Thoughts for Best Original Score Oscar nominations?

My list for best score:

The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams (likely not going to win)
Mad Max: Fury Road – Tom Holkenborg
Carol – Carter Burtwell
Spotlight – Howard Shore
The Danish Girl – Alexandre Desplat

???
Steve Jobs – Daniel Pemberton
Bridge of Spies – Thomas Newman
The Martian – Harry Gregson-Williams
Inside Out – Micheal Giachhino (likely not going to get nominated since it already won)

I’m sticking with that for now. What do you guys think will happen?

Star Wars Maybe..
I Did Like Doyle’s Cinderella.
Bridge Of Spies Aswell as
Joe Kreamer’s MI5: Rogue Nation

To be honest I haven’t really heard any other score besides Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and I intended to watch and listen to Inside Out.

Spectre
Mad Max: Fury Road
Inside Out
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
The Martian
The H8ful Eight
Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens

Out of those 8, I’m predicitng the 5 nominees will be:

Spectre
Inside Out
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
Mad Max: Fury Road

Spectre
Mad Max: Fury Road
Inside Out
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
The Martian
The H8ful Eight
Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens

Out of those 8, I’m predicitng the 5 nominees will be:

Spectre
Inside Out
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
Mad Max: Fury Road

That sounds about right, except for Star Wars, I don’t think a Star Wars score has never been nominated.
I did forget to mention I did also really like Spectre’s score, at some points it kind of reminded me of Finding Nemo, and I Love that score. Thomas Newman, really great composer.

That sounds about right, except for Star Wars, I don’t think a Star Wars score has never been nominated.
I did forget to mention I did also really like Spectre’s score, at some points it kind of reminded me of Finding Nemo, and I Love that score. Thomas Newman, really great composer.

A New Hope won…

What I would definitely like to see:

Hateful Eight * (favourite score of the year, and I want to see Morricone claim a competitive Oscar)
Cinderella

Optional:

En Mai Fais Ce Qu’il Te Pla�t
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Wolf Totem
Everything Will Be Fine (superior to both Suffragette and The Danish Girl)

"I don’t think a Star Wars score has never been nominated."

A New Hope won…

I know, I’m just saying I don’t think there was ever a time when the Star Wars score for whatever respective year was never nominated.

What I would definitely like to see:

Hateful Eight * (favourite score of the year, and I want to see Morricone claim a competitive Oscar)
Cinderella

Optional:

En Mai Fais Ce Qu’il Te Pla�t
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Wolf Totem
Everything Will Be Fine (superior to both Suffragette and The Danish Girl)

"I don’t think a Star Wars score has never been nominated."

http://megoblog.typepad.com/.a/6a013486abd95c970c015432547af4970c-pi

"I do Ma! I liked the Prequels!"

But seriously though, I think the Prequels and their scores are pretty good, there’s a lot of classics. They’re maybe not as good as the Original Trilogy, but you know what I mean.

I HIGHLY doubt Mad Max will get nominated. It’s a great score and I’ll be overjoyed if it does get nominated, but I don’t think it’s going to appeal to the Academy. The style is very… different and Zimmerish scores don’t tend to fare well with the Academy (even if Zimmer himself earns nominations). I think the nominations will be:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (John Williams nearly always gets nominated)
Cinderella (it’s a very beautiful score and could easily catch the Academy’s eye… or should I say ears)
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Bridge of Spies (the scores of Spielberg films usually get nominated, but that’s usually because of Williams so without him it’ll be interesting to see what happens)

I HIGHLY doubt Mad Max will get nominated. It’s a great score and I’ll be overjoyed if it does get nominated, but I don’t think it’s going to appeal to the Academy.

I wouldn’t rule it out. I’ve seen as many reviews praising the score as I have for the film. And even if it doesn’t get nominated, WB is campaigning for it. The OST is streaming on their FYC site.

The Revenant isn’t eligible.

———- Post added at 05:45 PM ———- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ———-

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 112 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2015 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 88th Academy Awards.

