# Your top 3 film scores of 2006



## choc0thrax (Dec 19, 2006)

So with the end of the year coming up, what were your three favourite scores? I'm going to have to go with:

1. The Fountain- Clint Mansell
2. X-men: The Last Stand- John Powell
3. V for vendetta- Dario Marianelli (mostly just cause of "Evey Reborn")


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## lux (Dec 19, 2006)

I'm with The Last stand by Powell....


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## gravehill (Dec 19, 2006)

The Last Stand is definitely the #1 for me as well. I still need to think about 2nd and 3rd places, though...


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## JonFairhurst (Dec 19, 2006)

How 'bout The Prestige by David Julyan 

http://imdb.com/title/tt0482571/
http://imdb.com/name/nm0432382/


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## Hannes_F (Dec 19, 2006)

Reading the topic line I assumed you would post the titles of the top 3 films that you scored in 2006. :mrgreen:


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## midphase (Dec 19, 2006)

I actually was feeling pretty lousy about the state of film scores this year until last night!

I vote for Perfume....it's really great!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 19, 2006)

The Illusionist - Phillip Glass. Awesome.


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## Dr.Quest (Dec 19, 2006)

midphase @ Tue Dec 19 said:


> I actually was feeling pretty lousy about the state of film scores this year until last night!
> 
> I vote for Perfume....it's really great!



So what's the deal with this score? There are 2 versions on iTunes...one says CLEAN LYRICS and the other doesn't say anything about lyrics. It sounds cool but the composers listed on imdb aren't credited on the iTunes cover.
Puzzle there.
J :?:


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## tgfoo (Dec 19, 2006)

Another vote here for X-Men: The Last Stand. Not sure what other two I'd put with it yet though.


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## midphase (Dec 19, 2006)

About the Perfume soundtrack, here's the correct link for the iTunes store:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=207006057&s=143441 (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSt ... 7&amp;s=143441)


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## Aaron Sapp (Dec 20, 2006)

MI:3

X3

United 93


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## Christian Marcussen (Dec 20, 2006)

Something magic about the number "3"


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## Ed (Dec 20, 2006)

Aaron Sapp @ Wed Dec 20 said:


> MI:3



Really? Aside from a couple of tracks, I was suprised how totally repetitive it was. 

I dont really know why I dont love The Last Stand either. 

Ed


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## Frederick Russ (Dec 20, 2006)

Ed @ Wed Dec 20 said:


> I dont really know why I dont love The Last Stand either.



Probably because the movie itself was a brutal disappointment. On the visuals and acting the screenplay, directing, acting and editing honestly weren't up to par with the other two installments. I thought John Powell's score surpassed the movie however since the movie itself really isn't his fault.


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## lux (Dec 20, 2006)

Frederick Russ @ Wed Dec 20 said:


> Ed @ Wed Dec 20 said:
> 
> 
> > I dont really know why I dont love The Last Stand either.
> ...



Personally i think its a pretty good movie, absolutely on same league than first two's. 
Acting and performances were pretty good too, even excluding Sir Mc Kellen (that you could assign even a tomato role and he would make it totally believable).
I think the blend visual/acting/music was really good, expecially on strongest scenes (the house tragedy and ending Phoenix rise)

Not perfect but nice.

If i have to find something annoying (i always find this annoying) is the usual presidential/governor scenes that are almost in every Usa made movie...

btw, speaking as Powell's work, i think this one of the best work on thematic side since elfman's Spiderman. Powell's melodies and developement are really musical and perfectly fit with the visuals. 
I'm quite not a fan of booming/choral action cues, but have to say that Phoenix rise track is quite great.

Luca


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## choc0thrax (Dec 20, 2006)

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## Dr.Quest (Dec 20, 2006)

midphase @ Tue Dec 19 said:


> About the Perfume soundtrack, here's the correct link for the iTunes store:
> 
> http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=207006057&s=143441 (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSt ... 7&amp;s=143441)



Then what is this one...http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuit...Fwa%2FviewAlbum%3Fid%3D206741193%26s%3D143441
It looks the same except fot the CLEAN LYRICS thing. :?: 

J[/u]


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## midphase (Dec 20, 2006)

I think it's the same soundtrack, the Clean Lyrics thing appears to be some sort of "rating" which is silly considering it doesn't really contain songs.


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## kid-surf (Dec 21, 2006)

Three things...


