ORIGINAL SCORES (104) IN 2012 OSCAR® RACE

One hundred four scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2012 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 85th Academy Awards®.
Eligible scores along with their composers are listed below in alphabetical order by motion picture title:

       "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," Henry Jackman; 
       "After the Wizard," Stephen Main;
       "Alex Cross," John Debney and Sebastian Morton;
       "The Amazing Spider-Man," James Horner;
       "Anna Karenina," Dario Marianelli;
       "Argo," Alexandre Desplat;
       "Battleship," Steve Jablonsky;
       "The Bay," Marcelo Zarvos;
       "Beasts of the Southern Wild," Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin;
       "Being Flynn," Damon Gough;
       "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," Thomas Newman;
       "Big Miracle," Cliff Eidelman;
       "Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story," David Cieri;
       "Brave," Patrick Doyle;
       "Brooklyn Castle," B. Satz;
       "Chasing Ice," J. Ralph;
       "Chasing Mavericks," Chad Fischer;
       "Chicken with Plums," Olivier Bernet;
       "Chimpanzee," Nicholas Hooper;
       "Cloud Atlas," Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek;
       "Compliance," Heather McIntosh;
       "Contraband," Clinton Shorter;
       "The Dark Knight Rises," Hans Zimmer;
       "Dark Shadows," Danny Elfman;
       "Darling Companion," James Newton Howard;
       "Deadfall," Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders;
       "The Dictator," Erran Baron Cohen;
       "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax," John Powell;
       "End of Watch," David Sardy;
       "Ethel," Miriam Cutler;
       "Flight," Alan Silvestri;
       "For a Good Time, Call..." John Swihart;
       "For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada," James Horner;
       "Frankenweenie," Danny Elfman;
       "Fun Size," Deborah Lurie;
       "Girl in Progress," Christopher Lennertz;
       "The Grey," Marc Streitenfeld;
       "The Guilt Trip," Christophe Beck;
       "Hidden Moon," Luis Bacalov;
       "Hitchcock," Danny Elfman;
       "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," Howard Shore;
       "Hotel Transylvania," Mark Mothersbaugh;
       "House at the End of the Street," Theo Green;
       "The Hunger Games," James Newton Howard;
       "Hyde Park on Hudson," Jeremy Sams;
       "Ice Age Continental Drift," John Powell;
       "The Impossible," Fernando Velázquez;
       "Jack Reacher," Joe Kraemer;
       "John Carter," Michael Giacchino;
       "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," Andrew Lockington;
       "Lawless," Nick Cave and Warren Ellis;
       "Life of Pi," Mychael Danna;
       "Lincoln," John Williams;
       "Lola Versus," Will Bates and Philip Mossman;
       "Looper," Nathan Johnson;
       "The Lucky One," Mark Isham;
       "LUV," Nuno Malo;
       "The Man with the Iron Fists," RZA and Howard Drossin;
       "Marvel's The Avengers," Alan Silvestri;
       "The Master," Jonny Greenwood;
       "Men in Black 3," Danny Elfman;
       "Middle of Nowhere," Kathryn Bostic;
       "Mirror Mirror," Alan Menken;
       "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," Geoff Zanelli;
       "On the Road," Gustavo Santaolalla;
       "The Pardon," Ashley Irwin;
       "Parental Guidance," Marc Shaiman;
       "People Like Us," A.R. Rahman;

         "The Possession," Anton Sanko;
       "Prometheus," Marc Streitenfeld;
       "Promised Land," Danny Elfman;
       "The Raid: Redemption," Mike Shinoda and Joseph Trapanese;
       "Red Tails," Terence Blanchard;
       "Rise of the Guardians," Alexandre Desplat;
       "Ruby Sparks," Nick Urata;

         "Safe House," Ramin Djawadi;
       "Safety Not Guaranteed," Ryan Miller;
       "Saint Dracula," Sreevalsan J. Menon;
       "Savages," Adam Peters;
       "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," Rob Simonsen and Jonathan Sadoff;
       "The Sessions," Marco Beltrami;
       "Sinister," Christopher Young;
       "Skyfall," Thomas Newman;
       "Smashed," Eric D. Johnson and Andy Cabic;
       "Snow White and the Huntsman," James Newton Howard;
       "Taken 2," Nathaniel Mechaly;
       "Ted," Walter Murphy;
       "Think Like a Man," Christopher Lennertz;
       "This Means War," Christophe Beck;
       "A Thousand Words," John Debney;
       "The Three Stooges," John Debney;
       "Trashed," Vangelis;
       "Trouble with the Curve," Marco Beltrami;
       "21 Jump Street," Mark Mothersbaugh;
       "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2," Carter Burwell;
       "Until They Are Home," Jamie Dunlap;
       "War of the Worlds The True Story," Jamie Hall;
       "The Watch," Christophe Beck;
       "West of Memphis," Nick Cave and Warren Ellis;
       "Where Do We Go Now?" Khaled Mouzanar;
       "Won't Back Down," Marcelo Zarvos;
       "The Words," Marcelo Zarvos;
       "Wreck-It Ralph," Henry Jackman;
       "Zero Dark Thirty," Alexandre Desplat.

