James Horner has provided the cinematic world with such a multitude of fine scores, one almost has to wonder how he manages to conjure up new themes as delightful as the previous ones. Despite seven nominations (too few, in my opinion), Horner has captured the golden statuette only once. That was the last time he survived the meticulous demands of James Cameron in Titanic, in the pre-1999 era when Score was divided into Original Dramatic Score and Original Musical or Comedy Score.

What made the 1997 victory so compelling was his estranged relationship with Cameron. Squabbles during Aliens had made their coexistence seem impossible, but Cameron was so enthralled with Horner’s Braveheart score (which had the misfortune of going up against Bacolov’s Il Postino) that he decided to recruit him again. Now, 12 years later, Cameron made like MIA’s “Paper Planes” in his return to celluloid with Avatar, the highest grossing film in history. Partly responsible for that is Horner’s magnificent score, which fully immerses itself within the enchanting mystique of Pandora while also adapting an almost tribal intonation. I would describe it as Glory (also Horner) meets John Williams’ Amistad.

Here is a sample, which I think best encapsulates Horner’s efforts (be patient until it really kicks in at about a minute):

—

Horner will have steep competition this year, as 2009 yielded a healthy supply of clef-colored artistry. Perhaps the most exceptional – but least known – is Alexandre Desplat’s indescribably charming score from Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Here are a couple of samples, which should properly intoxicate you in the lighthearted wackiness of it all; like a spoon tapping idiosyncratically atop a crème brulee, it tugs at your heart while tickling your preconceptions:

—

The third nomination for Monsieur Desplat (yes, he is French, which Alicia Keys was unaware of last year when mispronouncing his name at the Oscars. See my live blog), he has sprung upon the scene of late. With The Queen in 2006 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008, this now marks three nominations in four years. If Desplat can win the award this year, it will be a true accomplishment, as the general obscurity of Fantastic Mr. Fox serves as a major disadvantage. Still, his work is so unconventionally extraordinary, that I think he has a decent chance.

Many are criticizing the inclusion of Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders’ score from The Hurt Locker, believing it to be the beneficiary of the film itself while lacking the ability to stand alone. While I would not endorse it beyond the other four nominees, I respectfully disagree with those critiques. The style is certainly different, with its heavy electricity and punk-metal vocals. However, the explosive, adrenaline-charged sound works remarkably well as a complement to the film.

Beltrami and Sanders may not have the best score, but they have given us one worthy of a nomination, if for no other reason than how appropriately it fits and enhanced the subject matter:

—

Hans Zimmer is no stranger to the Academy Awards, having won once and been nominated seven times. It has been a bit of a drought for Zimmer; the last nomination was in 2000 for Gladiator. Maybe that is why he pulled out all the stops for Sherlock Holmes, employing all sorts of modified instruments, like out-of-tune pianos, banjos, and squeaky violins.

Listen here:

—

Zimmer truly is masterful in portraying a dark, mysterious world of crime and sleuthing intrigue. When you consider, however, that he has already won before, the quality of the competition, and the somewhat muted approval of Sherlock Holmes as an adaptation of the traditional Sir Arthur Conan Doyle works, a Zimmer victory would have to be viewed as an upset. I would look upon Zimmer as a dark horse contender.

Lastly, we get Michael Giacchino’s nostalgic score in Pixar’s Up. Giacchino has worked with Pixar before, first with The Incredibles and then Ratatouille, with which he procured his first nomination. Could the third time be the charm? Many believe so, and it would be difficult to campaign against this emotional assortment of timeless wonder. Giacchino did win the Golden Globe.

Listen to the superlative welding of old-time rag with modern reflection, here:

—

When I first heard it on screen, I’m not ashamed to admit that – when accompanied by the heartwarming imagery — it made me tear up. Listening to it again, I just can’t help myself, especially at the end. Any score that can ignite something so deeply personal within us, while so wonderfully depicting the impermanence of life’s most magical offerings, deserves the highest honors.

This might be the greatest collective presentation of scores in recent history, which directly contrasts the poor showings in the Best Original Song category. Even The Hurt Locker’s maligned nomination is foolhardy, as it adds a diverse element to the pool. My vote, and prediction, has to go to Giacchino for Up, but I find the works of Horner, Desplat, and Zimmer similarly dazzling, each in its own way. That such brilliant compositions have found their way into movies is yet another sign that modern cinema can still churn the insides of its customers like no other industry.

