The 6th Annual JWFan Awards - The Best Scores and Films of 2013

[Jay 37,361]

Every year on JWFan we have a thread to discuss the best releases of that particular year, and as you can see over the years the format has changed, and some years we have had multiple threads on the same topic:

2002: The Best of 2002
2003: Best Films + Scores of 2003
2004: The Best of 2004
2005: The Best of 2005 / The best of 2005 (the non-JW awards) / Proposal for JWFAN Net Music Awards
2006: Composer of the Year (2006) / Grade The Year 2006 by Various Composers / The most underrated and overlooked gem of 2006
2007: Best of 2007
2008: Looking back on 2008 / Favorite Score of 2008 / 1st Annual JWFan Award / 1st Annual JWFan Award / 1st Annual JWFan Award / JWFan award minus the JW Bias
2009: JWFan 2009 Awards
2010: The 3rd (?) Annual JWFan Awards
2011: The 4th Annual JWFan Awards
2012: THE BEST OF 2012


So here we are at the end of 2013, let's discuss this year's scores, films, tv series, and whatever else comes to mind! Here are the categories I'd like everyone to include, but please feel inclined to add other categories and discuss anything else you wish for the best and worst of 2013 (only film/tv/game related, not your personal lives). You can copy/paste this block into your post to get going!
 

[b]TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013:[/b][b]BEST VIDEO GAME / TV / ETC MUSIC OF 2013:[/b] [b]TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013:[/b][b]TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013:[/b][b]BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013:[/b][b]BEST FILMS OF 2013:[/b][b]SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013:[/b][b]SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:[/b]

And here is a list of 2013 films to help: click
And a list of (most of the ) catalog releases of 2013 to help (Gotta expand each spoiler block): click

I'll get started!



TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013:
1. Howard Shore - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2. Michael Giacchino - Star Trek Into Darkness
3. Brian Tyler - Now You See Me
4. Abel Korzeniowski - Escape From Tomorrow
5. Mark Mancina - Planes

Runners up:
John Williams - The Book Thief
Abel Korzeniowski - Romeo and Juliet
Ramin Djawadi - Pacific Rim
Alan Silvestri - The Croods
Danny Elfman - Epic
Henry Jackman - Turbo


BEST VIDEO GAME / TV / ETC MUSIC OF 2013:
Chris Tilton - SimCity
Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones Season 3
Chris Tilton - Fringe (final 3 episodes aired in 2013, and the Season 5 OST came out in 2013)

 

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013:
1. Howard Shore - Inside Information (from The Desolation of Smaug)
2. Michael Giacchino - Ode To Harrison (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

3. Brian Tyler - Now You See Me (from Now You See Me)

4. Ramin Djawadi - Pacific Rim (from Pacific Rim)

5. Michael Giacchino - London Calling (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

6. Howard Shore - Beyond The Forest (from The Desolation of Smaug)

7. Chris Tilton - SimCity Theme (from SimCity)

8. Mark Mancina - Planes (from Planes)
9. Chris Tilton - Town and Out (from SimCity)
10. Michael Giacchino - The Kronos Wartet (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

 

Runners up:

Hans Zimmer - Finale (from The Lone Ranger)

Abel Korzeniowski - The Grand Finale (from Escape from Tomorrow)

Brian Tyler - Can You Dig It? (Iron Man 3 Main Titles) from Iron Man 3

Chris Tilton - SimCity Trailer (from SimCity)

Ramin Djawadi - Mako (from Pacific Rim)
Ramin Djawadi - Cancelling The Apocalypse (from Pacific Rim)
Ramin Djawadi - Go Big or Go Extinct (from Pacific Rim)
Ramin Djawadi - Dark Wings, Dark Worlds (from Game of Thrones Season 3)
Ramin Djawadi - Mhysa (from Game of Thrones Season 3)
Ramin Djawadi - For The Realm (from Game of Thrones Season 3)
Alan Silvestri - Cave Painting Theme (from The Croods)
Alan Silvestri - The Crood's Family Theme (from The Croods)

Howard Shore - Flies and Spiders (from The Desolation of Smaug)

