The Cloverfield Paradox
Colossal
Happy Death Day
Human Target
Rebel in the Rye
10 Cloverfield Lane

Friday, November 4, 2011

Dario Marianelli

Dario Marianelli is an Italian composer who uses complicated orchestral techniques to create scores of affecting and often profound emotion. His most popular and well known style is the tender, expressive idiom for the romances Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and the Academy Award-winning Atonement. The latter score is famed for its use of the typewriter as a supplement to the orchestra. His score for the Spanish film Agora takes emotion and spectacle to epic heights, while V for Vendetta features jagged action motifs and rhythms. Marianelli's score for Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm merges large-scale fantasy scoring with brutal action to create a sometimes exhausting, but ultimately exhilarating work. Marianelli's versatility and his adroit compositional writing make him a composer to watch.

Agora
The Brothers Grimm*
Darkest Hour
Kubo and the Two Strings
V for Vendetta

Friday, October 28, 2011

Mark Mancina

Before Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell composed their way out of Hans Zimmer's shadow, there was Mark Mancina. In the mid to late '90s, Mancina's style was as popular and influential as Zimmer's, but his music still retains its appeal today due to his strong sense of melody and his fondness for real orchestral sounds among all the synthetic beats. Although Mancina helped Zimmer on Millennium and True Romance, he played a vital role in producing the songs and arranging the music for The Lion King. Mancina went on to become the music supervisor for the stage show directed by Julie Taymor. Mancina soon established a powerful, exciting, tune-driven style for action, propelling films such as Speed, Bad Boys, Assassins, Money Train, and Twister. All of them have themes written in the Zimmer style, but tend to be more developed with more of an emphasis on the orchestra than on synthesizers. Mancina works often with director Antoine Fuqua, scoring Bait, Training Day, and Shooter. But Mancina isn't just a one-note composer, as he has written full, romantic scores for Moll Flanders, Return to Paradise, and August Rush (including a magnificent rhapsody "composed" by the film's main character). He has also established a relationship with Disney, composing Brother Bear, The Haunted Mansion, the percussive and wondrous Tarzan, the high-energy, anthemic Planes films, and the Walt Disney Pictures logo that debuted with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man's Chest (incorporating Leigh Harline's tune "When You Wish Upon A Star"). A definite highlight is Mancina's score for the anime series Blood+, which features Mancina's trademark thunderous action, tender lyricism, grandeur, and an awe-inspiring aria.

Bad Boys
BLOOD+**
Brother Bear
The Haunted Mansion
Moana
Moll Flanders
Money Train
Planes
Planes: Fire & Rescue
Sorcery
Speed
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Tarzan*
Twister*

Andrew Lockington

Andrew Lockington has done about a dozen obscure scores and music for the TV shows Sanctuary and Missing, but he has gained popularity in the film scoring community for three major scores: Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and City of Ember. All feature expertly orchestrated music and deftly composed themes.

Journey to the Center of the Earth
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
San Andreas

Christopher Lennertz

Christopher Lennertz is a promising new composer who unfortunately has not scored many films of high quality. Lennertz worked for Basil Poledouris, and some of his works show that great composer's influence. One of his first assignments was for Clive Barker's Saint Sinner, but Lennertz really made an impact with his scores for the Medal of Honor games (Rising Sun, Pacific Assault, and European Assault), providing worthy counterparts to Michael Giacchino's brilliant originals. On the film side, Lennertz has mainly scored silly lightweight comedies such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, Disaster Movie, Marmaduke, the Cats and Dogs sequel, Camp Rock 2, Hop, and Horrible Bosses. Meet the Spartans and Vampires Suck are abysmal movies that Lennertz nevertheless scored with class and panache, featuring dramatic melodies and dead-serious themes in the best Elmer Bernstein tradition. His scores for these spoofs are better than many of those accompanying the movies they parody (300, Twilight, etc.) Given a serious film of quality, there is no doubt that Lennertz would deliver.


Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault
Medal of Honor: European Assault
Meet the Spartans
Sausage Party* (with Alan Menken)
Vampires Suck

Tim Larkin

Tim Larkin has been the official composer for game company Cyan Worlds since the departure of Robyn Miller. He created atmospheric and ethnic music for the games Uru, Myst V: End of Ages, additional music for realMyst, and sound design for Riven (scored by Miller). He has done sound design and music for other video games and has played trumpet for artists such as James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, and Huey Lewis.