Road to the Oscars series:

Podcasts – Kit Bowen, Nate Freiberg, Adam Spunberg, and Phil Wallace

February 4: Live Action Short – Kit Bowen

February 5: Animated Short – Kit Bowen

February 8: Documentary Short Subject – Christa Youngpeter

February 9: Documentary Feature – Nate Freiberg

February 10: Foreign Language Film – Paul Popiel

February 12: Animated Film – Nate Freiberg

February 15: Sound Mixing – Jeremy Martin

February 16: Sound Editing – Jeremy Martin

February 17: Original Song – Adam Spunberg and Savanna New

February 18: Visual Effects – Mallory Pickard

February 19: Original Score – Adam Spunberg

February 22: Makeup – Christa Youngpeter

February 23: Costume – Steve Neumann

February 24: Art Direction – Christa Youngpeter

February 25: Film Editing – Steve Neumann

February 26: Cinematography – Paul Popiel

February 27: Original Screenplay – Jeremy Martin

February 28: Adapted Screenplay – Jeremy Martin

March 1: Supporting Actress – Marla Seidell

March 2: Supporting Actor – Phil Wallace

March 3: Actress – Marla Seidell

March 4: Actor – Kit Bowen

March 5: Director – Adam Spunberg

March 5: Picture – Kit Bowen

March 7: The 82nd Annual Academy Awards!

Two strong and well-rounded female driven films have generated deserved award buzz this season, and both resonate with a vibrato normally unheard of in most lady-centric period pieces. In An Education and Coco Before Chanel, we meet young women thrust into heartbreak and personal devastation that nary a Katherine Heigl character could overcome. Sinewy and gamine, both Carey Mulligan and Audrey Tautou capture the audience with both their coquettish beauty, and then demand attention through their misfortunes and mistreatment in pre and post war Europe while adding a hearty dash of charm along the way.

An Education tells the captivating story in drab-colored 1960’s London of a school girl (Mulligan) swept off her feet by a mysterious, smooth talking businessman (Peter Sarsgaard) leaving in his wake her parents’ not so subtle wish for her to attend Oxford. Mulligan is so at ease as Jenny, her rushed transformation from naïve cellist to school shirking rebel to broken-hearted young woman is both moving and predicable in the best possible way. As both she an the audience put the pieces together as to the true nature of her doting beau, one can’t help but share her crushing disappointment and cheer for her determined resiliency after her dreams slip away after one fateful discovery.

Mulligan, nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance, shines as a top-notch student poised for Oxford thanks to her wit and overbearing father (Alfred Molina). On a chance rainy encounter she meets David (Sarsgaard) and the two embark on a whirlwind romance taking sheltered Jenny to Paris while her lover embarks on shady business dealings with his morally questionable best friend Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his ditsy fur-clad girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike). As the gilded lies unravel, each character reveals their true nature, leaving Jenny in a shattered fairy tale and possibly some statuettes from the academy.

Across the English Channel, Audrey Tautou tackles perhaps fashion’s most worshiped icon in Anne Fontaine’s Coco Before Chanel, chronicling the couturier in her early years as a lonely orphan to her climb through the Paris elite. Tautou, like Mulligan, is utterly cherubic at first glance- soft brown hair, pool-like eyes and captivating smile. Once her character develops, though, a one-dimensional dimpled girl becomes uncontrollably fierce, even unlikable at times.

Director Marie Fontaine is careful not to traipse down the familiar path of laying out a heroine’s journey too early on in the film. Chanel didn’t fall out of the womb stitching couture, obviously, and the director subtly reminds the audience that she evolved into her larger than life self only after years of ladder climbing and shrewd decision-making. Unlike naïve working-class bred Jenny, Coco (ne Gabrielle Chanel) is more hardened to the world and sardonically inclined which adds to the movie’s biting authenticity and inherent watchability. Isn’t it, after all, so strangely rewarding watching a pre-war figure slog her way through society’s trenches to world-wide reverie rather than being born into wealth and privilege?

As movie musicals go, “Nine” doesn’t necessarily have that wow factor, but it certainly has enough terrific performances to make it entertaining.

Starting with Daniel Day-Lewis, as Italian film director Guido Contini. He sings, he dances (sort of; he jumps around on things a lot), and mostly embodies a director who has lost his creative spark, as his life spirals out of control. The Broadway musical is based on Italian film director Federico Fellini’s 1963 classic, semi-autobiographical film “8 ½,” which explores the director’s creative free fall – and the seven women who move in and out of his life in a dreamlike state.

In the case of “Nine,” these women are: Carla (Penelope Cruz), Contini’s sensual but unstable mistress; Luisa (Marion Cottilard), his patient and devoted wife; Claudia (Nicole Kidman), his frequent leading lady and muse; Lilli (Judi Dench), his longtime costume designer and confidante; Stephanie (Kate Hudson), a flirty Vogue journalist; Saraghina (Stacey Ferguson), a prostitute from Contini’s childhood; and finally, his mother (Sophia Loren). Day-Lewis is once again a marvel. There truly isn’t anything this Oscar-winning actor can’t accomplish, authenticating everything he tries his hand at.

