Hello again!

I've basically given up on the Lord of the Rings reviews.... they're taking forever.

Anyways, this week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue is from X-Men First Class, by Henry Jackman. The score is actually suprisingly effective.

The main theme, first introduced in "First Class," is an awesomely simple one. Its construct is similar to Flynn Lives from Tron Legacy, due to its layers of a simple string backdrop and some bold brass work. I found it highly enjoyable, and I am sure you will, too.

It's a surprisingly noble theme, and it really works very well in representing the X-men. I also should mention the Magneto theme from X-men: First Class. It's incredible; I've heard people call it one of the strongest villain themes ever.

Go ahead and grab the score! It's great.

Enjoy! (The first one).

http://mp3zvezda.ru/?q=first+class

Hello again!

I'm not sure when my review of The Two Towers' OST will be up... It's taking a while to write, especially with so many distractions from school.

Anyways, this week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue is Rose, from Titanic. If you somehow haven't heard Titanic's somewhat cliched style of music, then you're in luck; it's best to approach this music from an unbiased perspective. Only then will you enjoy it most.

It also helps to have not seen the movie; that would mean you could appreciate the music with even less bias. The theme is truly beautiful; it's surprisingly simple, and for this reason, it's easy to get stuck in your head. It's likely you will like the theme a great deal. If you do like it, I'd highly suggest finding "The Portrait," another track from Titanic. James Horner wrote incredible music for this movie; if you haven't heard it, listen to it.

It begins in a wonderful flute prologue, with a great piano beat in the background. Eventually, the vocals (operatic choir) kick in, and from there, the theme becomes absolutely wonderful.

Enjoy! :D

Link: http://xssmax.narod.ru/mp3/kino/Titanic/James_Horner_-_Titanic_-_Rose.mp3

In the digital age, film scores are being pumped out like nobody's business. The amount of movies being produced today directly translates to the number of scores being written today - and it's surprising, then, how few people actively pursue a career in film scoring.

In spite of a low number of composers, there are thousands across the world that appreciate music - but a lot of the time for the movies they were in. Sometimes, there are a few well-received scores that deserved it - both on a commercial side and a critical side - but these are few and far between. Good examples of this are Danny Elfman's Batman, John Williams' work in Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, and all three of the Lord of the Rings scores.

As is to be expected, there are many scores that are truly impressive and fly completely under the radar, and some scores that are popular for a number of reasons - and none of these reasons encompasses the quality of the score.
Here is a list, and description, followed by a short preview, of the underrated and overrated scores of the digital age.

OVERRATED SCORES:
1. Up, by Michael Giacchino
Please realize that I am in no way bashing Michael Giacchino's occasionally beautiful work for the movie. No. I admit that this is a good score - in fact, I'd grant it an 8 or a 9 out of 10 for its trouble. However, what I cannot accept is it winning the Best Original Score category in the 82nd Academy Awards. More interestingly, many agreed with the award. I must say that it certainly was a strong contender for the award, but was beaten out by a long shot by James Horner's work in Avatar. Couple that with the fact that Up has a rather weak album presentation, with the best cue (Married Life) stealing the spotlight from literally every other cue, and you realize that Up was rather undeserving in its win. The lack of consistency in the album presentation, and the fact that it adheres to some of the usual soundtrack cliches (especially in action cues) reveals that it isn't nearly as great as others would have it.

2. Gladiator, by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (with some help from Klaus Badelt and others)
No! You may say. That music was great! It had so much power, so much beauty... What was wrong with it? Well, it's more than likely that you've only heard the brilliantly noble theme for Maximus - an appropriately masculine french horn theme that plays at the outset of "The Battle" on album. Note that the theme plays once in the entire score. Then note that the only noteworthy works are by Lisa Gerrard. Then realize that almost all of Zimmer's work is incredibly electronically grating music that wouldn't sound out of place in a modern thriller, as opposed to a story about Rome. The best track is arguably "Elysium," a truly stunning track filled with emotions of redemption. Interesting fact: Before the movie was released, critics reviewed the music and called it "average" or "good", at most. Few critics gave it the overwhelmingly positive reviews the crowds of fans did once the movie premiered in theaters. My score for it: 7/10

3. The Matrix, by Don Davis
The Matrix has one of the more iconic main themes written. I will admit, the brass fanfare consisting of pairs of ascending notes is intriguing - especially with the synthetic effects added to it. Some of the action beats are also interesting, with some appropriately desperate and at times exciting music. However, what is most disappointing about the music isn't necessarily that the music itself is awful - it's the album presentation. The music itself can be horrible (Unable to Speak in particular is such dissonance you're likely to become the title), and some of the music is incredibly inconsistent (featuring some boy soprano work inside and then some orchestral dissonance in consecutive tracks). No, what truly damages the music is the album presentation, which represents the music poorly. The music, on album, sounds like a horror film's score, with orchestral dissonance and operatic compositions that feel ironic at points. Nonetheless, the music itself impresses - it's just the presentations that fail. My score for it: 9/10 for music, 6/10 for presentation.

