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