1) X3 score is killer.

2) So is Perfume. But why the heck aren't Reinhold, Johnny and Tom listed. Strange. (PS... I've believed in their work since Princes And The Warrior. Well, Run Lola Run was a good flick but the scores to some of their other films were an indication. Those guys are definitely a three way team. They even write band music together.... called "Pale3".)

--Not staling them, the reason I know a bit about them is because Reinhold helped me out a couple years ago. Good guy. I'm stoked for them that their new film is good all the way around. Score included. Talented guys.

3) Pretty sure Aaron was joking. (i.e. Not many films with "3" in the title this year to choose from.)


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## Evan Gamble (Dec 21, 2006)

kid-surf @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> 3) Pretty sure Aaron was joking. (i.e. Not many films with "3" in the title this year to choose from.)



Funny thing is..

He isn't hehe. :lol: 

(I liked Mi:3 a bit too)


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## lux (Dec 21, 2006)

choc0thrax @ Wed Dec 20 said:


> Phoenix Rises is a great cue...when that Phoenix theme comes in half way through it rocks.



yeah, that part is great


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Dec 21, 2006)

OMG. I'm so pathetic. I just checked the list of this year's movies, and realized I had barely seen any!!!! I guess I have some catching up to do during the holidays...

FWIW, I hated X-Men 3, but liked Arnold's Casino Royale's score. Also, it's not film, but 24's soundtrack continues to blow my mind.


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## choc0thrax (Dec 21, 2006)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> OMG. I'm so pathetic. I just checked the list of this year's movies, and realized I had barely seen any!!!! I guess I have some catching up to do during the holidays...
> 
> FWIW, I hated X-Men 3, but liked Arnold's Casino Royale's score. Also, it's not film, but 24's soundtrack continues to blow my mind.



The best TV music is in Battlestar Galactica.  I've probably listened to season 2's score more than any film score this year.


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## lux (Dec 21, 2006)

Original serie theme was Elmer Bernstein, great one. Who's actual?

Edit. Couldnt find bernstein on credits, i remember this from an old compilation, but could be wrong...


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## Frederick Russ (Dec 21, 2006)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> FWIW, I hated X-Men 3, but liked Arnold's Casino Royale's score. Also, it's not film, but 24's soundtrack continues to blow my mind.



Another vote for Casino Royale by David Arnold. Interesting writing.


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## choc0thrax (Dec 21, 2006)

Frederick Russ @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> Ned Bouhalassa @ Thu Dec 21 said:
> 
> 
> > FWIW, I hated X-Men 3, but liked Arnold's Casino Royale's score. Also, it's not film, but 24's soundtrack continues to blow my mind.
> ...



I like all the Vesper related cues but not the action stuff.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Dec 21, 2006)

choc0thrax @ 21/12/2006 said:


> Ned Bouhalassa @ Thu Dec 21 said:
> 
> 
> > The best TV music is in Battlestar Galactica.  I've probably listened to season 2's score more than any film score this year.



I'm watching the 2nd series this week. While I do like the score (and love the series), I find it to be too repetitive, and not adventurous enough in terms of timbre and harmony. I'm often captivated by Sean Callery's cues (more in the psychological scenes) in 24, like where he uses microtonality, gamelan, synthesizer textures, etc.


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## synthetic (Dec 21, 2006)

Another vote for Battlestar Galactica season 2 and Da Vinci Code (though I haven't bought the latter one yet, I just liked how it played in the theater).


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## Peter Emanuel Roos (Dec 21, 2006)

I plea guilty to liking POTC 2 by Zimmer very very much.
For some reason I completely lost interest in JW's music this year. Dunno why.

Maybe I should make some more music myself next year - 2006 has been a rough year, like 2005. 

Is the Perfume movie good? I read the book when it was published and it was an excellent history horror story!


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## Dr.Quest (Dec 21, 2006)

Black Dahlia by Mark Isham
Monster House by Douglas Pipes
Nanny McPhee by Patrick Doyle

Mainly because they were so underlooked.
J


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## choc0thrax (Dec 21, 2006)

Peter Roos @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> I plea guilty to liking POTC 2 by Zimmer very very much.
> For some reason I completely lost interest in JW's music this year. Dunno why.
> 
> Maybe I should make some more music myself next year - 2006 has been a rough year, like 2005.
> ...