4. The Social Network, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
This is the perfect example of bad music made popular through a good movie. The music is, simply put, unfathomably awful. 8-bit trash mixed with horrific, repetitive piano riffs. Terrible stuff. I can't even describe it properly - just know this: If you are any true music fan, you will absolutely loath the pathetic fluff that supposed to pass as music. My score: 0/10

UNDERRATED GEMS:
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by David Arnold
One of the lesser noticed soundtracks of 2010, David Arnold's great work for Narnia flourished in this excellent score. While the movie wasn't much to mention, and while Arnold took the music in a new direction (with less electronic finesse and more orchestral power), the score was certainly a powerhouse. It held 5 excellent themes, and though the album presentation was a bit difficult (what with the themes being buried in all the cues), the first and last cues aptly summarized the score, and some of Arnold's usual orchestral intensity graced the score as well (Especially in The Painting). My score: 10/10
Preview: The Painting. Link: http://www.4shared.com/get/ygZfTbju/02_-_David_Arnold_-_The_Painti.html (note: If you can't get on 4shared use vtunnel.com, and disable "Remove Scripts")

2. I Am Legend, by James Newton Howard
Many people ask, "What? That movie had music?!" Shockingly, yes it did. Though the film treatment was poor, with the director liberally toning down the music to maintain "atmosphere," the album presentation is superb, featuring some of Howard's best work for the film. The incredibly somber and beautiful music is impressive in its magnificence and emotion. While some of its synthetic elements are horrible, the score as a whole is incredibly beautiful. I would recommend the piece "Sam's Gone" to represent the somber side, and "Darkseeker Dogs" for the action side. My score: 8.8/10
Preview: Sam's Gone. Link: www.mediafire.com/?ymzkfyvyzuj

3. Twilight: New Moon, by Alexandre Desplat
Now, I know that not everyone discriminates against Twilight - the fangirls are driving me nuts as well. However, most people who discriminate against the books and movies also discriminate against every other product derived from them - from music, to action figures (yes there are action figures). However, the first Twilight had music that, for some absurd reason, captured the hearts of the fangirls, in spite of its rather obnoxious feel and occasionally peaceful piano. So, when they learned that a new composer was doing the sequel music - and a French composer - they were not happy. When they further learned that Mr. Desplat was to abandon all previous themes written for entirely original music, they were even angrier, and thus hated his work. So, Mr. Desplat's enthralling work for New Moon was hated by the usual crowds who hate Twilight, and also hated by fangirls of Twilight. That left about 1% of the total population curious as to what the music sounded like. And it's beautiful. The themes are absolutely stunning, with the "love theme" of sorts impressing with its beauty and emotion. Its best reprisal is in New Moon,. Another beautiful theme is in Dreamcatcher, an equally beautiful and contemplative piece. All in all, it's very much worthy of such a popular series, and if you're any music collector at all you'll probably highly enjoy this score. See my review far back. My score: 9/10
Preview: Full Moon (reprisal of the main theme). Link: www.4shared.com/audio/GpqkM9lu/The_Twilight_Saga_New_Moon_The.html

4. Crimson Tide, by Hans Zimmer
Again, this score can be considered underrated due to its popularity, or lack of it. It's Hans Zimmer's best work; out of all of his film scores, the best one is undoubtedly the stunningly powerful theme for Crimson Tide. It's a stupendously patriotic theme filled with incredible masculinity. While some may find Zimmer's consistently testosterone-filled works frustrating, it cannot be denied that his first milieu into the genre - i.e. Crimson Tide - was amazing. The electronically created score would win him a Grammy later for its outstanding main theme. Honestly, it's too bad the score isn't popular - were the movie more popular (and it's strange it isn't; the movie isn't bad at all), the score would likely be as popular as Gladiator. While it's album presentation may be infuriating, music aficionados should be more than willing to spend time in Audacity and the movie to divide the tracks up into proper size. Having a 20 minute long suite is a bit too much for me to take; having two is ridiculous. The best track is undoubtedly Roll Tide, with the opening three minutes or so being the stunning main theme. My score: 10/10
Preview: Roll Tide. Link: http://www.wing-zero.org/RW/mp3/Spy_Game-Crimson_Tide.mp3

Well, that is all for now! Sorry I didn't include any excerpts for the overrated scores… I wasn't sure how to do them. Including the worst music would just be unfair, and including the best would be defeating the purpose.
Hopefully you'll enjoy all the themes for the underrated scores! I know you'll love Crimson Tide's. :)

Hello Gamespot!

