Q&A: Favorite Movie Soundtracks
Songs and scores from movies often have the ability to take us back to particular moments in the films they were featured in. Not only that, movie soundtracks also have an uncanny ability to evoke nostalgia for things that were and help us remember time and places when you first heard them. The question of the week is: What are your favorite movie soundtracks and why?
One of my favorite soundtrack in recent memory is the one from Once (Am I cheating a bit here?), it’s just a great collection of melodies and ballads by The Frames’ Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. While I enjoy soundtracks full of songs, I have always been more of an instrumental soundtrack aficionado. The main problem with these is that there usually is only 3 or 4 memorable tracks and lots of filler that are played for 10 second bits in the movie. Nonetheless, Hans Zimmer’s score for Gladiator is one of my very favorite as is Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman’s unforgettable work for The Last of the Mohicans.
Your turn to tell us! What are your favorite movie soundtracks and why?
The question of the week is an opportunity for you to open up and reveal more about yourself and your movie taste. Have a question you would like us and the readers to answer? E-mail me at castor@anomalousmaterial.com
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72 Comments
Once: Because it works as an album on it’s own.
Into The Wild: Same reason
There Will Be Blood: Because it was the most interesting and original score I’ve ever heard.
Tron: Legacy: Because did so much to enhance the experience of the film, and sounded damn cool on its own.
The Last of the Mohicans soundtrack is one of my favorites also because it’s perfect for the movie AND great as a standalone album. I love the House of Flying Daggers soundtrack for the same reason.
Good call on Last of the Mohicans! That’s a great score and interesting to see how the two separate composers have to work off of each other.
Great movie, great soundtrack. “Promentory” playing over the entire climatic sequence of the movie near the end is just one of the greatest use of music in cinema ever!
I think I’ve been listening to Last of the Mohicans way before I saw the movie and I already loved it then. Now I appreciated it even more after having seen the movie.
I had to do a little thinking on this one. But these are a few that spring to mind and why I like them.
“Love Actually” – the little girl that covered Mariah Carey did it for me.
“Star Wars” – just classic and epic
“Sense and Sensibility”
Hitchcock scores/soundtracks (preferably “North by Northwest” and “Vertigo”) – does that count?
“Grease” … great to sing a long (karaoke!)
For some reason, when I saw “Starter for Ten” the soundtrack just resonated with me.
Biggest pet peeve – a song that is in the movie and NOT on the soundtrack.
Ahaha indeed, nothing worse than buying (ahum… downloading) a soundtrack only to discover the best song is missing for a reason or another!
Starter for Ten had really good music, a lot of it from The Smiths.
I hardly ever listen, let alone care, about the ‘songs’ on a soundtrack and am always amped up for some scores. So, in general, my soundtrack love are based on films that are much more ‘score’ based.
Some favorites, in no particular order:
The Untouchables
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Indiana Jones (any and all of them)
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Moon (epic back to back with Sunshine)
Star Wars (duh)
The Hunt for Red October
Requiem for a Dream
Yojimbo
A mix of song and score-based soundtracks: Reservoir Dogs, Requiem for a Dream, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will be Blood, Garden State, Once, The Graduate, Where the Wild Things Are, The Social Network and Inception.
The Fountain, Pulp Fiction, Garden State, and Requiem for a Dream.
Kill Bill, Resevoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Moon, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Mission, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Slumdog Millionaire, Up, Dead Man, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Cove, Lucky Number Slevin, The Dark Knight
From this year, my favourite soundtracks were Tron: Legacy, The Social Network and How to Train Your Dragon
Up deservedly won the Oscar in 09, and Dead Man…how could I forget!
All time greatest = Vertigo, hands down. Also, Lost Highway; all of Tarantino’s films; The Graduate; Alien; The Shining and The Thing both have great sparse scores; Seven.
I think John Williams’ scores are slightly overrated because he creates motifs and themes but doesn’t really create great SCORES. They don’t fill the whole film and don’t stand well on their own. And Lawrence of Arabia’s score is wildly over acclaimed.
One that I really dug from last year was the soundtrack & score from BLUE VALENTINE primarily perfromed by Grizzly Bear. Anyone?
