By Breanne Brennan
Brace yourselves…it's that time of year again--Oscar Death Race time! For those of you scratching your heads and wondering what I’m talking about, allow me to explain in 4 easy steps: 1.) Read the list of movies below. 2.) Watch all 57 movies from the list before Oscar night. 3.) Cross off movies that you watch and congratulate yourself for watching these award-winning cinematic achievements. 4.) Gloat about it and tell your peers to follow suit. The Death Race is attributed to Sarah D. Bunting. Read about her quest here. 45 Years The 100-Year-Old Man A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness A War Amy Anomalisa Ave Maria Bear Story Big Short Body Team 12 Boy and the World Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Carol Cartel Land Chau, Beyond the Lines Cinderella Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah Creed Danish Girl Day One Embrace of the Serpent Everything Will Be Okay Ex Machina Fifty Shades of Grey (no, that's not a mistake) Hateful Eight Hunting Ground Inside Out Joy Last Day of Freedom The Look of Silence Mad Max: Fury Road The Maritan Mustang Prologue Racing Extinction The Revenant Room Sanjay's Super Team Shaun the Sheep Shok Sicario Son of Saul Spectre Spotlight Star Wars VII Steve Jobs Straight Outta Compton Stutterer Theeb Trumbo We Can't Live w/o Cosmos What Happened, Miss Simone? When Marnie Was There Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom World of Tomorrow Youth
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By Brett Blake The beginning of a new year - for me, at least - always brings with it ruminations about the year that has just left us, and with that comes lists. Now, I know that list-making (particularly as it relates to movies) is an inherently subjective thing of little real value or importance beyond placing the favorites of the year into some kind of broader context, but it also does offer one an excuse to add an additional voice to the “Best Movies of the Year” conversation. As always, I’m not so egotistical as to assume that just because I really enjoyed a movie that it must be one of the greatest of the year, so the list that follows here is not so much a list of the year’s best movies, but a list of my favorite movies of the year. It includes a wide spectrum of offerings, from the biggest of big blockbusters, to the indiest of indies, with virtually every genre represented (including horror, science fiction, historical drama, character study, and western), and this was not a conscious calculation on my part; I didn’t labor over this list to find ways to insert specific films to meet some kind of quota or achieve some sort of “balance” or agenda. These are simply the 15 films of 2015 that I enjoyed the most. It’s also worth noting that 2015 was a spectacular year for cinema. The number of good-to-great movies is staggering, and while it may fall short of the number of instant masterpieces that years like 2007 and 2012 offered us, the consistency of quality this past year was striking. With that preamble out of the way, let me start with a couple of smaller lists to get us in the mood. The 4 Worst Films of 2015 - THE GALLOWS - TAKEN 3 - UNFRIENDED - FANTASTIC FOUR The 7 Most Underrated/Under-Appreciated Films of 2015 - SPRING - ‘71 - THE WALK - SPECTRE - BONE TOMAHAWK - THE GIFT - THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. And now, on with the show! My Favorite 15 Films of 2015 15. KRAMPUS (Michael Dougherty) - A quirky Christmas horror film with a playful edge, and featuring some fantastic creature design and effects. 14. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (George Miller) - FURY ROAD is a remarkably-directed and staged film, with some of the most impressive action you will ever see. 13. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi) - 2015’s most hilarious movie, one that manages to both respect and poke fun at vampire lore. 12. ANT-MAN (Peyton Reed) - Just a blast, the movie turns what could have been a joke of a character into a hero worth rooting for. 11. SICARIO (Denis Villeneuve) - A deeply eerie and intense look at the drug war, it contains Emily Blunt’s finest performance ever. 10. CREED (Ryan Coogler) In only his second time in the director’s chair Ryan Coogler has established himself a major cinematic voice. CREED seamlessly works as a continuation of the ROCKY franchise (and satisfies any expectations one might have on that level) while also feeling wholly fresh and contemporary. Coogler’s staging of the movie’s sequences - both the boxing stuff and the character beats - is consistently excellent and engaging, and he draws out two of the best performances of the year from Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone. 09. THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Quentin Tarantino) This is not Quentin Tarantino’s best film. It is probably not among even his best three or four films. And I’m still not even fully sure yet to what degree I actually liked it! But I know this: no other movie this year has stuck with me quite like this one, with its ferocious, deeply uncomfortable commentary, blistering violence, and indelible characters superbly acted by all of the performers. It is a powerful cinematic experience - an event film in every sense - and though it is not without flaws, it once again demonstrates that Tarantino is one of the most singular and exciting directors working today. 08. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (Christopher McQuarrie) This, the fifth - and best - entry in the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise, is just a smashing entertainment, a rip-roaring espionage adventure that proves a popcorn blockbuster doesn’t have to be dumb, can have solid plotting and great character work, and can be crafted and executed at a very high level. Tom Cruise again demonstrates that he’s one of the most dedicated actors working, and Rebecca Ferguson, through her performance, emerges as one of the breakout actors of 2015. In a year that featured many spy-themed movies (some of them quite good), this one outclassed them all. 07. EX MACHINA (Alex Garland) EX MACHINA is, without question, the most thought-provoking movie of 2015. It takes the issue of artificial intelligence, which has been handled many times over in the world of film, and manages to spin new angles and themes out of it. It poses some difficult questions, but wraps them in a psychological thriller/mystery structure that works incredibly well. The movie also gives Alicia Vikander the spotlight, with which she proves that she’s one of the most talented young actresses in the industry, giving a powerfully subtle (if such a thing is possible) performance. 06. IT FOLLOWS (David Robert Mitchell) In any otherwise fairly lackluster year for the horror genre, IT FOLLOWS stands tall as a frighteningly effective tone-poem/mood piece that takes the conventions of the genre and manages to both fulfill and twist them. It’s a terrifically stylish, well-made work of cinema (indeed, it’s one of the most artful scary movies in years), and it achieves what often appears to be an impossible task: it makes a group of teen protagonists (anchored by Maika Monroe’s very sympathetic performance) into normal and believable people. Also, the sequences centering around the titular “It” are perhaps the most chilling of the year. 05. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (J.J. Abrams) STAR WARS has returned in a big way with THE FORCE AWAKENS, an infectiously entertaining and propulsive ride that sets up a new cast of likable and interesting heroes and a profoundly complex new villain. The plot has its issues (not a ton of new narrative ground is broken), but on a tonal level, it’s the best possible version of this story we could have gotten, and despite its (very few) shortcomings, it’s an incredible amount of fun. It also features top-flight visual effects (which have weight and grit to them) and the best film score of the year courtesy of the legendary John Williams. 04. BRIDGE OF SPIES (Steven Spielberg) A film starring one of my favorite actors (Tom Hanks), written by some of my favorite writers (the Coen Brothers), and directed by my all-time favorite director (Steven Spielberg) was pretty much guaranteed to find a spot on this list somewhere, and here it is! This is good, old-fashioned dramatic stuff that showcases Spielberg’s total mastery of cinematic language, so much so that his direction here feels effortless in a way that is striking. He guides us through this fantastic and engrossing true story with style, but never so much that it ever takes the focus off the movie’s true center: the performances of Hanks and Mark Rylance. 03. STEVE JOBS (Danny Boyle) STEVE JOBS is simply a perfect marriage of actor and material. Michael Fassbender delivers the performance of his life as Jobs, and Aaron Sorkin contributes the best screenplay of the year, one crammed full of legitimately amazing dialogue and strong - and unflinching - characterizations. Director Boyle takes a backseat to the writing and performances, but he takes a narrative structure that could feel stagey in the wrong hands and makes it visually compelling and engaging at all points. The score from Daniel Pemberton is also one of the high points of the year in movie music. 02. THE MARTIAN (Ridley Scott) Ridley Scott returns to the scene with a vengeance, giving us one of the very best movies he’s ever made. This is science fiction as it should be: thoughtful and cerebral, yes, but also focused on mankind’s place in the universe with a grounded sense of emotion. Matt Damon is as good here as he’s been in any film, and he takes a very relatable - and funny! - approach to his character’s plight. Technically, the film is unimpeachable, with great cinematography, production design, editing, visual effects, and sound work. THE MARTIAN is pretty much the total package when it comes to mass entertainment. 01. INSIDE OUT (Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen) This is very nearly a perfect film, perhaps Pixar’s very best and most thematically mature. It is a movie that has something for everyone, young or old, with marvelous characters, a warm sense of humor, and a delightful and heartfelt score from Michael Giacchino.. It is so deeply in touch with the human condition that I found it to be the most emotional movie-going experience I’ve had in a long time. There are weighty and serious issues at play here, but they’re handled deftly by the filmmakers with a lightness of touch that makes the movie a true joy to sit through. Movies - animated or not - don’t get much better than this.
