Top 20 Kamen Scores

Ok, this is what it's all about.  I decided to start with Michael Kamen because a.) unfortunately he passed so his catalog is complete and b.) my first favorite score was Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, so it seems only appropriate to start with that. 

I love Kamen's music.  He tackled just about every genre well.  His highlights are his two cop trilogies, but he has plenty of other great period pieces and dramas.  Without further ado, my top 20 Kamen scores:

20. Road House
I finally gave this a listen recently.  It is sort of Die Hard lite.  But it's really unfair to compare the two because this is not nearly as good.  Still, it is better than most.

19. Last Action Hero
Suprisingly light on action.  Arnold's movies have had some great scores, but this is pretty forgettable.  I expected a lot more from this.

18. The Last Boy Scout
This has some pretty good stuff, especially the little jig piece.  But overall, it stands as the waypoint between his great scores and his meh scores.

17. Die Hard 2
Now we're talking.  I really like the addition of Finlandia as the classical piece.  I may have discounted this score because it is my least favorite movie of the series, but that is clearly not Kamen's fault.  I would love to hear a complete rendition of this score.

16. The Iron Giant
A very good score for an underrated animated movie.  This would probably be my favorite non-Pixar or Batman animated score.  It could be higher on this list, but Kamen just has too much good music.

15. Frequency
It's good, but not quite as memorable as the other scores ranked higher.  The Buxton Fire scence sends chills down my spine.  Plus, who doesn't love a movie centered around baseball?

14. Lethal Weapon 2
This series deserves more respect (and more complete releases).  The Stilt House is one of Kamen's best action tracks anywhere.

13. Lethal Weapon 3
There's one big reason this is ranked higher than the previous movie: Armor Piercing Bullets.  That is one of my all-time favorite action pieces.  That, and I like the mini theme for Russo's character.

12. Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Clearly we're in the thick of the Lethal Weapon/Die Hard scores.  This is the top of the sequels I ranked, mainly because I love the inclusion of When Johnny Comes Marching Home.

11. The Three Musketeers
A somewhat forgotten Kamen great.  In some ways it's a poor-man's Robin Hood, though that diminishes how good this score is.  I particularly love M' Lady DeWinter.

10. Lethal Weapon
Iconic, and a shame it just cracks the top 10.  The Hollywood Blvd Chase is enough to make this one of the great action scores, and the goofy themes fit perfectly.

9. Mr. Holland's Opus
Better known as Mr. Kamen’s Opus.  I don’t have any proof, but I would bet this was his most personal project given the subject manner.

8. Open Range

Both the movie and the score are largely forgotten, but Kamen really tapped into arguably the best genre for movie scores.  One of my favorite western scores for sure.

7. X-Men

The X-Men movies collectively have the best music of any superhero movie series (sorry Batman), and it began with a bang.  The X-Jet track remains one of my favorite all-time.

6. Highlander

I wish I could hear a proper complete score for this.  A prime example of how an amazing score can overcome a dreadful movie, even despite Queen.  Swordfight at 34th Street is amazing.

5. What Dreams May Come

About a thousand times better than the rejected Ennio Morricone score.  Every time I hear it, it gets to me.  It really captures the journey from highs to the lowest of lows.

4. Don Juan DeMarco

A movie best known for the Bryan Adams song, this score is amazingly charming.  One of my favorite scores to fall asleep to.  Yes, I am a sucker for Spanish guitar.

3. Band of Brothers

Probably the greatest score for a miniseries, with apologies to Basil Poledouris' Lonesome Dove.  There is so much greatness going on here, but it begins with the haunting main theme.

2. Die Hard

The action score to end all action scores, and a perfect fit for the greatest action movie of all time.  There have been a few “complete” releases recently, but both are missing quite a few tracks.  The inclusion of Beethoven’s 9^th is perfect.

1. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Was there any doubt I would have this first?  I wore this tape out!  Again perhaps most well known for the Bryan Adams son, but Marian’s theme is perhaps his most beautiful work, and the action scenes are driving.  How has nobody released a complete score for this?

So there you have it.  Argue away.

2011 Movie Score Awards

Below you will find my personal awards for the year in movie music, followed by a quick rundown of the pool of scores I have listened to this year.  I have more from previous years if anyone is interested in the future.

Best Score: The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams)

Best Drama Score: Jane Eyre (Dario Marianelli)

Best Animated Score: The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams)

Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Score: Battle: Los Angeles (Brian Tyler)

Best Action/Adventure Score: X-Men: First Class (Henry Jackman)

Best Horror Score: The Thing (Marco Beltrami)

Best Genre Score: War Horse (John Williams)

Best Composition: Remembering Emilie, and Finale from War Horse (John Williams)

Best Theme: Angelica from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Hans Zimmer, feat. Rodrigo y Gabriela)

Best Love Theme: My Edward and I from Jane Eyre (Dario Marianelli)

Best Action Sequence: World’s Worst Parking Valet from Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol (Michael Giacchino)

Best Use of Classical/Source Music: Wagner’s Siegfried’s Funeral Music in Captain America

Composer of the Year: Henry Jackman

The Scores:

The Adjustment Bureau (Thomas Newman) – Newman is never my first choice for an action score, but it works

The Adventures of Tintin (John Williams) – a little Catch Me If You Can, a little Harry Potter, worth the 3 year wait

Anonymous (Thomas Wander & Harald Kloser) – understated and not very memorable

The Artist (Ludovic Bource) – I understand where he was going with this, I just don’t think it made it there

Battle: Los Angeles (Brian Tyler) – my first favorite score of the year

The Beaver (Marcelo Zavros) – like too many scores this year, didn’t hate it but don’t really want to hear it again

A Better Life (Alexandre Desplat) – just when I think I’m loving this guy, he has some whatever scores

Captain America (Alan Silvestri) – really like the theme, but most of the rest is generic action music

Cars 2 (Michael Giacchino) – loved the British spy infusion

Conan the Barbarian (Tyler Bates) – hard not to compare it poorly to Basil Poledouris’s opus for Arnie’s version

The Conspirator (Mark Isham) – good enough, which is about the best I can ever say for Isham

Contagion (Cliff Martinez) – better than I expected, almost a John Murphy or Clint Mansell rip-off

Cowboys & Aliens (Harry Gregson-Williams) – I wanted this to be so much better than it was, not that it was bad

The Debt (Thomas Newman) – I think Newman did too much this year because it all kind of blends together

The Eagle (Atli Orvarsson) – not the best Roman score, but it’s pretty decent

Entre Lobos (Klaus Badelt) – the only foreign movie composer I actively seek out, not just because he posts his music online for free

Fast Five (Brian Tyler) – these movies have always had much better scores than the movies themselves

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) – I hated their music from last year so much that I decided to listen to the samples on iTunes, boy am I glad I didn’t do more than that, I understand wanting an atmospheric score, but how about one that isn’t atonal?

Green Lantern (James Newton Howard) – top-notch superhero score

Hanna (The Chemical Brothers) – tried to listen to it but couldn’t finish it

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Alexandre Desplat) – a solid end to the series

The Help (Thomas Newman) – Newman’s best of the year

I Am Number Four (Trevor Rabin) – Rabin still has some good notes but mostly forgettable

The Ides of March (Alexandre Desplat) – good, though not as much as The King’s Speech

Immortals (Trevor Morris) – 300 this is not, but still pretty good

In Time (Craig Armstrong) – good, but again not memorable

Ironclad (Lorne Balfe) – interesting take on Medieval movie music

Jane Eyre (Dario Marianelli) – how does he not get more work?

