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What is JNH's Best Shyamalan Score?


What is the best score that James Newton Howard has written for an M. Night Shyamalan film?  

26 members have voted

  1. 1.

    • The Sixth Sense
      2
    • Unbreakable
      4
    • Signs
      11
    • The Village
      6
    • Lady in the Water
      3


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Signs, without a doubt. The rest are okay, but lack any true interesting thematic development. He's capable of creating truly beautiful music, but he rarely seems to be able to do anything with it.

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The Sixth Sense is eerie, Unbreakable is beautiful, The Village is pastoral and gorgeous, Lady in the Water is magical...but Signs is a masterpiece from beginning to end.

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I've often thought about this, but I find it incredibly difficult because I like them all very much, but in very different ways. It's tempting to say Lady in the Water, since I've been listening to it constantly, but I just don't know.

Ted

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It's a three-way tie between Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water. All three have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Comparing them is hard enough, but picking one above the others? I don't think I can do that.

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It's really a tie for me between Lady in the Water and Signs - I absolutely love them both. But heck, I'm voting for Lady in the Water because it's the only recent score to totally blow me away. I feel it also builds up Signs' creating an atmosphere, but with some truly superb action music and complex layered thematic material, as well as a truly hair-raising ending.

LitW is also the first one I'm desparate to buy when I find it cheap enough over here, as I've never, ever given a score so much consecutive playing since FotR:CR and not gotten tired of it.

The Great Eatlon also has the honor of my most played track in the last 4 months, with a whopping 42 plays in just 5 days.

3rd, 4th and 5th place go to The Village, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable respectively.

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I'll take the subtle but perfectly written Sixth Sense. JNH's most effective score by far. Its cold, ghostly atmosphere connects with and aids the visuals better than any of them.

Getting goosebumps just thinking about it...

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I completely agree about Sixth Sense's ghostly and cold atmosphere - it does a perfect job for me of emulating Cole's young, troubled and complex life.

Unbreakable is the only Shyamalan score I have yet to completely connect to. I haven't seen the movie all the way through though.

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OMG you gUys, "The Great Eatlon" is SOOOO the new "Hand of Fate"!!!!!!!!!!!!111squee fart

~Sturgis, planning to listen to Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water tonight to decide which is best

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Signs, though elaborating is a little difficult because there is so much to mention why this score is so great and effective that I simply don't know where to start. JNH understanding of silence as musical decision plays a huge part here but also the subtle musical hints to previous alien invasion classics without turning the score into a rip-off. It's one of the best and most captivating thriller scores out there IMO.

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Unbreakable. He excels at electronic based music. That's his background after all.

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It's been a while since I've heard these, and I've not heard Lady in the Water or seen the film. Apart from Visions from Unbreakable (which was a favorite for a long, long time), I've not heard any of these scores outside of the film.

But I'll say this: the final 15 minutes of Signs is one of the most powerfully scored sequences I've ever seen.

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'Unbreakable' is certainly the most beautiful.

'Lady in the Water' and 'The Village' come next....great themes and a stunning atmosphere to match.

'Signs' only interests me for about 15 minutes, although it's a very good score. Just not very thematically driven. 'Sixth Sense' is good, but not special.

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I love Signs, and the Village, haven't gotten Lady yet. I don't know Unbreakable or Sixth Sense well enough to vote yet

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'Signs' only interests me for about 15 minutes, although it's a very good score. Just not very thematically driven. 'Sixth Sense' is good, but not special.

Ok... how about motifically driven. Did I just make up a word? Anyway, Signs is a score the works a lot like John Williams' Jaws. Jaws had it's two note tag and Signs has a three note tag. That three motif motif is all over the score just like Williams' two note motif is in Jaws.

-Erik-

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I'm going with Lady in the Water. I've listened to it for only one week, I know, but whereas most scores I listen to for one week constantly tend to get old, I am only getting into this one even more. It's utterly magical from beginning to end. Signs doesn't really get interesting until the 9th track; although from there on until the end it has some of the finest JNH moments. Unbreakable has a great atmosphere, along with the Sixth Sense, which has so much emotion in the Malcom is Dead track. The Village, as many have said, is gorgeous - my favorite moment is the 2:30 mark of Those We Don't Speak Of. But as a listening experience, I find Lady in the Water to be the most fulfilling.

Ted

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Sorry, I didn't mean to spoil it.

I'm still waiting for a track title that is deliberately contradictory to the scene, like Malcom is Alive or Malcom and Wife Re-Unite; something like that.

Ted

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I'm still waiting for a track title that is deliberately contradictory to the scene, like Malcom and Wife Re-Unite.

They don't?

NOOOOOOOOO!

~Sturgis - :mrgreen: Signs

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"The Sixth Sense" is James Newton Howard's best score by far, in my opinion. Very understated and delicate, and occasionally frightening, and a perfect accompaniment to a remarkable film (and a stunning first effort for director Shyamalan).

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"The Sixth Sense" is James Newton Howard's best score by far, in my opinion. Very understated and delicate, and occasionally frightening, and a perfect accompaniment to a remarkable film (and a stunning first effort for director Shyamalan).

Glad we agree Marcus, apparently we're the only two who feel this way. :?

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"The Sixth Sense" is James Newton Howard's best score by far, in my opinion. Very understated and delicate, and occasionally frightening, and a perfect accompaniment to a remarkable film (and a stunning first effort for director Shyamalan).

Glad we agree Marcus, apparently we're the only two who feel this way. :?

It's a sign....

So!

When's the wedding? LOL

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