Key Films I Haven’t Seen Yet - THE REVENANT, JOY, THE DANISH GIRL, THE GOOD DINOSAUR, TRUMBO, MACBETH, THE BIG SHORT, ANOMALISA, ROOM, THE PEANUTS MOVIE
By Brett Blake
Picking up right where I left off with Part 1 (which can be read right here!) of my look at the best film scores of 2015, now I’m going to move right into discussing my Top 10 favorite scores of the year, each of which represent some truly wonderful, inventive, or magically evocative music. In most cases, I’ll be embedding one track with each entry, and also linking to one or two more; do listen to them all! 10. KRAMPUS (Douglas Pipes) Composer Pipes, who’s not as prolific as I might like, has an innate ability to channel the very mood of a given holiday (Christmas, in this case, or Halloween in the case of his terrific TRICK ‘R TREAT score) and fuse that vibe with horror elements. As such, his work for KRAMPUS is as much a Christmasy score as it is a frightening one; Pipes uses the melodies of several well-known carols throughout his music, twisting them and darkening them to reflect the sinister goings-on in the film. “Krampus Karol of the Bells”
“Elfen”
“The Shadow of St. Nicholas” 09. SPECTRE (Thomas Newman) Thomas Newman, who returned to the James Bond franchise after SKYFALL, amplifies and expands on the “sound” he brought to that film. SPECTRE’s music is big and bombastic when it needs to be (the action cue “Snow Plane” certainly comes to mind), but is also full of atmospheric and ethereal passages - “Secret Room” and “SPECTRE (End Title)” are prime examples of that, and the second half of the “End Title” track contains a hauntingly lush melody that is unusually bittersweet for the Bond franchise. “Snow Plane” “Secret Room” “SPECTRE (End Title)” 08. THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (Daniel Pemberton) In his score for this cinematic update of the popular 1960s television show, Pemberton takes us right back to that era with his hip, jazzy, snazzy score that pulls from the likes of Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, and John Barry to synthesize a delightful throwback score that is endlessly entertaining. “His Name is Napoleon Solo” and “Bugs, Beats and Bowties” sound like they could have been written back in the ‘60s, while “Circular Story” updates that sound just a bit to give it a slightly more contemporary flair. “His Name is Napoleon Solo”
“Bugs, Beats and Bowties”
“Circular Story” 07. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (Joe Kraemer) Kraemer - another composer who should be scoring more movies than he does - delivers a kick-ass action/thriller score, one which honors and extensively utilizes the classic Lalo Schifrin MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE theme while also charting its own musical course full of new motifs and tones. “The A400” is a perfect example of that, being a track built around the M:I theme while also displaying Kraemer’s new spins and variations on it. “Moroccan Pursuit” is one of the great action cues of the year, being incredibly propulsive and exciting, and “Solomon Lane” presents Kraemer’s theme for the movie’s villain in a way that slowly builds to nearly operatic levels. “The A400” “Moroccan Pursuit”
"Solomon Lane"
06. JURASSIC WORLD (Michael Giacchino) Anybody following in the footsteps of John Williams’ JURASSIC PARK score would be facing an unenviable task, but Michael Giacchino proved to be the perfect guy to do it. The primary Williams melodies are included, but Giacchino mostly goes his own way, crafting more than a half-dozen new themes and motifs, all of which feel completely of-a-piece with what Williams did on the original film. “As the Jurassic World Turns” presents one of Giacchino’s primary new themes in a grand fashion, “Nine to Survival Job” underscores the characters’ emotional finale, and “Jurassic World Suite” is a masterful (if long) presentation of several of the score’s secondary themes, most of which are quite catchy. This is a first-rate adventure score. “As the Jurassic World Turns” “Nine to Survival Job”
"Jurassic World Suite"