Howard Shore - Feast of Starlight (from The Desolation of Smaug)

Howard Shore - The Forest River (from The Desolation of Smaug)
Howard Shore - Kingsfoil (from The Desolation of Smaug)
Howard Shore - Liar and a Thief (from The Desolation of Smaug)
Howard Shore - Smaug (from The Desolation of Smaug)

Michael Giacchino - Ship to Ship (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

Michael Giacchino - Warp Core Values (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

 

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013:
Right now, not having heard everything that came out this year yet, I have to go with:
1. Don Davis - The Matrix Reloaded (La-La Land)
2. John Williams - Rosewood (La-La Land)
3. John Williams - Heidi (Quartet)
4. John Williams - Fitzwilly (Music Box Records)
5. John Williams - The Missouri Breaks (Kritzerland)
(There are TONS of 2013 catalog releases I simply haven't even heard yet. I will revisit this list in a few months once I have.)


BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013:
Tough year, as no label blew me away this year. I actually bought (or will buy) many Intrada releases this year - Congo, In Country, Gladiator, Shock Treatment, Seven Days In May, Von Ryan's Express, Clear and Present Danger, Rio Conchos, Sebastian, The Hunt For Red October, and Cocoon - but I haven't listened to a single one yet!

Also, 2013 is the year I stood up and took notice of Kritzerland, as they didn't exclusively release golden age titles - I picked up their Breakheart Pass, Missouri Breaks, Poltergeist II, and Alien Nation.

Music Box Records also surprised us with Fitzwilly, and Prometheus brought out both The Salamander and QBVII.

I've listened to the most releases this year from La-La Land - The Fury, Rosewood, Patriot Games, Turbulence Matrix Reloaded, X-Files Volume 2, Black Beauty, and the Lethal Weapon box, not to mention Battle Galactica Blood and Chrome and Caprica. So, La-La Land again wins it in my book.

BEST FILMS OF 2013
I haven't seen that many 2013 films, to be honest. I'd have to rank the ones I have seen:
1. Gravity
2. Pacific Rim
3. Europa Report
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
5. Man Of Steel
(The only other ones I saw are Movie 43, Warm Bodies, Side Effects, Iron Man 3, The Big Wedding, Now You See Me, This Is The End, The Heat, The Wolverine, The Book Thief, and The Desolation of Smaug)

SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013:
Chris Tilton coming out of nowhere with a great score to a game I will probably never play (SimCity). Howard Shore breaking out fantastic action music for Desolation of Smaug (The Forest River). The amazing Smaug material in that score. Abel Korzeniowski's Escape From Tomorrow dropping digitally early in the year and being an instant front-runner for score of the year. Brian Tyler blowing me away with two instantly like-able highlight tracks in the summer of 2012 (Now You See Me and Can You Dig It?).

But the biggest highlight of the film score world for me is easily my trip to California where I met MV Gerhard, Matt Verboys, Neil Bulk, Lukas Kendall, Dan Schweiger, Christopher Young, Brian Tyler, and many others. Such an amazingly magical weekend!

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:
The various Company themes not returning in the Desolation of Smaug score, nor most of Bilbo's material.

La-La Land's big Williams title getting pushed back into 2014.

Escape from Tomorrow being one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life.

 

Varese Sarbande essentially hiatus-ing their Club series for the entire year. Then the disappoint of them finally announcing a batch of titles on December 9th, only to announce at the same time that they aren't shipping until 2014

[Naïve Old Fart 9,527]

The best film I saw this year was "Jurassic Park 3D", and that is 20 years old! How far we have come!

I hope to see "All Is Lost", next week.

[Faleel 5,348]

I only listened to 2...

[Jay 37,361]

DOS and STID?

[Faleel 5,348]

Pretty much.

(I listened to MOS, but it was not top 5 material.)

[Jay 37,361]

It was terrible, the opposite of what I look for in a film score.

[indy4 155]

My lists always suck because I've never seen many movies/heard many scores. But here it goes!

TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013:

1. The Book Thief

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013:

1. Book Thief: Visitor on Himmel Street, --- Is Taken, I Hate Hitler, The Departure of Max, Finale

2. Can You Dig It? - Iron Man 3

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013:

1. Rosewood - John Williams

2. Heidi - John Williams

3. Fitzwilly - John Williams

4. Missouri Breaks - John Williams

BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013:

I guess LLL, since they did Rosewood. I'm all for the trend of giving more obscure JW scores the royal treatment.

BEST FILMS OF 2013:

1. The Great Gatsby

2. The Book Thief

3. Jobs

4. Saving Mr. Banks

5. Blue Jasmine

SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013:

Getting a new JW score out of nowhere.

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:

I guess the extent to which Book Thief reused material from previous JW scores. I love the score, but those rhythmic string passages from Angela's Ashes bug me. Following Lincoln, which drew heavily on non-JW pre-existing music, it's a bit disappointing. Still, good score.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Faleel 5,348]

Oh yeah, I would also say that Zelda A Link Between Worlds is the best 2013 video game music, but I guess I am biased having heard nothing else in terms of Video Game music from 2013

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Alvar, only 2 weeks ago you were dissapointed by DoS?

[crocodile 8,012]

TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013:

 

1. The Book Thief by John Williams

2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug by Howard Shore

3. Evil Dead by Roque Banos

4. Oz the Great and Powerful by Danny Elfman

5. Romeo & Juliet by Abel Korzeniowski

Runners up:

 

Escape from Tomorrow by Abel Korzeniowski

A Good Day to Die Hard by Marco Beltrami

Jack the Giant Slayer by John Ottman

Frozen Planet by George Fenton
Adore by Christopher Gordon

BEST VIDEO GAME / TV / ETC MUSIC OF 2013:

 

(I don't know/haven't heard any)

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013:

 

(some are two tracks with no gaps and the order in which these are listed doesn't matter as much)

 

1. The Book Thief from The Book Thief (John Williams)
2. Ode To Harrison from Star Trek Into Darkness (MIchael Giacchino)

3. What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving The World? from Man of Steel (Hans Zimmer)

4. Beyond the Forest from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

5. The Forest River from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

6. Time for Gifts/End Credits from Oz from Oz the Great and Powerful (Danny Elfman)

7. I'll Do What I Gotta Do from Evil Dead (Roque Banos)

8. Adore from Adore (Christopher Gordon)

9. Magic Kingdom from Escape from Tomorrow (Abel Korzeniowski)

10. The Crypt Pt. 1-2 from Romeo and Juliet (Abel Korzeniowski)

 

Runners up:

 

 

Truckzilla from A Good Day to Die Hard (Marco BeltramI)

Jack and Isabelle from Jack the Giant Slayer (John Ottman)

 

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013:

 

1. Lethal Weapon - Soundtrack Collection (La-La Land)

2. The Matrix Reloaded (La-La Land)

3. Black Beauty (La-La Land)

4. Poltergeist II - The Other Side (Kritzerland)

5. QB VII (Tadlow)

 

(I also liked The Hole, The Fury, Turbulence, Cocoon and Heidi)

BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013:

 

I bought a lot of LLL titles, so...

BEST FILMS OF 2013

 

(purely mainstream commercial films)

 

1. Before Midnight

2. Iron Man 3
3. The Wolverine
4. Gravity

 

Just can't remember anything else and, sadly, I have not seen a great deal this year. I'm not really attached to any of the above (maybe except for the first one). Hardly representative list.

SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013:

 

Meeting fellow JWFans during different events (Thor, fommes, Marian, pub, ChrisAfonso, Neimoidian and enigmatic Jim Ware) and concerts (Nottingham, Krakow, Vienna, London, Dublin) and getting chance to briefly with a few composers (Don Davis and Abel Korzeniowski, specifically)

 

Getting chance to catch up with some of the seminal releases (like The Blue Box and Spartacus)

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:

 

Not being able to get Horner or Elfman autographs.

Star Trek Into Darkness. After initial warm feelings, I pretty much forgot this score even exists. Played the OST only once or twice since it arrived. On top of that, the only really good track is not even on the album.