I realize I haven't posted anything in about 5 days... but watever.

The combination of massive amounts of homework from school and extra-curriculars is just about making me insane... But i can probably cope. :)

This week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue is Casper's Lullaby, by James Horner for the score to... you guessed it, Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Casper's Lullaby is truly a stunningly beautiful piece. It deviates from Horner's usual style of orchestral maturity and instead opts for a more Elfman-esque or James Newton Howard-esque piece of work, with the combination of beautiful string themes, mesmerizing choral effects, and pretty piano work. Simply put - if enjoyed Elman's work in Edward Scissorhands, or James Newton Howard's work in Lady in the Water, or (to a lesser extent) Petri Alanko's work in Alan Wake, it's likely you will highly enjoy this somber yet hopeful theme.

Enjoy!

Here's the link: http://95.media.v4.skyrock.net/music/95e/fe0/95efe0dd94e2ed03248ea9a79d7fa8b4.mp3

This is the final entry for Fellowship of the Ring; Two Towers begins soon.

Here is a list of the Highlights:

Disc 1:

Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All

The Shire

Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe

Three is Company

Disc 2:

Weathertop

The Caverns of Isengard

Orthanc

Rivendell

Gilraen's Memorial

Balin's Tomb

Disc 3:

Khaza-Dum

Caras Galadhon

The Fighting Uruk-hai

Parth Galen

The Departure of Boromir

The Road Goes Ever On and On Pts. 1 and 2

May It Be

Those are the tracks you'll likely enjoy most.

Look out for The Two Towers!

