Score

In 1982, John Carpenter used his esteem as composer to lower his standing as storyteller

“Do not let your eyes see or your ears hear that which you cannot account for.” Abraham Van Helsing’s warning to three men in disbelief of the living dead has a blunt message: Our senses can lie to us. Anthony Hopkins’s off-kilter professor may be one of the top-billed “jewels” in what Francis Ford Coppola …

Musically speaking, Hellraiser begins like a fairytale. Glassy bell percussion provide an enchanted introduction before composer Christopher Young’s main titles layer in tragic string figures. Blaring low brass blast a tainted pessimism, harkening back like the prelude to some age old fable as piano moves in grand, darkened fashion. Like a spell cast over the …

‘Queen of Earth’s’ tragedies are cyclical, with roots tortuously unearthed by Keegan DeWitt’s steely textures. This is a sonic rediscovery of personal truths — ones perhaps best left buried.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Joe Kraemer Paramount Pictures The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Daniel Pemberton WaterTower Music In his score for Kingsman: The Secret Service, Henry Jackman wants you to know he’s a James Bond fan. He just doesn’t want to tell you. Monte Norman’s iconic guitar riff pops in and out of his score, and …

Whiplash Justin Hurwitz Varese Sarabande Birdman Antonio Sanchez Milan Records “I’d rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remembered who I was.” That’s how jazz drumming prodigy Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) sums up art and, …

Gone Girl Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross Columbia Back in 2010, David Fincher reaching out to the frontman from Nine Inch Nails felt like a 90s reunion, a fan casting list straight out of BuzzFeed’s nostalgia machine. In hindsight, Trent Reznor and longtime collaborator Atticus Ross’s score for The Social Network was something far more dour than …

The Giver Marco Beltrami Sony Classical For how many years has Hollywood endured the YA novel onslaught? Five? Ten? When was Twilight? It’s strange to think of The Giver as merely the latest in a string of adapted young adult fiction given that its source material, Lois Lowry’s 1993 bestseller, precedes the publication dates of Divergent, City …

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Hans Zimmer and The Magnificent Six Columbia, Madison Gate “My name is Richard Parker. I have no idea what’s going on.” The cryptic video message from Peter’s dad, a storyline first teased in The Amazing Spider-Man, continues in the sequel to Sony’s reboot of its cash cow franchise. Of course, Papa …

The Monuments Men Alexandre Desplat Masterworks How do we make the familiar feel new again? Or to pose that same question to a cynical studio executive, how do we sell audiences more of the same? It’s no industry secret that audiences seem more likely to turn up for sequels to established properties, remakes, and recognizable …

ComicCon offers all kinds of experiences for attendees. You can stay completely in the world of film or immerse yourself in comics or even spend the weekend exploring tutorials and self-help panels. This year, due to a number of factors and in a pleasant surprise, my Con ended up being very music-heavy. I had the …

From its very beginnings as a genre, Western film has trafficked in the iconic, in the larger-than-life imagery of the tall tale and the never-ending, expansive wilderness that forms the crucial backbone to these stories. More than perhaps any other genre, Westerns deal in types, with their characters standing in for the Other, the Immigrant, …

Resurrection is germane not only to the story of Frankenweenie but also Tim Burton’s career as an endearing cinematic oddball. With his latest foray into stop-motion animation, Burton has revisited the story that started his career, showing more focus and care than we’ve seen from the man in years. But what’s even more special about …

Another multi-award nominated film, more specifically a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, The King’s Speech score is noticeably absent from another list—my Best Scores List, and with good reason: I have not been able to see or hear anything from this film until 2011 (Vancouver can be lousy that …

Superman is set to fly again under the supervision of director Zack Snyder with Christopher Nolan now backing away from the project in order to focus solely on The Dark Knight Rises. We also now know that he Man of Steel’s return to the big screen comes at the expense of John Williams. The Academy …

The tale of two swans—driven and talented, seeking and chasing perfection whilst ignoring physical limits and psychological limitation—converges within a feeling: who will be better? Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is an adaptation of Swan Lake, portraying two characters, Natalie Portman’s Nina and Mila Kunis’ Lily, whose bizarre friendship and intense rivalry revolve around the classic …

Dwayne Johnson, also known as “The Rock” to many, is back on the big screen this year with a staple ‘action’ movie following his recent dabble in the ‘family’ genre. Now to us movie snobs the film may not appeal to our tastes, but take a second and look at the soundtrack. Darren Aronofsky’s regular …

Danny Boyle’s films are known for boasting some great soundtracks and 127 Hours is no different. From the a go-go of Trainspotting to the lethargy of The Beach, Boyle has never been shy in overflowing his films with as much pop music as possible. Powered by an original score by A.R. Rahman and peppered with …