Grizzly Bear are on of my favorite bands. I totally dug the Blue Valentine score. I think the cinema I saw it in played Grizzly Bear playing when I entered too haha.
Yea loved the Blue Valentine score. It’s also a great story how the song “You and Me” ended up being used in the film. It’s a song that was never “released”, discovered during an estate auction sale among a bunch of demo tapes from the lost band Penny and the Quarters.
“Lost in Translation” because of it has a partially-ambient soundtrack along with a mix of Japanese folk-pop and shoegaze plus it has the first new material by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields in 12 years. I’m still waiting for a new MBV album.
“There Will Be Blood” because of Jonny Greenwod’s arrangements.
“Natural Born Killers” because of Trent Reznor’s ability to mix in dialogue with music to create a mood in a soundtrack as if you’re watching the film through your ears.
I have lots more including the works of Ennio Morricone. I’ll have to do that very soon.
Johnny Greenwood’s arrangements on There Will Be Blood drew too much attention to itself. It’s a great piece of musical composition but it was just too much. There were times when I was paying more attention to the music than the events unfolding on the screen. Until Daniel Day Lewis got his hand on that bowling pin.
Yes, it did feel at times that the score, instead of being in the background, was the “main event” of certain scene.
One time where I’m okay with the score being superior to the film is Lynch’s “Lost Highway.” Angelo Badalamenti’s score, with excerpts from David Bowie, Trent Reznor, and film dialogue, is masterful. It’s jazz and rock and baroque melded together in a chilling pastiche that has more atmosphere than the film itself. The only short coming is Marilyn Manson’s unnecessary cover of “I Put a Spell on You.” Also, David Foster Wallace wrote a great essay on Lynch. Google it.
Agree with you on the Once soundtrack, the songs are amazing and have a lot of emotion. That’s the most recent one I remember. When I was younger I loved listening to the soundtrack for The Hunt for Red October, which had a lot of Russian bombastic choir music, which felt really powerful. Would also play the e.t and the close encounters LP’s a lot.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the main song from Once “Falling Down” were more well-known by the general public than the movie itself.
No, wouldn’t be surprised about that either, it’s an amazing song. I tried to play it on the piano (it’s a fairly simple arrangment), but still have to get more lessons before I can really play it well.
I was really impressed by John Powell’s score for last year’s “How to Train Your Dragon” in a way that I haven’t been for a long while.
Peter Gabriel’s “Passion” (aka, OST for The Last Temptation of Christ) is also on constant rotation. Kind of ironic considering that I’ve never seen the movie.
Yes, I really enjoyed the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack as well. It definitely elevated the movie and made it noticeably more enjoyable.
Oh yes, HTTYD’s soundtrack is just one more thing that makes the movie so great.
I read through all the comments, and unless I missed it … both of my favorite scores were unmentioned.
Terence Blanchard for “The 25th Hour” – besides it being of my favorite films of all time, this score is incredibly moving: it carries the film through all of it’s dramatic and climatic scenes. This is a beautiful and bold score.
Along side with that ^ is … Elmer Bernstein for “Taxi Driver” – another one of my favorite films, Bernstein’s score is memorable and tender. Without it, the picture could never carry the amount of emotional and dramatic empathy. This is a great score for an amazing film.
- Sam Fragoso
Both good choices ….
I’m glad someone though so. No one else is commenting on this article, it’s a shame. I’d love to hear more of peoples favorite scores.
I believe Bernard Herrrmann did the score for “Taxi Driver.” It was one of his post-Hitchcock films and, I think, one of his last, if not his last.
You’re right .. Bernstein conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra .. still associated with Bernard Herrmann, though.
That’s right and this is his last score ever. He died just before the movie came out. Scorsese decided to dedicate it to his memory.
Ahhh picking Once is almost like cheating. xD
Though, Amelie is a pretty close cheat too. I think everyone used the Amelie soundtrack in their cafe parisiens. My life drawing teacher used to play that soundtrack all the time during class… I love it, but I must admit it’s lost its charm due to people. LOL
And I gotta love Moulin Rouge.