Maybe JW hasn't impressed this year cause he hasn't scored any films in 2006... Or do you just mean just recently you stopped liking all the music he's done.

Oh an TJ, awesome taste in music!.....NNNNOOOOOTTTTTTTTTT


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## choc0thrax (Dec 21, 2006)

Thomas_J @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> Choco, listen to track 2 - The Mall (Sentinel), that's some of the coolest suspense music I've heard in a long time. Chevaliers De Sangreal on Da Vinci Code is a fantastic piece, imo. Simple, full of emotion and a fantastic build. Probably Zimmer's single best piece to date.



Da Vinci is alright I guess but The Sentinel???? The only reason you like it is because it's by Christophe Beck.


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## spoon (Dec 22, 2006)

I´ll go for Zimmer´s POTC2
John Powell´s X-Men3
Harry Gregson-Williams´ Déjà Vu



oh, seems I like the RemoteControl stuff....


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## spoon (Dec 22, 2006)

ah, just listened to James Newton Howard´s "blood diamond" and "lady in the water"...nice nice

PS: Don´t forget to check out Silvetsri´s new "Night at the Museum"...hmmmm


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## Evan Gamble (Dec 22, 2006)

Ok I'll post my picks after giving it a little thought

X3 (Just so much balls in the score as everyone knows!)
Nans' Labyrinth
Black Dahlia


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## PolarBear (Dec 26, 2006)

My vote goes for "Das Parfüm"... Excellent one.


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## synthetic (Dec 27, 2006)

In order to better understand "minimalist" scores, I just bought Brokeback Mountain and The Fountain on iTunes. First of all, $7 for a bunch of 1.5 minute cues that add up to 12 minutes of Brokeback score. Minimal until it comes to the price tag... Anyway I like that one a little better than I did this morning. But it still sounds like a very good example of a "Movie of the Week." 

As for the Fountain, I still think it plods along aimlessly like the film. But I'll keep trying. 

p.s. Article on the trend for minimalist scores: 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/music/features/e3ia43ce2059264d0378a2bb61245af88fa


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## Ed (Dec 27, 2006)

choc0thrax @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> The best TV music is in Battlestar Galactica.  I've probably listened to season 2's score more than any film score this year.



Even more than your beloved Lost?


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## Ed (Dec 27, 2006)

Frederick Russ @ Wed Dec 20 said:


> Ed @ Wed Dec 20 said:
> 
> 
> > I dont really know why I dont love The Last Stand either.
> ...



Except I heard the music before I saw the film. In the film it was alright, though. You are right about the film being disapointing. Mi3s score worked much much better in the film which was very cool and the best MI so far IMO.

Ed


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## Ed (Dec 27, 2006)

Evan Gamble @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> Funny thing is..
> 
> He isn't hehe. :lol:
> 
> (I liked Mi:3 a bit too)



I kinda liked Mi3, it worked very well in the film where it counts, but aside from a couple of tracks I only liked the first minuite and a half of most cues because they just went on and on and on and it just repeated itself over and over. When Choco told me he didnt like it because of that, I didnt believe him so I was surprised to find that actually was the case.


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## Niah (Dec 27, 2006)

Have you guys heard Powell's theme for "Happy Feet"? It's pretty bad-ass.


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## Hans Adamson (Dec 28, 2006)

Deja Vu. Supports the movie perfectly.


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## Waywyn (Dec 28, 2006)

choc0thrax @ Thu Dec 21 said:


> The best TV music is in Battlestar Galactica.  I've probably listened to season 2's score more than any film score this year.



Hehe, hard to accept for me but I have to agree with Choco 8)
As everything is late in germany I only watched the pilot plus the first season (no 2nd season in sight yet) ... and I never heard better music in TV series than in BG.
I would also go that far that it for me tops a few movies which had been in cinema. Besides that I never heard that good percussion programming and such "alive" loops.


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## kid-surf (Jan 1, 2007)

synthetic -- Thanks for the link. I'll read it in a bit. 

Minimalist scores --- those are usually the ones I like best. Maybe it's because I think more like a director than a composer. May also be why I'm writing a script that I plan to direct 'and' score. That way I'll get to write the music I _want_ to write. But more importantly (hey this is film) I'll get to tell a story the way "I" want to tell it.

