8 scores this century won every single music award. Which one is your favorite?

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Beginning from the year 2000 till now, there are 8 composers who won every single precursor award leading up to the Academy awards and then won the Oscar too - in essence sweepers that won everything. The awards I considered were Oscars, Baftas, Golden Globes and Critics Choice. The first two are industry awards, the last two are press awards (not critics awards despite being named as such).

 

The scores are 

 

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - A. R. Rahman

Up (2009) - Michael Giacchino

The Artist (2011) - Ludovic Bource

The Hateful Eight (2015) - Ennio Morricone

La La Land (2016) - Justin Hurwitz

The Shape of Water (2017) - Alexandre Desplat

Joker (2019) - Hildur Guðnadóttir

Soul (2020) - Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross

 

Which one is your favorite?

[Arpy 4,145]

Up and The Shape of Water are my picks. Up is a beautiful score that stands out in the film in several key scenes and it really forms the emotional core of the story.

[Bellosh 3,385]

I haven't listened to any of those.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

5 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Up and The Shape of Water are my picks. Up is a beautiful score that stands out in the film in several key scenes and it really forms the emotional core of the story.

 

I would go so far as to say the movie owes more than 50% of its emotional impact to Gia. He definitely got people around the world bawling at that one cue.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

The popularity of UP continues to amaze me.

And, yeah that opening is what people loved. Whatever he composed would have been effective because of the visuals.

For me it's meh.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

La La Land easily

[Edmilson 7,385]

Up is easily the best score of these, and the most effective in the context of the movie as well. 

[bruce marshall 1,314]

H8

JOKER

cream of the crop!

[gkgyver 1,645]

Sad testament of Hollywood. 

[Bilbo 3,709]

The Shape of Water is the only one I enjoy in any way. 
 

but God that’s an uninspired list. 

[Romão 2,274]

Reading the thread titles, I really expected the line up to be much stronger.

 

As it stands, the Hateful Eight and, to a lesser extent, La La Land, are the only ones I think are worth having

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

I don't think I've heard any of those. None of the films interested me so I didn't bother listening to any of the scores. Plus only 3 of the composers I'm somewhat familiar with.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Manakin the Outsider

😊

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

There's only two films in that list I haven't seen and they happen to be the computer cartoons.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

What a crappy list

[KK 3,307]

This is indeed a sad list.

 

With that said, my choice would be Hateful Eight followed by La La Land and Slumdog Millionaire.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

A " sad" list?

Excuse me while I stifle my tears.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Shit list

[crocodile 7,983]

Half-arsed Morricone still wins every time. 

 

Karol

[TSMefford 1,509]

Up for sure. Haven't heard Hateful Eight. I find La La Land fine, but highly overrated.

[GerateWohl 4,328]

I have to confess, I am not a Giacchino fan and Up did not impress me that much.

Same with Shape of Water, Soul and Slumdog Millioraire.

Lala Land sounded permanently like autumn leaves.The only remarkable part in the score of The Artist was the Bernard Herrmann part.

But all these scores worked well in the film, what I cannot really say about The Joker, where I permanently hoped to hear some jazz-like Taxi Driver sound, but I didn't and score sounded to me permanently out of place. Music in Joker only works, when songs are played and not the score.

 

Hateful Eight was the only of these scores that really made an impression on my at whatching the movie. So, for me the choice was easy.

Even though in that year for me the best score was The Force Awakens and I would have wished to see that score winning all these awards in that year.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

La La Land's the only one that really made me feel anything and has the kind of overt showmanship through tuneful melodies and colorful orchestration that made me a fan of film scores in the first place. "Epilogue" isn't quite as seamless a piece of music as the average JW theme suite but I love that it goes for it and that the movie is obviously so affectionate toward its music.

 

Hateful Eight, all respect, definitely in the camp that finds The Thing cues stand out the most but basically in its own class on this list.

 

Up and The Artist are the kind of A for effort scores I can appreciate, similar to LLL but just hit me less. "Married Life" endures for good reason and I enjoyed "Carl Goes Up," the rest of it idk. 

 

The Shape of Water is cool, novel. Slumdog, fun for what it is. I didn't go exploring further.

 

Soul and Joker, I'm not gonna dogpile on because y'all are extra. 