And now we have another continuation of the truly outstanding Lord of the Rings scores. Again, the introductions for Fellowship of the Ring were saved for the first review. This time, I'll just focus on reviewing the pieces themselves.
Anyways, we're now at the final stages of reviewing Fellowship of the Ring's score! It's the last disc - and what a disc it is, containing all the longest tracks yet (and all the best ones).
Khaza-Dum: *****
Caras Galadhon: *****
The Mirror of Galadriel: *****
The Fighting Uruk-Hai: *****
Parth Galen: *****
The Departure of Boromir: *****
The Road Goes Ever On and On Pt. 1: *****
May it Be: *****
The Road Goes Ever On and On Pt. 2: *****
Khaza-Dum opens in a frightening and rather strange cult-like chant. It is an interesting beginning, and is featured in the album version at "The Bridge of Khaza-Dum," after the initial burst of brass in the Fellowship theme. It isn't the best of ways to begin a track, but it later enters the usual Shore action mode: Lots of brass, with lots of foreboding choral work and frightening string work inside. That's a good thing; Shore's work is both original and powerful, and epic. A false climax at 2:05 again segues into more cultish chants, but this time with the brass and strings intact. This continues to build up, with the cultish chant reaching feverish levels and the brass escalating into yet another false climax, this time with drums and more choral work. All of the power inside - the brass, the string, the choral work - are all astoundingly intense, and convey a frantic atmosphere. At 3:17, the fellowship theme gets a brilliant statement, with the brass spilling out the theme brilliantly and the strings providing terrific backup. After this, the track returns to usual Shore stile - the great orchestral harmony, the power, the intensity - and the lack of a real tune. It's unfortunate, but Shore's signature stile for intense moments seem to lack an actual tune during moments like this. The music relies almost completely on the power conveyed by the hectic instrumentation, and it succeeds almost completely. At 5:53 or so, the track becomes much quieter, and much more somber. It's truly amazing stuff, and I must say it jerks the tears right out of you. I loved it. On this beautiful note, the track concludes - and it reminds you just how expansive Shore's skillset is. Not only is he very much capable of writing action beats - he also knows how to write contemplative and emotional music. Instead of resorting to Hans Zimmer's methods of loud and obvious themes bursting with masculinity and percussion, Shore prefers a more orchestral method, and it works just as well, if not better.
Caras Galadhon opens with the score's first true statement of the elves' theme. After a minute or so of this beautifully dark theme, the strings and woodwind emerge for some contemplative, emotional work. Again, Shore's amazingly consistent work is apparent; it's just remarkable how consistent he is through the score, how there are rarely any moments that don't fit and how the incredible quality stays apparent almost the entire time. You get the usual ambient meandering for a while, until 3:00, where some cohesive themes start to emerge. At 3:14, the elven theme emerges once again, played on a lower key. From there, one of the score's highlights emerges: A mystical, choral theme beginning from 3:38. The mysterious and emergent feeling of the piece is truly remarkable, and shows yet another side to Shore's incredible music. 1:55 has a female vocal singing the elven theme yet again, albeit slightly butchered. It's impressive use of one theme over and over again, and it works well.
It truly is impressive how easily Shore plays around with his themes; he sticks to the same themes, but often utilizes them in different instrumentations, different tempos, and different feelings to suit different moments with the same characters. As a result, you often hear the same theme apparent in the movie several times - just rarely in the same way. That is truly intelligent use of music.
The track segues directly into The Mirror of Galadriel, in an impressive opening with a mild sounding french horn playing one of the new themes, here to be referred to as the Anduril theme. The elven theme then kicks in again, more mystic than ever. It continues until about 2:10. After some more string filled meandering, the track enters into the dark aspect of it, with Sauron's theme playing. It ends at 3:38. At around 4:40 or so comes another powerful buildup, that ends with a series of descending notes. In spite of its simplicity its surprisingly powerful. The Mirror of Galadriel then concludes on a slower, more peaceful mood that more aptly fits Galadriel than loud, bombastic fanfares of the fellowship and of Sauron's minions.
Not a half bad track.
The Fighting Uruk-Hai opens with Isengard's theme blaring powerfully. After the initial give or take 50 seconds of this, it immediately segues into the elven theme, and it does so surprisingly well in spite of its abruptness. This then segues into a modified hobbit theme, that works well as well. It's incredible how many themes the opening 2 minutes hold; three of the most prominent and memorable somehow worm their ways in here without the listener even noticing. The theme then becomes even more emotionally evocative, with the strings and choral effects becoming truly mesmerizing at 3 minutes. It's truly beautiful, and is yet another one of the highlights of this near flawless score. The music then becomes even more emotionally investing, with the strings providing lots of touching and peaceful music; it truly impresses. More choral work at 5:20 impresses even further, and cements this track's role as one of the greatest in the score. The choral work's incredible theme is just so gorgeous it's incredible. The strings dovetail perfectly here and lift the theme so much higher than what it was already, and it's sad to see the theme go at 6:05 or so. The fellowship theme then gets a good statement at 6:20. At 7 minutes, the track at last lives up to its name with the Isengard theme dominating. Sadly, it dissipates again at 8:00, though this isn't too much of an issue because the part it segues into is beautiful, containing highlights as the Shire's theme. At 10:10, yet another incredible theme is introduced. It's a truly awe-inspiring choral theme, that segues into the Prologue theme, and it sounds incredible here in orchestral form.