The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:
Adult Beginners, Marcelo Zarvos
The Age of Adaline, Rob Simonsen
Altered Minds, Edmund Choi
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, Mark Mothersbaugh
Anomalisa, Carter Burwell
Ant-Man, Christophe Beck
Beasts of No Nation, Dan Romer
The Big Short, Nicholas Britell
Black Mass, Tom Holkenborg
Bridge of Spies, Thomas Newman
Brooklyn, Michael Brook
Burnt, Rob Simonsen
By the Sea, Gabriel Yared
Carol, Carter Burwell
Cartel Land, H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg
Chi-Raq, Terence Blanchard
Cinderella, Patrick Doyle
Coming Home, Qigang Chen
Concussion, James Newton Howard
Creed, Ludwig Goransson
The Danish Girl, Alexandre Desplat
The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Joseph Trapanese
Dukhtar, Peter Nashel
The End of the Tour, Danny Elfman
Everest, Dario Marianelli
Ex Machina, Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow
Far from the Madding Crowd, Craig Armstrong
Fifty Shades of Grey, Danny Elfman
5 Flights Up, David Newman
Frame by Frame, Patrick Jonsson
Freedom, James Lavino
Furious 7, Brian Tyler
The Good Dinosaur, Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna
Goosebumps, Danny Elfman
Grandma, Joel P. West
The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone
He Named Me Malala, Thomas Newman
Hot Pursuit, Christophe Beck
Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Christophe Beck
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2, James Newton Howard
The Hunting Ground, Miriam Cutler
I Smile Back, Zack Ryan
I’ll See You in My Dreams, Keegan DeWitt
In the Heart of the Sea, Roque Ba�os
Inside Out, Michael Giacchino
The Intern, Theodore Shapiro
It Follows, Disasterpeace
Jalam, Ouesppachan
Jurassic World, Michael Giacchino
Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, Gabriel Yared
Kingsman: The Secret Service, Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson
Krampus, Douglas Pipes
La Jaula de Oro, Jacobo Lieberman and Leonardo Heiblum
The Lady in the Van, George Fenton
The Last Witch Hunter, Steve Jablonsky
Learning to Drive, Dhani Harrison and Paul Hicks
Legend, Carter Burwell
Little Accidents, Marcelo Zarvos
The Longest Ride, Mark Isham
Mad Max: Fury Road, Tom Holkenborg
The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Daniel Pemberton
The Martian, Harry Gregson-Williams
Max, Trevor Rabin
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, John Paesano
Meru, J. Ralph
Minions, Heitor Pereira
Mr. Holmes, Carter Burwell
Mistress America, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips
My All American, John Paesano
Nachom-ia Kumpasar, Ronnie Monsorate
99 Homes, Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales
Our Brand Is Crisis, David Wingo
Pan, John Powell
Paper Towns, Son Lux
Paranoid Girls, Javier del Santo
Pawn Sacrifice, James Newton Howard
The Peanuts Movie, Christophe Beck
Pixels, Henry Jackman
Poached, Mark Orton
Pod, Giona Ostinelli
Poltergeist, Marc Streitenfeld
Racing Extinction, J. Ralph
Room, Stephen Rennicks
Salt Bridge, Marciano Telese
San Andreas, Andrew Lockington
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Thomas Newman
Set Fire to the Stars, Gruff Rhys
Shaun the Sheep Movie, Ilan Eshkeri
Sicario, J�hann J�hannsson
Southpaw, James Horner
Spectre, Thomas Newman
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water, John Debney
Spotlight, Howard Shore
Spy, Theodore Shapiro
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, John Williams
Steve Jobs, Daniel Pemberton
Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans, Jim Copperthwaite
Stonewall, Rob Simonsen
Suffragette, Alexandre Desplat
Taken 3, Nathaniel Mechaly
Ted 2, Walter Murphy
Testament of Youth, Max Richter
The 33, James Horner
Tomorrowland, Michael Giacchino
True Story, Marco Beltrami
Trumbo, Theodore Shapiro
Truth, Brian Tyler
Victor Frankenstein, Craig Armstrong
The Walk, Alan Silvestri
The Water Diviner, David Hirschfelder
Wolf Totem, James Horner
Z for Zachariah, Heather McIntosh

I wonder why they decided Avengers: Age of Ultron wasn’t eligible. I never expected it to get nominated because it’s a purely average score, but it’s surprising it’s not eligible at all. Is it because of Elfman being brought in late on?

