The film music of 2021.

Well, it's been quite a year. Let's get started.

My favorite scores of 2021:

(Lorne Balfe - Hollywood)

Balfe’s Russian-flavored score for the Marvel actioner might well be his best work yet.

Best tracks: "Natasha's Lullaby", "Whirlwind", "Last Love"

(Nicholas Britell - Walt Disney)

Infused with pop and classical styles, Britell gave the Disney prebootquel a lively accompaniment.

Best tracks: "Disney Castle Logo", "I Think You're Something", "I'm Cruella"

(Frank Ilfman - Milan)

Inventive and sinuous work by Ilfman for the all-star assassin thriller.

Best tracks: "Opening Titles", "Dressed to Kill", "To the Death"

(Rachel Portman - Lakeshore)

One of Portman's most engaging scores, with an appropriately bittersweet main theme.

Best tracks: "Growing Up", "Strong Opinions", "Bon Appetit"

(James Newton Howard - Walt Disney)

Howard provided a rousing score for Disney’s theme park adventure.

Best tracks: "Jungle Cruise Suite", "The Tree Fight", "Petal Negotiations"

(George Kallis - Walt Disney)

Who knows how some of these movies get made, but that doesn't stop composers like Kallis from wowing people with their exciting music.

Best tracks: "Finding Kolobok", "To the Land of the Dead", "The Battle with the Beast"

(Dan Romer - Walt Disney)

Romer provided a colorful and ineffably charming score for the Pixar confection.

Best tracks: "Meet Luca", "This Isn't Any Old Race", "The Portorosso Cup"

(Nathan Johnson - Hollywood)

Johnson's brooding score is a vital component of the noir remake.

Best tracks: "Storm's a-Comin'", "Lie Detector", "Grindle's Ghost"

(Amie Doherty - Back Lot)

Newcomer Doherty has a promising future ahead of her, as evidenced by this rousing Western score.

Best tracks: "Hendricks Tries to Break Spirit", "I Am the Train", "Leap of Faith"

(Bear McCreary - Sparks & Shadows)

An oddball murder mystery for which McCreary wrote a playful score.

Best tracks: "The Wallendorf Game", "The Game Called Snafu", "The End of the Game"

(Fil Eisler - Milan)

Despite the film’s sillier aspects, Eisler’s exciting music could come from a genuine superhero movie.

Best tracks: "This Town's Gonna Get What It Deserves", "6AM Day Two", "Boss Battle"

(Marco Beltrami - Sony Classical)

In the midst of a busy year, Beltrami’s flavorful score for the oddball sequel was especially terrific.

Best tracks: "St. Estes Reform School", "Mulligan Visits Eddie", "Venom and Blues"

Honorable mention: Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar (Christopher Lennertz and Dara Taylor), A Boy Called Christmas (Dario Marianelli), Breaking News in Yuba County (Jeff Beal), The Claus Family 2 (Anne-Kathrin Dern), Don't Look Up (Nicholas Britell), Encanto (Germaine Franco), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Rob Simonsen), The Last Letter from Your Lover (Daniel Hart), Last Night in Soho (Steven Price), The Last Warrior: Emissary of Darkness (George Kallis), The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Mark Mothersbaugh), Spider-Man: No Way Home (Michael Giacchino) and To Olivia (Debbie Wiseman)

My favorite CDs of 2021:

Banning (Quincy Jones - La La Land) - The golfing drama is largely forgotten today but for its Oscar-nominated theme song, but the tune supports a wonderfully jazzy score from Jones.

Extreme Prejudice (Jerry Goldsmith - Intrada) - Goldsmith's action score is rich in electronics, as befitting the gritty milieu of the neo-Western.

Hard Rain (Christopher Young - La La Land) - There are few action scores on Young's resume, and this score - the strongest aspect of this waterlogged drama - shows great facility for the genre.

Jerry Goldsmith at 20th - Vol. 3 (La La Land) - The Stripper is a pretty decent score, but...a complete S*P*Y*S! Do I need to elaborate on how incongruous (yet welcome) that is?

