What’s the best score of 2011, so far?

Now, I haven’t seen a lot of films this year yet (my theater only gets the big films since I live in a small town), but so far, just like the films themselves, I’ve been pretty underwhelmed. There’s only been one truly breakout hit (score-wise), and it took a few listens for it to grow on me.

X-Men: First Class, by Henry Jackman.

I was anticipating the score ever since Jackman’s attachment was announced (I was hoping for Ilan Ishkeri, since he worked with Vaughn on Stardust), but when I finally saw the film, I wasn’t that impressed. It was mostly likely due to the fact that, since the film is set in the 60s, I was expecting a somewhat more period score, and to get something that featured a lot of electronics… it kind of jarred me.

I still think the score (especially the opening track) has a lot in common, style-wise, with both Tron: Legacy & Inception, but I still quite like it, especially Magneto’s and the main X-Men theme.

The rest of the scores this year I really don’t think are all that original. Now, I haven’t listened to most of them outside of the films, so it might just be that I need to hear them more, but I just can’t help but feel disappointed. Last year we got Inception, Tron: Legacy, and The Social Network (and those are just the blockbuster scores that I can think of off the top of my head).

My next batch of favorite scores (though I’m not sure favorite is the right word) are:

Source Code
Captain America: The First Avenger

There are a couple others I think I liked, or will probably enjoy, like Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and Cowboys & Aliens, but I just haven’t listened to them enough to accurately judge them.

So, what was your favorite score (and your honorable mentions) and why? Was it simply a composer that you’ve always loved? Or was it a surprise that you found yourself liking it for some reason?

HALLOWEEN 4: The Return Of Michael Myers Limited Expanded Edition OST

Cowboys & Aliens by (Harry-Gregson Williams).
I also liked Thor’s soundtrack…. but it did not broke my head like this one . 😛