I wonder why they decided Avengers: Age of Ultron wasn’t eligible. I never expected it to get nominated because it’s a purely average score, but it’s surprising it’s not eligible at all. Is it because of Elfman being brought in late on?
I don’t see how this makes any sense because, in the list, there is a few films that have more than one composer, but it seems that this is a new rule…

The Academy has decided that if more than one composer contributes towards a film’s score, it will not be eligible, now don’t ask me why there is some films in that list with multiple composers attached to it, I have no clue as to why that is.

Stupid rule, in my opinion. What about all the ghostwriters, and all the other possible technicalities? Makes no sense to me.

I don’t see how this makes any sense because, in the list, there is a few films that have more than one composer, but it seems that this is a new rule…

The Academy has decided that if more than one composer contributes towards a film’s score, it will not be eligible, now don’t ask me why there is some films in that list with multiple composers attached to it, I have no clue as to why that is.

Stupid rule, in my opinion. What about all the ghostwriters, and all the other possible technicalities? Makes no sense to me.

It doesn’t make any sense. It is possible they decided it wasn’t eligible because at least 40% of the score (as heard in the film) was tracked from the first film but I think that’s unlikely. If it’s because of the multiple composer rule, then why exclude one film because of it and then let others in? But then again… we’re talking about the Academy. The same Academy who increased the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 to allow a "greater variety of films from different genres" to be nominated and then keep nominating the same old Award bait films (the Academy always nominating the same old Award bait films was why people requested an increase!).

And like you said, the rule is stupid. Is a score no longer eligible because another composer wrote one track? Or because it tracks music from another film? What if there’s a ghost writer? What if another composer came on as a consultant? It’s like the stupid rule they had in place that said a score that uses themes from another film can’t be nominated (simply to stop scores for sequels being nominated, this is why The Two Towers is the only LOTR score not to get a nomination).

I don’t think there was ever a time when the Star Wars score for whatever respective year was never nominated.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but none of the prequel scores were nominated for an Academy Award. Surprising, considering Williams farting the Star Spangled Banner would probably garner him a nomination for Best Song.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but none of the prequel scores were nominated for an Academy Award. Surprising, considering Williams farting the Star Spangled Banner would probably garner him a nomination for Best Song.

I’m surprised, those scores are too good to not have been nominated, ehh, I guess that’s in the past.

It may or may not have had to do with Academy rules at the time concerning the reuse and/or prominence of material from the previous films.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but none of the prequel scores were nominated for an Academy Award. Surprising, considering Williams farting the Star Spangled Banner would probably garner him a nomination for Best Song.

:laugh:

:laugh:

Heh, yeah, just noticed that. :laugh:

It doesn’t make any sense. It is possible they decided it wasn’t eligible because at least 40% of the score (as heard in the film) was tracked from the first film but I think that’s unlikely. If it’s because of the multiple composer rule, then why exclude one film because of it and then let others in? But then again… we’re talking about the Academy. The same Academy who increased the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 to allow a "greater variety of films from different genres" to be nominated and then keep nominating the same old Award bait films (the Academy always nominating the same old Award bait films was why people requested an increase!).
I don’t know, but The Revenant is unfortunately ineligible for consideration so I figure it happened to Avengers: Age of Ultron for similar reasons.

http://www.latinpost.com/articles/103678/20151221/revenant-news-update-ryuichi-sakamotos-score-disqualified-oscar-race.htm

Well here are the nominees:

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Well here are the nominees:

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

No Inside Out?!