 

Not depressed by this list but obviously not what stands out to me since 2000. Looking at it, it definitely sucks how contagious the awards hivemind got in the last decade. Like, "sweeps" had been happening before in the bigger categories but it was clearly just not really a thing in Best Score before the 2010s. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 minute ago, mrbellamy said:

"Epilogue" isn't quite as seamless a piece of music as the average JW theme suite but I love that it goes for it and that the movie is obviously so affectionate toward its music.

 

To be fair, "Epilogue" is underscore and not a theme suite where Hurwitz was free to arrange as he wanted.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Of course, just saying as a piece of music it has that energy. Not often you get a piece like that whatsoever.

[Jay 37,282]

I've seen all 8 of the films being discussed here

 

I really liked Slumdog, Up, The Hateful Eight, The Shape of Water, and Soul

 

I really, strongly, actively disliked The Artist, La La Land, and Joker - in fact, those might literally be the 3 films out of the hundreds I've seen in the past 10 years I liked the least! (I'd have to check somehow)

 

 

As far as the scores go, I quite enjoy the scores to Up, The Hateful Eight, and The Shape of Water.  I can put any of those on at any random time and enjoy their score albums.  I liked the Soul OST too but I only listened to it once or twice so far.

 

For Slumdog, The Artist, La La Land, and Joker, I never listened to those scores outside of the films.  

 

I don't quite remember what Slumdog's score was like, the music I remember from the movie was source songs like Paper Planes and Jai Ho.  I wouldn't mind watching the film again sometime, it's been 13 (!) years

 

I can kind of remember what the music in The Artist and La La Land was like, and it wasn't anything I want to listen to independently.  I actually think I checked out the Artist FYC album (or maybe it was the OST album, I dunno) back in the day and didn't care for it.

 

Joker's score was incredibly effective in the movie, it's kind of a brilliant way to score a film like that.  But it didn't make me want to listen to it on its own.  This is similar to Chernobyl, where Guðnadóttir's score was amazing within the show, but I don't really want to listen to it outside.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It’s crazy how polarizing La La Land is.  I for one think it’s fantastic.  Certainly better than Moonlight, an utter mediocrity.

[Jay 37,282]

I haven't seen that one

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

La La Land was okay. Not bad. Not great.

[Holko 9,499]

18 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

It’s crazy how polarizing La La Land is.  I for one think it’s fantastic.

I haven't really followed any discussion of it and can't really imagine how it could be polarising.

[Edmilson 7,385]

Not a fan of La La Land either. It's a good movie, but not the masterpiece many thought it was.

[A24 4,326]

Not one, not one of them!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

32 minutes ago, Holko said:

I haven't really followed any discussion of it and can't really imagine how it could be polarising.

 

Beats me.  My wife and I left the theater practically walking on air we loved it so much.  It's a very lightweight movie, which I don't say as a criticism, but it does perplex me how it could inspire hatred.  Oh yeah and it's definitely not a Holko movie.

[Holko 9,499]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Oh yeah and it's definitely not a Holko movie.

...It's not?

 

 

Then why do I love it?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

12 minutes ago, Holko said:

...It's not?

 

 

Then why do I love it?

 

Because every now and then you have to zig when Stu expects you to zag!  Keeps me on my toes  

[Holko 9,499]

4 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Because every now and then you have to zig when Stu expects you to zag!  Keeps me on my toes  

Wait for my posts on a batch of movies and scores coming later today then. There's bound to be some juicy disagreements in there!

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

5 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

The only remarkable part in the score of The Artist was the Bernard Herrmann part.

 

Interesting. I used to have a similar opinion of the score, but now I've come to love also the lighter parts. I'm planning to purchase the piano folio!

 

@Smeltington, The Artist only has three votes. You know what to do.

[Thor 7,465]

None of these are particular 'favourites', although they run the gamut from overrated/uninteresting to good.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - A. R. Rahman

 

Rahman is one of my favourite film composers. I have 25 of his albums, and have probably heard some 40-50 others. It's quite peculiar, then, that this - his most celebrated international score - is the one I like the LEAST.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Up (2009) - Michael Giacchino

 

Love the film, quite dislike the score - as with all MG I hear, it's wandering nowhere fast. Although it's certainly not among his worst.

