Compilation on a theme

Hello all. Perhaps I should introduce myself before jumping straight in. I'm a long time lurker and someone who has been interested in film music for several years. I wouldn't call myself a film score aficionado but I do like to keep an eye on new music and find forums such as this very informative.

I'd like to pose a question. My friend just recently expressed an interest in film music and quite naturally I said "worry not, I shall make you a CD". Now that it's come to actually putting something together I feel a bit stumped. My initial thought was 'simple, I'll pick 10 or 12 brilliant cues and voila' and then I thought that perhaps that was too obvious and I should try to do something more interesting. I concluded that I might be best served simply compiling my personal favourites but this has led me to a further question which is, how do you compile a 'highlights' reel and yet keep it a coherent listening experience?

After a little faffing about (ok, a lot) I started listing some of my favourite cues that I would put to disc if I were creating something for myself and came up with the following:

James Horner - The New World / Boys Playing Airplanes / The Ludlows
James Newton Howard - Nothing Is Impossible / The Vote / Can I Hold You Know
Panu Aaltio - Forgiveness
Thomas Newman - So Was Red / Road To Perdition

Hopefully that gives an idea of the sort of sound I'm aiming at. I'd really appreciate any thoughts on the matter, either specifically in terms of cues that would fit the tone, or even generally on the approach to compiling.