No Inside Out?!

No Mad Max:Fury Road? Not surprised. For most Academy voters Junkie XL’s score probably sounds like so much noise.

No Mad Max:Fury Road? Not surprised. For most Academy voters Junkie XL’s score probably sounds like so much noise.

I know. Jeez. Like, They be dissing Michael G. is what they be doing. :p

No Mad Max:Fury Road? Not surprised. For most Academy voters Junkie XL’s score probably sounds like so much noise.

I’m not an academy voter and I agree. It’s noise, noise, noise!

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54d642d3e4b05cca7671bc2a/t/567ccacddc5cb40b6b508bd9/1451018960077/

I Tried Several Times toListen To That Soundtrack, And I Never Took to It. I Preferred His Black Mass Score.

I’m not an academy voter and I agree. It’s noise, noise, noise!

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54d642d3e4b05cca7671bc2a/t/567ccacddc5cb40b6b508bd9/1451018960077/

http://i.imgur.com/oHYcoBA.gif

I’m expecting Star Wars or Hateful Eight to walk away with the award here. It’s a close call. We’ve got two masters (Williams and Morricone) going up against each other. Bridge of Spies could sneak in and take it but at the moment it’s looking like a two way battle between Star Wars and Hateful Eight. Which is frustrating because I love both scores and want them both to win. I love Star Wars for it’s themes and how it drives the film through character not big action pieces. The music for the final duel between Rey and Kylo Ren is literally a battle between their themes. The new themes (Rey’s theme, Kylo Ren’s theme, Poe’s theme, Snoke’s theme, the Resistance theme) are all brilliant. It’s one of Williams’ best Star Wars scores because it sounds like Star Wars but it’s something very new. But yet I love Hateful Eight for how much it lends to the unease and tension building in the film. The score goes hand in hand with the film and I doubt the film would have worked half as well without the score. I even have a hard time believing the tracks taken from The Thing weren’t originally meant for this film because they work so well in The Hateful Eight. It’s a really close call and I’ll be happy if either score wins but also sad the other didn’t. It’s a case of where I want both of them to win because they both deserve it.

I am hoping for Morricone. Haven’t heard The Hateful Eight, but seriously, no offense, Williams’ great, but not only his SW score isn’t the best to deserve a oscar this year, but also he’s got plenty enough Oscars.. The Hateful Eight is new. And Morricone deserves an oscar.

I’m expecting Star Wars or Hateful Eight to walk away with the award here. It’s a close call. We’ve got two masters (Williams and Morricone) going up against each other. Bridge of Spies could sneak in and take it but at the moment it’s looking like a two way battle between Star Wars and Hateful Eight. Which is frustrating because I love both scores and want them both to win. I love Star Wars for it’s themes and how it drives the film through character not big action pieces. The music for the final duel between Rey and Kylo Ren is literally a battle between their themes. The new themes (Rey’s theme, Kylo Ren’s theme, Poe’s theme, Snoke’s theme, the Resistance theme) are all brilliant. It’s one of Williams’ best Star Wars scores because it sounds like Star Wars but it’s something very new. But yet I love Hateful Eight for how much it lends to the unease and tension building in the film. The score goes hand in hand with the film and I doubt the film would have worked half as well without the score. I even have a hard time believing the tracks taken from The Thing weren’t originally meant for this film because they work so well in The Hateful Eight. It’s a really close call and I’ll be happy if either score wins but also sad the other didn’t. It’s a case of where I want both of them to win because they both deserve it.

I completely agree.

Same here. Williams has several Oscars, Morricone has none. But it’s Star Wars…..

Morricone definitely deserves an Oscar.

And being realistic, I don’t see Star Wars winning an Oscar.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Carol winning. I’ve listened to it several times; it’s just a very nice, quiet, happy score.

And being realistic, I don’t see Star Wars winning an Oscar.