05. THE HATEFUL EIGHT (Ennio Morricone) Ennio Morricone contributes the first-ever original score for a Quentin Tarantino film, and it’s a great one, one that surprisingly does not bear the hallmarks of a more traditional Morricone western score, but rather feels much more like the music to a horror film, by design. It’s classic Morricone, though, with the deeply chilling “Overture” setting the stage for the dark events about to unfold, while “L'Ultima Diligenza di Red Rock” amplifies that mood and adds a sense of quirk and sinister mischief to the proceedings. “Overture”
“L'Ultima Diligenza di Red Rock”
04. TOMORROWLAND (Michael Giacchino) The second Giacchino score to appear on my list, TOMORROWLAND feels like a classic 1980s fantasy score, with big, bold themes and an intangible sense of magic hanging over everything. Giacchino’s music here is broad when necessary, and intimate when appropriate, but the pervasive optimism one can hear when listening is completely infectious and delightful. “Pin-Ultimate Experience” underscores perhaps the movie’s best scene, showing off Tomorrowland in all its glory with a wonderful, building playfulness and sense of discovery. “All House Assault” showcases Giacchino’s ease with big action moments, and the “End Credits” track is a superb and engaging summation of the movie’s major thematic ideas. “Pin-Ultimate Experience”
“All House Assault”
“End Credits” 03. STEVE JOBS (Daniel Pemberton) Pemberton is a composer I was unfamiliar with before this year, and yet here he is on this list with two of my favorite scores of the year. His music for STEVE JOBS fuses both the electronic and the orchestral, and on the album it is a captivating listening experience. The score lacks a primary or central theme, but it is comprised of individual “setpiece” cues which are enormously memorable and evocative, and which perfectly capture both the movie’s technological undercurrents and the idiosyncratic, prickly personality of the title character. “Change the World” and “The Skylab Plan” are inventive and harmonically interesting, and “Remember” provides a satisfying emotional catharsis in musical form. “Change the World”
"The Skylab Plan" and "Remember" can be found on the playlist below, as can the entire score, for that matter:
02. INSIDE OUT (Michael Giacchino) Giacchino has had great success working on previous Pixar films, and his effort for INSIDE OUT stands as one of his finest achievements. The film is profoundly affecting, and the music is a huge part of why that’s the case. Equally moving and entertaining, it’s a score that is deeply in-touch with human emotion (as it should be, given the film’s subject matter), and one that is not afraid to embrace overt sentiment. Giacchino has created two primary themes for INSIDE OUT, and they’re both wonderful, each able to be played in both melancholic and triumphant settings. “Bundle of Joy” introduces the first of these major themes in a gorgeously ethereal way, conjuring up an almost dreamlike atmosphere. “Nomanisone Island / National Movers” gives the second major theme an extensive and upbeat workout, while “The Joy of Credits” presents both major themes in bright and exuberant (and even jazzy) fashion, along with elaborations on some of the score’s more comedic motifs. “Bundle of Joy”
“Nomanisone Island / National Movers”
“The Joy of Credits” 01. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (John Williams) People who know me probably know that I am a totally unapologetic John Williams fan, so I was predisposed to enjoy this score before I even heard it. While it may lack the kind of over-the-top grandiosity of some of the best moments from his scores for the STAR WARS prequels, such as “Duel of the Fates,” the score for THE FORCE AWAKENS is more consistently engaging than any STAR WARS score since 1983, presenting a smashing musical journey full of new themes and motifs that Williams has only just begun to play with (and will surely expand upon in the next two episodes). “Rey’s Theme” takes its place with the very best and most intriguing themes Williams has crafted for the franchise, conveying both a sense of longing and of an adventure about to be undertaken. The action writing is bright and exciting, as heard in “I Can Fly Anything” and “The Falcon,” while “March of the Resistance” and “Scherzo for X-Wings” (which makes fantastic use of the saga’s main theme) are delightful throwbacks to Williams’ vintage 1970s/1980s style. As good as the action