Myst V: End of Ages

Abel Korzeniowski

Abel Korzeniowski is a new and dynamic force in film scoring, with a short but already impressive CV. Korzenioski was born in Poland and studied under experimental composer Krzysztof Penderecki. After scoring several Polish films, Korzenioski got his big break in Hollywood with his emotional and tender score for A Single Man. Madonna's W.E. features a similarly expressive score. He also wrote a thunderous, adventurous score for the animated film Battle for Terra and a glittering, Renaissance-flavored soundtrack for Copernicus' Star. His score for Romeo and Juliet was one of the best of the year, a sumptuous, romantic masterpiece written in his inimitable style. Korzeniowski's career is only getting started, and he deserves continued success.

Battle for Terra*
Copernicus' Star
Escape from Tomorrow
Nocturnal Animals
Penny Dreadful
Romeo and Juliet**
W.E.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was unappreciated in his time, but he is now rightfully seen as one of the first composers to bring musical legitimacy to film scores. Born in 1897 in what was then Austria-Hungary, Korngold was a musical prodigy who garnered praise from none other than the great Gustav Mahler. Korngold started as a concert composer before coming to Hollywood to write some of the most influential film scores of all time. His brassy, lush, style features exciting fanfares and distinct use of thematic material. He was a great influence on John Williams, whose scores for Star Wars and Superman exhibit Korngoldian stylings. Korngold only wrote about 20 scores, but many of them are classics, from The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk to Kings Row and Anthony Adverse. Following his incomparable career in Hollywood, Korngold went back to scoring concert works, leaving behind a batch of brilliant and groundbreaking film scores.

The Adventures of Robin Hood**
Kings Row**
The Sea Hawk**
The Sea Wolf

Friday, October 21, 2011

Michael Kamen

Michael Kamen was one of those rare composers who could both compose in the classical vein and collaborate with pop musicians without sounding cheesy. Early in his career, he provided arrangements for Pink Floyd, Metallica, and Queen, which led to later collaborations with musicians such as Bryan Adams, Eric Clapton, and David Sanborn in his film scores. Kamen had a wonderfully whimsical style suffused with clever musical gestures and bold melodies. His music for the New Line Cinema logo depicts his lilting style perfectly. For a while, Kamen's style for action writing became de rigueur for the genre. This is typified by his scores for the original Die Hard trilogy, the cues of suspense balancing the furious orchestral pyrotechnics. Similar music can be found in Tony Scott's Last Boy Scout, the James Bond film License to Kill, the first X-Men, and Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon films. The latter series also features electric guitar work by Eric Clapton and saxophone performed by David Sanborn. Despite his acumen in this genre, Kamen had a particular strength for more romantic films. He collaborated with Terry Gilliam, providing colorful melodies for Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves features a masterful fanfare and a sweeping love theme used as the melody for Bryan Adams's hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." Adams also sang in Kamen's scores for Disney's Three Musketeers and Don Juan De Marco. Kamen, like the best composers, scored films of many genres, from the melodrama of What Dreams May Come and the unsettling strains of The Dead Zone to the flighty adventure of 101 Dalmatians and the beautiful elegies of the TV miniseries Band of Brothers. One of Kamen's best scores is for Brad Bird's debut feature The Iron Giant. Although the score features plenty of enchantment and wonder, it also features unexpectedly dark and dramatic action material as well as one of the most emotionally cathartic musical finales in modern film scoring. Especially close to Kamen's heart was his score to Mr. Holland's Opus, for which Kamen composed a transcendent symphony for the title character. Following this, Kamen founded the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, providing funds for musical education and instruments to underprivileged schools. Sadly, Kamen passed away in 2003 at the much too young age of 55.