Yes. But there there will usually always be a John Williams score nominated, for sure. Its John Williams. :p

I wouldn’t mind seeing Carol winning. I’ve listened to it several times; it’s just a very nice, quiet, happy score.

Haven’t heard it myself. I don’t listen to many film scores. I should more often.

And being realistic, I don’t see Star Wars winning an Oscar.

Besides, didn’t he win for Star Wars, back in 1978? It’d be silly to give him another oscar for another SW.

Finally listened to Hateful Eight. Not a fan. How many tracks had that same motif in it? Over and over and *nope*.

I didn’t like Bridge of Spies.

Bias aside, I’d have to think Star Wars would win.

I think Star Wars had a very strong score. Very thematic and really driven by the characters. It really served it’s purpose of welcoming audiences back to the Star Wars universe while also showing a different side to the universe via the music. Gone are the days of daring heroics of hopeful farm boys, dashing rogues and beautiful princesses from the original trilogy and gone are the days of a grand order, epic war, political intrigue and scheming villains hiding in plain sight of the prequels. We’re now in a darker, rougher and more uncertain universe. Our leads don’t want adventure. They just want to get on with their lives as best they can. All through the film, Rey denies her destiny until she has no other choice. And the score reflects this. It’s rougher, it’s more uncertain, it’s a side of Star Wars we haven’t quite seen before. We get flashes of our favourite heroic themes as Rey flirts with the call to adventure before fully accepting her destiny. Notice how the Force theme returns triumphantly at the end of the film when Rey accepts her destiny to be trained by Luke and become a Jedi. Rey’s theme itself is quieter at first, almost like it doesn’t want to be noticed just like Rey. It’s simple, like her life. It grows and becomes louder, more complex and heroic just like her character. The villainous themes we recognise lurk in the background to show us the First Order is emerging from the Empire’s shadow, built from the old and becoming something new. Kylo Ren’s theme is slightly reminiscent of Vader’s. It’s big, bold and imposing. Yet it also has a slight tragedy to it like it’s hiding it’s vulnerability, just like Kylo. Poe’s theme is a call back to the dashing heroics of the original trilogy because Poe IS straight out of those stories. And etc. It’s a really powerful score NOT because it’s big, bold, loud and full of epic music like the previous six films, but because it’s quieter, a bit more introspective and slightly unsure of it’s footing just like the characters of this new trilogy. And for me, it’s one of 2015’s best scores because of that. It’s brilliant.

Hateful Eight is all about putting the audience off balance. We never quite know if anyone in the film is who they say they are. Anyone could be lying. Anyone could be out to kill the others. For this reason it doesn’t rely on character themes. Instead, the music becomes a character in the film. It creeps in and sets you on edge and prepares you for literally anything. The "coffee" scene in Chapter 4: Domergue’s got a secret makes great use of "Bestiality" from The Thing and builds and builds tension and expectation because the audience knows what’s going to happen, they’re just not sure when or who to. Likewise the main motif repeated throughout puts you on edge and screams "everything isn’t as it seems". And it’s a brilliant score because of that. It’s a close call for me as to which was my favourite score of 2015. They’re both amazing. They’re both well crafted and, in my eyes, both are well deserving of the Oscar. It’ll be interesting to see which the voters go for because neither is the type of score you’d expect either movie to have.

