Movie soundtracks

[Baron Tanks]

Upon stumbling across a game soundtrack topic, my mind wandered to the cinema equivalent. I recall once watching a Discovery Channel feature on the arts of creating a soundtrack and it made me realise how often I'm completely unaware of the presence of music in a movie and how it does affect you on a subconcious level.

With that being said, what do you see as memorable movie soundtracks? I remember watching Drive a year ago and realising how the music made that movie. Two other pieces that made great impact: the opening score of The Godfather and the 'Joker theme' from The Dark Knight, that was just so perfectly unnerving...

 

[ellers07]

I've got two very different ones for you. Recently, Moonrise Kingdom has had one of the more memorable soundtracks. Many movie soundtracks serve their purpose quite well, but I couldn't tell you what they sounded like later. Moonrise Kingdom had music that was as quirky as the film. It was one of the things that actually stood out to me.

Oddly, I also thought of the theme to Saw. While I kind of lost interest in the movies and haven't even seen the last two or three, I do really like that theme. I thought it fit especially well at the end of the first film. The slow build up was done quite well as the truth was revealed.

I'd have to agree with you on the Joker Theme. That is indeed an unnerving piece of music.

 

[Evil Moo]

I find anything I hear by Clint Mansell manages to make incredible impact on a movie.

Notable samples include the soundtracks to Moon, The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtCpttsZiys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ3wDHnd-QY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FDAkpQSJVA

 

[Baron Tanks]

Oddly, I also thought of the theme to Saw. While I kind of lost interest in the movies and haven't even seen the last two or three, I do really like that theme. I thought it fit especially well at the end of the first film. The slow build up was done quite well as the truth was revealed.

Not going to argue there, the first movie worked very well for what it was and the music was a big part of that. In fact, it's the only part that has been consistent since.

 

[Goofguy]

The Tron Legacy soundtrack probably ranks as my all time favourite movie soundtrack, particularly this piece for such a great scene:

 

[Stryc9]

My favorite movie soundtrack is the one from Gladiator. I don't normally go for purely instrumental music but I did go and buy the Gladiator soundtrack and listen to for it quite a while when it came out.

 

[You Can't Take the Sky From Me]

The first Highlander movie. The soundtrack was done by Queen, and it is epic. For a good example look up "Princes of the Universe."

 

[Me55enger]

Streets of Fire.

Shit dialogue, great soundtrack.

Soundtrack was done by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty.

 

[MrFlibble42]

My favourite movie soundtrack ever is by Ennio Morricone for The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. Pretty much everyone knows the main theme but the best part of the soundtrack comes towards the end of the film, first with Ecstacy Of Gold where Tuco is running around the cemetery and then with The Trio during the final stand-off. The music just enhances those scenes and it is partly because of the music that I think they are two of the greatest scenes in movie history

Spoiler: Ecstacy Of Gold and The Trio

Honourable mention also has to go to the soundtrack for Aliens by James Horner, especially Futile Escape

Spoiler: Futile Escape (Gets going at 3:09)

 

[Old Father Eternity]

The Assassination of Jesse James has a great ost

 

[debtcollector]

Cloud Atlas.

Spoiler: The Cloud Atlas Sextet

/thread

 

[Tom_green_day]

Sometimes actually using pre-existing songs is better for a film than an original score- just look at Wayne's World, any Simon Pegg film... actually, most comedies.

 

[Vigormortis]

A quick caveat - I tend to dismiss film soundtracks that contain an inordinate amount of licensed music. It's not that I automatically dislike the song picks, I just find the use of licensed music a bit...uninspired. Especially when a scene or script is altered simply to tailor to the licensed song that's being played with it.

Anyway, on to my point.

A truly great movie soundtrack/score needs to do three things:

1) It needs to accentuate key moments in the film, in most cases providing a boost to the scenes atmosphere and emotion.
2) It needs to be able to stand on it's own, separate from the film, as an example of good musical composition.
3) The entirety of the score should stay in theme.

Most films, while having soundtracks anywhere from "decent" to "God-awful", generally don't cover any of the above. Perhaps one or two but for the most part they cover none and many are quickly forgotten. However, occasionally a film comes along that hits all three.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does you're often presented with an audio/visual treat.

There are plenty I could list. Some quite obvious. (Star Wars, Star Trek, Godfather, Indiana Jones, E.T., Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight, Jurassic Park, etc, etc, etc) But I think I'll just list some of my personal favorites.

Spoiler: Tron Legacy

Spoiler: Inception

Spoiler: Attack the Block

Spoiler: The Nightmare Before Christmas

Perhaps it's unfair to list songs from a musical, but to hell with it. The movie was brilliant.

Spoiler: Sunshine

Spoiler: 28 Days Later

I could list a bunch more, but I don't want to flood my post with spoilers and youtube links. (no more than it is already)