Adventures in Babysitting
Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Back to Gaya
Band of Brothers*
Brazil
Concerto for Saxophone
The Dead Zone
Die Hard
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Don Juan De Marco
Frequency
Guitar Concerto*
The Iron Giant**
The Last Boy Scout
Lethal Weapon*
Lethal Weapon 2
Lethal Weapon 3
Lethal Weapon 4
Lifeforce (Additional Score)
Mr. Holland’s Opus**
Renegades
Road House
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
The Three Musketeers
What Dreams May Come
X-Men (synths by Klaus Badelt)
101 Dalmatians

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Trevor Jones

Trevor Jones was born in South Africa and obtained a Masters degree in film scoring in England. One of his first and finest scores was for Jim Henson's fantasy epic The Dark Crystal. While certainly a lush and rich score, The Dark Crystal is elevated by Jones's complex writing and assured use of thematic counterpoint. His next project for Henson was Labyrinth, where he provided a more pop-flavored score to accompany David Bowie's songs. Jones has scored other popular films, including Mississippi Burning, Arachnophobia, Cliffhanger, Ridley Scott's GI Jane, Notting Hill, Thirteen Days, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Many of his scores feature soaring, expansive themes and busy action motifs. His score for Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans is the most well-known to the public, although Jones ran out of time on the project, and minor cues were written by Randy Edelman. The bulk of the thematic and dramatic material, however, was adeptly scored by Jones. Dark City features an unrelentingly brutal action climax followed by a massive finale. Jones has also scored for TV movies and miniseries, including Merlin, Cleopatra, and Dinotopia, each featuring music fit for a feature film. Jones has not scored a major feature since Disney's remake of Around the World in 80 Days in 2004, and he definitely deserves a higher profile.

Cleopatra
Cliffhanger
Dark City
The Dark Crystal*
Last of the Mohicans (with Randy Edelman)
Nate and Hayes

Ron Jones

Ron Jones has primarily composed for television, bringing creativity to a medium that often features banal scoring. He scored half of the episodes for the first few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as for Disney's DuckTales and The Smurfs. Most recently, he has been the composer for Seth McFarlane's Family Guy and American Dad.

Superman Animated Series

Friday, October 14, 2011

Henry Jackman

There are many composers who have gone through Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures/Remote Control facility, but only Mark Mancina, Harry Gregson-Williams, and John Powell have surpassed their former master to create interesting scores. Henry Jackman is well on his way to becoming the next member of this exclusive group. Jackman was classically trained in England and dabbled in Drum and Bass as a youth before becoming a programmer and producer for pop artists. Eventually, he created three of his own eclectic albums: Utopia, Transfiguration, and Acoustica. On the MySpace page for the Transfiguration album, Jackman writes, "I was subconsciously synthesizing 500 years of musical influence from Renaissance church music to modern electronica... I love Mahler as much as Aphex Twin, and Brian Eno as much as Thomas Tallis." Many of his interviews reveal his wide range of musical knowledge and enthusiastic approach to film scoring. Zimmer took notice of Jackman and gave him his first film scoring assignments. Jackman was soon writing additional music for The Da Vinci Code, The Holiday, Vantage Point, The Simpsons Movie, and Hancock. He wrote the music for the tense ferry scene in The Dark Knight, the majestic "Oogway Ascends" cue in Kung Fu Panda, and composed the riotous, rollicking "Up is Down" cue from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End based on Zimmer's theme. Unsurprisingly, Jackman was soon given his first solo assignment, for Monsters vs. Aliens. He was one of the four composers for Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, composing the main theme; he and John Murphy wrote the best cues of the score, including "Flying Home." Vaughn hired him for X-Men: First Class, where Jackman's initial orchestrally dense approach was toned down to a more streamlined, electronics-heavy, but still highly accomplished final score. Jackman  enjoys relationships with both DreamWorks Animation and Disney, having scored Monsters vs. Aliens, Puss in Boots, and Turbo for the former and Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and the Toy Story short Small Fry for the latter.

