Outstanding Original Scores in Cinema – Film List

16/07/202321/08/2025 / Joe Baker / 2 Comments

I’ve always considered original scores to be a very underappreciated element of filmmaking, as many audience members rarely seem to take notice of the beautiful and indelible soundtracks that saturate many scenes throughout cinematic history. These scores serve an important purpose in audibly immersing the audience in a narrative via dramatic, unnerving or sorrowful tracks that evoke deep emotion inside them (even if they aren’t aware of it), greatly enhancing the cinematic experience. Here are some of my personal favourites…

Dune (2021) – Composer, Hanz Zimmer

Favourite Tracks: Herald of the Change, Ripples in the Sand

Drive (2011) – Composer, Cliff Martinez

Favourite Tracks: I Drive, Bride of Deluxe

Jaws (1975) – Composer, John Williams

Favourite Tracks: Main Title and First Victim, End Titles

Dunkirk (2016) – Composer, Hanz Zimmer

Favourite Tracks: The Mole, Supermarine

WALL-E (2008) – Composer, Thomas Newman

Favourite Tracks: 72 Degrees and Sunny, Define Dancing

Arrival (2016) – Composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson

Favourite Tracks: Arrival, Kangaru

Halloween (1978) – Composer, John Carpenter

Favourite Tracks: Halloween Theme – Main Title, Myer’s House

Ratatouille (2007) – Composer, Michael Giacchino

Favourite Tracks: Ratatouille Main Theme, End Creditouilles

Jurassic Park (1993) – Composer, John Williams

Favourite Tracks: Welcome to Jurassic Park, Journey to the Island

The Neon Demon (2016) – Composer, Cliff Martinez

Favourite Tracks: The Neon Demon, Something’s in My Room

A Ghost Story (2017) – Composer, Daniel Hart

Favourite Tracks: The Secret in the Wall, Safe Safe Safe

Vertigo (1958) – Composer, Bernard Herrmann

Favourite Tracks: Prelude and Rooftop, Carlotta’s Portrait

The Shape of Water (2017) – Composer, Alexandre Desplat

Favourite Tracks: The Shape of Water, Elisa’s Theme

Nocturnal Animals (2016) – Composer, Abel Korzeniowski

Favourite Tracks: Revenge, City Lights

Edward Scissorhands (1990) – Composer, Danny Elfman

Favourite Tracks: Storytime, Ice Dance

The Social Network (2010) – Composers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Favourite Tracks: In Motion, Painted Sun in Abstract

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) – Composer, Daniel Pemberton

Favourite Tracks: Gimme the Goober, Spider-Man Loves You

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) – Composer, John Williams

Favourite Tracks: Hedwig’s Theme, Diagon Alley and the Gringotts Vault

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – Composer, Alexandre Desplat

Favourite Tracks: Mr. Moustafa, Daylight Express to Lutz

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – Composer, Ennio Morricone

Favourite Tracks: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Ecstasy of Gold

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) – Composer, Alexandre Desplat

Favourite Tracks: Mr. Fox in the Fields, Jimmy Squirrel and Co.

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) – Composer, John Williams

Favourite Tracks: Main Title, The Princess Appears

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) – Composer, Daniel Pemberton

Favourite Tracks: Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy), Canon Event

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) – Composers, Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch

Favourite Tracks: Tears in the Rain, Blade Runner

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – Composer, Jon Brion

Favourite Tracks: Theme From Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Bookstore

Iron Man (2008) – Film Review

23/04/202010/10/2025 / Joe Baker / 1 Comment

Before ‘The Avengers’ or the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ hit the silver screen, director Jon Favreau began the Marvel Cinematic Universe with its first character; ‘Iron Man.’ Blowing audiences away with some incredible visual effects, thrilling action scenes and a very charismatic lead performance by Robert Downey Jr. as the egotistical; ‘Tony Stark.’ And, considering the film was self-financed by Marvel and had a mostly improvised screenplay, it’s incredibly impressive that ‘Iron Man’ is as entertaining and as exhilarating as it is by today’s standards.

Plot Summary: After being held captive by terrorists in an Afghan cave for months, billionaire and weapons engineer: ‘Tony Stark’ builds a weaponised suit of armour to fight his way out after discovering his weapons are being used for a more sinister purpose. Yet even after safely returning home, ‘Tony’ soon uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, forcing him to don his new suit once again and vow to protect the world as ‘Iron Man.’

