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The film, and I say it as a huge Christopher Nolan, is definitely flawed and Hans told the film's message better than Nolan did. I do, however, applaud the ambitious attempt Nolan made. He's just not (yet?) a metaphysical filmmaker to pull something like this off. It was a new thing for him, that's for sure.

As an admin I have to say that I'm sure that that is where these lists belongs. It's not about brains and consciousness so I think it's better suited in the science and/or religion thread.

Presented the message better.

Well, Hans' score is more metaphysical in sound (not just through the organ, through expression and quite a few other elements). The thing with making a metaphysical film is that you HAVE to retain an air of mystery (the mystery of being, if you want). You can't explain everything. Now comparing two movies Nolan did.

Inception is a very rare case where constant exposition works as a dramatic device. If you listen to filmmakers discussing the issue, exposition that is, you may regard it as a certain oxymoron. Actors and directors HATE dealing with expository scenes, because they just explain the plot and aren't really dramatically and/or visually interesting and in some cases directors claim there aren't many actors you can't trust with exposition (Jonathan Frakes on First Contact: If you want exposition, give it to Patrick Stewart, he'll make it convincing. Or James Cromwell).

Inception, however. pushes it further. The film builds tension by constantly reminding us which level of dream are we on, what are the time dilation rules (oh, so Arthur has 2 minutes to get us out of there, that gives us an hour, oh shit) and so on. It really works to add tension, because we are reminded what the threats are.

In Interstellar, the exposition doesn't work that well, because if we have a certain metaphysical problem that the film deals with (not to spoil it, the film is about transcendence, though not in religious terms), you need the air of mystery or rather you need something where you can put your experience in (it's easy to say and agree with what the film says, I will NOT spoil though even at the expense of the argument, not everyone has seen it yet and they intend to). Because metaphysical cinema is, I believe, a combination of the filmmaker's observation of a certain (sometimes oneiric!) reality aimed at a dialogue with the viewer's own experience and views. Where Nolan didn't fail is making a work that makes the viewer think, not about the resolution or science, but rather what the film was really about. And also, it's a spoiler-less statement, it's perhaps the first film where Nolan is NOT a cynicist.

Zimmer's score is a downtempo piece of massive (not in terms of scale, though the scale is big) mysterioso. You could just dumb it down to being simply a 70 minutes+ album of mysterioso acoustic ambient. To me though acoustic ambient is not a negative notion, because film music related to dark ambient might have shown it as melody-less. Ambient music, however is just atmospheric and very slow, but CAN feature sometimes even beautiful melodies (Brian Eno!!) and Zimmer pulls that off perfectly. It has its air of gloomy moments, but generally it's not inherently a very dark score, I believe.

This mysterioso element, usage of religious instrumentation (the organ comes to play here) and sometimes harmonic ambiguity (one theme interplays between major and minor key, once ending the melody in minor, once in major key), specific use of rhythm, even if directly related to the scientific element (sometimes the, acoustic! percussive elements, like strings played col legno, hit exactly in 60 beats per minute, that means every hit means a second of time has passed), a very precise sense of expression (listen to the tremolo in Wormhole!) doesn't maybe signal at a higher power (God is by NO MEANS involved in the story, Hans himself is a proclaimed atheist, to the point of even sharing antitheist sentiments on his personal timeline, so I do NOT agree with a reviewer who says that the music represents, or rather is, God in the film. He is simply NOT involved whatsoever in the story!), gives that element that the film is missing: if you are listening really intently to the score, in my experience with this music, you are allowed to put your personal experience and emotions and be at dialogue with the music. It goes way beyond telling me what to feel.

It's not as metaphysical as The Thin Red Line, where the abstract element prevails much more, but it's close enough and it's a piece of metaphysical musical writing to me .

Alexandre Desplat - The Tree of Life

And this is Desplat in metaphysical form. One of his best albums for me.

The Emmy nomination referred to the series not to the score.

I thoroughly enjoyed the programme - and the touch at the end was quite good to see. But, as with Martijn, the music (composed by Edmund Butt rather than Murray Gold) didn't really stand out.

NP: Nova Zembla - Chrisnanne Wiegel, Melcher Meirmans & Merlijn Snitker

Enjoyable orchestral score for this historical drama from 2011. Some beautiful vocals from soprano Claron McFadden.

I love THE PHANTOM MENACE (the film)!

But...but...but I have an opinion!

Technically, The Phantom Menace is Star Wars Symphony IV.

-Erik-

Pacific Rim Ramin Djawadi

My favourite 'RC' score. So enjoyable.

Wow, I can think of probably several dozen I like more!

I won't bore everyone with a list but if he challenges me to one, I would have no problems presenting it.

NP: STAR WARS Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002) - John Williams

Underrated. IMHO. An e-guitar to illustrate the Coruscant underground. How cool is that?

Volker

It was cool to hear old Williams dish out the el guitar. It's like that brief techno outburst in A.I. I still cling to the notion that John had something to do with that, and that it wasn't only his son Joseph.