View Full Version : Favourite Movie Soundtracks
Quintus.JC
02-07-2009, 16:54
So what's everyone's favourite Movie Soundtracks?
While there are far too many to choose from, Road to Perdition really stood out in my mind. My favourite composers are Thomas Newman, Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams.
First Batman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ydxgekFls Also The Hours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbhgH5VooMY&feature=related
oh, In the mood for love. That is really my favorite come to think it. Incredible movie as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2j0Ee3kL84
cool song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAYJYxbJv1Y
Ohhhhhhhhh Amelie Poulin, the first time I was moved by a goldfish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ7KBgbZjtU
The Untouchables got some pretty good tunes.
Ramses II CP
02-07-2009, 18:26
There have been some pretty mediocre movies with pretty good soundtracks IMHO. I don't tend to care for the weepy stuff, or anything that's trying too hard to be artsy. A few of my old favorites:
The Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack. Cheesy 80's music covered in an eclectic way by 90's-ish artists. Orgy does a superb techno Blue Monday, Marilyn Manson does a dark Tainted Love, and System of a Down works over The Metro. Pretty unique, interesting soundtrack IMHO.
The soundtrack from the first Mortal Kombat movie (Don't go watch the movie... well, okay, go watch Reptile's fight scene and skip the rest of it :laugh4:). Energetic.
Reservoir Dogs soundtrack. Duh? Gold right through, especially the KBILLY song intros from that deadpan comic dude.
:egypt:
Quintus.JC
02-07-2009, 18:30
Reservoir Dogs soundtrack. Duh? Gold right through, especially the KBILLY song intros from that deadpan comic dude.
:egypt:
George Baker- Little Green Bag
The song being played at the start of the movie, an all time classic.
Not a fan of sonic wallpapers unless they are actually tunes that's synonymous with the movie. Two songs I can think of:
"Am I Black Enough for You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15KfOxYbkWU)" - Schoolly D from King of New York (scene starts around 1:30 ).
and
"Kiss From a Rose (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVX0powP-jQ)" - Seal from Batman Forever
System of a Down works over The Metro.
Guh, not Metro(!), they destroyed the song.... :cry:
Hooahguy
02-08-2009, 01:41
I like the Blackhawk Down soundtrack, personally.
Kill Bill, Vol 1 and 2 had amazing soundtracks. There's maybe two songs that are bad in the entire thing. :book:
Edit: I looked for some youtube links to a few samples, but it looks like most of them got nuked. Here's one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU0da7TeZXg&NR=1) of the better ones that survived, check it. ~D
pevergreen
02-08-2009, 03:47
A night at the Roxbury. "What is love?"
Crazed Rabbit
02-08-2009, 04:00
Conan the Barbarian
An amaaaaaaaazing soundtrack.
Ennio Morricone (sp?) has some good stuff, especially in westerns
Hans Zimmer has good stuff
The LOTR movies were good
CR
The Fifth Element soundtrack was one of the only ones I was ever tempted to buy, so I guess that makes it a favorite of mine. :idea2:
Hooahguy
02-08-2009, 04:02
o ya, Wanted has a good one too... especially when he goes in and kills all the bad guys...
Strike For The South
02-08-2009, 04:29
Cold Mountain
O Brother Where Art Thou
O Brother Where Art Thou
How could I have forgotten about this movie?!
Gregoshi
02-08-2009, 07:00
I went nuts when I saw this thread. Soundtracks are one of my favourite genres of music. When pressed I'd have to put John William's original Star Wars trilogy and Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings trilogy as my epic masterpieces. Simply awesome works.
John Williams was "the MAN" in the 70's and 80's - Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, the Olympic Fanfare, etc. were incredible works. I've not enjoyed his works so much in the last 15-20 years though, but the Harry Potter stuff was okay.
Right behind SW and LotR is Randy Edelman's Gettysburg. This soundtrack gets some of the most play time with me.
Jerry Goldsmith did some amazing work too. Patton standing out as my favourite with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Mulan notable too.