stuff is, the music that underscores character interaction and drama is equally captivating; “The Abduction” and “Torn Apart” cover some of the darkest sections of the film with sweeping emotion. Finally, “The Jedi Steps and Finale” has John Williams gifting listeners with one of the finest finale and end credit cues of his career, deftly integrating his new themes (for Rey, Kylo Ren, the Resistance, Finn, and Poe) with the old favorites (include the main theme, the Force theme, and the Rebel fanfare) in a way that is, simply, bravura and massively satisfying. Some people have professed to be underwhelmed by this score, but I truly do not get that. This is film scoring on the highest possible level, and at age 83, John Williams remains a musical marvel. "Rey's Theme"
“I Can Fly Anything”
“The Jedi Steps and Finale”
So there you have it, the best that the world of film scoring had to offer in 2015! Please feel free to share your favorites, or perhaps least favorites! By Brett Blake THE HATEFUL EIGHT is a helluva cinematic experience. For good or bad, director Quentin Tarantino has crafted an explosive, wicked, and tightly-wound exercise in tension that eventually launches outward like a shotgun blast to the face. It’s a film that is totally singular, and one that challenges its audience with tough characters and even tougher violence, all while still maintaining its director’s trademark jet-black humor. Especially with this movie, that’s a tough balance, and one that I’m not sure Tarantino fully managed to pull off, but the gleeful insanity and nastiness is orchestrated at such a high level that it’s hard not to be at least a little impressed. The film tells the story of John Ruth (Kurt Russell), a bounty hunter transporting wanted fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) by stagecoach through the snowy Wyoming countryside to the town of Red Rock, where Daisy is to be executed. Along the way, the pair pick up Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) - himself also a bounty hunter - and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), the newly-appointed sheriff of Red Rock. With a strong blizzard chasing them, the group takes shelter in Minnie’s Haberdashery to wait out the storm. Inside are Bob (Demián Bichir), Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and ex-Confederate General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern), each of whom may be hiding deep and terrible secrets, secrets which could come to threaten the lives of every person inside Minnie’s. That’s all that one should know going in, as the screenplay is superbly constructed to parcel out both questions and reveals in totally engaging ways. Boiling it down, THE HATEFUL EIGHT’s story is pretty much Quentin Tarantino doing an Agatha Christie mystery in the Old West, and nothing more need be said about the nature of the plot. It should go without saying that - just on a cinematic level - THE HATEFUL EIGHT is a wonderful piece of work. The cinematography, which has been justifiably lauded, is beautiful in every way, from usage of color and shadow, to framing, to camera movement. The decision to shoot what is a fairly intimate story in 65mm may have seemed counterintuitive to some, but it absolutely pays off in the movie’s distinctive visual look. The costumes and production design are impressive in the way they help sell the movie’s 1870s setting, while also being just slightly heightened to give the film a touch of “Old Hollywood” flavor. And then we have Ennio Morricone’s musical score (his first for a western in 40 years), which gives the movie an air of dread and menace - in fact, much of it sounds like it could be for an out-and-out horror film - while also lending certain sequences a kind of quirkiness. This is the first Tarantino movie with a substantial original score, and Morricone’s work shows that it was the right call for this project, as it gives the film a tonal temperature that is very different from Tarantino’s previous films. But by now, you might be asking, “Well, is the movie any good?!” Speaking for myself, I am genuinely - honestly - totally unsure of how I feel about the movie. It’s possible I could wake up tomorrow morning thinking it’s a masterpiece. It’s equally possible, I believe, that