Thomas Newman: Unsung Hero Of Film Score Composers

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:57pm

Is anyone else here a fan of Thomas Newman? I swear...he's gotta be one of the greatest living composers for films. His music enhances every movie he does, even if the film itself is crushingly dull. Completely underrated. And his Six Feet Under theme rules.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:57pm

LOVE HIM.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:12pm

Perfect stuff to meditate to.

[beacon1]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:14pm

Love his score for "Angels in America". The Main Title brings me to tears everytime--as does "Bethesda Fountain."

[mabel]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:58pm

Count me in...LOVE the score to American Beauty. I can't believe it didn't win the Oscar. What won that year? The Red Violin?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 4:42pm

Yeah, he's the quirkiest composer around...I love his score for a little film called "Men Don't Leave"

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 6:19pm

He's got good composing genes - he's the great Alfred Newman's son, Lionel & Emil Newman are his uncles and Randy Newman is his cousin.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 6:55pm

Another Unsung Hero is Ennio Morricone. When you hear one of his scores, you know it is him immediately

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 9:02pm

Morricone is revered as a god in most circles, mostly thanks to Quentin Tarantino's use of his excellent stuff in Kill Bill and because his Good Bad and The Ugly score has become commonplace in pop culture. Anything set in the old west has either snipppets of the score or something very similar to it.

Yet Thomas Newman is consistently overlooked. He was nominated for the Oscar several times (Including last year for Lemony Snicket, a great GREAT score that easily eclipses the good-but-too-episodic-for-its-own-good film) but has never won. "Brooks was Here" from Shawshank Redemption alone should have snagged him one.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 10:48pm

Can't hold a candle to Alfred.

Vivian Darkbloom
Ramsdale, New England

[cturtle]

Posted: 7/29/05 at 2:40am

i'm a big fan. i love to fall asleep to MEET JOE BLACK.

other faves:
HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

has anyone heard CINDERELLA MAN?

ironically, didn't newman do the score for UNSTRUNG HEROES? i never saw it.

[justme2]

Posted: 7/29/05 at 2:49am

Did you know he is the son of composter Alfred Newman...a fantastic composer who worked in Hollywood throughout it's Golden age? LOVE him AND his father.

I thought I was the only person who knew of..and remembered...that fabulous film "Men Don't Leave". That Charlie Korsmo kid was a scene stealer in that movie, along with Joan "scene stealer" Cusack as the kick ass nurse (she was a nurse, wasn't she?)!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 7/29/05 at 4:34am

And you HAVE to love his theme for Six Feet Under...totally catches the quirkines and love in that show.

Akiva

[ConvinceMe2]

Posted: 7/29/05 at 7:55am

Not really a fan of his work. Not saying I find him awful, but his scores often lack subtlety. The score to NATIONAL TREASURE, for instance, was the film's only real flaw, IMO.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 12:16pm

Another Unsung Hero is Ennio Morricone.

What upset me about the otherwise-fantastic soundtrack to KILL BILL VOL. 2 is that it's missing the melancholic reprise of "Silhouette of Doom" that plays over the film's emotional climax. Does anyone know why this piece of gorgeous music is missing from the CD?

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 12:41pm

I would have to say that my favorite Thomas Newman score is "Road to Perdition". Check it out!

Some of my other favorite scores are:

-"Braveheart" by James Horner (really the only Horner score I like).

-"The American President" by Marc Schaiman.

-"As Good as it Gets" by Hans Zimmer.

-Pretty much any score by John Williams. He is the most brilliant composer of our times. Of course the obvious ones, like ET, Indiana Jones, etc. I also really love his scores for "The Patriot" and "Catch Me If You Can".

Updated On: 8/1/05 at 12:41 PM

[pattifan2]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 12:47pm

Newman's scores are so diverse. Great to think that he was responsible for 'American Beauty', 'Six Feet Under' as well as 'Little Women' and 'Horse Whisperer'. He always captures the soul of the film superbly.

[ConvinceMe2]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 1:25pm

John Williams is another who's scores leave me cold. He writes some excellent themes, but his overall scores are weak, IMO. My favorite of all his scores is THE FURY. Every note is perfect to the visual is accompanies. But then, Brian De Palma's visuals always manage to solicit really great scores from his composers.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 1:33pm

I love Newman's music for American Beauty, Six Feet Under and Pay It Forward.

Also love:

The Cider House Rules (all-time favorite)
The Shipping News
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
Starship Troopers
What Dreams May Come

Morriccone is hardly "unsung". Entire symphonic concerts have been devoted to his film scores. Williams, Morriccone and Hermann are probably the top heralded film score composers of all time.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 2:31pm

I am also of the belief that John Williams is horribly overrated. As ConvinceMe2 said, many of his complete scores hide their weaknesses by continuously repeating their main theme, and his scores suffer from having overwrought orchestrations that trumpet their "importance."

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/1/05 at 3:07pm

I totally disagree about Williams. He has created some of the most recognizable themes in film history. I felt that many of his famous themes truly enhanced the mood of the film (Star Wars, Jaws, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Superman). There is something to be said about a score that in two bars, conjures a vivid memory not only visually, but emotionally as well, in people all over the world. I don't see how that can possibly be referred to as "overrated". Most of the greatest scores contained repeated use of main themes including The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind and Doctor Zhivago. Williams employed the same device and it made him one of the most successful film score composers of all-time (if not THE most successful).

And not all his scores are about heralding their important themes. He's written tons of understated scores with smaller orchestrations that simply aren't as well-known as his legendary "theme" scores. Personally, I was let down by the lack of recognizable themes in A.I., Minority Report and especially War of the Worlds.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/2/07 at 11:58am

THOMAS NEWMAN IS GOING TO SCORE WALL*E!!!!

[Pippin]

Posted: 8/2/07 at 12:18pm

Convince me, Newman didn't write the score to National Treasure. TRevor Rabin did. you are right that he is not sublte, as his other gems include: snakes on a plane, BAd boys 2, and gone in sixty seconds.

Newman is in a completely different field. he is full of nuance and subtlety. Have you seen any of his films? he is brilliant, and should not be confused with a hack who writes primarily for bad action films.

Thomas Newman's films

Updated On: 8/2/07 at 12:18 PM

[Pippin]

Posted: 8/2/07 at 12:19pm

Trevor Rabin's films

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/2/07 at 12:21pm

The Road to Perdition score is so awesome.