I have spent ten years now writing and paying close attention to film music old and new.  There was a stretch from the mid-1990s until about 6 years ago that I managed to predict the five score nominees (I think 2003 was the last year of my perfect streak.)  Since then I have somehow managed to bat 3 of 5 most of the time.  This year though is a real head scratcher

It is sort of odd that one of the best "new score" releases of 2010 was actually an expanded 2-disc set of 2009's Star Trek!  After that I can perhaps point to 5 or 6 more.  Danny Elfman has two of my favorite scores on the list.  The first is his interesting score for Alice in Wonderland with one of the most memorable themes that permeates this score and film.  The other was for the at times laughable remake of The Wolfman with a beautifully perfect score in a more classic horror movie vein.

I'm also a big fan of Alexandre Desplat, and though I have yet to hear The King's Speech, I suspect it would make an expanded list of scores.  At any rate, his fascinating Herrmann-esque music for The Ghost Writer continues to linger in the ear.  It is definitely worth being on the Oscar short-list, but I doubt many will remember this release from early last year.

Hands down, the one score that worked so well in a film and on its own was John Powell's fantastic effort in How To Train Your Dragon.  This is one of his strongest scores in a while with perfect action sequences and great thematic development all around.

Two scores featuring music from other sources were also among the better releases.  First was Christopher Gordon's beautiful music for Mao's Last Dancer.  Those whom I have heard from who also discovered this film and score tend to agree that it is another strong effort.  Gordon's day will hopefully come someday.  The other score is Clint Mansell's music for Black Swan.  This is a score that warrants repeated listening so that you can pick out the threads of the Tchaikovsky source music adn Mansell's deconstructing of it within the score.  It's pretty amazing the more you think about it.  Unfortunately, the score was deemed 'ineligible" by the Academy which is rather unfortunate because rather than just use the source material, Mansell really transforms it throughout the film.

Two other films featured scores by master composers.  The first is actually from a 2009 film, Baaria, by Tornatore.  Ennio Morricone continues his fruitful collaboration with the director in a score that continues to build on approaches taken in earlier Tornatore films.  There are engaging themes and plenty of interesting orchestral choices to go around.  The other film is about Darwin, Creation, and features a surprisingly good score by Christopher Young who seems to be enjoying flexing his compositional style in a variety of genres of late.  Both scores are perfect efforts with Young's perhaps being the better of the two if one had to choose.

So with these thoughts in mind, I turn to thinking a little about this year's Oscar possibilities.  The Social Network score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross may have received a Golden Globe, but I cannot see this making it to the final five.  The other four scores nominated for Golden Globes though may have a chance.

Though A.R. Rahman captured the imagination with Slumdog Millionaire, it is hard to believe that his music for 127 Hours will have the same critical awareness.  Elfman's Alice in Wonderland, Desplat's The King's Speech, and Zimmer's Inception are more likely to appear on Tuesday's list.  In the case of the latter, I am not quite sure why the score would be considered "best" of the year.  It seems to work well in the film, but it often seems so much like everything else by Zimmer--less distinct than Sherlock Holmes--but, didn't some used to say the same about every "older" generation of composers.  It would be wonderful if Powell's How To Train Your Dragon made the cut as well--it certainly has garnered critical attention in music and film circles.  In fact each of these scores have been nominated for the Anthony Asquith Award in Film Music (BAFTA). 

That list may repeat Tuesday morning.  But somehow I feel there may be a surprise or two.  I will laugh out loud if The Ghost Writer is nominated over The King's Speech, but it would not be the first time one of Desplat's scores was edged out over another.  I have to wonder if the dark horse this year is Carter Burwell's True Grit though. So, here is my tentatively chosen list and I await to be surprised in the morning:

Alice in Wonderland - Danny Elfman
How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell
Inception - Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat
True Grit - Carter Burwell

Catching up now after a full week of vacation here.  The last month of 2010 was filled with many amazing releases as labels dangled the perfect gifts of "holy grail" scores from practically every direction.

La-La Land wins the month with three fabulous releases of music from the last quarter-century of film music.

First up was the release of music from John Williams' delightful holiday score to Home Alone.  Now expanded to include more underscore than the commercial release, and re-edited to follow the film more closely, the music reveals an entirely new direction of musical ideas apart from the engaging themes Williams created which made up the bulk of the commercial CD release when the film first appeared.  That disc is still worth keeping around to compare the composer's own editing choices for listening with this more complete presentation.

Hands down, the best release of the month, and one of the best of the year, was that of Jerry Goldsmith's score for Star Trek V.  This least favored of the six Trek films with the original cast turns out to have one of the series' finest scores.  La-La Land's mastering here is superb and the first fifteen minutes of the first disc grab a hold of the listener's attention and draw one into the score.  One recalls how so many awful films received such top-notch efforts from Goldsmith that fans can at least be glad this score is available to enjoy without having to sit through the film. 

Fans of Danny Elfman also got a second gift in 2010 with the release of Batman Returns in a two-disc set from La-La Land.  This score had an unusual presentation upon its CD release.  The oddest things was that all the titles for tracks appeared only on the CD itself and no where else in the booklet design.  That presentation was interesting but seemed quite incomplete.  This new release brings together all the music and resequences it in film order in another fantastic remastering effort.

Christopher Gunning may not be as familiar to American film music fans or listeners.  But if you have ever watched the Poirot mysteries on PBS you have heard his wonderful theme and additional underscoring style.  Chandos released an ample disc featuring an overview of many of the composer's most requested music from a variety of films in stellar sound.  The album was reviewed here in December so take a look at that review for more details of The Film & TV Music of Christopher Gunning.

Finally, Williams fans got another great surprise from that master's back catalogue.  After the appearance of Black Sunday and Images on disc, it was perhaps inevitable that Family Plot would soon appear.  Varese Sarabande released this interesting score from what would be Hitchcock's last film.  Here we get to listen to some of the comedic and light dramatic underscoring that would be further developed in later Williams' works on display.  The engaging primary theme turns out to be just one of many fascinating ideas and scoring choices in this fun little score.  In retrospect, the chance to work with Hitchcock must have seemed like a career maker.  But history is a bit odd as Williams' reputation would not be made with this film but with two "little" sci-fi films released back-to-back, Star Wars and Close Encounters.  Family Plot becomes another filled in hole to follow the composer's style and approach to scoring.

Coming up this week will be, with any luck, the beginning of a few "best of 2010" lists.

3.      Batman Returns (Elfman)                                                                                  LLL

4.      Film & TV Music of Gunning                                                                     Chandos

10.  Family Plot (Williams)                                                                                  Var. Sar.