James Horner's Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is brilliant, but his stuff begins to sound similar after awhile.
Vangelis' Chariots of Fire and Alexander are favourites too.
Alan Silvestri's Back to the Future soundtracks...:2thumbsup:
Han Zimmer's Pirates of the Carribean is great, but his other works haven't grabbed me like I wish it would.
My current Holy Grail is Bruce Broughton's Silverado (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPWQzq5SQYM). Epic work that captures the grandure of the wild West, but last I checked, it was no long available. :no: Edit: it IS now available! Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaa! Off to Amazon.com...
And I'd best end it here.
Banquo's Ghost
02-08-2009, 10:48
I'm with Greg. The music of a movie makes or breaks it for me and I love collecting and listening to soundtracks.
Most evocative of all to me is "The Mission".
All Morricone's scores tick my boxes, but this is the most haunting of all.
Honourable mentions to:
"Once upon a Time in America".
"Schindler's List".
"Man in the Iron Mask".
"Gladiator".
"Last of the Mohicans".
"Stardust".
Best use of a compilation of several composers:
"Moulin Rouge" (especially the Roxanne tango).
Best use of a single composer's opera:
"Amadeus".
Kill Bill, Vol 1 and 2 had amazing soundtracks. There's maybe two songs that are bad in the entire thing. :book:
Edit: I looked for some youtube links to a few samples, but it looks like most of them got nuked. Here's one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU0da7TeZXg&NR=1) of the better ones that survived, check it. ~D Shivaree is tight. :2thumbsup:
"Moulin Rouge" (especially the Roxanne tango).
One of the greatest scenes ever made, it's just diabolical.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqfszOVqNr4&feature=related
Reservoir dogs:
Stuck in the middle with you - Stealers wheel
Little Green Bag - George Baker Selection
Pulp Fiction:
Girl, you'll be a woman soon - Urge overkill
Misirlou - Dick Dale and his Del tones
Well most of Quentin's movies really. Kill Bill has some nice little diddies too.
Also Oliver Stone's Natural Born killers has two very nice songs of Leonard Cohen. Epic film intro if you ask me. (yeah Quentin Tarentino also contributed to the film, and yeah I'm a fan.)
The Big Lebowski, any movie which features Captain Beefheart is a winner.
And of course the first Matrix movie. Rage against the machine, not only a very good name for this movie, but that guitar riff is the best one since smoke on the water. It makes you feel a real superhero. Obvious choice perhaps, but damn that song is just awesome.
And one we should never forget is Zorba the Greek. The Sirtaki doesn't have the coolness factor of Rage against the Machine, but that song is really great. Especially when on a party, when drunk as can get, trying to do the dance ending up with twenty people falling on the floor. Great song I tell you!
Forrest Gump has some great songs too. Especially the sounds of Jimi when in vietnam. That music captured the atmosphere exactly, and of course purple haze is a great song on it's own too.
Well there are many more examples, but these I feel are really some of the best.
Matrix music is great for getting the blood pumping. Think this was from the second, with a slight variation in imagery.
http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/368911/d9c0baec/matrix_cat_fight.html
The Mothman Prophecies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USqvmKcU3Aw) have a very effectively scary score ( even if the story is for the most part, senseless ).
Even the songs are creepy:
"Half Light (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY-LaFHAfQc)" - Low
Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP4P7VPx2zM)
:skull:
Marshal Murat
02-08-2009, 20:41
Patton - Main theme, epic in scope and full of meaning. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Black Hawk Down - The songs conveyed the meaning of the movie so, so, so well. Each one was just so well placed and good.
O Brother Where Art Though? - Who thought bluegrass was back in town?
Platoon - Adagio for Strings at just the right moment.
Meneldil
02-28-2009, 22:18
As said earlier, the Untouchables score is mostly awesome, byt that's not surprising as it's Ennio Morricone's work.
The Opening Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI_knyiKFGk&feature=related)
Other pieces of art by Morricone:
For A Few Dollars More Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXQltR7vUQ&feature=related)
Once Upon A Time In The West - Man With A Harmonica (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM&feature=related) - Pure badassness.