 

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

The Artist (2011) - Ludovic Bource

 

Fine pastiche score, but quickly wears out its novelty value.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

The Hateful Eight (2015) - Ennio Morricone

 

Let's face it, the Oscar was a consolation prize. The cloppetyclop main theme is OK, the rest of the score meanders, IMO.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

La La Land (2016) - Justin Hurwitz

 

One of the most overrated films and scores of the last decade. They were clearly going for a Demy/Legrand vibe, but failed considerably. Hipster-annoying movie, and I can't stand Emma Stone.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

The Shape of Water (2017) - Alexandre Desplat

 

I've seen the movie, but only have vague memories of it. I have no memory of the score whatsoever -- which is pretty much my 'default' response to Desplat.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Joker (2019) - Hildur Guðnadóttir

 

Great film, great score. Not appealing to fans of more traditional, romantic film scores, but they can go suck a donkey stick. The acidic, uneasy cello ambiance goes straight to the core of the disturbed character, and is actually a beautiful tone poem on its own.

 

18 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Soul (2020) - Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross

 

My favourite of these. Love the warm jazz stuff, love the chilly, ethereal synth stuff - and the organic flow between the two. The album is much, much too long, but I hope to make a decent playlist out of it at some point.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

16 minutes ago, Thor said:

Rahman is one of my favourite film composers. I have 25 of his albums, and have probably heard some 40-50 others. It's quite peculiar, then, that this - his most celebrated international score - is the one I like the LEAST.

 

I really can't stand it.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

I think the Artist is good and the obvious reason it won is that it is not competing with anything in the sound mix.

 

But anyways, using Vertigo for the climatic moment is definitely bit of a cheat I feel. 

 

Hateful Eight is suite scoring 101. Like literally feels like Morricone wrote him two or 3 suites and Tarantino edited them in for the Main title and a couple of the other scenes. Again the more interesting music is all tracked in from previous scores.

 

In some ways Up and La La Land are definitely the most substantial scores in terms of themes and their development and orchestration and scoring the picture. I find most of the others to be extremely flimsy minor works.

[Edmilson 7,385]

16 minutes ago, Thor said:

One of the most overrated films and scores of the last decade.

Precisely. I really dunno how that score got a lot of awards (although the Academy loves these kind of scores for musicals). Even Jon Broxton called it one of his favorite scores from 2016. As for me, it wasn't even in the top 10 for me that year.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I’m deeply sorry that La La Land caused you all such pain.  No one can take that memory away but with time we can all heal together

[Mephariel 451]

29 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Precisely. I really dunno how that score got a lot of awards (although the Academy loves these kind of scores for musicals). Even Jon Broxton called it one of his favorite scores from 2016. As for me, it wasn't even in the top 10 for me that year.

 

The film is one of my favorites ever. The score not so much. A good score, not a great one. 

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

While we're here. What is so special about Slumdog Millionare?

[Mephariel 451]

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

It’s crazy how polarizing La La Land is.  I for one think it’s fantastic.  Certainly better than Moonlight, an utter mediocrity.

 

Better than Moonlight, but I disagree that Moonlight is mediocre. It is a unflinching movie with some of the best acting performances I seen that year.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

58 minutes ago, Thor said:

Not appealing to fans of more traditional, romantic film scores, but they can go suck a donkey stick.

 

A generous offer, but I'll have to pass this time.

 

[bruce marshall 1,314]

To paraphrase Winston Churchill...

" Never has so much b.s. been spewed by so few"

 

2 hours ago, Holko said:

Wait for my posts on a batch of movies and scores coming later today then. There's bound to be some juicy disagreements in there!

You're assuming anyone bothers to read it. 😎

[bored 306]

Up, for sheer quality and emotional resonance, Shape of Water for interesting, French experimental weirdness. The rest I either haven't listened to or can go suck on a donkey stick. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Oh and despite what Thor says, La La Land is deeply deeply unhipster.  It’s very sincere and lame and no hipster would be caught dead liking it.  Refn’s Drive with Gosling is definitively the ultimate hipster movie

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

La La Land is indeed very lame. I think of it as a very millennial movie - safe, bloodless, tame with none of the real ache of real "real life" in it. It is an infantilized movie - like say Marriage Story. 

 

It is kinda remarkable how much more older films are made for adults than the mild diversions made today.

[Holko 9,499]

25 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

😎

Woooooow, you're so fucking cool.