Electronics feature heavily in his groove-based scores for Man on a Ledge, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, GI Joe: Retaliation, Paul Greengrass's Captain Phillips, and Marvel Studios's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with his scores for Turbo, Big Hero 6, and Captain America: Civil War fusing the composer's talents for orchestra and electronica admirably.  Jackman's scores for Gulliver's Travels, Winnie the Pooh, and Puss in Boots, on the other hand, are pure orchestral delight, showcasing the composer's technical and dramatic chops. His score for the self-aware comedy This Is the End features full-blooded, Gothic horror music complete with gargantuan choral forces. With Kick-Ass 2, Jackman revisited his work on the first score, expanding upon his fantastic main theme alongside new themes written by the score's co-composer (and frequent orchestrator) Matthew Margeson. He also brought Margeson along for Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service, providing exhilarating music and catchy themes for the outrageously entertaining film. Wreck-It Ralph is one of his best scores, combining orchestra, 8-bit tunes, and more modern synthesizers into a cohesive and stunningly emotional package.  I hope Jackman will continue to score artistically rewarding assignments and we will get to hear more of his music.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Big Hero 6*
Birth of a Nation
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Captain America: Civil War
Captain Phillips
GI Joe: Retaliation
Gulliver’s Travels
The Interview
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Kick-Ass** (with John Murphy, Marius De Vries, Ilan Eshkeri, Danny Elfman)
Kick-Ass 2 (with Matthew Margeson)
Kingsman: The Secret Service (with Matthew Margeson)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (with Matthew Margeson)
Kong: Skull Island
Man on a Ledge
Monsters vs. Aliens
Pixels
Puss in Boots
This Is the End
Toy Story Toons: Small Fry
Transfiguration (Album)
Turbo
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Utopia (Album)
Winnie the Pooh (Songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
Wreck-It Ralph**
X-Men: First Class
The 5th Wave

Steve Jablonsky

Steve Jablonsky is yet another of the countless Hans Zimmer apprentices. He has been the composer of choice for Michael "Shaky Camera" Bay ever since The Island. Jablonsky scored all three of Bay's Transformers films, the score for the first film being a highly popular blend of derivative musical elements from various Zimmer scores, though still entertaining on the surface level. He also wrote scores for the Bay-produced horror remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Other films he has scored are the Korean dragon film D-War and the spoof Your Highness. In the realm of video games, Jablonsky has contributed music to Command and Conquer 3, Gears of War 2 and 3, and The Sims 3. But his best score is for the animated film Steamboy, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira fame. Although the action material is still based on short, simplistic ostinatos, the score has adventurous whimsy, acoustic variety, and a pleasant main theme. Otherwise, he has yet to distinguish himself from the numerous Zimmer clones.


Steamboy
Transformers

Thursday, October 13, 2011

James Newton Howard

James Newton Howard is a remarkably versatile composer whose style has evolved from romantic pop and piano-based scores to intense action and full orchestral beauty. I have a particular fondness for his music, as two of his scores helped turn me into a soundtrack fan (see the About tab). Some of his best scores are for director M. Night Shyamalan. Although Shyamalan's films have steadily decreased in quality, Howard always provides superb music for his films that is among the best written today. Howard wrote an understated score for the Sixth Sense, added hip electronic beats to underline the low-key heroics of Unbreakable, wrote a three note motif that turns into a stunning finale in Signs, composed exquisite solos for violinist Hilary Hahn in The Village, lent power and otherworldly choral beauty to Lady in the Water, created tension and emotional release for The Happening, provided majesty and grand scale to The Last Airbender, and propelled the action with pulse-pounding cues alongside alien textures in After Earth. Howard has (oddly enough) written a superb run of scores for films featuring water: Atlantis, Lady in the Water, Water for Elephants, The Water Horse, and Waterworld (you could also stretch this to include The Prince of Tides and Snow Falling on Cedars, not to mention the "Flow Like Water" cue from The Last Airbender.) As mentioned, Howard's early scores featured lightweight melodies and easygoing tunes, as heard in Pretty Woman, Dying Young, Dave, and The Prince of Tides. Yet he soon showed an adeptness at action in The Package, The Fugitive, Falling Down, and Flatliners. He also has used dark choral textures for The Devil's Advocate and the massive "Tarawa" cue from Snow Falling on Cedars (used in the Matrix Revolutions trailer shown at the end of Matrix Reloaded). He created the more tender (and more interesting) material for Batman Begins and Harvey Dent's music for The Dark Knight. Howard isn't afraid to use electronics in scores such as Peter Pan, Collateral, Blood Diamond, I Am Legend, Salt, and Duplicity. His music for The Hunger Games and its sequels blends harrowing emotion with ferocious action. But perhaps his most striking music is for epic adventure, especially in the Disney animated films Dinosaur, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Treasure Planet, where majestic, catchy fanfares and soaring anthems abound. Similar adventurous music can also be found in Hidalgo, Alive, Vertical Limit, Wyatt Earp, The Postman, Waterworld, Peter Jackson's King Kong remake, and Maleficent. While he started his career in pop, arranging music for Elton John, Howard has turned into one of film's most stylish, reliable, and knowledgeable composers.