Angelo Badalamenti's score for the City of the Lost Children is really hypnotizing.
Here's the trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNYG9cXTSds), with the main soundtrack ("L'anniversaire d'Irvine").
Amélie Poulain soundtracks, by Yann Tiersen (I hated the movie, but the music is awesome):
La Valse d'Amélie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWrxs2RDNRU&feature=related)
Comptine d'un autre été (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMMGC9aDpA&feature=related)
Sweeney Todd Opening Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNkPqPVCXX8) (author unknown to me). It is just Dark, Epic, and Freaky.
John Murphy - Don Abandons Alice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pc17rXbC6c), 28 Weeks Later
The - rightfully so - well known Lux Aeterna (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjWHlKAsBNA&feature=related), from Requiem for a Dream. Once again, I don't really like the movie, but that score is just made of awesomeness (the LotR version ain't that bad too), but I prefer the original one.
Togakure
02-28-2009, 23:33
Revenge is an older, underrated film starring Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, and Madeleine Stowe. Maurice Jarre Jack Nitzsche wrote the soundtrack. It's one of my favorites.
Here's an excerpt (abruptly interrupted in the middle by some Air Supply song, destroying the mood). There's enough to illustrate the simple beauty of the soundtrack though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyCr9RksrRU&feature=related
Edit: brain fart--not Maurice Jarre; Jack Nitzsche
Beefy187
03-01-2009, 01:57
Its probably over used but "Requiem for the dreams" is one of the master piece along with LotR and Starwars.
Pirates of Caribbean had good tracks as well
Major Robert Dump
03-01-2009, 02:25
Last of The Mohicans
Centurio Nixalsverdrus
03-01-2009, 03:39
The 13th Warrior theme is just brilliant.
Lost in Translation also has an incredibly opening music.
Alexander the Adequate
03-01-2009, 04:35
The movie Hero has far and away the best music in a movie.
You can find the whole movie on youtube subbed. It's very well done.
Ramses II CP
03-01-2009, 04:45
How could I have forgotten the Trainspotting soundtrack? Lou Reed's Perfect Day is an exquisite exploration of what it means to be an addict.
:egypt:
The Fuzz
03-01-2009, 05:32
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Done by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Fantastic.
Even better is The Proposition. It's also done by ick Cave and Warren Ellis. I love these two soundtracks enough to buy them.
And of course Kingdom of Heaven and LOTR.
Oh lord. There's so many movie soundtracks I really enjoy (and own), that to pick out even a few -- much less only one -- is well-nigh impossible.
The following films' soundtracks are all ones that elicit a stronger-than-normal emotional reaction from me:
The Shawshank Redemption (also my favorite movie of all time)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Braveheart
V for Vandetta
Transformers (yes really!)
The Hudsucker Proxy
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek (VIII): First Contact
The Lion King
Master and Commander
Moulin Rouge
Hero
Saving Private Ryan
Pirates of the Caribbean (first one)
Zodiac:
Three Dog Night - "Easy To Be Hard" Eric Burdon and The Animals - "Sky Pilot" Santana - "Soul Sacrifice" Four Tops - "Bernadette" Lynn Anderson - "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" Sly and the Family Stone - "I Want to Take You Higher" Isaac Hayes - "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" Marvin Gaye - "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" Stories - "Brother Louie" Donovan - "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" Johnny Mathis - "It's Not For Me To Say" John Coltrane - "Mary's Blues" Miles Davis - "Solar" Johnny Mann Singers - "The Sound Of The City"
:2thumbsup:
Meneldil
03-03-2009, 02:29
Haha, I just watched the "Requiem for a Tower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BybTNK9HwWE&feature=related)" video on Youtube, and one of the comments made me laugh so hard I spilled coffee on my desk:
This song can make cooking eggs look epic
I’ll second Blade runner. Easily….
Other worthy mentions I saw here was:
--------------------------------------
Conan the Barbarian – Polydouris score really works magic for that movie. As a cinematic score it is just sheer excellence, it’s freakin great music as well on its own.
