Composers
Top 15 Scores/Soundtracks of 2014
Jerry Goldsmith, PLANET OF THE APES (1968) Nominee for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture
By Michelle McCue and Melissa Thompson
As 2014 comes to a close, we take a look back at some of the best movie music from this past year. The backbone of any movie, audiences heard rocket engines roar, traveled through LEGO worlds and made spiritual connections all thanks to the musical vision of the composer.
In a mix that was soulful, haunting and fun, this year’s soundtracks covered a range of emotions, from light to dark, to atmospheric and assaultive.
Our Top 15 scores wouldn’t be complete without an honorable mention…
Michael Giacchino – DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
The story about the birth of a civilization and “restart” for the planet Earth was no more prevalent than with the emotional reality of composer Michael Giacchino’s score. Director Matt Reeves’ sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes found its musical language through the empathetic sounds of the apes in the environment Caesar has created for them.
1. Hans Zimmer – INTERSTELLAR
Making his fifth collaboration with filmmaker Christopher Nolan, composer Hans Zimmer steered clear of any musical expressions he’d explored in the past with the director, and invented a whole new palette for the film with the earthy yet elevating notes of an organ.
We went for a spectacular adventure on a journey into the universe and Zimmer’s score gave humanity’s mission to the stars a very primeval quality.
2. Alexandre Desplat – THE IMITATION GAME, GODZILLA and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
Three of the best scores this year, six-time Academy Award Nominee Alexandre Desplat’s music was heard by audiences throughout 2014.
Desplat developed one of his most unusual scores for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL – one played entirely without traditional orchestral instruments. Instead, he brought in a host of Central European instruments, including balalaikas and the cimbalom, a type of hammered dulcimer common to Eastern European gypsy music.
With THE IMITATION GAME, the composer took us to the Bletchley Park codebreaking centre and inside the Enigma machine. Desplat may see his first Oscar win with his beautiful score to the Alan Turing biopic.
Listen on SoundCloud HERE.
Lastly with the great force of GODZILLA propelling the action and keeping the tension high, Desplat made a big sonic impact with the music. “I’ve never done a monster movie before, so coming to this with more than a hundred musicians—double brass, double horns—allowed me to open the frame of my imagination to another territory, and that’s very exciting.”
3. Jóhann Jóhannsson – THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
Filled with a charming score, composer Jóhann Jóhannsson’s music for director James Marsh’s THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was a mix of orchestral instruments and synthesized sounds giving the story of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde an ethereal, lovely sound.
Read our interview with Jóhannsson HERE.
4. Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor – GONE GIRL
David Fincher returned again to work with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO) for the surging undertow to GONE GIRL.
Trent Reznor said, “In terms of the palette of sounds what’s unique on this one is that we used a more organic, less synthetic soundscape. We didn’t want it to feel too slick so we used a lot of interesting homemade equipment. There are moments where the rhythm is just me tapping on a wooden box so it feels repetitive but drifts around a bit like a human heartbeat.”
5. Antonio Sánchez – BIRDMAN or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Drums, cymbals, sticks, mallets and rods were used for the percussion heavy score in director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s BIRDMAN or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance. Four-time Grammy Award winner and composer Antonio Sanchez effectively sets the pace and rhythm to convey Riggan Thomson’s (Michael Keaton) tonal tightrope between comedy and pathos, illusion and reality.
Read our interview with Sánchez HERE.
6. John Powell – HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2
Composer John Powell’s fantastic soundtrack on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 was filled with emotional triumphant orchestral pieces and a resounding chorus making it one of our favorites scores of the year.
Read our interview with Powell HERE.
Listen on SoundCloud HERE.
7. Henry Jackman – BIG HERO 6, THE INTERVIEW and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
Jackman had three big scores in 2014.
He composed a grandiose action score for North Korea’s favorite film – THE INTERVIEW. While building on his previous collaboration with Evan Golderberg and Seth Rogen on THIS IS THE END, Jackman scored the film as if it were a classic action-blockbuster to ground the film’s comedic moments. Jackman also created a score that celebrated the comic-book style action of BIG HERO 6, while weaving in the original music from American rock band Fall Out Boy.