Although most now know ‘Iron Man’ as a superhero icon, at the time in 2008, ‘Tony Stark’ was a relatively unknown character. Similar to ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America,’ many of Marvel’s ‘B’ listers truly owe their now enormous fan-bases and iconic statuses mostly to their first appearances in Marvel’s live-action universe, with the first ‘Iron Man,’ in particular, adapting the character’s comic book origins fairly closely into a hugely successful action blockbuster.

The supporting cast of Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Clark Gregg and Shaun Toub are great throughout the film, despite only serving small roles within the story. However, it should go without saying that Robert Downey Jr. as ‘Iron Man’ himself absolutely nails the role, as he delivers every line of dialogue as an arrogant, pretentious genius. ‘Tony Stark’ even gives the narrative an engaging thread with his character arc throughout the film, becoming more likeable as the plot continues on, and although done many times before, it still feels pretty satisfying by the end of the runtime. Unfortunately, the biggest problem with Iron Man’ is the same issue that most Marvel flicks suffer from, this being the film’s weak antagonist. Although Jeff Bridges attempts to give his character; ‘Obadiah Stane,’ as much depth as possible, his transformation from a greedy executive to murderous psychopath feels extremely rushed and undeveloped.

Matthew Libatique’s cinematography is fairly creative throughout the film, however, from the various tracking shots of ‘Tony’ soaring through the sky in his suit, through to shots of ‘Iron Man’ taking down groups of terrorists, the majority of the cinematography backs up the quick pacing and utilises movement very effectively. Whilst the film isn’t ever overly focused on its science fiction elements aside from the suit itself, the CG effects throughout the film still hold up very well to say that was it was released in 2008, aside from the occasional shot of ‘Tony Stark’s head being placed atop of the suit.

The original score by Ramin Djawadi is a soundtrack which perfectly fits, alongside the character of ‘Iron Man,’ as the score makes excellent use of electric guitars and a drum kit to match ‘Tony’s young rock-star-like personality and taste in music, as there are multiple scenes of ‘Tony Stark’ listening to rock songs, such as ‘Back in Black’ and ‘Institutionalised,’ throughout the runtime. Not to mention ‘Black Sabbath’s now-iconic; ‘Iron Man,’ played over the end credits.

Even though all of the action scenes throughout the film are quite short, each action set piece is always exciting from start-to-finish, as ‘Iron Man’ takes down his enemies with style every time, utilising an array of different weapons and gadgets the film manages to still represent ‘Tony Stark’s cocky personality through these suited-up action sequences. ‘Iron Man’ was also the first film that kicked off Marvel’s typical style of humour, and while not as noticeable as some of Marvel’s other films, the film still contains plenty of scenes, in which, ‘Tony’ makes sarcastic comments or degrades those around him, and while many of these moments do make for some decent comic relief, I could see many of these scenes becoming irritating for those who don’t enjoy this type of comedy.

In summary, despite its few flaws, ‘Iron Man’ was one hell of an opener for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as without this film, we truly wouldn’t have what is now considered one of the most successful franchises in cinematic history, even with this ignored, however, the film is still exceedingly fun and is filled with plenty of memorable moments on its own, all of this, of course, held up by the brilliant performance from Robert Downey Jr. If you finally want to get around to watching this long-running film series, I’d say the original ‘Iron Man’ will definitely prepare you for what’s to come. Final Rating: 8/10.

What Happened to Pixar Animation? – Film Discussion

21/03/201910/10/2025 / Joe Baker / 1 Comment

Whatever happened to the beloved animation studio, Pixar Animation?

Pixar Animation used to create some phenomenal animated adventures that the entire family could enjoy, regardless of their age. Mixing brilliant storytelling with beautiful animation and incredibly memorable characters, each film never failed to stand out amongst the rest. Some of the films, like ‘Monsters, Inc.’ or ‘WALL-E,’ for example (two of my personal favourite Pixar films), really got creative with their own narratives and fleshed out their individual worlds. However, in recent years, I’ve noticed a severe downgrade in the quality of their films, as it seems ever since the release of ‘Toy Story 3’ back in 2010, Pixar has had a real reliance on sequels, prequels and spin-offs over original films. While still mostly enjoyable, I have noticed the storytelling, character arcs and world-building all seem to be lacking when compared to their earlier films.

