The Favorites Series: Movie Scores (Edited)

Scores, because I just couldn't pick one. I just couldn't.

When I was a little girl, I had a record player. The records I played were stories like Disney's Cinderella that were narrated with the accompanying music from the movie. My mom often recalls when I sang A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes in my room listening to my records.

I played the Jungle Book, various Sesame Street characters' adventures, Sleeping Beauty, Br'er Rabbit and many others. The music added a special element because my little self sang, danced and dreamed while listening. I loved hearing the chime go off which meant to change the page.

It never occurred to me until now writing this post how important stories and music were to me since the beginning. I never knew anything about scoring but I remember how the music and songs from movies stuck in my head and how sometimes I couldn't separate them.

Today, I believe that if a score can stand on its own without the film that it's exceptional. However, it is very difficult sometimes - it's hard to hear the Imperial March and not envision Darth Vader or hear the Jurassic Park theme song and not think of a T-Rex. Some scores and movies are melded together like that but there are the occasional ones that stand by themselves.

There are also scores that are better than the film and films that are better than the scores. I saw U-571 with my dad and brother, Naje and the score was so bad, I can't even remember anything about the plot or characters. I was agitated throughout the whole movie aching for it to end because the music was just off. I didn't think Dark Phoenix was horrible but Hans Zimmer's score was on point and stands alone. (Favorite track is Gap and yes it sounds like Interstellar) Most of his scores are great but I heard he be using ghost writers and not giving credit so there's that. Inception Inspection. Okurrrr.

Unfortunately, the movie composer genre is not as diversified as we'd like it to be but it is changing. I've never seen Da 5 Bloods but I love the track MLK Assassinated scored by black composer Terence Blanchard and can feel in my bones how this music captures one of the darkest moments in history. It was amazing to see the first female composer Hildur Guðnadóttir win an academy award for the movie Joker.

So in no particular order, here are a few of my favorite movie scores that I can listen on their own.

Meet Joe Black by Thomas Newman (favorite tracks are Someone Else and That Next Place)

Braveheart by James Horner (favorite track is Sons of Scotland)

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events by Thomas Newman (favorite tracks are Chez Olaf, The Reptile Room and One Last Look)

Bram Stoker's Dracula by Wojciech Kilar (favorite tracks are Vampire Hunters and Mina/Dracula)

300: Rise of an Empire by Junkie XL aka Tom Holkenborg (favorite tracks are History of Artemisia, From Man to God King, and Fire Battle)

Legends of The Fall by James Horner (favorite tracks are The Ludlows and The Changing Seasons...)

I do have tracks/songs that I like from particular films but that'll be for another post!

Happy Friday Anomalies!

The ScorAnomaly

Edit: One of these (Awaken) just came on in my car and I was like OMG! How could I forget! Two more scores that stand alone that I also think are incredible films are Pride and Prejudice (shout out Alix) by Dario Marianelli and Jean-Yves Thibaudet (favorite tracks are Liz on Top of the World, The Secret Life of Daydreams and Your Hands are Cold which incorporate the same theme but in different keys) and Jane Eyre (shout out Steph and Naje - directed by your boy) by Dario Marionelli (favorite track is Awaken. The lead violin is just heavenly).