But none was more epic than Jackman’s contemporary take on his superhero score for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. Up next for Jackman is Kingsman: Secret Service and Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.
Read our interview with Jackman HERE.
8. Steven Price – FURY
Just as Price did on his Oscar-winning score for GRAVITY, where the sounds of radio waves were incorporated into the score, the British composer was able to find a distinctive voice for the music of FURY by using unusual and unconventional instruments in a fusion with the orchestral, choral and solo writing featured throughout. The daunting sounds put the audience inside the WWII tanks alongside Brad Pitt and his crew.
Read our interview with Price HERE.
9. Marco Beltrami – THE HOMESMAN
Marco Beltrami’ s created a rustic sounding landscape in director Tommy Lee Jones’ THE HOMESMAN. Alongside his work on SNOWPIERCER, THE GIVER and THE NOVEMBER MAN in 2014, the Oscar-nominated composer’s score for THE HOMESMAN evoked the desolation of the homesteaders by drawing out the essence of the wind with an innovative wind piano that contained 175 feet long wires.
Read our interview with Beltrami HERE.
10. James Newton Howard – MALEFICENT and THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1
The sweeping emotions and volatile moods of THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 and MALEFICENT are evoked not only in the performances and visual designs but in the music, which once again is driven by an original orchestral score from eight time Oscar nominee James Newton Howard. The music for both films cover the whole breadth of experience from scenes of epic action to moments of epic heartache and intimate poignancy.
Howard also composed the score for Dan Gilroy’s NIGHTCRAWLER and Edward Zwick’s PAWN SACRIFICE.
11. Hanan Townshend – THE BETTER ANGELS
Directed by A.J. Edwards, executive produced by Terrence Malick with a beautiful score by Hanan Townshend (TO THE WONDER), THE BETTER ANGELS music took a poetic approach to Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in the harsh wilderness of Indiana.
12. EDGE OF TOMORROW – Christophe Beck
The composer created a score that captured the suspense, the action and the fun of Cage (Tom Cruise) and Rita’s (Emily Blunt) extraordinary journey in director Doug Liman’s awesome EDGE OF TOMORROW.
Read our interview with Beck HERE.
13. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – Tyler Bates
Combining a rich orchestral score with familiar rock tunes, composer Tyler Bates’ score for director James Gunn’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was one of the most popular of the year.
The soundtrack featured classic 1970s songs like Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling,” “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” and The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb.”
Bates also composed the score for the heart-pounding revenge thriller JOHN WICK starring Keanu Reeves.
Read our interview with Bates HERE.
14. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR – Alex Ebert
Another beautiful score from composer Alex Ebert (ALL IS LOST), the haunting music for director J.C. Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR transported audiences into the treacherous yet stunning landscape of NYC, 1981. Ebert’s score uses piano, synth, and percussion to capture the tension and emotional pressure faced by Oscar Isaac’s Abel Morales, as he fights to protect his business and family.
Displaying his versatility, Ebert also recently composed the score for Disney’s animated short FEAST, which is currently being shown in theaters prior to BIG HERO 6.
A Most Violent Year (Original Music From and Inspired By) by Alex Ebert by Nyc1981 on Mixcloud
15. THE LEGO MOVIE – Mark Mothersbaugh
Brick by Brick, composer Mark Mothersbaugh’s fun score for THE LEGO MOVIE
Filmgoers went along for the hilarious ride with Emmet, Wyldstyle, Vitruvius, Lord Business, Unikitty, Batman, Benny the Spaceman and Bad Cop/Good Cop and it truly was the most AWESOME time at a movie theater this year!
Read our interview with Mothersbaugh HERE.
Listen as The Hollywood Reporter discusses with Marco Beltrami (The Homesman), Danny Elfman (Big Eyes), John Powell (How To Train Your Dragon 2), Trent Reznor (Gone Girl) and Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) the process behind scoring the top films of the year.
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