**for
my Top 10 Films list for 2016, click here**
I
have a particular penchant for looking at the use of music in film, whereas
many others often quip that the best soundtracks are the ones you don’t hear at
all (or that simply feature the most generic collection of rock hits
imaginable). For me, the right score is
what can push a good film to greatness and make an otherwise uneven or passable
one good. So looking back at 2016, what
were the films that had the best original music and made the best use of
it? These are my picks.
9. Star Trek: Beyond (Michael Giacchino)
For
all its ups and downs, the music has been one of the most consistently
excellent parts of the Star Trek reboot, and the latest (and by far best) of
the trilogy is no exception. And not
only was the score good, the soundtrack gets an extra point for featuring a
musical call-back to the very start of the first movie way back in 2009, one
that I might have been the only person to catch.
8. Kung Fu Panda 3 (Hans Zimmer)
Since
this had the misfortune to come out in the Dreg Month of February, not many
people saw this one, and it was all but forgotten by year’s end, but the
consistent excellence of Dreamworks when it comes to making good sequels
continued here, and like the first two movies in the franchise featured a
fitting original score by Hans Zimmer, one of the finest composers working in
film today.
7. Moana (Mark Mancina, Lin-Manuel
Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i)
While
Disney still isn’t quite back to Beauty and the Beast/Hunchback/Lion King
levels in terms of its animated musicals, Moana was the best step in that
direction yet taken, the first of them since Princess and the Frog to have both
a score and song set that actually heard and felt like they were written for
each other for the film. We all know how
awesome Lin-Manuel Miranda is, but Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i deserve equal
credit for coming together to collectively create the most solid musical of the
year (yes, substantially better than that other
one).
6. Midnight Special (David Wingo)
Another
early-year release that most people seem to have forgotten about already, this
gripping little thriller about a boy possibly possessing deity-like powers and being
pursued by both the government and a religious cult is not just a great
underrated movie everyone should see right now, it also had a beautifully
ambient score to accompany its sharp visual style.
5. The Handmaiden (Cho Young-wuk)
As
fittingly-crafted as the film’s writing and visuals, the score by NAME is
another one of the key puzzle pieces that came together perfectly with the
others to make this masterpiece a reality.
4. Arrival (Johann Johannsson and Max
Richter)
Featuring
a score by two of my favorite film composers (you may notice this isn’t the
first time Johannsson has appeared on these lists), this movie has
arguably the best sound design of any film that came out this year, perfectly
tuning in the music to unsettle, elevate, calm, or sadden a given scene as
needed.
3. Kubo and the Two Strings (Dario
Marianelli)
A
good fantasy film always calls for a good, old-school orchestral score to match
its soaring emotions, the danger and intensity of its action, and the strength
of its quieter moments, and Marianelli’s work for the latest work by Laika
delivers in every way it had to, especially in how it works in the instrument
the main character specializes in playing and the melodies he calls upon to
cast his powerful magic.
2. The Nightmare (Steffen Kahles
and Christoph Blaser)
With
its thumping beats, dubstep-style aesthetic and furious pace, the score for
this twisted psychothriller makes the audience feel every bit as harried and
pursued as the main character does as she tries to find out the truth behind a
creature sneaking around her house, and whether or not her basic grasp of
reality has slipped away entirely. Like
the film, its harsh tone must be set to LOUD to have the proper effect, and
boy, does it work.
1. Swiss Army Man (Andy Hull and
Robert McDowell)
Easily
one of the oddest scores of the year, Swiss Army Man’s music is almost entirely
acapella, featuring only the chanting/humming/muttering voices of its two lead actors
(Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe). It’s
mostly quiet, reflective, almost meditative in its sadness and somberness, but
with one key exception; the montage track, used to excellent effect several
times over the course of the movie (and featured in the trailer), is easily the
most exuberant, joyful, and fist-pumpingly inspirational bits of music to come
out in a time and place that desperately needed (and still needs) more joyful
energy. For this, and for the wonderful
creativity and uniqueness of each of its tracks, Swiss Army Man gets my vote as
the best film score of 2016.
A
brief apology for not being able to my more silly awards this year- time simply
has not allowed it, especially if I am to get my Oscar post out before the
ceremony itself. Hopefully it will make
a grand and spectacular return next year.
-Noah Franc
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