Oscar Nominations Today

Good morning. The Academy Award nominations were announced today. If you wish to learn the real Oscar nominations, you should be able to find them (after 5:38a.m., PST) at http://www.oscar.com/nominees/nominees_home.html

Since I am writing this two days in advance, I cannot tell you what the Best Score nominations were (or any of the nominations, for that matter), but here are my best guesses.
Before I present my guesses, here is a very important note--

THESE ARE NOT THE REAL NOMINATIONS!

A Beautiful Mind - James Horner
Black Hawk Down - Hans Zimmer
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - John Williams
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Howard Shore
Monsters, Inc. - Randy Newman

And these are the most likely runners-up:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence - John Williams
Gosford Park - Patrick Doyle
In the Bedroom - Thomas Newman
Pearl Harbor - Hans Zimmer
The Shipping News - Christopher Young

However, if the theories of certain quantum physicists are true, there exists an alternate universe where these are the five nominees:

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Michael Kamen
Rat Race - Elmer Bernstein
Scary Movie 2 - George S. Clinton
What's the Worst That Could Happen - Marc Shaiman
Zoolander -- BT

In that same universe, Bruce Broughton conducts sold-out concerts of his film music several times a year at the Hollywood Bowl, while Hans Zimmer is an underpaid fry-cook in Manchester, England.

I will be attending the nominations announcement in person, but only because I am stalking Academy President Frank Pierson. (I'm pausing for a laugh here. Jokes about Frank Pierson always kill with industry audiences)

Ali (score album) - Lisa Gerrard, Peter Bourke
Hart's War - Rachel Portman

Variety's review of Hart's War called Portman's score "appropriately brooding and unostentatious." That'll set your toes a-tapping.

From: "Ryan Vemmer" luckydogs2@EARTHLINK.NET

I found two good Nyman articles/reviews on Andante.com today. One is another recent film score related interview which is very interesting. Mentions another upcoming film project beyond The Hours:

http://www.andante.com/magazine/article.cfm?id=15512

and for those of you who haven't seen it yet, here is a review of a Noises, Sounds, and Sweet Airs concert from July 2001(?). Some nice photos as well...

http://www.andante.com/magazine/article.cfm?id=13689

From: thomas <thomasc@nowtranslations.com>

To start, I am not a person who hears music and visualizes "things" (storms, battles, kisses, chases). It's always pure music for me: melodic lines, counterpoint, harmony, instrumentation, and the emotions these can bring. That said, I must have listened to The Lion in Winter a hundred times before seeing the movie. The result? I thought the film was good, the music was good, but they weren't good together. The music had taken on a life of its own. After seeing the film a few more times, the music began to fit, and I could accept it as a great score and great pure music sans visuals. This was not an isolated incident (3 Worlds of Gulliver, for example).

I think Barry is not a man who suffers fools gladly which is why he walks on so many scores or refuses to "rescore." There is a point in Thunderball where the music -- fabulous, eerie, perfectly fitted music -- is faded to zero so we can hear the sounds of frogmen bubbles (not as bad as cutting Rosza's music in El Cid so we can hear a momentary clash of swords, but still...). I sense that he soon grew tired of this, probably partly his own fault for signing on to bigger and lamer "event" pictures (Black Hole, King Kong, The Deep). I think he came up with a formula of just enough music in just the right places so that he wouldn't overwrite and have his meticulous writing tossed for bubbles or engine noises or a pop songs; never "too many notes."

Of course, I loved Scarlet Letter and Swept from the Sea, so I'm still on board as a Barry fan, but as another writer said, he avoids the experimental strokes he used so freely in the 60s and 70s. But I'm thinking lately, can't the same really be said for my other 60s/70s faves: Goldsmith, Williams, Morricone, Schifrin? Perhaps it worked like this:

1) The death of studio films and studio orchestras

2) The 60s/70s with smaller independent films and chamber-like ensembles and an interest by all involved in blending all the then current trends as well as making one's own.

3) Post Star Wars films with either electronic monotony or over-scored cacophony.

Hmmm, Number two sure stands out.

For those who have a fascination with the extremely specialized field of assigned-but-unwritten film scores, other works of interest include:

Bernard Herrmann: Laura, Portrait of Jennie, Carrie, Demon, The Seven Percent Solution

John Williams: Meteor, Quintet, Heaven's Gate, Bicentennial Man, The Sentinel, The Deep, Wolf, Inchon

Jerry Goldsmith: Grand Prix, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, Air America, Super Mario Bros, Baby's Day Out, Tombstone, The Jungle Book, Judge Dredd, Lost in Space, Simon Birch, Ronin, Reindeer Games, Disney's The Kid, The Yards, Rat Race, Domestic Disturbance.

In response to the criticism about John Barry's music everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, JB has at least 4 Oscars for music over a 34 year period. I don't think any other composer garnished more accolades.

On the other hand, Alan Menken won eight music Oscars between 1989 and 1995, so maybe those little trophies don't mean so much after all. And I suspect you mean "garnered," not "garnished." Though as a huge John Barry fan, I'm convinced he could garnish anything he set his mind to.

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