Parth Galen reprises the Prologue theme yet again in the first 30 seconds or so. The track starts escalating around 1 minute 50 or so, and becomes yet another false climax - something truly infuriating that Mr. Shore loves to do. The prologue theme is reprised again at 3:10, with the Orc theme's bass line in the background. This then segues into the Nazgul theme, slowed down and played with brass instead. The elven theme is reprised yet again at 4:05, this time in a calm fashion albeit with foreshadowing strings in the background. This time, the strings in the bass line include a false climax. It's ridiculous just how many false climaxes Shore uses. At 4:50, a brass theme kicks in, and it reminds a lot of the Minas Tirith theme at first. At 5:10, the brass battle themes begin, in stunning fashion, with the brass, percussion, and strings all playing powerfully and authoritatively. At 6:20, you even hear the Ents' themes hinted at, and it even gets a statement at 6:35, another shock. Shore really though these themes through before starting work. The track continues with its powerful brass statements, before launching into choral work at 7:15 or so. The powerful and the sense of escalation is overpowering here, as themes are meshed together - you hear the brass power and emotion of the action themes, with Isengard's percussive beats pounding out in the background, until it leads up to a performance of Isengard's main theme. Choral work in the last 40 seconds is also truly amazing, meshing perfectly with the percussive beats of Isengard's theme, and constantly rising, until yet another false climax. It then continues to the end of the track, culminating in a false climax to round off the track. Another highlight, no doubt about it. This tie it's simply because of how many themes are incorporated.
The Departure of Boromir opens in a stunning string and choir mix. The hesitant string bass line is truly beautiful and impresses. The stunning emotion in the piece is incredible, and you feel a sense of loss and sadness in the piece. At 2 minutes, the score suddenly picks up power, with brass intensity and powerful percussive blasts sounding out. It's rather out of place considering the peaceful, contemplative opening, but it ends after 44 seconds, a good choice. From there, a quiet elven theme begins, which even segues into a great string bass line followed by the brass echoing the strings. The piece is excellent, and can again be considered another highlight of the score. At 4:23, you get a brief solo vocalist that reminds me of James Newton Howard's work in Lady in the Water. It's a brief flash, and it quickly transforms into other themes, though it was nice while it lasted. At 5:05, the Fellowship theme makes another reappearance, though this time in a more subdued manner.
The Road Goes Ever On and On is one of those pieces I don't really even need to describe, because you've probably heard it before. It was the piece The Breaking of the Fellowship, and it's been overexposed by today. It's appeared in various forms and remixes, but that doesn't stop it from being one of today's greatest film compositions ever written - it's truly incredible. Its themes are variations on the fellowship theme and the Shire theme put together. Simply put, it's beautiful, and it's absolutely excellent. Unexpected bass lines with percussion begin around 4:15, and though it's unexpected it works well as well. The whole track is simply stunning, with the strings spilling out such a beautiful theme. It's hard not to love. It has driven many listeners to tears; I would not be surprised if you did.
May it Be is a wonderful piece by Enya, and it can be easily debated if it's the best of the concluding songs for the Lord of the Rings movies. I personally found it to be my favorite one; it's theme suits the movies well, and the instrumentation is great too. Enya's voice is also quite wonderful.
The Road Goes Ever On and On part 2 is slightly less impressive, but still wonderful. The solo boy vocalist has a wonderful voice, and he carries the tune on well enough. Originally, it was part of The Breaking of the Fellowship; I personally found it a great idea to separate the instrumental and choral portions. I appreciate both, but both were quite different.
Spliced into it are the fellowship theme, and the Rivendell theme as well. All in all, I can only call this another highlight of the score due to its wonderful theme and great vocals. The fact that it ends on one last exposition of the Rivendell theme only cements its position as a highlight of the score.
It ends in one last explosion for the fellowship theme - a fitting end to a wonderful score.
The Good:
- Incredible ending
- Highlights are all in the last disc
- Truly beautiful vocals
- Intensely brilliant peaceful moments
- Great pacing
- Every track here
The Bad:
- One too many false climaxes.
Generally, this is an amazing score. The only reason The Mirror Galadriel doesn't get a highlight rating from me is because it doesn't really introduce any truly amazing material. It still is a great piece, but not one of the highlights.
All in all, disc 3 is amazing. It has all the power and energy of the second disc, the peaceful themes of the first disc, and its own beautiful vocal energy.
The score as a whole is perfectly paced; the first disc is introductory. The second is expository, and the third concludes the score in a spectacular way. You have a slow opening, which speeds up and accelerates towards the middle and tones down eventually for a slow ending to help the listener catch his breath.
Simply put, Fellowship of the Ring has a terrific score. It's hard not to love it; its mature themes, and intelligent use of them are excellent, and Shore's incredible effort cements him as one of the greatest composers of the twenty-first century.
Disc 3 Overall: 10/10
Entire score for Fellowship of the Ring: 10/10