In recent years, films such as ‘The Good Dinosaur,’ ‘Monsters University,’ ‘Brave,’ ‘Finding Dory,’ the ‘Cars’ sequels/spin-offs and, of course, the upcoming ‘Toy Story 4.’ Have all ranged from sub-par through to simply awful, the ‘Cars’ series, of course, being the best example of this as this series has always been Pixar’s black sheep. Never truly having the magic that makes Pixar special, always feeling like more of a cash-grab than anything else. ‘Cars 2’ being the most prominent example of this, as this film is one of Pixar’s only poorly reviewed films to date. The ‘Cars’ series has always felt very immature to me, although I didn’t hate the original film, it’s definitely no one’s favourite. In regard to Pixar’s other sequels; ‘Finding Dory’ and ‘Toy Story 4,’ ‘Finding Dory’ is nothing more than a reskinned ‘Finding Nemo,’ except for a few amusing characters; the film has nothing more really to offer. Despite having fantastic reviews from critics for some reason, the film was never anything other than a massive nostalgia slap for me. As, of now, ‘Toy Story 4’ hasn’t yet been released, but I feel when it does it’ll be another film with great reviews, but with nothing truly memorable about it, as I personally believe the ‘Toy Story’ trilogy concluded so satisfactorily, I don’t truly don’t understand why they feel the need to continue that story other than profit.

‘Monsters University’ is probably my favourite of Pixar’s recent continuations of their old stories, although I don’t think the film reaches the heights of ‘Monsters, Inc.’ due to less originality and a lack of adult themes. I do still think the film is very witty, and it does explore the monster world further. It’s one of the few films I can say where it feels there was true thought put into it, as it doesn’t just lean on the legacy of the previous film. Finally, we come to Pixar’s original films. This being ‘The Good Dinosaur’ and ‘Brave,’ now whilst I don’t think these films are awful per se. They simply just aren’t that memorable. ‘Brave’ has a few amusing moments and an interesting setting, but falls more into classic 2D animated stories at points. As for ‘The Good Dinosaur,’ it’s simply a ‘returning home’ story, with nothing of note at all other than the nice animation. It seems most people agree with me on this one, too, considering it’s very low box office return.

Now, of course, there are some recent exceptions, Pixar’s ‘Inside Out,’ ‘Coco’ and last year’s ‘Incredibles 2,’ which I did enjoy very much. These films proved to me that Pixar still has some great stories in them, although these films aren’t perfect and I wouldn’t rank them as high as the classic Pixar films personally, they definitely show potential. I would love to see more original animated films like this from Pixar. Considering how much money ‘Coco’ made when it was released, it’s clear they still make money just from the Pixar name alone. So, why do they feel the need to rely on sequels? Many people would point to Disney pulling their leg, and although I could believe that. I also think it’s due to Pixar simply becoming uninterested; they now think of themselves as the animation giants the audience believes they are. This means they no longer take risks and are comfortable simply gaining profit from their previous franchises.

This could also be due to a lack of original ideas; of course, Pixar simply feels more comfortable returning to their previous stories. But, considering some of their big competitors such as DreamWorks Animation, Blue Sky Animation, Warner Bros. Animation and Illumination Animation are all still pumping out original films (granted, not all quite to the usual Pixar standard). Films, such as ‘Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie,’ ‘Ferdinand,’ ‘The Lego Movie’ and ‘Despicable Me’ are all still very enjoyable to watch. Some of these films even made a pretty big box office return, with the ‘Despicable Me’ spin-off; ‘Minions,’ becoming one of the highest-grossing animated films ever, earning over £900 million. Even the company that teamed up with them (that being Disney) are beating them recently when it comes to original animated flicks, with Walt Disney Animation Studios’ ‘Zootopia,’ being one of my favourite films of 2016.