After Earth
Alive
Atlantis: The Lost Empire**
Blood Diamond
The Bourne Legacy
Collateral
The Dark Knight (with Hans Zimmer)
Dave
Defiance
The Devil’s Advocate
Dinosaur**
Duplicity
Dying Young
Eye for an Eye
Falling Down
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Flatliners
The Fugitive
Grand Canyon
Green Lantern
The Happening
Hidalgo
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
The Huntsman: Winter's War
I Am Legend
Intersection
King Kong*
Lady in the Water**
The Last Airbender*
Maleficent*
Outbreak
The Package
Peter Pan
The Postman
Primal Fear
The Prince of Tides
Restoration*
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Salt
Signs**
The Sixth Sense
Snow Falling on Cedars
Snow White and the Huntsman
Treasure Planet**
Unbreakable
Vertical Limit
The Village**
Water for Elephants
The Water Horse
Waterworld*
Wyatt Earp

James Horner

James Horner was a bit of a puzzle, and a controversial figure in the weird world of film music. On the one hand, he was responsible for writing the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, for James Cameron's Titanic. On the other hand, he was notorious for repeating himself and taking material from other composers. To be sure, all composers swipe material from each other to some extent. However, Horner did little to hide his "borrowings," especially compared to other composers. Especially noteworthy was his infamous four-note "danger motif," which he used in scores from Willow and Enemy at the Gates to Troy and Avatar. Anyway, that's a whole different topic. As for my own views on Horner, I find his earlier work to be his best, full of busy orchestral figures, joyous themes, and the sound of a budding composer's excitement at exploring the musical ideas bursting from his cranium. As his career went on, however, Horner became more complacent, content to recycle material and write music that tried to be subtle, but ends up conveying little to nothing at all. The exuberant, creative music of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Krull, The Rocketeer, and Willow was nowhere to be heard in most of his later scores. Unlike the evolving sounds of John Williams and Danny Elfman, Horner's change of style was not, in my opinion, for the better. My personal feelings aside, I can't deny that Horner scored a plethora of high-profile and successful films, from Braveheart and Apollo 13 to Glory and A Beautiful Mind. But it was his collaborations for James Cameron that gave him the biggest success and most exposure. Horner first worked with Cameron on the relentless Aliens. Although the two had creative differences, they later reconciled to produce the massive blockbusters Titanic and Avatar. Though Horner's most prevalent styles were for lilting fantasy and straightforward drama (sometimes with incongruous Celtic stylings), two of his best scores were for The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro. Here, Horner used Spanish-flavored rhythms and instrumentation to create vibrant scores that proved that he could indeed still write fresh music. There were hints in early 2015 that Horner was making a comeback, but he tragically died in a plane crash in June of that year.


Aliens
The Amazing Spider-Man
Apollo 13**
Avatar
A Beautiful Mind
Braveheart
Cocoon*
Glory*
Krull**
The Land Before Time*
The Mask of Zorro
The Legend of Zorro
Legends of the Fall
The Perfect Storm
The Rocketeer*
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan**
Titanic/Back to Titanic
Willow

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Joe Hisaishi


Joe Hisaishi (born Mamoru Fujisawa; his professional name translates to "Quincy Jones") is probably the highest-profile Japanese film composer working today, due in no small part to his music for the films of Hayao Miyazaki. He has done numerous other scores, but they are less familiar to people like me with limited knowledge of Japanese cinema. Hisaishi started his career by producing his own albums of electronic and minimalist music, but his scores for Miyazaki are lush and classically melodic. His first score for Miyazaki was for Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, an eclectic composition combining traditional orchestra, '80s electronics for the Ohmu, and an unsettlingly off-key chant for Nausicaa's memories. For Castle in the Sky, Hisaishi wrote an original score for the theatrical release as well an updated score for the American dub, underlining the adventurous beats and majesty of the floating island. He provides gentle charm for Kiki's Delivery Service, melancholy nostalgia for Porco Rosso, and romanticism for Howl's Moving Castle. The bubbling, youthful energy of Ponyo contrasts with the brooding action and bittersweet themes for Princess Mononoke. Hisaishi has a particular gift for writing for piano, often playing the solos himself, as in Princess Mononoke. It his scores for My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away that arguably contain the most emotionally charged material, achieving this not through melodrama but through honest simplicity. I know that sounds pretentious, but the music itself is anything but.