All the women do a nice job in their roles as well – and more importantly, in their musical numbers – save for Kidman, who just seems sorely out of place. Granted, as songs go in “Nine,” she has the worst one to sing, in my opinion, so it may be harder for Kidman to shine than the rest. But still, she doesn’t hit the mark as a sexy Italian siren (based on the real ‘60s Italian film star Claudia Cardinale) at all. Cruz has the most to chew on as the fetching but insecure Carla, distraught she can’t be in Contini’s life more, and she totally sells her libidinous song “A Call from the Vatican,” swinging from ropes in lingerie. Cotillard gets to use her pipes again, after winning the Oscar for playing Edith Piaf, but as Luisa, she doesn’t have as much range to play with. It’s basically one emotion for Luisa – beaten down – and Cotillard seems wasted since we know she can give so much more than that. Dench is always good as Lilli, the voice of reason, while Loren stands around looking regal. The singer Fergie naturally nails her musical number “Be Italian” like the pro she is, but doesn’t really have to do much acting beyond that. For me, the real stand out is Hudson. Not only does she have the best song, “Cinema Italiano,” she is also so damn cute performing it.

Director Rob Marshall, who spearheaded the Best Picture winner “Chicago,” understands how to translate a musical for the big screen, and with “Nine” he delivers again, even if he borrows a little from another source, namely “All That Jazz.” Similar themes, similar influential women, similar dreamlike state – and similar stark sets with back-lighting and picturesque tableaus, as many of the numbers are shot on the fictional Stage 5 at Cincetta Studios in Rome. Of course, “Nine” has its own individual merits, too. Marshall really captures that Italian 1960 spirit and brings all the elements together as a cinematic experience. Since the Academy voters love musicals, I’m sure it’ll have a shot at Best Picture, but for me, Broadway musicals-turned-films can be hit or miss. I’m one of the few people in the world who didn’t really love “Chicago.” Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s wanting to see the choreography on stage, up close and personal, but “Nine” doesn’t knock my socks off overall.

By Adam Spunberg

It’s hardly a coincidence that the Oscar nominations for Best Original Score tend to come from acclaimed films also nominated in other major categories. There are three inferences we can make from this:

1. Good soundtracks make for good movies

2. The best filmmakers hire the best composers

or more likely…

3. There are superior scores out there, scorching in obscurity, collecting the glitzy sawdust of better-known pictures.

While this unfortunate occurrence detracts from the legitimacy of the award, the Academy is still pretty accurate in nailing some schmaltzy choices. As such, let’s examine the five candidates for this year’s golden statue:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) – Alexandre Desplat

This is the second nomination for Monsieur Desplat (The Queen, 2006), which makes him a toddler among centenarians. Fortunately, the Academy does not discriminate by age, and the good-natured Frenchman has a wonderful shot at turning back time.

Desplat’s eerie concoction is particularly effective in capturing the befuddlement of Benjamin Button’s backwards condition. The music assumes an almost Dali-esque persona, presenting a theme as distorted in its cadences as it is rigid in its clockwork. Gustav Holst’s “Saturn” from The Planets comes to mind, with a little unconventionality thrown in.

• “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage) – James Newton Howard

This marks Howard’s sixth nomination for Best Original Score and eighth overall. His other five nominations were for The Prince of Tides (1991), The Fugitive (1993), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), The Village (2004), and Michael Clayton (2007).

Howard definitely deserved this nomination, but – like his other five attempts – he will almost certainly come up short. The music is strong in its exposition, but it lacks that key ingredient, that magical element necessary to win. The texture bears some similarity to John Williams’ Schindler’s List theme, and for that it ought to be praised, but it also needs to be a bit more memorable. A worthy nomination effort…nothing more.

• “Milk” (Focus Features) – Danny Elfman

Elfman is well known in the industry but has not received that many nominations. Like Desplat and Howard, he is still waiting for the ultimate call. Men In Black, Good Will Hunting, and Big Fish were all poignant efforts, and Elfman has slight reason to believe this could be his turn.

There is something extraordinarily exciting about the Milk soundtrack. Elfman really gets your heart going, introducing an adrenaline-thumping rhythmic dictation in the strings. Then enter choir, which metamorphoses the daintiness into something far more sublime. Quite simply, I like it a lot, and I think the Academy will too…just not enough.

• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight) – A.R. Rahman

Every once in a while, something unorthodox slips its way into the Oscar equation. Rahman’s invigorating, pulse-pounding, cross-cultural, tour de force score is a dangerous contender, perhaps even the prohibitive favorite.

The fate of Rahman (pictured) may very well be tied to the fate of Slumdog Millionaire, and based on preliminary findings, that’s probably good news. There is something sorrowfully human within this score, and yet a hope whispers uncompromisingly from within. The use of unusual instruments and nontraditional tonalities should only help his candidacy. Either way, Rahman is on the fast track to becoming a millionaire in his own right.

• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney) – Thomas Newman

Thomas Newman is probably the most famous among this group, garnering eight prior nominations. The rub? He also has never won. Newman’s excursions to the Oscars are starting to resemble prostate-diseased trips to the can. When, oh when, will Mr. Newman win?

WALL-E is not Newman’s best work, although it comes pretty close. In 2002, he was inexplicably stood up, robbed, and left bleeding in a Compton corner when Road to Perdition was disregarded. I want to say his comeuppance has come, but I just don’t think WALL-E will trump Slumdog Millionaire or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.