Categories One-by-One: Score

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HarryGoldfarb
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Score

Post by HarryGoldfarb »

I've just found out Jóhann Jóhannsson, Sicario's composer, died last year.

I wasn't a fan of his Golden Globe winning score from The Theory of Everything, but we can't deny it's a beatiful, although intrusive and by the numbers one. His work for Sicario was way better.

He died in Berlin on 9 February 2018, at the age of 48 (so so young!). As per Wikipedia, the cause of death was an accidental overdose of cocaine combined with medication.
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OscarGuy
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Score

Post by OscarGuy »

Many of the critics I've read have pointed out that Carter Burwell's score is a bit derivative and is too reminiscent of his past work to truly be legendary. I'm not sure Academy members will realize that or even care. However, Harvey Weinstein may not have had much influence the last few years, but he did manage to help secure Christoph Waltz a second Oscar when no one thought he could win two for being a out-of-nowhere actor. It was clear the Morricone narrative was built some time ago and he's sure to pound that home. After all, if he can score a win for Morricone, an industry legend, it might go a long way towards smoothing out his sagging popularity.

Of course, this could also mean a win for some stuff from Carol. He doesn't have much to champion, so if he's at all invested in this race, look for some surprise wins for his films, the only one of which I think will come to fruition being this one.
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Score

Post by Big Magilla »

If Morricone didn't have that honorary Oscar, I'd say the Oscar was his to lose, but he does.

Cater Burwell or Thomas Newman should win this. Burwell's score for Carol is simply beautiful. Newman's score for Bridge of Spies is one of his best, providing a perfect accompaniment to the action on screen.
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Score

Post by Heksagon »

Certainly Ennio Morricane has to be the favorite here. It is true that music is used sparsely in The Hateful Eight, but I think this is the one category where the Academy likes to go for quality over quantity. The prominent use of the score in the beginning and the few other scenes should be plenty.
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Categories One-by-One: Score

Post by Mister Tee »

The nominees:

Bridge of Spies (Thomas Newman)
Carol (Carter Burwell)
The Hateful Eight (Ennio Morricone)
Sicario (Johann Johannsson)
Star Wars: the Force Awakens (John Williams)

Remember a few years ago, when Roger Deakins was nominated for photographing True Grit? He was in the race on merit, for a film that had double-digit nominations, and some of us thought his name/reputation would carry him over the finish line. I feel like something of the same sort of gestalt exists in the score category this year, and I’m mindful of the fact that Deakins didn’t, in the end, win.

To start at the bottom: John Williams can’t get a win for this retread, can he? I’m sure there are going to be people who say, Oh, no: he wrote all kinds of new music for this latest version. There were plenty who kept pushing that line about the Lord of the Rings movies, too, even though there was clear carryover in the main themes. (Why do films like Birdman get excluded for including previously used music, but these films never do?) Anyway, as Sonic said a while back, I defy anyone to hum me anything from Star Wars 7 that doesn’t come from the first film.

Thomas Newman has had about the same luck his cousin Randy did all those years: racking up nominations (13 in the last 22 years), but always going home empty-handed. I’d love to see him rewarded someday, but, truth is, none of his recent nominations have been truly memorable, Bridge of Spies included. His only chance would seem to be voters turning on films they don’t care for (see up ahead) and selecting the one, apart from Star Wars, that’s modestly popular.

I was shocked when, at the end of Sicario, Johann Johannsson’s name popped up as the composer. Could the guy who came up with that schmaltzy Theory of Everything music really be responsible for something this interesting? I give Sicario a dark horse’s chance of winning.

If you asked me to pick my favorite, it’d be Carol, hands down A beautiful theme, perfectly attuned to the film’s tempo, from a composer who’s deserved nomination for decades (Gods and Monsters is to me an inexplicable omission). But Carol, I’m told, “isn’t popular”, so it can’t win. Which is kind of a weird thing to say about a film with six nominations. I know – it should have been in for film and director and was left off, so that means it’s hated. (Yet, somehow, The Danish Girl is popular enough to win supporting actress, despite not coming close in film or director, and its defending-champion composer being noticeably snubbed here.) Anyway, Carol is probably a long shot to win this, but I’ll be rooting for it all the way.

I didn’t see The Hateful Eight in its 70mm presentation, so I can’t evaluate its overture, which seems to have impressed people. But that, I imagine, puts me in the same boat as most Academy voters, who caught the film later in its run or on a screener. What I can say is I very much liked the music that played during the opening credits. But, after that, except for a few moments of goofy “something zany’s going to happen” riffs, I don’t much remember the score. However, to return to my opening thought…none of that is supposed to matter, because it’s Ennio Morricone, probably the last chance to give him a real Oscar, so it should be in the bag, right? Again: I’m not sure Oscar voters will feel that way. Some (not a lot, but some) may not even know him the way us obsessives do. Some may think his Honorary Award was plenty to carry him. Some may just hate Tarantino’s movie and not want to give it any kind of recognition. (If this were a hit, like Django or Basterds, sure, but Hateful is Quentin’s biggest dud since Grindhouse.) Then again…the Globes bit on the lifetime achievement thing, and maybe the Academy – enough of them, anyway -- will, too.

For me, another tricky category.
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