Concert in Budokan (Compilation)**
Howl’s Moving Castle
Kiki's Delivery Service
Laputa: Castle in the Sky*
My Neighbor Totoro**
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Ni no Kuni Shikkoku no Madoushi*
Ponyo*
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke*
Spirited Away**
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya*
The Wind Rises

Bernard Herrmann

Whole books have been written about Bernard Herrmann and his influence on film music. Considered by many to be one of the best composers of his time, Herrmann is highly regarded by contemporary film composers such as Danny Elfman and John Williams. My exposure to Herrmann on CD is sadly limited, but his first score alone, for Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, contains superb music that, like with many aspects of that film, has had a large impact on filmmaking up to today. Perhaps his most well known scores are for Alfred Hitchcock, from the dance-like pyrotechnics of North by Northwest to the dizzying strains of Vertigo and the slashing, cutting strings for Psycho. His last score was for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, using brooding saxophone to portray Travis Bickle's dark journey of redemption. But Herrmann didn't just do "serious" films; he also specialized in musically bringing the fantasy creatures of Ray Harryhuasen to life, with Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver. He also established the sounds of science fiction films, using powerful brass for Journey to the Center of the Earth and wailing theremin (when describing the theremin, it is required to use the word "wailing") for The Day the Earth Stood Still. Disneyland fans can hear the strident tones of Mysterious Island while viewing the Primeval World (dinosaur) display in the Disneyland Railroad (between Tomorrowland and Main Street and directly following the Grand Canyon diorama). Herrmann was always fond of using unique instrumental ensembles for each film he did, and he remained an uncompromising craftsman and artist who was intolerant of mediocrity. His strong sense of artistic integrity could make him difficult to work with, and he and Hitchcock ended up parting ways on a less than amicable note. Yet his contribution to the musical world remains unquestioned.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Jason and the Argonauts*
North by Northwest**
Psycho*
Torn Curtain (Rejected)
Vertigo*

Harry Gregson-Williams

Harry Gregson-Williams is one of the few of Hans Zimmer's apprentices who has stepped out from his former master's shadow to create compelling music of his own. As a youth, he attended the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and later taught music there as well as in Egypt. He attracted the attention of Zimmer, who introduced the composer to film scoring as well as the use of electronics and synthesizers (before joining Zimmer's company, he claimed to never have touched a computer in his life.) He began composing additional music for Zimmer's Broken Arrow and The Prince of Egypt (including the hieroglyph scene) and The Rock (including the car chase through San Francisco).

After scoring the electronics-heavy The Replacement Killers, Gregson-Williams teamed up with composer John Powell to pen three deliriously exciting and energetic scores for the animated films Antz, Chicken Run, and Shrek. The first two scores in particular are among the most rousing and thematically rich scores of the modern era. HGW went on to score the next three films in the Shrek series solo, and established a relationship with Shrek/Shrek 2 director Andrew Adamson, scoring the first two films of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Gregson-Williams writes both electronics-heavy scores as well as orchestrally rich music. The former style can be heard in his scores for Tony Scott: Enemy of the State (with Trevor Rabin), Spy Game, Man on Fire, Domino, Deja Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable. Phone Booth, The Number 23, The Town, and The Equalizer also showcase Gregson-Williams's groove-based electronic style, but even in some of these scores Gregson-Williams evinces his talent for composing gentle, emotional melodies. Gregson-Williams also used this approach for the second, third, and fourth entries in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid video games.

Gregson-Willams's swashbuckling score for Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is a true gem; his scores for The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Arthur Christmas further manifest his orchestral expertise. As he was in a choir as a child, Gregson-Williams's choral work is especially strong, highlighting scores such as Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, the Narnia scores, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Veronica Guerin. Considering his start as a Zimmer apprentice, it is ironic that his magnificent, bombastic score for Team America: World Police takes the most cliched Zimmerisms and inflates them to gloriously over the top proportions. The end result is a more satisfying and entertaining score than what Zimmer and some of his other apprentices come up with for serious films.