So far my wife thinks the script is strong, original with a unique voice that isn't cliche. I firmly believe I'll be able to get it made. I'm sort of sick and tired of searching for goods film to score. I might as well write, direct and score my own. 

The score will be minimalist, mostly, but have moments of big-er-ish-ness. Hybrid. It's a dark-ish story, character driven. Right up my alley (what a surprise :D -- that i'd think of script that "I" like ,and that is right for my music :D) It's a blast to be able to think of the score and source music as you write the script.

Why didn't I think of this sooner.... oh well, guess it wasn't time yet.

I think it's getting to the point where we composers need to take this shit into our own hands.... why let others determine our future. Fuck that.

But I'll tell you what... the score I do for it won't necessarily be anything composers would get excited over. It's not gonna sound like Star Wars 2 or BG, or any other bombastic score. But I'll tell you what, if the film is good, people will assume the score is good. Unfortunately we are truly the only ones who give a shit what the music is. Sadly.

Mostly, i think it best to support the story. the last thing I'll be thinking about is whether or not composers will like the score.

On the other hand, we (composers) sometimes fail to see how a minimalist score is a perfect organic meld to whatever film it may be. Sometimes we are too caught up in "impressive" scores, -vs- scores that work with the film. So it can cut both ways.

my opinion........

Happy New Year.

Cheers.


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## choc0thrax (Jan 1, 2007)

Kid, have you heard The Fountain? It's kinda minimal and great.


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## kid-surf (Jan 2, 2007)

No, I haven't. I quickly auditioned it on iTunes a while back. I've been meaning to pick it up. Been meaning to see the film too. I like some of Clint's other work so I was curious to hear it. I'll snag it this week and let you know what I think of it.... thanks for the reminder. I know you really dig it.


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## kid-surf (Jan 2, 2007)

BTW -- I like what Glass said at the end of that article. That he'll speak on behalf of all composers and say "We want you to hear the music".

It amazes me how little credit composers get for making a film better. To me it's 50% of the experience when a film is great. It all has to be the right fit, the script, the directing, and the score. Those are the most important aspects of a great film in my opinion. Yet the dude driving the buss gets all the credit. The director.


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## synthetic (Jan 2, 2007)

I realized a week ago that there are a few definitions of a "minimal" score: 

1. Not a lot of music (15 minutes in a 2-hour film, for example)
2. A small ensemble (not the "big Hollywood sound")
3. Using aspects of Minimalism (i.e. a repeated ostinato with gradual changes)

I guess The Fountain meets the criteria for 2 and 3, but sounds to me seems like the same phrase repeated over and over. I suppose this symbolizes the protagonist's obsession to cure cancer in time for his wife, but I found it tiring. Then again, perhaps I don't understand minimalism. Is a drum machine minimalism?


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## Niah (Jan 2, 2007)

There are many forms of minimalism in various genres of music. The minamalism that we have today in film scores isn't even considered minimalism but rather neo-minimalism.


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## JohnnyMarks (Jun 22, 2007)

Niah @ Wed Dec 27 said:


> Have you guys heard Powell's theme for "Happy Feet"? It's pretty bad-ass.



Well I must rekindle this thread Niah because, yes, I have just this week discovered the "Happy Feet" score and it is fabulous. Playful, eclectic writing by Powell, but as well GORGEOUS recording by Shaun Murphy, at Trackdown Australia!

The brass are to die for (if you buy the soundtrack, head straight for "Graduation" from about :15 to :30). Strings also, but really the whole thing is my kinda sound.

Check it out, it's on iTunes.


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## JohnnyMarks (Jun 22, 2007)

midphase @ Tue Dec 19 said:


> I actually was feeling pretty lousy about the state of film scores this year until last night!
> 
> I vote for Perfume....it's really great!



While I'm at it...

There are a couple of curiousities about this score to "The Perfume": a) it is one of the very few major pictures recorded at Teldex studio (Berlin), and b) Tom Tykwer is also the _director_ of the film!

Gotta say those giant heaving orchestral sighs are pretty memorable.


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## JohnnyMarks (Jun 23, 2007)

*And now for something completely different...*

Let's get back to something more fun. Anybody have any comments on the Happy Feet score? You really gotta check it out.


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## Elfen (Jun 23, 2007)

1- Lady in the water 
2- POTC 2
3- The Promise

All big orchestral stuff. That was my year 
:mrgreen:


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