Favorite Soundtracks
Being a film junkie often means being a soundtrack junkie, too, and I wouldn't know which is the bigger drug for me. So I've decided to share some of my favorites, for what it's worth. In order to keep things from getting out of hand, I limited myself to twelve picks. The titles are in alphabetical order, not in order of preference; my preferences might change from time to time, and on rare occasion one of the dozen might get bumped off by a newcomer. Honestly, though, this just barely scratches the surface.
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Michael Broddicker
- Alien 3 Elliot Goldenthal
- Arrival Johann Johannsson
- Baraka Michael Stearns
- A Beautiful Mind James Horner
- Black Widow Lorne Balfe
- Blade Runner 2049 Hans Zimmer
- Fantastic Beasts James Newton Howard
- Inception Hans Zimmer
- Moon Clint Mansell
- Road to Perdition Thomas Newman
- Tess Philippe Sarde
You may wonder at some conspicuously absent composers. No John Williams? No Danny Elfman? Talented composers, no question, but entirely too plain white bread predictable. I prefer more challenge, more variety, more creativity. You'll notice Hans Zimmer has multiple wins: to me, Williams always sounds like Williams, Elfman always sounds like Elfman, but Zimmer is never the same twice, and he's not afraid to be daring. He also possesses the remarkable ability to create power without bombast.
Television Scores
These bubble to the top:
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Bear McCreary
- The Avengers Laurie Johnson
- Defiance Bear McCreary
- The Expanse Clinton Shorter
- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Vince Guaraldi
Gametracks
And finally, I have a soundtrack category that has nothing to do with movies or television: music from videogames. I have zero interest in videogames, but quite a number of them have outstanding scores. I call them "Gametracks," and here are my top fivefor now:
- Civilization Geoff Knorr
- FEZ Richard Vreeland
- Machinarium Thomas Dvorak
- Skyrim Jeremy Soule
- Unravel Frida Johansson