The Adjustment Bureau |
American Beauty |
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)This is one of my favourites, full of strong orchestral writing with the major-minor dissonances that characterise many of Thomas Newman's better scores (e.g. the Stoic Theme and Shawshank Redemption). There are some ambient/piano tracks as well - Brooks Was Here is perhaps the most famous, which has been sampled by Seal, and I also really like the one in New Fish. This score was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Hans Zimmer's score for The Lion King.
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Little Women (1994)One of his more conventional scores as far as harmony and orchestration go, with a rather Christmassy feel. My biggest criticism is that there isn't much of the score on the album (around 34 minutes). My favourite theme is the Spring theme (one that Newman himself has said he particularly liked), variations on which also appear in Harvest Time and Amy Abroad. This score was also nominated for an Oscar and lost.
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Oscar and Luscinda (1997) |
The Horse Whisperer (1998)Thomas Newman was brought in to replace John Barry for this one, and he did a very good job. Some of the tracks are a bit too "horsey" for my liking, but there are many strong tracks here. I'm particularly partial to The Vast Continent, which is one of the most played tracks in my playlists. There's some nice soft ambient piano pieces such as There Was Snow, and strong orchestral themes such as in Grace.
Rating: 4.2 |
Meet Joe Black (1998) |
American Beauty (1999) |
This currently stands as my second favourite Thomas Newman score (after Angels in America). There's a lot of rich orchestral writing in here - Whisper of a Thrill has long been one of my favourite pieces of film music, which I remember first hearing on an advert, which is reprised in two other tracks - and there is also a very good orchestral rendition of What a Wonderful World. The last track, That Next Place, is a very triumphant, emotional piece of music. I also like the jazzy Fifth Ave. There are also scattered tracks with the usual ambience, strings and piano.
Rating: 4.8 |
American Beauty's score is perhaps the one that Thomas Newman is most famous for, particularly the tracks Any Other Name (aka the "plastic bag theme") and Dead Already. It's one of his quirky scores, with plenty of wacky instruments combined with some ambient tunes with strings and piano. Here it works particularly well. As well as the two famous tracks, I also particularly like Mr. Smarty Man and Angela Undress. Perhaps not enough standout tracks to get the full five star rating, but it's generally very pleasant to listen to.
Rating: 4.5 |
The Green Mile (1999) |
Erin Brockovich (2000) |
Cinderella Man (2005) |
Jarhead (2005) |
Little Children (2006) |
The Good German (2006) |
Towelhead (2007) |
WALL-E (2008) |
The Debt (2011) |
The Iron Lady (2011) |