 

A Reminder List of works submitted in the Original Score category will be made available with a nominations ballot to all members of the Music Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements.  The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominees for the award.

To be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must be written specifically for the motion picture by the submitting composer.  Scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible.

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. 

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

Songs, Scores, Performers for Tonight's Oscar® Gala

SONGS and PERFORMERS

Beyoncé, Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Hudson, Randy Newman, Keith Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, and James Taylor are set to perform this year’s Oscar®-nominated songs on the 79th Academy Awards® show tonight, telecast producer Laura Ziskin announced late last week. In case you haven't heard, the host is Ellen DeGeneres. To read my post about DeGeneres, click my Archive for September 2006 on the right sidebar.

Three nominated songs from DREAMGIRLS will be sung. Beyoncé will sing “Listen” (music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler, lyric by Anne Preven). “Love You I Do” (music by Henry Krieger and lyric by Siedah Garrett) will be song by Jennifer Hudson. “Patience” (music by Henry Krieger and lyric by Willie Reale) will be sung and performed by Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, and other cast mates.

“I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary feature AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH will be sung by Melissa Etheridge, who also wrote the music and lyric for the nominated song.

Randy Newman wrote both the music and lyric for "Our Town," nominated from the animated feature CARS, and he will perform with singer-guitarist James Taylor. Newman also composed the score for CARS.

NOMINATED SCORES

First of all, you can read about, and listen to, excerpts from all five nominated scores from the features BABEL, THE GOOD GERMAN, NOTES ON A SCANDAL, PAN'S LABYRINTH, and THE QUEEN at NPR.org. There you can also read excellent evaluations by NPR's movie-music expert Andy Trudeau. So, go there first, but please come back.

When I attended film school, two things about film scores were drummed into our heads:

1. The score should not overpower the visuals, dialog, and story. If the viewer keeps noticing it, then it is not a good score.
2. The score should stand alone as a unique musical composition, allowing it to be performed in concerts.

Based the second criteria, Gustavo Santaolalla's score for BABEL should be disqualified. I noticed it more than a few times, too. Second strike. It is unique, so that may give it some extra points.

Thomas Newman's score for THE GOOD GERMAN captures the big orchestrations in the Hollywood scores of the golden age with enough variations to ward off the copycat label. It can definitely stand alone as a composition but since I haven't seen the film, I must wonder about it being intrusive. Yes, he is the son of Alfred, the famous film-score composer, but Thomas has his own track record, including the score for AMERICAN BEAUTY.

Composer Philip Glass's score for NOTES ON A SCANDAL? Well, Philip Glass is Philip Glass, is Philip Glass, is Philip Glass. Even a rank amateur listener can discern a Glass composition. To me his music gets monotonous but Trudeau says that in NOTES Glass actually reaches moments of crescendo when there should be a crescendo to match the action of the movie. I did notice more contrast. I'm not sure I would go all the way with Trudeau's statement, "The result is a soundtrack brimming with melodic writing and a moody oboe theme." With those crescendos and melodic moments, the score is not as boring as his earlier works. Nonetheless, it is still somewhat sedate.

As to Alexandre Desplat's score for THE QUEEN, Trudeau says it is a score with many levels, which manages the movie's transitions between pomp and lightheartedness. Since I haven't seen the film, or heard much of the score, there it rests.

Trudeau says that Javier Navarette's score for PAN'S LABYRINTH, is a "rich, intimate score that walks the delicate line between fantasy and horror." Navarette has been composing in Spain for 20 years. His work is well known there and in Europe, but this is his first exposure in the U.S.

Since I have some knowledge of Spanish music and scores for Spanish movies, I've listened to some of this score, and I think the musical references in the score are excellent, especially the overarching theme of the lullaby, a rich tradition in Spanish music. I may have a bias here, but I'm going to choose this score as my favorite. I think it has an excellent chance of winning.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented tonight, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®. The Oscars® will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), beginning with a half-hour red carpet arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars.”