I think Star Wars had a very strong score. Very thematic and really driven by the characters. It really served it’s purpose of welcoming audiences back to the Star Wars universe while also showing a different side to the universe via the music. Gone are the days of daring heroics of hopeful farm boys, dashing rogues and beautiful princesses from the original trilogy and gone are the days of a grand order, epic war, political intrigue and scheming villains hiding in plain sight of the prequels. We’re now in a darker, rougher and more uncertain universe. Our leads don’t want adventure. They just want to get on with their lives as best they can. All through the film, Rey denies her destiny until she has no other choice. And the score reflects this. It’s rougher, it’s more uncertain, it’s a side of Star Wars we haven’t quite seen before. We get flashes of our favourite heroic themes as Rey flirts with the call to adventure before fully accepting her destiny. Notice how the Force theme returns triumphantly at the end of the film when Rey accepts her destiny to be trained by Luke and become a Jedi. Rey’s theme itself is quieter at first, almost like it doesn’t want to be noticed just like Rey. It’s simple, like her life. It grows and becomes louder, more complex and heroic just like her character. The villainous themes we recognise lurk in the background to show us the First Order is emerging from the Empire’s shadow, built from the old and becoming something new. Kylo Ren’s theme is slightly reminiscent of Vader’s. It’s big, bold and imposing. Yet it also has a slight tragedy to it like it’s hiding it’s vulnerability, just like Kylo. Poe’s theme is a call back to the dashing heroics of the original trilogy because Poe IS straight out of those stories. And etc. It’s a really powerful score NOT because it’s big, bold, loud and full of epic music like the previous six films, but because it’s quieter, a bit more introspective and slightly unsure of it’s footing just like the characters of this new trilogy. And for me, it’s one of 2015’s best scores because of that. It’s brilliant.

Hateful Eight is all about putting the audience off balance. We never quite know if anyone in the film is who they say they are. Anyone could be lying. Anyone could be out to kill the others. For this reason it doesn’t rely on character themes. Instead, the music becomes a character in the film. It creeps in and sets you on edge and prepares you for literally anything. The "coffee" scene in Chapter 4: Domergue’s got a secret makes great use of "Bestiality" from The Thing and builds and builds tension and expectation because the audience knows what’s going to happen, they’re just not sure when or who to. Likewise the main motif repeated throughout puts you on edge and screams "everything isn’t as it seems". And it’s a brilliant score because of that. It’s a close call for me as to which was my favourite score of 2015. They’re both amazing. They’re both well crafted and, in my eyes, both are well deserving of the Oscar. It’ll be interesting to see which the voters go for because neither is the type of score you’d expect either movie to have.

I agree with all of this. 😉

Well here are the nominees:

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

If I had my way, I’d give it to Sicario.

…and while I quite like Carol and Bridge of Spies, I agree with Clonemaster and Killgrave’s ‘Snubs!’ exclamations.
Inside Out and Mad Max should have been on there.

No Mad Max:Fury Road? Not surprised. For most Academy voters Junkie XL’s score probably sounds like so much noise.

Sicario gets pretty noisy too.
…but like Mad Max, it also has some more surprisingly elegant pieces as well.

—

Me thinks it’s The Hateful Eight that’ll take the trophy home.

I’m pretty confident it will finally be Ennio’s year to win a competitive Oscar with Hateful Eight. It’s also my favourite score of the year.

Disappointed not to see Doyle’s Cinderella on the list. Instead, another dull Newman score and a recording of wallpaper drying by J�hann J�hannsson were added to the roster.

I have not heard the Hateful Eight soundtrack, so I can’t attest to listening the score as part of a collection.
I saw the movie, though, and after a few moments of the opening credits, this score owned me.

Much as I’d love John Williams to win it, I’m not that optimistic. I should give Hateful Eight a listen, though, with Morricone being the favorite after the Golden Globes.

I’d go for John Williams’ score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we all know the guys in the Academy are quite nostalgic and to be honest it’s quite remarkable that Williams once again has set a high standard with his work even at his age. I think we all, film score fans, should stand up and salute this man, one of the finest genius of all time and appreciate that he gave us another jewel. I guess when the time comes we all be sad but happy to know so many generations were touched by the maestro’s compositions.

