[Tiago dos Santos]

Earlier this year, after a bit of consideration, I finally managed to wrap up my list of favorite film and TV scores of all time. There’s no less than 33 scores in the list, as well as some special categories hehe. I can change it at any given time, depending on my mood, though 🙂

Top 10 favorite scores of all time

In no specific order

The Last Samurai (Hans Zimmer)
Legends of the Fall (James Horner)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (John Williams)
E.T.: The Extraterrestrial (John Williams)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Jerry Goldsmith)
Total Recall (Jerry Goldsmith)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Howard Shore) – if I had to choose one of them, it’d be Fellowship of the Ring, but here the three of them count as one.
Water for Elephants (James Newton Howard)
The Light Between the Oceans (Alexandre Desplat)
The Horse Whisperer (Thomas Newman)

The Runner Ups (they can enter the top 10 at any given moment, depending on my mood)

The Shawshank Redemption (Thomas Newman)
The Green Mile (Thomas Newman)
Apollo 13 (James Horner)
A Beautiful Mind (James Horner)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Hans Zimmer)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Alex North)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (John Williams)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (John Williams)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (John Williams)
Dinosaur (James Newton Howard)
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (James Newton Howard)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (John Powell)
Pocahontas (Alan Menken)
Dances with Wolves (John Barry)
The Matrix Revolutions (Don Davis)
Once Upon a Time in the West (Ennio Morricone)
Spider-Man (Danny Elfman)
A Hidden Life (James Newton Howard)
The New World (James Horner)
The Thin Red Line (Hans Zimmer)
The Omen (Jerry Goldsmith)
The House on the Haunted Hill (Don Davis)
King Kong (James Newton Howard)

Favorite TV score
Lost (Michael Giacchino)

Favorite video game score
God of War (Bear McCreary)

Favorite electronic (100% synth, no orchestra) score
Gone Girl (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)

Favorite Golden Age (1930s – 1950s) score
Ben-Hur (Miklós Rózsa)

Favorite score for a movie or show made in Asia
Tie between The Haindmaiden (Jo Yeong-wook) and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Evan Call)

Favorite score for a movie or show made in Latin America
The Liberator (Gustavo Dudamel)

Favorite marriage between pictures and music (live action)
Tie between Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann) and Once Upon a Time in the West (Ennio Morricone)

Favorite marriage between pictures and music (animation)
Pocahontas (Alan Menken)

Honorary Award
Terrence Malick, for inspiring some of my favorite composers, including Morricone, Zimmer, Horner, Desplat and JNH, to write some of their best music, and for using their music and others to create some of the most poetic and mesmerizing reflections on life in cinematic form.