Hello readers!

I'm still hard at work on the Lord of the Rings scores - and once I'm done reviewing them, I'll get to a bunch of other reviews.

I've been planning out other reviews, and I'll be writing them as quickly as is possible (i.e. when I finish writing the Lord of the Rings score reviews).

Upcoming reviews:

1. Kung Fu Panda 2

2. The Witcher

3. The Passion of the Christ

4. Spider-man 2

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

6. How to Train Your Dragon

Possibly in that order, though I'm not sure. Cheers!

Continuing last week's review, this review is on Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring's Disc 2 of its 3 disc complete edition. This disc focuses mainly on the middle section, and it's quite brilliant. I'll skip the introductions; that was saved for the previous review.
Track Listings:
Weathertop: *****
The Caverns of Isengard: *****
Give Up the Halfling: *****
Orthanc: *****
Rivendell: *****
The Sword that Was Broken: *****
The Council of Elrond Assembles: *****
The Great Eye: *****
Gilraen's Memorial: *****
The Pass of Caradhras: ****
The Doors of Durin: *****
Moria: ****
Gollum: *****
Balin's Tomb: *****
Weathertop opens the disc in a great way; the powerfully disturbing and frightening choral work for the Nazgul is highly impressive, and is done highly intelligently here. It's perfect for the moment: Frodo and the hobbits being attacked by the various Nazgul and being saved by Aragorn. Though it may be brief, it's power and memories held within the track are excellent, and it's definitely one of the highlights of the incredible score.
The Caverns of Isengard finally gives the Isengard theme the exposition it deserves. While the track meanders about at first (in a nice way, mind you; it's still well-done meandering), the theme finally gets an excellent statement at around 1:32, and though it lasts briefly, it isn't a shame because it leads into yet another excellent theme, the theme for Gandalf. Or, it seems like the theme for Gandalf. It's well-hinted at here, and though it is ended very abruptly for yet an even more powerful brass statement for Isengard's theme, with the percussion spilling out its industrial power in an even more authoritative way than usual. It ends on a beautiful note - literally. The final 15 seconds or so are a brief two note statement that carries so much emotion it's impressive. All in all, this is one of the best tracks yet and it introduces the Isengard theme in a great manner.
Give Up The Halfling opens in a stunningly somber piece, with some of the instrumentation reminding of James Newton Howard's usual solemn string work. It ends after a while, and segues into another fascinating bridge to the Nazgul theme. The Nazgul theme this time is heightened to stunning intensity, with the brass providing excellently fast-paced bass lines and the strings heightening the tension. As the theme reaches an incredible climax, the horns kick in with noble power. The final minute is a little underwhelming, though the majority of the track is incredible.
Orthanc is a surprisingly brief but powerful track. Clocking in at a mere 1 minute and 6 seconds, it's the shortest track in the second disc but also one of the highlights of the score. It introduces yet another fresh brass theme backed up by choir. At 0:40 comes another excellent theme, with the beautiful strings carrying it to the end. Though it ends rather suddenly, it's still a fantastic track.
Rivendell is a great theme that opens in a brief reprisal of the shire theme, before launching into the ordinary album version of Many Meetings. Its strings, meshed beautifully with the elven vocals and various other instruments make a stunning piece, making yet another highlight of many in the second disc. Various reprisals of the hobbit theme and the shire theme elevate the track to even more emotional and touching heights, meant to symbolize the happiness the fellowship felt as they were united.
The Sword That Was Broken opens in a quick flash of the Rivendell theme, though it quickly segues into a more mature and dark theme played on the french horn, accompanied by strings. At about 1:28, brief flashes of a dark and foreboding brass theme are played, which are echoed later. It's a little difficult to say what themes these are, as they all seem to be original; some parts feel like reprisals of the Rivendell theme, though some seem altogether fresh. Either way, this is yet another great "filler" track, where music just needs to be to fill up a moment. Howard Shore handles this surprisingly well, and creates some surprisingly memorable music for such mundane moments. Though the track name may suggest a hinting at for the theme of Anduril, there never is one.
The Council of Elrond Assembles is yet another fantastic track. It introduces another excellent theme, this time sung by a solo female vocalist. The lyrics aren't distracting, and it's pushed to greater heights by the beautiful strings and choral backup. It's truly a beautiful track, and is hard not to love. My brother claimed it was too repetitive for his liking; while it certainly is quite repetitive, I didn't find it a big problem. The theme is simply wonderful.
At around 2:17, the theme ends, to be replaced with the typical Lord of the Rings fantasy filler stuff. It's not bad, but it isn't exactly amazing either, and it brings the track down from being a massive highlight for the score.