 

Man of Steel film being utter shit.

 

James Horner being dropped off way too many projects.

 

James Newton Howard not appearing in Krakow (he promised being there next year, we'll see).

 

Not being able to go to Boston (despite having a ticket)

 

 

 

 

Final thoughts: Out of 80+ purchased albums (last year it was 49), only about 13 albums (one of them digital) are for new films. And half of them I listened to more than once all the way through.

 

I'm buying way too much stuff, probably because my life is getting increasingly sad.

 

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Join the club! I'll do a write up after I see the last 4 films of the year that I'm interested in. American Hustle, Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, and The Wolf Of Wall Street.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Alvar, only 2 weeks ago you were dissapointed by DoS?

No. It's not like I was expecting it to blow me away, so that's why I wouldn't call it a disappointment.

[RuBen_Kenobi 19]

TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013:
1. Howard Shore - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smug
2. Michael Giacchino - Star Trek Into Darkness
3. Hans Zimmer - The Man of Steel
4. Ramin Dwajadi - Pacific Rim
5. Hans Zimmer - Rush

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013:

1. Michael Kamen - Lethal Weapon Boxset (La-La Land) I highly recommend this one.
2. Hans Zimmer - Days of Thunder (La-La Land)
3. James Horner - Cocoon (Intrude) it would be higher but I hate the liner notes (not track by track analysis ).

4. John Williams - The Fury (La-La Land)

5. James Newton Howard - Wyatt Earp (La-La Land)

BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013:
La-La Land without doubt.

BEST FILMS OF 2013
(My favorite ones this year)

1. Star Trek Into Darkness
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

3. Man of Steel

4. Pacific Rim

5. World War Z

SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013:
The news of Williams doing the music of Episode VII, the amazing job of Howard Shore in DOS, and discovering the music of Lethal Weapon with the La-La Land box set.

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:
The album of Star Trek Into Darkness (I hope for a deluxe edition soon).

[publicist 4,643]

TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013

Adore - Christopher Gordon

Philomena - Alexandre Desplat

All is Lost - Alexander Ebert

Snowpiercer - Marco Beltrami

Stoker - Clint Mansell

BEST VIDEO GAME / TV / ETC MUSIC OF 2013

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013

All is Lost/Dance of the Lilies - All is Lost

Adore, Beach Walk - Adore

Revealing the Secret - The Book Thief

Now You See Me - Now You See Me

Becoming - Stoker

Overture - Jack and The Giants

Bubble Voyage - Oz

The Hunters - Desolation of Smaug

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013

Cocoon

White Dawn

Sebastian

Salem's Lot

Breakfast at Tiffany

Clear and Present Danger

The Days of Wine and Roses

Cromwell

In Country

Gladiator

Shock Treatment

The Fury

The Challenge

Rosewood

Matrix Reloaded

Black Beauty

True Grit

i, The Jury

Days of Thunder

Gunfight at the OK Corral

Pet Sematary

Texas Addio

Man, Woman and Child

L'Assoluto Naturale

Harem

Star Trek Nemesis and Insurrection

Vibes

QB VII

BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013

Intrada, LLL & Prometheus, without a doubt.

[JB Fan 0]

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013:

1. John Barry - First Love. No-one hope for this and suddenly we got completely unknown Barry score!

2. Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn & V/A - Lethal Weapon.Even while I still not get this set, I put it in top-5 as best-design box with music, which I love

3. John Williams - The Fury. This is simple. Music is pure gold (for my taste), it's from horror/thriller movie (another plus for me!), also I missed Varese version.

4. Piero Piccioni - I Fratelli Karmazov. Once again - no-one hope for this, and suddenly Kronos released it!

5. Harry Sukman - Salem's Lot. It's classic, it's King, it's horror, it's great music!

ANOTHER CATALOG TITLES OF 2013 (which I need to mention):

(order does not matter - I put them In order how I ordered them)

Laura, Fire And Ice, Sunflower, The Gambler, L'Assoluto Naturale, Fear, The Forgotten, Europa Report, Man, Woman and Child, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, The Carpetbaggers, Days Of Wine And Roses, The Miracle, Sebastian, The Detective / Von Ryan's Express, Heaven Can Wait / Racing With The Moon

BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013:

It was hard competition - one month Kritzerland was #1, but next month Intrada wins it all and after this LLL beat them at once... So once again, I put my 5 labels in alphabetical order: Intrada, Kritzerland, Kronos, La-La-Land, Quartet.