Antz* (with John Powell)
Arthur Christmas
Chicken Run** (with John Powell)
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Cowboys and Aliens
Disneynature: Monkey Kingdom
Early Man (with Tom Howe)
The Equalizer
Kingdom of Heaven*
The Magic of Marciano
Man on Fire
The Martian
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
The Number 23
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Prometheus (Additional Score)
The Rock (with Nick Glennie-Smith and Hans Zimmer)
The Rundown
Shrek (with John Powell)
Shrek 2
Shrek Forever After
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas**
Spy Game
Spy Kids (with Danny Elfman, John Debney)
Team America: World Police**
Total Recall (Remake)
Veronica Guerin
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Friday, September 30, 2011

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith is one of the best composers to ever write music for film. Among film score aficionados, he is highly regarded and, deservedly so. While he is almost uncannily versatile, he has also established a style that is oft-imitated by other composers who nevertheless do not capture the intangible quality that Goldsmith brought to a majority of his scores. He is as good a composer as his contemporary John Williams, but he is not quite as well known because he did not score as many high-profile or successful films. He has enjoyed successful collaborations with directors Franklin J Schaffner, Paul Verhoeven, and Joe Dante among others. With around 250 films to his name, a mere survey of his vast body of work would probably require its own monograph. At the most basic level, Goldsmith often uses syncopated action rhythms, complex time signatures, innovative orchestral playing techniques, and bold themes. Admittedly, it is difficult to summarize his style because he was proficient in so many genres and did each of them with flair and superb skill. His scores range from the unabashedly emotional strains of Hoosiers, Rudy, Forever Young, and Explorers to the spine-chilling tones and extraordinary acoustics of Alien, The Omen, The Illustrated Man, Planet of the Apes, and Basic Instinct. Often, he blended themes of terror and beauty into an emotionally wrenching whole, as in Poltergeist, The Final Conflict, Logan's Run, and Twilight Zone: The Movie. Goldsmith's action music is furious, complex, and thematic, the propelling rhythms driving scores such as The Wind and the Lion, Total Recall, The Mummy, The 13th Warrior, The Edge, Capricorn One, First Knight, and the first three Rambo films. As one might notice, the titles of some of the mentioned films are probably unfamiliar, and indeed, Goldsmith is known for providing superb scores for sub-par films. Yet he has done great scores for films of quality as well, among them Patton, Under Fire, LA Confidential, Disney's animated feature Mulan, The Blue Max, and The Sand Pebbles. One major highlight of his later work is not from a film, but for a theme park attraction. In 2001, Goldsmith wrote the magnificent music for the Soarin' Over California ride at Disney's California Adventure. After scoring hundreds of films for dozens of genres, from western to horror to sci-fi, Goldsmith passed away in 2004, winning only one Oscar for The Omen.

Air Force One
Alien*
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend
Bad Girls
Bandolero
Basic Instinct*
The Boys From Brazil*
The Blue Max*
Breakheart Pass
California Adventure: Soarin’ Over California*
Capricorn One
Chain Reaction
The Challenge
Chinatown
Congo
Contract on Cherry Street
Damnation Alley
Deep Rising
The Edge*
Executive Decision
Explorers*
Extreme Prejudice
Fate Is the Hunter
The Final Conflict*
First Blood*
First Knight**
Forever Young
The Ghost and the Darkness
Gladiator (Rejected)
The Great Train Robbery
Gremlins*
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The Haunting
Hollow Man
Hoosiers**
The Illustrated Man
In Harm's Way
Inchon
Innerspace
Islands in the Stream*
King Solomon’s Mines
Legend*
Link
Lionheart*
Logan’s Run*
Magic
Masada* (with Morton Stevens)
Medicine Man
Mulan**
The Mummy*
Night Crossing*
Not Without My Daughter
The Omen
One Little Indian
Papillon*
Patton*
Planet of the Apes*
Poltergeist**
Poltergeist 2: The Other Side
Players
Powder
The Prize
Psycho II
Rambo: First Blood Part II**
Rambo III
Rio Conchos
The River Wild
Rudy**
The Russia House
The Salamander
The Sand Pebbles*
The Secret of NIMH*
The Shadow
Shock Treatment
Sleeping With the Enemy
Small Soldiers
Stagecoach
Star Trek: The Motion Picture**
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier**
Star Trek: First Contact (with Joel Goldsmith)
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Nemesis
The Sum of All Fears
Supergirl
The Swarm
Take a Hard Ride
Timeline (Rejected)
Total Recall**
Twilight Zone: The Movie**
Under Fire**
The Wind and the Lion**
The 13th Warrior*
100 Rifles