Iconic movie score in recent years

[slumcat]

Michael Giacchino's Up

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

I feel like Zimmer's work on Sherlock Holmes is overlooked. Really memorable theme for me.

Yes. I forgot about that one. That is probably the last really memorable movie score, rather than LOTR, like I said earlier.

If you count TV, then Game of Thrones has an amazing score.

 

[Lord]

Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Spider-Man (2002) had some great iconic scores.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

It has annoyed you that there haven't been any iconic original scores as of late? Really? The bar is set at iconic?

I'm sorry, but that seems like a pretty bizarre barometer to me. There's a reason why we haven't seen it that often, as it's not exactly an easy milestone to achieve. Anyway, I can't recall any scores I'd consider iconic either in the last decade or so, but I've heard plenty of damn good ones. My favorite in recent times would have to be the Tron: Legacy OST. Mediocre movie, but Daft Punk hit a home run with the score.

Yeah, that is a really high bar, but when I was growing up we used to get them all the time.

Jaws
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Star Wars
Indiana Jones
Superman
Chariots of Fire
The Terminator
Back to the Future
Batman
Jurassic Park
Die Hard
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
Etc.

Compared to the scores of the 60s, 70s & 80s, modern scores really are lacking. I'm not complaining because we haven't got an iconic score in the last six months. I'm complaining because we've hardly got them in the past decade.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Ah yes... the GOT score is epic and I usually find myself humming it for days after watching and episode.

I also want to say Zimmer's Inception score, however, I actually found he theme of the trailer for that film more memorable. They really, REALLY should have found a way to put Mind Heist in the movie itself. That theme was SO good.

 

[The Endless]

This is one of my favourite pieces from Zimmer.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

My favorite Zimmer score is Crimson Tide, which is now nearly 20 years old.

I also really like Sherlock Holmes and Gladiator.

 

[Soapy]

Maybe in twenty years people who were kids today will think of today's scores as iconic.

It's really unfair to make this comparison anyway. Yeah, no **** scores from beloved movies that came out thirty years ago are more iconic than those that came out two years ago. Give it time.

I should also point out that you guys are obviously wearing rose-colored glasses. You're focusing on a small handful of classic movies and pretending that they're the total summation of film at that time and conveniently forgetting about the other 95% of movies that came and went and were forgotten, as were their scores.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

It isn't the nostalgia filter. Based on past patterns we should have 8-10 truly iconic scores in the past decade, if not more. That hasn't happened.

I think the single biggest problem is John Williams getting old. Look at that list I posted on the last page and check out how many of those scores were his. There hasn't been a new John Williams to step up and replace him.

 

[The Endless]

Kingdom of Heaven is another one that springs to mind for me. Great score.

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Yes. I forgot about that one. That is probably the last really memorable movie score, rather than LOTR, like I said earlier.

If you count TV, then Game of Thrones has an amazing score.

The GOT score is awesome, rain of castamere is up there with the imperial march for me.

 

[flickchick85]

On the topic of TV scores, BSG's music was always amazing to me. Probably one of my favorite scores ever, and not just in TV.

 

[DA_Champion]

John Williams actuslly did a great job on the star wars prequels. If those movies were better than the score might be iconic.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean and Spider-Man (2002) had some great iconic scores.

All great scores.

The Rohan theme was beautiful and Spideys theme so heroic yet a tinge of sadness. The pirates theme had a great swashbuckling feel

 

[titansupes]

TDKT, Inception, Pirates, LotR all fit the bill.

 

[redhawk23]

While not "iconic" because the movie isn't that popular, Pacific Rim made better use of recognizable musical motifs (the way John Williams used music in Star Wars for another example) than pretty much any movie since Return of the King. The music is great and often character specific, in a way that the Marvel films completely missed the boat on.

 

[redhawk23]

Maybe in twenty years people who were kids today will think of today's scores as iconic.

It's really unfair to make this comparison anyway. Yeah, no **** scores from beloved movies that came out thirty years ago are more iconic than those that came out two years ago. Give it time.

I should also point out that you guys are obviously wearing rose-colored glasses. You're focusing on a small handful of classic movies and pretending that they're the total summation of film at that time and conveniently forgetting about the other 95% of movies that came and went and were forgotten, as were their scores.

Those movies scores were instantly recognizable and took off within pop culture. My dad played the Star Wars theme in high school marching band in 1979 as did I in 2008. Pretty much no movies make use recognizable, marketable themes in that fashion any more. Its just a stylistic difference. Music while still very good tends to be much more textural rather than being able to work on its own outside of that context.

Its not just a matter that we don't know that modern film music will or won't hold up after 30 years, its that they don't even strike the public consciousness in the present.

 

[Deserana]

I thought The Amazing Spider-Man's theme was really good! Is the theme used by Zimmer in 2?

 

[Quasimod0]

Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Up, The Incredibles, and Tron: Legacy had very iconic scores. Some of the very best, imo.

 

[SpideyFan866]

I thought The Amazing Spider-Man's theme was really good! Is the theme used by Zimmer in 2?

Nope.

Zimmer composed a new one that's, IMO, even better. ESPECIALLY the version at the very end of the film.

 

[flickchick85]

Nope.

Zimmer composed a new one that's, IMO, even better. ESPECIALLY the version at the very end of the film.

Zimmer's is alright, imo, but Horner's main theme was my favorite that Spidey's had yet.

 

[Lord]

Ifound it very forgetable to be honest, greatly prefered the score in the 2002 film.

 

[The Endless]

Yea Elfman's score is superior to Horner's and Zimmer's for me. Vastly superior.



It's up there with his Batman theme for me.

 

[Silvermoth]

Whenever I think of iconic recent themes I always think of the Harry potter theme and the avengers theme. A lot of people here have had some good ideas though like up which makes me sad just humming the theme

 

[Lord]

Completelly agreed, i think that with more time, maybe his Spider-Man theme would have become more iconic with the help of nastalgia too. Either way, completelly forgot about Harry Potter, lol, along with Lord of the Rings, it was the most iconic movie score of the 2000s.