Lionheart (Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Club) - One of the true gems of last year's Gold(smith) rush was this complete edition of the lush medieval score.

Paycheck (John Powell - Varese Club) - The original 2003 program works well as is, but one can't help but cherish that every note of what may be Powell's best score is available.

The Prowler (Richard Einhorn - Howlin' Wolf) - One of the more insulting early 80s slashers was blessed with Einhorn's terrific orchestral score.

Space Truckers (Colin Towns - Quartet) - Towns's lively scoring turned out to be a good fit for Stuart Gordon's oddball space Western.

The Tamarind Seed (John Barry - Silva Screen) - Blake Edwards's spy thriller featured a silky score not from Mancini, but Barry, buoyed by a fantastic pair of themes.

Toy Soldiers (Robert Folk - Intrada) - The engaging Die Hard knockoff was treated to a tense action score; one of Folk's best efforts.

Other great CDs:

Die, Mommie, Die! (Dennis McCarthy - Dragon's Domain)

Drop Zone (Hans Zimmer - Quartet)

The Eiger Sanction (John Williams - Intrada)

Legend (Jerry Goldsmith - Music Box/Silva Screen)

Masters of Horror (Richard Band - Dragon's Domain)

The Pink Panther Final Chapters Collection (Henry Mancini - Quartet)

Somewhere in Time (John Barry - La La Land)

Stripes (Elmer Bernstein - La La Land)

To Kill a Mockingbird/Walk on the Wild Side (Elmer Bernstein - Intrada)

The Wind (Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer - Notefornote)

Random thoughts:

- I’m sure you’re surprised to see this post up a little earlier than expected. Limiting myself to less than 100 scores to listen to will do that.

- I couldn't help but notice a whole lot of homages in film scores this past year: Morricone in Gunpowder Milkshake, Spirit Untamed and Army of Thieves; Charade in No Sudden Move; Bernstein in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (though this was likely by design); Barry in No Time to Die (ditto); Schifrin in Copshop and The Omen in Fear Street Part II: 1978. You'd think this would be fear of an unsettling trend, but I'm intrigued. If we forget music history, how will future generations know about it and continue it for further generations?

- Of the many scores released from major studio movies this year, digitally and (gasp) physically, one of the few to be left out in the cold was Danny Elfman’s The Woman in the Window. Even now, I remain gobsmacked that an all-star thriller from a major studio featuring music from an acclaimed composer would go unreleased. Was the film’s production that bad?

- Among the many specialty soundtracks this past year, a small portion of them (let's say...30%) were premiere releases. What's the deal with so many reissues? One gets the sense that the labels (the big three, in particular - Varese, Intrada, La La Land) sought to build up equity in these trying times by relying on what came before. Surely, one of them can afford to take a chance on a premiere release again. Disappointment is a 2021 emotion. We're in 2022, now.

- I'm pretty sure I've made clear my affinity for the work of David Newman, to the point where I got published on FSM an article detailing the still-unreleased titles in his filmography. (To be found here and here, if you're curious and why wouldn't you be?) Given such amazing compositional skill, it seems a waste to merely have him arrange the songs for West Side Story, don't you think? Still, if Best Achievement in Score Adaptation was still a thing, he'd have had a sure shot at a well-deserved Oscar...and speaking of...

- Now, no one's asking me for my Oscar picks, which is part of why they suck so bad. But - miracle of miracles - if they were asking, here would be my Oscar ballot:

Original Dramatic Score

Buckley's Chance, Christopher Gordon

Julia, Rachel Portman

Jungle Cruise, James Newton Howard

Nightmare Alley, Nathan Johnson

To Olivia, Debbie Wiseman

Original Score, Musical or Comedy

Cruella, Nicholas Britell

Don't Look Up, Nicholas Britell

Luca, Dan Romer

Spirit Untamed, Amie Doherty

Thunder Force, Fil Eisler