Kung Fu Panda 2 (Hans Zimmer & John Powell) – hard to go wrong with Zimmer and Powell

Limitless (Paul Leonard-Morgan) – surprisingly good action score from an unknown (to me at least)

Mars Needs Moms (John Powell) – much better than this movie deserves

Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol (Michael Giacchino) – Giacchino is easily one of the 3 best composers right now, and the best track titlist ever (From Russia With Shove, Moreau Trouble Than She’s Worth, etc.)

Moneyball (Mychael Danna) – I wanted this to be so much better

One Day (Rachel Portman) – I’d like to hear more of this, but what there is is quite good

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Hans Zimmer) – love the Spanish addition

Priest (Christopher Young) – if I were making a horror movie, Young would be my first choice

Puss in Boots (Henry Jackman) – Jackman has rocketed up my list of “must hear” composers

Rango (Hans Zimmer) – animated movies had some of the best scores this year, Rango was just average

Real Steel (Danny Elfman) – so good it almost made me want to see the movie

Rebellion (Klaus Badelt) – so understated you can barely hear it, which is not my cup of tea

Red Riding Hood (Brian Reitzell & Alex Heffes) – is this really the best they could do for this movie?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Patrick Doyle) – one of the strongest outputs of the year

The Rum Diary (Chirstopher Young) – Young’s jazzy scores are usually much better than this

Scream 4 (Marco Beltrami) – Beltrami has always been part of the reason this is one of my favorite movie series

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Hans Zimmer) – not even close to as good as the original

Source Code (Chris Bacon) – a good, driving action score, looking forward to hearing more from him

Super 8 (Michael Giacchino) – Giacchino is clearly the best young composer going

There Be Dragons (Robert Folk) – I love the Spanish aspects of this score, it’s good to hear what Folk can do when given a chance

The Thing (Marco Beltrami) – Beltrami would be my second choice for horror movie scoring

Thor (Patrick Doyle) – there were few better musical moments this year than Thor getting his armor back

The Three Musketeers (Paul Haslinger) – essentially a cheap, inferior Pirates score

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Alberto Iglesias) – decent theme, otherwise forgettable (like much of his work)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Steve Jablonsky) – pretty much exactly what you expect

The Tree of Life (Alexandre Deslpat) – it’s good but hard to get in to

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (Carter Burwell) – better than Eclipse, but that’s not saying a whole lot

Unknown (John Ottman) – I’m guessing it’s fine in the movie but not much to listen to

War Horse (John Williams) – with Tintin, Williams came close to stealing the year

Water for Elephants (James Newton Howard) – not one of his best, but I guess ok

Winnie the Pooh (Henry Jackman) – his third best this year, but still better than most

X-Men: First Class (Henry Jackman) – blew me away, my favorite of the year, especially Magneto’s theme

Your Highness (Steve Jablonsky) – don’t waste your time

What is this place?

First, I apologize about the title for this thing.  I was trying to think of something witty, and I even thought I had some good ones.  But then I got tired of the whole thing and just went with the most ambiguous thing that came to mind.

This is supposed to be my personal musings about movies, scores, grad school, sports, whatever.  But mostly it's about ranking movie music.

Something about me: I am currently finishing up my PhD in History.  I study rockets (not really, that's an inside joke).  Even though I am a historian, I have a methodical, almost mathematical mind.  Which leads me to the lists.  I make lists about everything.  It's a way for me to organize my thoughts, and to help think about my favorites.  I am finally making something like this so I can get all my thoughts out, and maybe, just maybe, someone else might find this interesting.  Or it may lead someone to check out some of the music and make them a movie score junky like me.

I've been listening to movie music nearly religiously since Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  That, Batman, and Hook were some of my first loves.  My taste has changed slightly since then, but they remain still hold a special place for me.

Feel free to comment on my posts.  Feel free to give suggestions for future musings.  This is all supposed to be very organic.

A quick note about my lists: there will be inconsistancies.  I suspect that one day I will like one score better than another, and the next day it will change.  That happens.  So live with it.  These lists are all about what I think at the time.