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

BEST VIDEO GAME / TV / ETC MUSIC OF 2013

The end of the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013:

1. The Forest River - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

2. Inside Information - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

3. On the Doorstep - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

4. My Armor Is Iron - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

5. Smaug - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

6. The Hunters - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

7. Girion, Lord of Dale - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

8. Durin's Folk - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

9. A Liar and a Thief - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

10. The Courage of Hobbits - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

 

(I haven't heard any other soundtracks from this year.)

BEST FILMS OF 2013:

1. Blue Jasmine

(I haven't seen an awful lot of films from this year.)

 

SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013:

Cigar City Brewing Humidor Series Jai Alai Cedar Aged India Pale Ale

 

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:

Gravity

[Jay 37,361]

For Gravity, did you not like the film, or the score?

I LOVED the film, but HATED the score, personally.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I LOVED the film, don't hate the score, but wished they had taken a different approach.

The bold step of having no sound is space is a bit less bold if the score is mimicking sound effects, which is does at several points in the film.

[Jay 37,361]

The bold step of having no sound is space is a bit less bold if the score is mimicking sound effects, which is does at several points in the film.

Yup, I agree with that. And there were other scenes that didn't need any music at all, but had it.

But beyond all that, the music itself was bland and uninteresting at it's best, and loud and obnoxious at its worst

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

For Gravity, did you not like the film, or the score?

I LOVED the film, but HATED the score, personally.

The score didn't have much impact on me but, since I didn't have any expectations about it beforehand, it wasn't a disappointment. The film, on the other hand, was getting really great reviews, and the beginning of it was amazing (I could have watched those guys just drifting around the space station for the whole 90 minutes), but as it went on it developed a tone which I found to be unpalatably sentimental. There were several scintillating moments later on, but, overall, it left rather a bad taste in the mouth.

[Quintus 5,399]

the music itself was bland and uninteresting at it's best, and loud and obnoxious at its worst

Sounds like There Will Be Blood.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,361]

the music itself was bland and uninteresting at it's best, and loud and obnoxious at its worst

Sounds like There Will Be Blood.

Or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo US, yea. All similar experiences for me. And all GREAT films!

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

I love the score of There Will Be Blood!

[Jay 37,361]

I've never heard it outside the film. While watching the film the one time I've seen it, it seemed to stick out and be noticed too much in some scenes.

[Quintus 5,399]

I love the score of There Will Be Blood!

Apparently a lot of people do.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

TOP 5 FILM SCORES OF 2013:

1. Howard Shore - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2. Michael Giacchino - Star Trek Into Darkness

3. Ramin Djawadi - Pacific Rim

4. Mark Mancina - Planes

5. Alan Silvestri - The Croods

TOP 10 INDIVIDUAL TRACKS OF 2013
1. Howard Shore - Beyond the Forest (from The Desolation of Smaug)

2. Howard Shore - The Forest River (Extended Version; from The Desolation of Smaug)

3. Michael Giacchino - London Calling (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

4. Howard Shore - Feast of Starlight (from The Desolation of Smaug)

5. Howard Shore - Inside Information (from The Desolation of Smaug)

6. Mark Mancina - Planes (from Planes)

7. Ramin Djawadi - Pacific Rim (from Pacific Rim)

8. Hans Zimmer - Silver (from The Lone Ranger)

9. Hans Zimmer - Ride (from The Lone Ranger)

10. Alan Silvestri - Cave Painting Theme (from The Croods)

Honorable Mention: Michael Giacchino - Star Trek Main Theme (from Star Trek Into Darkness)

Between Giacchino's rearrangement of this piece and the different sound engineer who worked with him on the score, I now really like the theme!

