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91. Academy Awards Best Original Score

I like that somebody can score a student short for his friend Ryan Coogler and then go on to compose "Fruitvale Station," "Creed," and win the Academy Award for "Black Panther."

Of course, Göransson has racked up an impressive set of film and TV credits over the past ten years without Coogler. But I like it when there are these artistic relationships that sustain between filmmakers and composers, like Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan and Kenneth Branagh and Patrick Doyle, etc. People grow together as artists.
 
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I think it was a weak year. Best score for Black Panther... I mean I can think of several super hero movies with much better scores that (I think) were never even nominated ...Batman (Elfman's and Zimmer/Newton-Howard's). I don't know, I just think of all the incredible scores that never won like Shawshank Redemption, Gladiator, Harry Potter, and on and on and on and I can't help comparing those works to Black Panther... and in my opinion it just doesn't compare. Maybe it was the best score of the year, I haven't heard many from 2018..
 
I can't even remember the score of Black Panther. Ludwig Göransson is a talented guy for sure, but I have a strong feeling that all these Oscar nominations and wins for Black Panther are more of political nature than an actual assessment of the craft. On the other hand I don't think I've watched one movie or listened to any of the other scores nominated so who knows, maybe it was the best.
 
Horner won two Academy Awards.

@Drundfunk Given that you "can't even remember the score" and "don't think I've watched one movie or listened to any of the other scores nominated," perhaps insinuating that it won solely for political, racial reasons is a weak gambit? With what you admit is nearly zero information, you leap to that?

It was a very unusual movie that caught the imagination of millions of people. The score also is very unusual, especially for an action score; there's a certain amount of "generic" that goes along with much action music and I think he avoided a lot of that. Why shouldn't it deserve a win?
 
I haven't payed a lot of attention to scores this year, but did happen to check out Black Panther. I think it's a smart score containing some clear and well-developed themes, and a lot of interesting work with instruments to distinguish the different settings and characters. I can listen to it apart from the movie and still get a lot of story from it. Also, when I was watching Ant Man and the Wasp I remember being struck by Christophe Beck's clever score to that.
 
Göransson surprised me last year. But it wasn't Black Panther (which just wasn't for me), it was the OST to Venom I found very inspiring. And yes, James Newton Howard deserves one (for Michael Clayton please ;) and first and foremost John Powell.
 
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I can't even remember the score of Black Panther. Ludwig Göransson is a talented guy for sure, but I have a strong feeling that all these Oscar nominations and wins for Black Panther are more of political nature than an actual assessment of the craft. On the other hand I don't think I've watched one movie or listened to any of the other scores nominated so who knows, maybe it was the best.
ok, I'll bite. When has an award show not been political? lol. I saw Black Panther a few times and liked the score. I feel like Black Panther and Silvestre's Main Avenger theme are the few marvel movie musics I actually 'remember'. And by remember I mean I can 'hum' you the music. In Black Panther, T'challas theme may seem basic but it's a melody I can remember and everytime he as on the screen; that motif was there.
Regarding other nominations, I also liked Isle of Dogs soundtrack and the wonderful 'chamber' sound of 'If Beale Street could talk'. I actually thought 'If Beale Street could talk' would win.
Also, though there's some story controversy with the family, I thought the pianist/transcriber for Green Book was good. Hollywood Reporter has a nice short interview online. The composer Kris Bowers transcribed Shirly's music, wrote new music, and then hand doubled for some of the onscreen performances. In my opinion, bowers should have gotten an honorable mention lol
 
I've seen Black Panther and I can't even remember any of it - was just typical slam-bam mickey-mousing Marvel fare. To me this was nothing more than a PC point scoring exercise. One score which gave me chills and I felt was criminally overlooked was Justin Hurwitz's First Man - it didn't even get a nomination!
 
Horner won two Academy Awards.

I didnt get your reference to Horner. You mean JNH?

The score also is very unusual, especially for an action score; there's a certain amount of "generic" that goes along with much action music and I think he avoid ....

Dear @JohnG, thats exactly what I was asking up front, what makes it unusual, original and worthy of award? Below is the soundtrack.

Black Panther OST
 
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Three things are simultaneously true:

1. I don't know about this particular award. But there's no question that the Academy is doing its best to project "diversity" after the outcry over the lack of it a couple of years ago.

2. "Political" is a *terrible* word for that! Racism and the lack of diversity are very real - even in show biz, that bastion of intellectuals with transcendent morals.

3. In my opinion, two years ago (or three?) - the year of the outcry - unfortunately there really were no major films with black people in them (or about civil rights themes) that deserved "best in category" awards. This year we haven't seen all the films, but we saw every one of them that year.
 
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The only film (of the half dozen that the Oscars was basically a huge commercial for) that I saw out of the bunch was Black Klansman and that was abysmal. (I want to see The Favorite but not bc of the Oscar push but bc I live YL’s films back to Dogtooth.) If these are the caliber of films “capturing people’s imaginations” then their imaginations are in a sad state. Probably bc of the internet and pesticides or something.

I think we all know but don’t want to admit that Hollywood (the idea) has been over for a long time now. Fine with me.
 
Dear @JohnG, thats exactly what I was asking up front, what makes it unusual, original and worthy of award? Below is the soundtrack.
The link you posted is not all Black Panther, if I hear correctly. There seems to be a lot of random generic trailer music thrown in there by the uploader. This appears to be a fake video uploaded for views.
Check out the actual soundtrack on spotify or something similar. There is nice thematic development and a buttload of unusual cultural influences throughout the score.

I didn't give much attention to the score before, but having listened carfully to the album today I don't think it is a bad choice from the academy.
 
I really liked Black Klansman.

But not as much as Vice, Bohemian Rhapsody, Roma, or Green Book - probably in that order.

I also want to see Vice and Roma (even though Im not really big on those directors).

I definitely went into BK with expectations, hoping for more of a caper. The premise is pretty great. There were elements and moments that I liked but overall the weird and uneven pacing baffled me and the ending just seemed like they gave up. Curious to know what you liked about it though. I’d try it again too. I don’t really have much faith in SL as a director anymore though. And the music...? TB is a seriously heavy musician. It seems like he was obviously limited here (that same riff in every transition, cmon).
 
I'm the inverse givemeenoughrope - loathed, just loathed The Favourite, but did like BlackKklansmen, Roma and Vice. The three best films of the year for my money got precisely zero nominations between them all - The Hate U Give, Leave No Trace and Tully. The Wife very close behind. The absurdly narrow range of film's feted with nods seems to get more absurd with each passing year. The Academy may be broadening its range of voters, but I'm not sure their collective judgement is getting any better.

Score wise, I really liked Brittel's work in Vice, and look forward to seeing and hearing Beale Street.
 
I also want to see Vice and Roma (even though Im not really big on those directors).

You didn't like The Big Short? I think Adam McKay is great, and this is even better! Vice is really clever - as good a film as I've seen.

Curious to know what you liked about it though.

The best answer I can give is that I was thinking about the film after I saw it, an indication that it grabbed me.

But I was thinking about Roma for a couple of days after seeing it.
 
You know, I did kinda like The Big Short but mostly bc of the performances by CB, BP and whoever played the two start up guys. What the hell do I know though..
 
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