I could wake up tomorrow morning thinking it’s perhaps Tarantino’s worst and most indulgent film. On a certain level, I’m impressed by this: the movie is so densely crafted, and so precisely calculated to pull the audience in diametrically-opposed emotional directions within the span of mere seconds (and it does this almost constantly throughout; a moment of legitimately uncomfortable, despicable, distressing violence will almost inevitably be followed in short order by humor) that Tarantino was clearly attempting to elicit the kind of conflicted feelings that are plaguing me. To populate a story almost entirely with characters who are truly awful people is a risk (and make no mistake, these people are awful; never has the title of a Quentin Tarantino film been so apt), as it leaves the audience without somebody to root for or to attach some degree of moral righteousness to. Certainly Tarantino has had unlikable characters at the hearts of his movies before, but characters like Max Cherry in JACKIE BROWN, The Bride in KILL BILL, Shosanna in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and Django and Dr. Schultz in DJANGO UNCHAINED place those films into a relatable and identifiable emotional landscape. THE HATEFUL EIGHT has nobody to fill that void, so the result is a movie almost entirely lacking in conventional emotional connection. Yes, on a basic level it is terrifically entertaining to watch this seedy assortment of characters slowly wipe each other out, but why should we care? Whereas Tarantino’s previous two films, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and DJANGO UNCHAINED, are very much crowd-pleasers (i.e. the “good guys” pretty much win), THE HATEFUL EIGHT is not interested in satisfying the audience in that way. It’s a film that seems to want you to be entertained by the disgustingly violent mayhem (and on a certain level I definitely was), but also to then sort of feel bad about how much you perhaps excused the rampant racism, misogyny, and brutal sadism displayed by the characters. In that sense, it’s a tremendously thought-provoking movie, both in the way it deals with gender and race relations and also in the way a mass audience will process those ideas if buried under an entertaining veneer. In fact, future viewings may (may) reveal this to be Tarantino’s most thematically rich and intriguing work yet… but they may also reveal that - without a more conventional moral or ethical heart - it is his most hollow story thus far. Whether I wake up tomorrow loving or dismissing the movie, at this moment I cannot deny that it was an incredibly powerful time at the movies, and among the most one-of-a-kind sort of experiences that the films of 2015 offered me. In an age where entertainment is so often produced to pander to the lowest common denominator, to have a movie truly give me pause and force me to turn it over and over in my mind is something to be celebrated. By Brett Blake Those who know me well know that I am a gigantic film score fan. The times when a movie’s music can totally transport us are among the most magical moments cinema can offer. 2015 - in contrast to other recent years - was a fantastic one for movie music. As such, since there were so many scores I really enjoyed this year that I want to honor, I’m breaking things down into two parts: the first, which you are now reading, will chronicle individual outstanding cues/tracks from solid (if not great) scores that overall didn’t break into my top favorites of the year, while the second part (coming soon!) will count down my 10 absolute favorite scores of 2015. With that in mind, settle back, get comfortable, and enjoy some of the finest movie music of the year! CAROL (Carter Burwell) - “Opening” Burwell’s overall score is somewhat repetitive, but this cue - which underscores the main titles - gives you an idea of the moody and slightly off-kilter vibe of the score proper. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (Junkie XL) - “Brothers In Arms” Though the majority of the the FURY ROAD score is fairly derivative of recent bombastic, electronic/rock, Hans-Zimmer-inspired works, this centerpiece track is spectacular as it builds in intensity. CRIMSON PEAK (Fernando Velázquez) - “Finale” Velázquez contributed a haunted and lyrical score for the film, and this climactic track underlines the melancholic, mournful romanticism that infects the entirety of the movie’s music. It is lovely and evocative work. BRIDGE OF SPIES (Thomas Newman) - “Homecoming” “Homecoming” represents quintessential Thomas Newman, instantly bringing to mind some of his loveliest work as it underscores Tom Hanks’ character’s low key return to his family after completing his important task; it’s a cue that is simultaneously triumphant and calming. IT FOLLOWS (Disasterpeace) - “Detroit” The whole score for this film is incredibly effective (and is also a wonderful homage to the synthy horror scores of the late 1970s and early 1980s), but the highlight is “Detroit,” which is brief but ultra-atmospheric. JUPITER ASCENDING (Michael Giacchino) - “Commitment” Michael Giacchino had an absolutely stellar 2015 (he has no less than three scores in my personal top 10 of the year, which - again - is coming soon!), and while his JUPITER ASCENDING work is the least-compelling of his ‘15 efforts, “Commitment” is a superb track that ties together several of the movie’s major themes in pretty satisfying ways. SAN ANDREAS (Andrew Lockington) - “San Andreas End Credits” Lockington’s a guy who has flown relatively under the radar, but his work for SAN ANDREAS - basically just a schlocky disaster movie - is surprisingly engaging, with melodic progressions that are unpredictable, and offering an almost “medieval quest” sort of sound. GOOSEBUMPS (Danny Elfman) - “Goosebumps” The score for GOOSEBUMPS is the kind of music that Danny Elfman could write in his sleep: sinister and macabre overtones underlined by a sense of playful mischief. Truth be told, there’s nothing in his score here that we haven’t heard from Elfman before, but this title track is a satisfying and fun composition that perfectly captures the tone of the movie. CINDERELLA (Patrick Doyle) - “Courage and Kindness” Doyle’s musical interpretation of the classic tale is full of lush and lyrical passages, which go a long way towards heightening the magical and heartfelt elements of the film. Sweet but not overly saccharine, it’s very effective scoring. PAN (John Powell) - “Flying Ship Fight” While Powell’s overall effort for PAN is incredibly reminiscent of some of his earlier scores, “Flying Ship Fight” is one of the standout action cues of the entire year, boasting a massive orchestral sound and a pretty masterful integration of the score’s various themes. EVEREST (Dario Marianelli) - “Epilogue” Marianelli’s score for EVEREST does not emphasize the tension or suspense of the movie’s true story, but rather the incredibly tragic outcome of the situation. His cue for the end of the film, “Epilogue,” is incredibly haunting and beautifully melancholic. ANT-MAN (Christophe Beck) - “Theme from Ant-Man” Beck’s ANT-MAN score is a ton of fun, but it can basically be summed up by this concert arrangement of the main theme, which really sells the cool, neat-o vibe of the heist-y elements of the story with a vaguely jazzy flair. IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (Roque Baños) - “The White Whale Chant” Baños’ end credits composition is almost achingly sad and evocative, offering up a simple melody and lone female vocals which completely convey the desolate denouement of the movie’s true story. Baños is a real talent to watch. WOLF TOTEM (James Horner) - “Return to the Wild” The late James Horner (who was killed this past summer in a plane crash) managed to gift music fans with one last great piece of work in the form of WOLF TOTEM. All the usual “Hornerisms” are here, but the main theme is absolutely wonderful, a piece somehow both ethereal and sweeping, befitting the grand, natural setting of the story. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman) - “New Avengers/Avengers: Age of Ultron” Elfman adds to his pretty incredible catalogue of superhero scores with his work on AGE OF ULTRON, on which he collaborated with Tyler. This cue, which represents the end titles, is a fantastically rousing suite of the movie’s main theme. That does it for Part 1 of my year-end look at 2015's film scores. Part 2 will arrive in a few days, as will my "Favorite Movies of 2015" list! |
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