TOP 5 CATALOG TITLES OF 2013

No real grails for me this year, but I did enjoy these:

1. Basil Poledouris - The Hunt for Red October (Intrada)

2. Joel McNeely - Tinker Bell (Intrada)

3. John Ottman - Superman Returns (La-La Land)

4. Bear McCreary - Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (La-La Land)

5. Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: Insurrection (GNP Crescendo)

BEST FILM SCORE LABEL OF 2013

Intrada - While La-La Land and Tadlow are still my favorites, I think Intrada managed to do more for me this year. I certainly bought more discs from them than from anyone else this year!

SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013

Still haven't seen the movie, but several parts of Howard Shore's score for The Desolation of Smaug surprised me in a very good way, in particular the action writing in The Forest River, the new eastern sound of Smaug's theme and the beautiful themes for Tauriel and the wood elves. I was also pleasantly surprised by the film Iron Man 3. I had quite a few friends and comic book fans tell me it was a terrible film and that it wasn't worth my time, but I ended up liking it much more than either of its predecessors! Lastly, there was the moment when I read that Intrada would be doing a release of The Hunt for Red October. Since I'd somehow never gotten a copy of the score before, the chance to get the whole thing expanded and in great sound was really exciting!

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013
Star Trek Into Darkness (the film). This film had two things in common with An Unexpected Journey. 1. Both fans and non-fans seem to love or at least accept the film as a solid entry in a great franchise and 2. I don't understand why. Both films utterly failed for me.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Into Darkness doesnt seem to get a lot of fan love.

AUJ was the most ripped apart movie since ROTS!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Oh nice to see both Evil Dead and Frozen Planet mentioned! Both excellent scores. Haven't heard Beltrami's Snowpiercer yet but I must.

It would be hellish to type/format a post like this on my phone. I'll keep it to scores and films.

Top 5 films:

- Her

- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

- Inside Llewyn Davis

- The Wolf of Wall Street

- Don Jon

Honorable mention: The World's End

Most decent film hurt by ridiculous hype: Gravity

Top 5 scores:

- Shore, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

- Zimmer, Man of Steel

- Giacchino, Star Trek Into Darkness

- Banos, Evil Dead

- Ottman, Jack the Giant Slayer

[Lewya 360]

TOP 10 FILM SCORES OF 2013:
1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Howard Shore
2. The Book Thief - John Williams
3. Killing Season - Christopher Young

4. Escape from Tomorrow - Abel Korzeniowski
5. Gravity - Steven Price

Runners up:
Saving Mr. Banks - Thomas Newman

Gagarin: First in Space - George Kallis
Planes - Mark Mancina
The Best Offer - Ennio Morricone
The Wind Rises - Joe Hisaishi

Rush - Hans Zimmer

Adore - Christopher Gordon

BEST TV MUSIC OF 2013:
1. Isabel - Federico Jusid

BEST FILMS OF 2013:

1. The Great Passage

2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

3. Blackfish

4. Gravity

5. The Hunt

I haven't seen much released this year though...

SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2013:

Nothing new from James Horner or John Powell.

[Jay 37,361]

I can't wait to see Her!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I was actually blown away by Her. It's just... incredibly touching. Interested to see how you and anyone else feels about it.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Just saw that one tonight. Gonna knock off Inside Lleweyn Davis either tomorrow or Sunday.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Into Darkness doesnt seem to get a lot of fan love.

AUJ was the most ripped apart movie since ROTS!

why, were people looking for corn, peas, or carrots in that pile of....?

[KK 3,307]

Still much to see, and a couple of scores I still need to listen to. Will contribute to this later

[Wojo 2,453]

I've never seen carrots or peas, they process well.

[KK 3,307]

I love the score of There Will Be Blood!

Apparently a lot of people do.

I liked it on album, but there were a lot of times where it was intrusive in the film.

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

I suppose that it sticks out in some scenes, as Jason said, but to my mind that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Quintus 5,399]

That's the thing: to me it doesn't "stick out" in a way which is complimentary to the imagery. It seems to want to compete with it, and to me that makes it sound expecially obnoxious. I thought Greenwood's effort was full of try-hard, the same as the non-film orchestral work I've heard of his. Not my kind of thing.