In summary, what happened to Pixar Animation is very clear to me. They simply got lazy, focusing far more on wanting to make a large profit rather than giving their audience new, exciting stories. The company isn’t completely dead; films like ‘Coco’ and ‘Inside Out’ clearly prove there is still talent there. But, with the older writers, directors and animators now backing down from the company so newer faces can arise. I’m concerned that Disney and Pixar executives may continue to push for more sequels, prequels and spin-offs with the knowledge that the films will always make money regardless of their quality. This is mostly why I fear for ‘Toy Story 4,’ as even though I really hope the film is great, I currently have a lot of doubts in my mind about it. Pixar, however, has also recently brought out a trailer for their next film following on from ‘Toy Story 4,’ titled; ‘Onward,’ which does appear to be a completely original story focusing on elements of fantasy and adventure. So, perhaps not all is lost for the iconic animation company just yet, but only time will tell, I suppose.

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Cloverfield (2008) – Film Review

02/03/201902/10/2025 / Joe Baker / Leave a comment

Personally, I’m not an enormous fan of found-footage horror films (especially when it comes to many modern horrors). However, ‘Cloverfield’ is a rare exception to this, as when this film was first announced, it was surrounded in mystery, as the images and clips that were released revealed literally nothing about the film’s plot. Now, years after its release, we know it’s a large-scale classic monster throwback, all brought-together with a dark atmosphere, clearly inspired by classic monster flicks, such as the original ‘Godzilla,’ ‘King Kong’ and ‘Gorgo.’

Plot Summary: After the U.S. Defense Department discover a videotape in the former Central Park, the located footage reveals a group of friends celebrating a surprise farewell party in the apartment of ‘Rob Hawkins’ in Lower Manhattan, that is until the footage continues on, and soon begins to show an event far more disturbing…

The film opens with a U.S. Defense Department logo, shortly followed by footage of our main protagonist and his girlfriend in bed. This blending of old footage mixed in with the new footage of the attack is a great way of giving some development to the characters, alongside breaking up the large amounts of chaotic action the film sometimes falls into. The film’s reasoning for this is explained early on in it’s runtime, as the current tape we are watching is recording over another.

Aside from Lizzy Caplan and T.J. Miller, the rest of the cast are mostly unknown. I would say they all did a decent job, as the majority of their screen-time is consisted of running and panicking as they make their way through the streets of New York, however. I really enjoyed Lizzy Caplan’s performance, in particular, as her character ‘Marlena’ gets thrown into an intense and painful situation later in the story. This also results in one of the most disturbing/memorable scenes of the film. Unfortunately, the characters aren’t given a huge amount of development, aside from a few short scenes throughout the film.

Being a found-footage film as it is, the cinematography within the film is almost entirely hand-held. Usually utilising a large amount of camera movement to block the audience’s view of the creature in the early stages of the film. Which does really help build tension and excitement, as well as add to the overall mystery that initially surrounded the film. However, the constant and aggressive shaking of the camera can sometimes become a little overwhelming, even if it does result in some thrilling action scenes. The film obviously also doesn’t have an original score due to its found-footage style.

Another element of the film I quite is the design of the monster, as the design seen throughout the film is very original and really gives off a powerful and intimidating feel, which does enhance the film’s visuals. However, one element of the visuals I don’t enjoy is the film’s colour palette, as it can make the film feel a little too much like a typical action blockbuster or cliché horror at points.

The film does also have plenty of memorable moments throughout, as the film’s narrative goes on, New York City becomes more and more destroyed. This allows our group of characters to make their way through the monster’s path of destruction, avoiding dangerous areas and making fantastic use of the large sets and CG effects the film presents on-screen.

In summary, I quite enjoy ‘Cloverfield,’ although it’s now become part of a strange almost anthology-like film franchise with the likes of ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ and ‘The Cloverfield Paradox.’ The initial idea of a simple found-footage monster film always intrigued me, and I’m happy to say director Matt Reeves, producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard all did a decent job here, as even though weak characterisation and overly shaky cinematography do let the film down somewhat, great tension building as well as the film’s superb level of realism and some brilliant creature designs, keep the film interesting enough to enjoy. Final Rating: 7/10.

Joe Baker – Film Reviews

Film Reviews, Discussions, Lists and More…

Release Year: 2008

Iron Man (2008) – Film Review

What Happened to Pixar Animation? – Film Discussion

Cloverfield (2008) – Film Review