Patton – Goldsmiths limited work on this movie, a score of only some 30-40 min music for a film that is well over 2h, it just excellent and it really carries an already brilliant film to even greater hights. Truly a great movie and the music sure do it's part in all that.
l’ll throw in a few other suggestions for fun and for all you guys to consider and/or check out (all outstanding cinematic scores)…
Aliens, James Horner 1986 (orchestral) Goldsmith’s score for Alien (1979) is excellent but I personally feel that Horners score is even better.
The Beast of War, Mark Isham 1988 (experimental/ecclectic mix)
Once upon the time in the west, Ennio Morricone 1969? (orchestral mostly)
Paris Texas, Ry Cooder 1985? (slide guitar/ambient mostly)
The thin red line, Hans Zimmer 1999 (orchestral).
- Cheers
Reverend Joe
03-05-2009, 00:04
I'm amazed nobody has mentioned Easy Rider; after all, it was the movie that defined non-orchestral soundtracks. It also introduced me to Steppenwolf, who are still one of my favorite bands ever.
Repo Man is another good one; I would have never heard of the Circle Jerks or Black Flag were it not for Repo Man.
As for true orchestral soundtracks, I don't think I've heard one more moving than Once Upon a Time in the West. It managed to combine the grandeur and beauty of the romantic Old West with the ugly reality of what it was. It's also entirely insuperable from the film itself; just listening to it now, I have no doubt that this will always stand as the greatest western (and western soundtrack) ever made.
Gotta post a few links for this particular masterpiece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s0-wbXC3pQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgXFA_yP3jw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-95awK6oz8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL-X53ze5O0 (the full version of Man with a Harmonica; apparently Ennio Morricone composed it as a complete piece, which was edited for the movie.)
Lest we foreget a few good scores from the Swordsman (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X129jqfKOwM), and of course Curse Of The Black Pearl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whFVOhigQeU&feature=related), nor even The Far Side's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5pnr53S_qc) Boccherini redux, or The Chronicals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I41xQCnhm7I). Right, almost bloody well forgot Club (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zP1IjgSO_E&feature=related), right.
CmacQ
Hi there Reverend "rock" Joe, (I like Steppenwolf too, they rock! BTW, I seem to be unable to find that rock-thread of yours so what up with that?)
I got to hand it to you, your call on crowning "the king of all westerns” strikes me as impeccable. Score-wise and film-wise. As for “Easy Rider“ perhaps you’re right about the non-orchestral thingie. But let’s face it; the music for that film was not made for that film it was applied to it.
It’s not that it can’t function well when this happens but it was never made or tailored for such purposes. This is why I personally is a tad skeptical to that kind of concept in general as for categorizing it as pure or clean cut original cinematic scores. The score for "Jaws" is a real original score for a movie but in cases like “Pulp fiction” for instance I begin to question if that really is the case. If you understand what I am driving at here?
It is not question whether it can successfully work with a movie. It is a question of being made for a movie. Which for me constitutes the foundation of an original cinematic score as a concept.
Am I just silly here or do I make any sense?!? Well guys what do you think?
- Cheers
---------
Also, on a different and smaller, yet topical note… In retrospect I feel I was a bit harsh on some of the earlier
suggestions I saw here, so I would like to introduce a potential sub-category in this little discussion here - if
nothing else to make it easier for myself at least. As in the category of "greats" or “world class” (in lack of
better terms) as in truly excellent scores but still not all the way up to your absolute favorite scores. In that
manner I would like to offer my support for:
The untouchables
V for Vendetta
Gladiator
Hero
All very good and excellent scores but not all the way to the top for me.
Gregoshi
03-07-2009, 07:13
Am I just silly here or do I make any sense?!? Well guys what do you think?
I'm in your corner Axalon. Soundtracks with songs culled from the various genres of the music industry just seem to be money making devices more often than not. They can work in a movie, and quite well, but when I think "soundtrack", I'm thinking "original score".
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