The Great Eye opens with a foreshadowing at the theme for Minas Tirith, a surprising idea, as Minas Tirith doesn't appear until the third installment. Nonetheless, it's a great idea, and it shows how early Shore had ideas for later installments. It lasts a good one minute or so, a great way to open a great track. While it takes a little while for the track to pick up from there, it eventually bridges the gap into the Nazgul theme, this time by the strings. Eventually, it segues into the Orc theme, at around 2:55. This ends quickly, and segues into another wonderful string theme, that hints slightly at the fellowship theme. The fellowship theme is then played several times by other instruments, and finally closes with a segueing into the hobbit theme. The themes mesh together several times, alternating between one and the other, before concluding the track with a victorious cymbal crash. A beautiful track.
Gilraen's Memorial opens with a very somber choir theme. It's very dark and sad, and is appropriately depressing. It immediately segues into a much happier track: The album version of The Ring Goes South, one of the most iconic tracks in history. It's so popular that it shows up almost everywhere - I once heard it in the beginning of a plane ride, broadcasted through the intercom to suggest we were taking a long journey south. Either way, it's fantastic, and obviously one of the highlights to the score. The track concludes with the incredible brass presentation of the truly beautiful Fellowship theme, with the dissonant strings providing good buildup. It's truly great work.
The Pass of Caradhras opens in a briefly lighthearted manner, before becoming much darker at around 0:33. Its dissonant brass end to the buildup is difficult to swallow, though the track becomes great later. It has a calmer feel with beautiful strings and pleasant fluff making it good for easy listening… at least until 2:38, where the Isengard theme kicks in again. It ends at around 3:25, where another great string theme picks it up. It escalates in nobility and power, and eventually ends in another underwhelming mass of brass dissonance. The track ends in another underwhelming string bit, making this one of the worst tracks on disc 2. While it's not really too bad at all, it lacks the power and sense of direction the others do.
The Doors of Durin opens in a great way, with brass and strings again carrying the powerful themes forward; Some of the choral work is truly impressive, especially at the 1:40 mark. Afterwards, it descends into the regular ambience Shore often does for this score. It's not bad at all, and continues to impress. Later, some of Shore's more intense, "scary" work begins at 4:30 or so, with some great string dissonance. It segues into some powerful percussion, with more orchestral dissonance furthering the horror factor. It's nothing you'll want to listen to again, but it very well symbolizes the giant squid monster that shows up at the Doors of Durin. The percussion beat is rather impressive and should've been more apparent elsewhere, though it never does. Shore's constant use of orchestral dissonance is a little bit frustrating at times, though it is admittedly very apt for the moment. It's the skill that Shore demonstrates in his dissonant horror and initial choral work that narrowly scrapes a 5 star rating for the track.
Moria is a quieter piece, with more ambient strings apparent here. The choral work is also quite fascinating, providing apt backup feel. It's not a half bad piece, due to its impressively done ambience. Sadly, it doesn't do anything all that interesting either, meriting a mere 4 star rating for its lack of stuff happening.
Gollum briefly introduces his theme, a theme apparent in the initial Prologue theme of the first disc. Again, the track is a little too brief for its own good, with some brief string themes, and a wonderful restatement of the hobbit theme at the end. All in all, this isn't a half bad piece, meriting a 5 star rating for its trouble.
Balin's Tomb opens in an incredible manner - an amazingly powerful reprisal of one of the fellowship themes. It's truly amazing, managing to be both grand and sad at the same time. This is the longest track on the album, at 8 minutes and 30 seconds. After the initial power of the opening, it becomes more dark, and at 3:05 or so it becomes much more intense, featuring surprisingly fast-paced string bass themes. It's the action beats and fantastic vistas where Shore succeeds most in scoring, and he does an incredible job here, with impressive false buildups at 4:00 or so. The way Shore uses the dissonant brass is admirable, as it very well symbolizes the beasts that the fellowship must face. While it is a little bit repetitive and at times rather frustrating, it works well. The action and relentless barrage of dissonant brass chords ends at around 6:00, with some truly gorgeous string themes and beautiful brass backups. The final one minute or so reintroduces the fellowship theme again, with even greater heights than before, and concludes the track, and the disc, on this great feel.
All in all, this disc continues more of Shore's incredible skill; his ability to easily convey the power of action scenes, the emotion of touching scenes, the simplicity of ambient scenes, and his capacity of creating memorable themes are all demonstrated to a huge degree with his work in the second disc. It's highly impressive.
The Good:
- Incredible emotion
- Powerful themes
- Great continuance of the themes
- Orchestral dissonance used well
- Choral tracks are impressive
- Orchestral harmony is phenomenal
- Weathertop
- Gildraen's Memorial
The Bad:
- Orchestral dissonance can be annoying as well
- Some ambience falls flat
Disc 2 carries on the quality of Disc 1, only with more excitement and power to it. If you adore Lord of the Ring's fantasy scores, but disliked the introductory feeling to Disc 1 of Fellowship of the Ring, then Disc 2 should satisfy; it contains every great theme in it (besides the concluding themes), and is filled with excitement, intensity, power, horror, emotion, and orchestral harmony. Simply put, Disc 2 is phenomenal - and better than the first disc.
Disc 2: 10/10