Two other choices, All About Lily Chou Chou is haunting… while Hana & Alice is almost too sweetly simplistic – I’ve learned to love it. Specially the piece Wo Ai Ni/Arabesque. Love it to bits, almost bittersweetly.
That’s kind of the reason I didn’t select “Once”, still very good.
ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU I had to hunt it down from japan. That is a great soundtrack, so much so, it featured in KILL BILL but didn’t feature on the KILL BILL soundtrack!
August Rush & Greese…I love all the songs in those soundtrack album. I also love all the song in Breakfast on Pluto, but I still haven’t found the full album yet.
As for songs, I have a lot of favorites but only the main song like Everything I do, Pretty Woman, Stand by Me, etc.
Not a fan of the “August Rush” soundtrack and honestly that’s surprising cause I love practically anything with John Legend.
I first heard of Legend in that album.I really like the classic music in that album
Believe it or not, the soundtrack for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of my favorites. Yoyo Ma performs on it too.
High five on Gladiator soundtrack, Castor, I listen to that from time to time, never gets old. My faves are Somewhere in Time, Sense & Sensibility, Moulin Rogue, Cinema Paradiso, Batman Begins, Sleepless in Seattle… so mostly the classically-tinged stuff. Oh and P.S. I Love You has a great soundtrack, except the song at the beginning “Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken” wasn’t included in it, bummer!
Raise the Ruth!
Glad you mentioned Batman Begins! I listened to that one just yesterday!
“Lord of the Rings” is near the top for my, specifically the music used for when Rohan is the focus of the story.
“Once” is a favorite of mine as well. Can listen to The Swell Season every day of the week.
“500 Days of Summer” has a tremendous soundtrack as well. Not all that surprising when a soundtrack features Regina Spector, the go-to artist nowadays for songs to include in your film.
Not a movie, but Battlestar Galactica is top notch as well.
Oh yes excellent point! The BSG soundtrack is as good as any movie!
Oh yeah, BSG! My husband has ‘em on his playlist and I always ask him to play that in the house. Good call, Red.
If I had to pick one Movie Soundtrack to take to a desert island it would for sure be Jackie Brown. How the hell do you top this shizzle :
1.”Across 110th Street” by Bobby Womack – 3:48
2.”Beaumont’s Lament” (Dialogue excerpt featuring Sam Jackson & Robert De Niro) – 0:50
3.”Strawberry Letter 23″ by the Brothers Johnson – 4:58
4.”Melanie, Simone and Sheronda” (Dialogue excerpt featuring Sam Jackson & Robert De Niro) – 0:32
5.”Who is He (And What Is He To You?)” by Bill Withers – 3:12
6.”Tennessee Stud” by Johnny Cash – 2:54
7.”Natural High” by Bloodstone – 4:54
8.”Long Time Woman” by Pam Grier – 2:52
9.”Detroit 9000″ (Dialogue excerpt featuring Council Cargle) – 0:07
10.”(Holy Matrimony) Letter to the Firm” by Foxy Brown – 3:26
11.”Street Life” performed by Randy Crawford – 4:18
12.”Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” by the Delfonics – 3:21
13.”Midnight Confessions” by The Grass Roots – 2:43
14.”Inside My Love” by Minnie Riperton – 3:56
15.”Just Ask Melanie” (Dialogue excerpt featuring Sam Jackson, Robert De Niro & Bridget Fonda) – 0:43
16.”The Lions and the Cucumber” by the Vampire Sound Incorporation – 5:07
17.”Monte Carlo Nights” by Elliot Easton’s Tiki Gods – 3:25
Agree with Red on LOTR, I think it’s the best classical music-wise.
Wow wow wow that’s a fantastic idea for a post/blogathon Anna!
Well, I’m a huge fan of soundtracks – and I am shocked to see no-one has mentioned A SINGLE MAN! An incredible soudntrack. I have just started writing about my favourite soundtracks, so far, only two written, but hopefully it shall build to become more definitive!
A SINGLE MAN: http://screeninsight.blogspot.com/2011/03/incredible-soundtracks-1-single-man.html
THE SOCIAL NETWORK: http://screeninsight.blogspot.com/2011/03/incredible-soundtrack-2-social-network.html
On a sidenote, as much as love aout three tracks from ONCE, as an entire soundtrack … na-a-a-ah. I have the album, but I rarely get past the first 5 tracks.