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

I find the music complementary to the images by definition, since I like the combined effect. Perhaps it can give an impression of trying to "compete" with the images (in the sense of competing for prominence), but I feel that this is largely because we are so used to film music playing a subservient role. Still, if you don't like either the music or the combined effect then that's that...

[Quintus 5,399]

I don't consider great film music to be just subservient. For example the music of John Williams guides the narrative (and audience) on an almost subliminal level. He tells the story with music, alongside the images and in synch with them. If anything his music is the opposite of subservient, because Williams is the master musical hypnotist - he is in control, he is conditionioning you to feel the way he (and his director) want you to feel. Heck, even Spielberg will edit around the power already conjured by the musical performance to make the individual elements more invisible and instead combine them in an effort to create something feel even more naturalistic and cohesively united.

That's my take on it, anyway.

[Richard Penna 3,687]

I didn't like the score to There Will Be Blood (except the opening cue) but I love the score to Gravity.

However, I put that down to stylistic issues - sustained dissonance doesn't work for me, but rhythmic, synth-led stuff does.

---

In terms of these 'awards', I found the new material this year mostly disappointing, and I hesitate to call anything my favourite, simply because of the lack of competition.

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

By "subservient role" I didn't mean a role which is not important or pro-active - just that the story and script are generally considered paramount, and other aspects (music, photography, montage, etc.) expected to be employed in the service of these, with "unobtrusiveness" deemed a virtue. I don't often see people criticise the story in a film for sticking out too much and distracting attention from the music.

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, I know what you mean

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Film Scores

1. 12 Years A Slave - Hans Zimmer

2. Ain't Them Bodies Saints - Daniel Hart

3. The Lone Ranger - Hans Zimmer

4. Free Birds - Dominic Lewis

5. La Migliore Offerta - Ennio Morricone

6. Saving Mr. Banks - Thomas Newman

7. Gravity - Steven Price

8. Planes - Mark Mancina

9. Escape From Tomorrow - Abel Korzeniowski

10. To The Wonder - Hanan Townshend

Films

1. 12 Years A Slave

2. Her

3. Blue Jasmine

4. Ain't Them Bodies Saints

5. To The Wonder

Catalog Titles

1. The Missouri Breaks - John Williams (Kritzerland)

2. Into The West - Geoff Zanelli (La-La Land)

3. Rosewood - John Williams (La-La Land)

4. The Matrix Reloaded - Don Davis (La-La Land)

5. Breakfast At Tiffany's - Henry Mancini (Intrada)

Label

La-La Land

Video Games

1. BioShock Infinite - Garry Schyman

2. SimCity - Chris Tilton

3. The Last Of Us - Gustavo Santaolalla

4. Beyond: Two Souls - Lorne Balfe
5. Grand Theft Auto V - Tangerine Dream, Woody Jackson, The Alchemist, Oh No and DJ Shadow

6. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Brian Tyler

7. Star Trek - Chad Seiter

8. Dead Space 3 - Jason Graves and James Hannigan

9. Call Of Duty: Ghosts - David Buckley

Highlights

- Experiencing 12 Years A Slave

- The train sequence finale from The Lone Ranger

Disappointments

- James Newton Howard

- The Great Gatsby

- Not seeing enough movies.

- John Powell M.I.A.

- Carter Burwell being rejected for Gangster Squad and Thor: The Dark World

There are still a bunch of films I want to see from 2013, so top films list is not really final, just based on what I've seen so far.

[Quintus 5,399]

I liked your post because I appreciated the effort and agreed with some of it, but not all of it. You probably have an idea of the parts I agree with.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The video game scores, I presume?

[Jay 37,361]

Anybody else want to comment on the best scores and films and whatnot of 2013?

Now that we're in March, hopefully everyone has had the opportunity to hear most of the scores of 2013, and see most of the movies (though there's a bunch I still haven't had the opportunity to see like American Hustle, Her, and Wolf of Wall Street)

[BloodBoal 7,538]