I mean everything I said in that title.

Honestly, the Academy Awards for Best Original Score are humiliating to the Academy, and I'm amazed they even bother saying it's worth watching at all - it's descended into a worthless, obscure popularity contest. Not necessarily the rest of it - but the Best Original Score category is truly pathetic.

Let's take a look at previous Best Original Score nominees:

1. The Social Network

2. Inception

3. How to Train Your Dragon

4. The King's Speech

5. 127 Hours

Notice anything in common for the five nominees?

I'll spell it out:

1. The Social Network (nominated for Best Picture)

2. Inception (nominated for Best Picture)

3. How to Train Your Dragon (nominated for Best Animated Feature Film)

4. The King's Speech (nominated for Best Picture)

5. 127 Hours (nominated for Best Picture).

Why is this sad? Well, any true follower of film music will have noticed one thing: 2010 was an uncommonly good year for film music. Many movies had truly outstanding scores, no matter how bad the movie itself was. For instance, James Newton Howard's incredible and deep effort for The Last Airbender was an amazing film score. The movie was horrible, and this is likely the sole reason for why it wasn't nominated. Or Alice in Wonderland - an excellent return to Danny Elfman's charming fantasy scores of old. Or Space Battleship Yamato - a foreign film whose brilliant score flew completely under the radar.

And there are countless other scores that are better than all the choices (besides How to Train Your Dragon and Inception, the only truly worthy scores here): The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Tangled, Tron Legacy, The Wolfman, and even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows all had scores several times better than the nominees.

Then you look at the winner: The Social Network.

First off, they only awarded this award to The Social Network to bandage the losses sustained earlier. The Social Network lost in literally every category to either Inception or The King's Speech, and thus the Academy felt obliged to give the movie one of the "less important awards." Since the music was admittedly very new in style, the Academy had even more facades to erect to pass this award off as a legitimate one.

However, if any true music collector listens to The Social Network's score, they'll likely find it a massively overrated piece of ear puke that sounds like a horrific mesh of every teen-reject band's songs' bass lines put through a blender. The attempts at music here are simply pathetic, brief flashes of themes that are repeatedly endlessly and mercilessly. The only people who can possibly legitimately enjoy this trash are fans of the band that composed this horror - Nine Inch Nails. I've read reviews bashing The Social Network's score, and I've read countless fans of NIN trolling the webpages - how people can't "accept electric sounds for music," how people don't notice "how well the music fits the film," and how "new styles deserve recognition."

First off, I can totally accept electric sounds for music that sound adept. That's why I praised Tron Legacy and Inception's scores; both relied heavily on electronic sounds, and both sounded excellent. The composers here are completely inept at composing the slightest themes using electric sounds, which is why I have to call their work absolutely awful.

Granted, the music fits the film well - but so did The Last Airbender's, as did Tron: Legacy's, Inception's, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, How to Train Your Dragon, and so many others. Music that fits well isn't enough to make the music gain an Oscar - true composer ability is demonstrated in being able to make the music not only fit, but also sound phenomenal off screen, a talent that neither Atticus Ross nor Trent Reznor have demonstrated. I'm not saying they can't do it, but they clearly didn't show it in their work for The Social Network.

Finally, new styles aren't always good. Different isn't always good. Plus, it's not the Academy's job to award fresh ideas, but to award good ones. The Social Network's music isn't in any way good.

In the end, I can only say that the Academy's Best Original Score category is a shameless popularity contest that exists for the sole reason of looking prestigious. I say either let the Academy abandon the category, or let real music aficianados do the voting.

What my list of nominees for Best Original Score would've been:

1. Space Battleship Yamato

2. The Last Airbender

3. How to Train Your Dragon

4. Inception

5. Alice in Wonderland.

And my winner:

The Last Airbender, by James Newton Howard. Though admittedly, Space Battleship Yamato does come extremely close. Sad though it may be, I have never heard the original anime themes and thus cannot enjoy the no doubt massive sense of nostalgia most fans felt when listening to SBY's score.

Hello all!

I'm still working on the Lord of the Rings reviews - pretty long. And a little infuriating.

So, this week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue is John Debney's incredible work in The Passion of the Christ - one of the best film scores I've ever listened to.

The cue is "The Resurrection," an appropriately epic and powerful piece of God's incredible power.

While the religious crowd is sure to enjoy it, I can understand if you can't - it can feel a little too powerful and overbearing for its own good, though for a believer, the cue should fit perfectly.

If you appreciate good film music, it's unlikely you should dislike this score.

Enjoy.

And believe me - you will.

http://www.oracionesydevociones.info/02552013_15-resurrection.mp3