Best Scores of 2005. . .

What noteworthy scores have we gotten this year?

Alexandre Desplat's Hostage
Harry Gregson-Williams' Kingdom of Heaven and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Ennio Morricone's Karol
John Williams' Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Memoirs of a Geisha and Munich
Brian Tyler's Constantine (pre-Badelt) and Greatest Game Ever Played
James Newton Howard's King Kong
JNH and Hans Zimmer's Batman Begins
Dario Marianelli's The Brothers Grimm and Pride and Prejudice
Patrick Doyle's Nanny McPhee and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Danny Elfman's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride
James Horner's Flightplan
John Powell's Robots and Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mark Isham's Racing Stripes
John Debney's Zathura
Thomas Newman's Cinderella Man

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but that's at least a partial list of notable scores of the year. What are the very best?

 

Going without a bias, Sith, War of the Worlds, Robots, and Charlie and the Choclate Factory.

 

Of the 23 you listed, I've heard 16 and my favorites would have to be (in no particular order) Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich, Kingdom of Heaven, The Chronicles of Narnia..., Harry Potter, and Robots. (Robots may be my favorite - I find it amazingly addictive and just lots of fun). Another one not on the list would be John Debney's Duma; a lot of people might not like it, but I'm a real sucker for ethnic scores.

I've been meaning to buy Alexandre Desplat's Hostage but keep forgetting. I've heard it's great. What do you guys that have it think?

 

Yes, it's very good.

 

My personal favorites:

John Williams - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and War of the Worlds
Patrick Doyle - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
James Horner - Flightplan and The Legend of Zorro
John Powell - Robots
Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard - Batman Begins
Steve Jablonsky - The Island

 

Oh, man. I love Steamboy, but I thought The Island was awful.

 

Oh, I forgot one! I definitely have to mention Joe Hisaishi's score to Howl's Moving Castle. There are few parts that are fairly similar to some of his other worl but not to the extent that some people criticize about. The album is worth a purchase if just to hear the amazing last track, The Boy Who Accepted the Star.

 

Doyle-Potter
Elfman-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Williams-Revenge

Yep, thats pretty much it I think...

 

Here is a list of my favorite musical scores from the past year; some of the titles have already been mentioned, but I have also added a few others that I found to be particularly affecting and/or memorable.

2046 ? Shigeru Umebayashi

Brokeback Mountain ? Gustavo Santaolalla

Les Choristes ? Bruno Coulais

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe ? Harry Gregson-Williams

Cinderella Man ? Thomas Newman

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ? Patrick Doyle

A History of Violence ? Howard Shore

King Kong ? James Newton Howard

Kingdom of Heaven ? Harry Gregson-Williams

L?Avion ? Gabriel Yared

The Libertine ? Michael Nyman

Memoirs of a Geisha ? John Williams

Munich ? John Williams

Mysterious Skin ? Harold Budd; Robin Guthrie

Oliver Twist ? Rachel Portman

Pride and Prejudice ? Dario Marianelli

Shopgirl ? Barrington Pheloung

Sin City ? Robert Rodriguez; Graeme Revell; John Debney

Where the Truth Lies ? Mychael Danna

 

The only 2005 scores I've heard (That I can remember) are:

Revenge of the Sith
War of the Worlds
Chronicles of Narnia
Kingdom of Heaven
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
King Kong
THe new Harry Potter.


And out of those, the only ones that were worth listening to were:

Revenge of the Sith
Kingdom of Heaven
King Kong

(Yeha, no WotW. It just doesn't work as a stand-alone, sorry Johnny.)

 

I agree, WotW works great in the film, but outside of one or two tracks, it's nothing I'd listen to too often.

 

I haven't heard many scores this year, but I've absolutely loved Pride and Prejudice, Goblet of Fire and ROTS.

 

Soundtrack.net's Best of 2005 feature

 

Another interesting article on soundtrack.net that was posted today: The 10 Most Interesting Scores of 2005

 

Harry Gregson-Williams has been my favorite composer this year with Kingdom of Heaven being my favorite 2005 score (Narnia's score is also amazing). John Williams has had quite a year too. I love the Revenge of the Sith score, and his score to Memoirs of a Geisha is extremely impressive. He really expanded himself with the Memoirs score, which is not your typical Williams score at all and has a wonderful Japanese flavor to it (by typical Williams score I think of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. where he relies much more heavily on brass instruments). The Memoirs score is filled with beautiful strings (cello solos wonderfully performed by Yo-Yo Mama) and it is lovely to listen to. Danny Elfman's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory score was very good, but nothing out of the ordinary for him. It's more or less what I expected it would be. I really wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be with the Batman Begins score. It's a nice score and I like it, but it didn't blow me away or anything. I bought the Batman Begins score along with James Horner's The Legend of Zorro score, and I've enjoyed the Zorro score much more. It's a lot like the first movie's score, but I don't mind because I don't actually own the score to The Mask of Zorro (though I do have a few tracks from it). The Legend of Zorro score is a lot of fun, though, and I enjoy listening to it. Well, anyways, that's enough out of me.

 

While I haven't gotten it yet, The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings looks rather promising, as well. If only the "Complete Recordings" (Ultimate Editions) of Episodes II and III would be released . . .

Take care,
Sojourn

 

Clearly, Revenge of the Sith is one of my favourites from last year. I'd also make mentioned Narina, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Serenity.

 

RotS
Batman Begins
Rent(even though its just a rehash of the Brodway it is still good)
Narnia

 

RotS
Batman Begins
Harry Potter
War of the Worlds

 

Brokeback Mountain
Revenge of the Sith
Memoirs of a Geisha
Batman Begins
Charlie and Chocolate Factory (a movie I did not liike but I liked the music)

Those are just a few among others.

 

I would say that Robots and Mr. and Mrs. Smith were my most listened to scores of 2005. John Powell has definitely become one of my favorite composers and I can't wait for his score for X-Men 3.

Williams had a hell of a year as well, though, with 4 very strong scores. And Elfman of course with Charlie and Corpse Bride, both very good offerings.

Overall, a good year for film music.

 

Here are my favorites right now (I need to listen to War of the Worlds and King Kong on their own to decide which will make the fifth slot):

1. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Favorite cues: "Anakin's Betrayal", "Anakin's Dark Deeds", "Padme's Ruminations", "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan"


2. Munich

Favorite cues: "A Prayer for Peace", "Remembering Munich", "Avner's Theme", "Hatikvah (The Hope)"


3. Memoirs of a Geisha

Favorite cues: "Sayuri's Theme and End Credits", "The Chairman's Waltz", "Becoming a Geisha", "The Fire Scene And The Coming of War"


4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Favorite cues: "Foreign Visitors Arrive", "The Story Continues", "Harry in Winter", "Voldemort"