Top10 Scores of 2014

Filmmaking is a collaborative medium. There are
many, many moving parts that must come
together just right to create a cohesive
moviegoing experience, and when key aspects of
the filmmaking team excel, the final product is all
the better for it. This is especially apparent in
the world of film composing. There were a
number of original scores this year that were
notable for one reason or another, and so
whittling it down to a list of the 10 best scores
was no easy task. The final compilation is as
eclectic as it is impressive, which just goes to
show there’s no one right way to score a
movie. Check out the Top 10 film scores of 2014 according to Collider;

10. The Guest
For their follow-up act to the excellent horror
film You’re Next , director Adam Wingard and
screenwriter Simon Barrett decided to go old
school with an 80s throwback thriller called The
Guest. The film is a wildly entertaining
experience in the vein of classic John Carpenter
with Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens playing a
Terminator-esque “good bad guy” taking refuge in
a small town. Key to the film’s success is
composer Steve Moore’s original score, which is
fittingly throwback in nature as well, complete
with pulsating synth and plenty of 808 drums.
The score not only drives the film’s action; it
helps define the movie’s tone. While disturbing
and somewhat scary at times, Moore’s music
helps to convey that, above all, The Guest is so
much fun.
9. Only Lovers Left Alive
Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s drama about bored
vampires is wonderfully entrancing, and for the
score to the meandering picture, Jarmusch turned
to a collaboration between his band SQÜRL and
composer Jozef Van Wissem. It’s a fruitful
partnership, and in light of Tom Hiddleston ’s
character’s fascination with rock music , the
guitar-heavy score provides an excellent backdrop
for the ensuing character interplay. Only Lovers
Left Alive isn’t particularly plot driven, which is
part of the film’s charm. It’s an intense, longing
gaze into the existence of two people who’ve
seen it all, and the brooding, humming score fits
perfectly.
8. Godzilla
Based on the sheer quantity of original scores
he’s able to pump out (he appears on this list
three times), it would appear that composer
Alexandre Desplat is superhuman. But the fact
that his large body of work is consistently so
good is what makes him special. With Godzilla ,
Desplat takes on his first massive blockbuster
( Deathly Hallows is more operatic than
blockbuster-ish, I’d argue), and the results are
appropriately bombastic. From the opening
credits it’s clear that Desplat has honed in on
something special here, a score that evokes the
monstrosity of the titular creature without being
too on the nose. The heavy use of horns aids in
making the major set pieces feel unique—a tall
order in light of how many similar blockbusters
flood the marketplace these days—and it fits
wonderfully with director Gareth Edwards’
distinctive spin on the tentpole formula.
7. Nightcrawler
I’ll be honest, I’ve never really been particularly
taken with any of James Newton Howard’s
scores. It’s not that they’re bad; they just never
really made a strong impression. With the terrific
psychological thriller Nightcrawler , however,
Howard has put together something that’s truly
memorable. Dark, muddled tones mirror the
uneasiness the audience feels when faced with
Jake Gylleenhaal ’s Lou Bloom, a psychopath for
the ages, but Newton brilliantly plays into the
character’s inherent charm with something
surprising: a hero’s theme. It’s a wonderfully
ironic touch, as the twisted, heroic guitar riff
evokes the way Lou sees himself, giving the
creepiest character of the year his own theme
song.
6. Inherent Vice
After putting together two striking, prickly scores
for Paul Thomas Anderson ’s last couple of films
—There Will Be Blood and The Master —composer
Jonny Greenwood offers something completely
different in his score for Inherent Vice ,
Anderson’s loose and colorful pothead detective
story. PTA’s film sucks viewers in and takes
them on a mesmerizing, drug-fueled trip, and the
journey is made all the more enticing by
Greenwood’s hazy score, which eases viewers
into the world and moves them from one crazy
scenario to the next. Greenwood also pays
homage to classic film noir, serving as a perfect
juxtaposition on PTA’s riff on the structure
structure.
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel
Here’s where we see Desplat’s versatility. That
he’s able to create two scores as wildly different
as Godzilla and The Grand Budapest Hotel in the
same year is insane. Desplat has composed the
score for the past three Wes Anderson films in a
row, and with The Grand Budapest Hotel he
crafts an opulent, Eastern European-influenced
piece of work that weaves in and out of the
caper genre. Given that this is a Wes Anderson
film, the music is delightfully playful, but the
director goes darker than ever before in certain
areas of the picture, which gives Desplat the
opportunity to follow accordingly. It’s quite
possibly the richest Anderson/Desplat
collaboration to date, and it makes me hope this
partnership never ends.
4. Gone Girl
Here’s another director/composer collaboration
that offered up a departure from what came
before. With Gone Girl, Trent Reznor and Atticus
Ross crafted quite possibly the funniest score of
the year; a composition that mirrors the character
arc of Rosamund Pike’s titular Amy Dunne by
beginning in surprisingly traditional fashion (well,
traditional for Reznor and Ross anyway) with
sappy, melodic tones before taking a sinister turn
at the film’s halfway point. It’s a score that’s in
lock-step with Fincher’s satirical, darkly comic
tone for the film itself, and it’s incredibly creepy
to boot.
3. How to Train Your Dragon 2
With How to Train Your Dragon, composer John
Powell created one of my favorite scores of the
past decade, so my expectations for his work on
the follow-up were high. Instead of simply relying
on the success of what he did before, Powell
dispenses with the first film’s themes in the
opening sequence of How to Train Your Dragon 2
before moving on to new territory. It’s a score
that’s as sweeping as it is intimate, drawing on
traditional Celtic music but never relying on it too
heavily. Powell uses choirs to chilling effect,
evoking the grandness of the landscape while
maintaining focus on the specific characters’
emotions, which is where the music really sings.
The key to Powell’s genius is that he values
emotion above all else, and that carries over into
how the music accompanies the film itself, and
results in an overwhelmingly emotional
experience.
2. The Imitation Game
It feels like overkill to put Alexandre Desplat on
here three times, but the guy is just that good—
and I’d argue The Imitation Game might possibly
be his best work to date. The propulsive, sweet,
and melancholic score gives immediacy to this
World War II drama about Alan Turing, a genius
mathematician and code breaker who helped win
the war but was persecuted for being a
homosexual. It’s a simple score really, mostly
piano and strings-driven, but Desplat has put
together an unforgettable theme that almost feels
like stepping inside Turing’s mind.
1. Interstellar
Quite possibly the most popular composer since
John Williams , Hans Zimmer has been
responsible for a great number of memorable
themes and scores over the past few decades.
His partnership with director Christopher Nolan
has been fruitful, giving us the “BRAAM” of
Inception and the massive chorales of The Dark
Knight Rises , but for Nolan’s sci-fi epic
Interstellar the two went to church to spectacular
results. Zimmer’s unique, dreamlike score uses
pipe organ to incredible effect, giving us
something as majestic and emotional as what
Nolan puts up on the screen. It’s truly unlike
anything I’ve heard before, and when the score
hits its climax through those booming IMAX
speakers, it’s impossible not to be moved. This
is the power of movie music.

Honorable Mentions: The Theory of Everything ,
The Homesman , Fury