I think Star Wars had a very strong score. Very thematic and really driven by the characters. It really served it’s purpose of welcoming audiences back to the Star Wars universe while also showing a different side to the universe via the music. Gone are the days of daring heroics of hopeful farm boys, dashing rogues and beautiful princesses from the original trilogy and gone are the days of a grand order, epic war, political intrigue and scheming villains hiding in plain sight of the prequels. We’re now in a darker, rougher and more uncertain universe. Our leads don’t want adventure. They just want to get on with their lives as best they can. All through the film, Rey denies her destiny until she has no other choice. And the score reflects this. It’s rougher, it’s more uncertain, it’s a side of Star Wars we haven’t quite seen before. We get flashes of our favourite heroic themes as Rey flirts with the call to adventure before fully accepting her destiny. Notice how the Force theme returns triumphantly at the end of the film when Rey accepts her destiny to be trained by Luke and become a Jedi. Rey’s theme itself is quieter at first, almost like it doesn’t want to be noticed just like Rey. It’s simple, like her life. It grows and becomes louder, more complex and heroic just like her character. The villainous themes we recognise lurk in the background to show us the First Order is emerging from the Empire’s shadow, built from the old and becoming something new. Kylo Ren’s theme is slightly reminiscent of Vader’s. It’s big, bold and imposing. Yet it also has a slight tragedy to it like it’s hiding it’s vulnerability, just like Kylo. Poe’s theme is a call back to the dashing heroics of the original trilogy because Poe IS straight out of those stories. And etc. It’s a really powerful score NOT because it’s big, bold, loud and full of epic music like the previous six films, but because it’s quieter, a bit more introspective and slightly unsure of it’s footing just like the characters of this new trilogy. And for me, it’s one of 2015’s best scores because of that. It’s brilliant.

very well said. Love your descriptions of how the themes reflect their characters.

I hope with all of my heart that John Williams will win. The Force Awakens is my favourite score of the year, I guess…
Well it’s also the first post-original trilogy Star Wars movie to get a nom for Original Score, and that’s something, but I fear he’s not going to win. The Force Awakens is this year’s Interstellar (they have in common 4 categories out of 5) and Interstellar won Visual Effects. That’s what I think is going to happen this year… Star Wars winning only for the Visuals.

I haven’t heard Morricone’s The Hateful Eight, but it’s impressive that he got a nomination this year after being snubbed for most of his career.

I haven’t heard also Bridge of Spies, but it looks like the usual Thomas-Newman-score-that-received-the-nomination-and-loses-it-all.

I haven’t heard even Sicario and Carol, but I think they don’t have many chances to win this year.

I hate when the Academy make this hateful things.
Last year Desplat got his Oscar just because Zimmer already had one, and he received other 7 nominations (in 8 years) without winning! (I do not hate The Grand Budapest Hotel’s score, it’s funny, entertaining and nice, but not good enough for the Oscar IMO). By this point of view, Newman has almost doubled Desplat’s numbers (13 noms in 21 years) and he should win just to stop this bad joke (same identical thing with Roger Deaking, the masterful director of photography that never won an Oscar).
Ennio Morricone was snubbed for all his career and he should also win this time, once and for all!
Also John Williams should win because he’s the victim of the worst of the Academy’s bad jokes, just the opposite of that for Morricone. Since Williams last won an Oscar (back in 1993) he got more nominations than Thomas Newman in his whole career. It’s just horrible what the Academy is doing with this master.
If I was the Academy I’d give the Oscar to Williams & Morricone & Newman.

I like Budapest, but I honestly believe Powell should have been nominated and win the Oscar for HTTYD2, it was a beautiful score on which he poured his heart and soul into. It was more cinematic than any of the other scores. The man deserved that Oscar.

I like Budapest, but I honestly believe Powell should have been nominated and win the Oscar for HTTYD2, it was a beautiful score on which he poured his heart and soul into. It was more cinematic than any of the other scores. The man deserved that Oscar.

Probably… But I really enjoyed more the first one. 2010, another disappointing year. IMO the real condenders were Inception and HTTYD.
Strangely I didn’t truly enjoyed HTTYD2, I expected many new themes, fresh and iconic as the first movie. I truly loved Stoick’s Ship. I agree that Powell should have received at least a nom… But my heart is for Interstellar! 🙂

I was surprised when I read that Carter Burwell hasn’t been nominated before this year.