I can’t disagree with you about the Once soundtrack but then how often can you say that enjoy nearly all or all of the tracks on a movie soundtracks?
I’m on board with The Lost Highway and also with Garden State. Every time I watch Garden State, I feel that malaise, that numbness that you see in Large. I think a big part of that is the powerful soundtrack.
I love Garden State. It’s like The Graduate for our generation. I have all of The Shins’ albums but they just don’t do it for me without Zach Braff, I don’t know why. And Lost Highway’s nightmarish jazz-rock score is better than the actual film haha.
Oldboy‘s soundtrack has never failed to move me in some way or another; I think it’s a great example of how music can lift up rather than smother the story being told on screen. I also truly love the score for Pan’s Labyrinth, mixing together a perfect blend of haunting melodies.
Love the OLDBOY soundtrack, to the point that I have left the TV on with the DVD menu running just so I can listen to that main theme (which was also at one time my ring tone)
Just thought of three other great ones – 28 Days Later and the main themes from T2 and Predator
In a House in a Heartbeat is such an awesome example of how a great song can be very simple with proper layering. Love 28 Days Later, and I even enjoyed 28 Weeks for the adrenaline rush(sorry).
If it comes to English/ American movies, my favorite Soundtracks are:
Atonement, Pride & Prejudice, Into the Wild, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Slumdog Millionaire, Twilight (ya… shoot me) and mostly: Titanic.
With Indian movies, I can’t tell.
Another favorite soundtrack– The Iron Giant. That score at the end is just brilliant.
Like many who have commented already, I too dig a mix of song-based soundtracks and scores. Amongst the ones I own, the favorites are: Ocean’s Eleven, Pulp, Garden State, Amelie, 500DOS, Lebowski, Matrix, and on.
And I just put up something the other day about “Promontory.” Christ, that’s a tremendous song. “Top of the World” is great, too, but it pales next to its mate.
500 Days of Summer really does have a great soundtrack from beginning to end. And yes, Promontory is ridiculously addictive, there is days when I can listen to it in loop 10 times in a row ahah
I can’t believe that after this many comments, no one has said Superfly.
Anything by Popol Vuh: Aguirre The Wrath of God especially!!! The opening of Rescue Dawn also.
Couple movie soundtracks that immediately comes to my mind are Amarcord and Amelie. Such unique sounds!
Mine are mostly Asian:
The Classic (Korea) OST
Taegukgi (Korea) OST
Departures (Japan) OST
and
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Surprised no one mentioned Magnolia. I still listen to that soundtrack quite often. Also, the Dance in the Dark soundtrack is good as well.
That should read “Dancer in the Dark”
I forgot about that one. I’m not a big fan of musicals, but the “I’ve Seen it All” number is truly something special.
Aimee Mann’s work on “Magnolia” is great! Thanks for the reminder!
I am really sorry I missed this post earlier. I LOVE soundtracks so much and listen to them incessantly. Thank you for doing a post about them. They are grossly underrated and appreciated more often than not. Plenty of great ones have been listed in the comments already. Here are just a few of my own:
Memoirs of a Geisha, Hook, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator, Star Trek, and Up.
I have tons more of course. All I listen to on Pandora is John Williams, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer stations!
GREAT post!!
Always loved John Williams (for Star Wars, Hook especially) and Hans Zimmer (Gladiator and The Rock, et all), the two titans of the film music world.
But my favorites aside from all their work are The Rocketeer (James Horner), Signs and Batman Begins (James Newton Howard), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Alan Silvstri), Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo (Joe Hisashi), Steamboy (Steve Jablonsky) and Ben Hur (Miklós Rózsa). Also, props to @ScarletSp1der for Michael Giaccino who I just love for making Star Trek and Up just AMAZING:)
Great post Castor!
I noticed a lot of you mentioning some of my favorites, like 500 Days of Summer and Garden State. Surprisingly, I didn’t see my personal favorite score, Gattaca. I still listen to it at least once a month. Angus was also missing from the list; it’s sneaky good.
Anything By Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (The Road or Proposition). Also 21 Grams score
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