My 300th Post: My Ten Favorite Movie Scores

Hello, movie fans!

The day has come. This is my 300th post. I have no clue where the time goes (apparently into writing all of these posts). As I have been hitting these milestones I like to do something special. For My 100th Post I said my top 100 favorite movies (where I just typed anything that came into my head. I have a more accurate list on my page My Favorites) and for My 200th Post I listed all of the movies that I had seen in the theater up to that point (now I have a lot more to add). The question was, what was I going to do for my 300th?

As you all know I love to watch movies. But, so many different elements make up films. For today, I will be listing my top 10 favorite movie scores! I will put a video for each one so you can listen and see why I love it. I promise, none of these will be over 10 minutes.

For clarification:
I'm counting movies, so no TV shows (i.e. Robin Hood BBC, Sherlock, Pride & Prejudice) that would be a separate post.
No movies that I just like the music to but technically haven't seen the movie (The Great Escape) and no movies where I just love the score but don't the movie (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). I mean, some times the only things I like about movies is the music, but what I'm thinking of for this list are movies that are amazing and perfect, but wouldn't be complete without the soundtrack.
And, these are scores, not soundtracks. I get the two confused all the time. Apparently, score is just instrumental, while a soundtrack can include songs with words from the film. None of these are musicals because that is impossible to pick.

Honorable mentions:
The Magnificent Seven (1960 version), Indiana Jones, Howl's Moving Castle, Kung Fu Panda.

Starting at 10 and going down to 1...

10. The Princess Diaries (2001)

So many movies were vying for this spot, trying to be here. Finally, I had to go with this one. The score is light and airy and makes me so happy because I have watched this so many times (Also, I love the soundtrack, too!). If you haven't ever seen this, you are missing out on a really sweet movie. (I noticed that this video is the one of the shortest. As I go on they keep getting longer.)

9. Pirates of the Caribbean

Besides Indiana Jones, this was the first movie that I realized had music playing through out the whole thing. This is so epic and "piraty"! I like to listen to it while I write. And, though I only put the main one here, there are so many different parts to listen to!

8. Chariots of Fire (1981)

This is so cool! I had heard it a lot before actually watching the movie, and though it seems like the wrong genre of music, it captures the fight to win the races perfectly. And it shows the joy of running. It just makes me so happy. I first heard it when I was watching the London 2012 Olympics. This score won Best Original Score 1981 at the Oscars!

7. Up (2009)

I dare you to listen to this and not cry. Pixar makes music such an important part of their films, and in my opinion, this is where they did it the best. The music tugs at your emotions, making you laugh and cry with just a few simple notes. Ugh, I love it so much! Excuse me while I go cry.

6. Sherlock Holmes

The violins pierce through and strike me of being so much like Sherlock himself. The score goes with the whole movie, and it was actually because I thought that it sounded so cool (from when my mom was watching) that convinced me to watch it. (Sorry, this video is giving me a little bit of trouble, but I think that I have it fixed now.)

5. Sense and Sensibility (1995)

It was hard to pick the top 5. This one is here because I have so much nostalgia for it. The score is not epic or loud, it is soft and quiet and pretty. The one that I have above is called "My Father's Favourite". This movie is one of my favorite Jane Austen adaptations, and this music fits it so well!

4. Harry Potter

John Williams is a master of composing music. He makes it sound so magical and intriguing and he pulls you into the world right away. Love it! As soon as you hear this you think of wizards, magic, spells, and Harry Potter.

3. Chronicles of Narnia

THE NOSTALGIA. It is kind of long, but if nothing else listen to the second half of this. It is so beautiful! "I can't take it in..." (that's from a song from the credits, so I love the soundtrack, too). The way the instruments blend is breathtaking! Ack!

2. How to Train Your Dragon

I love this score so much! What I have above is called "Test Drive" and is one of the best pieces of music of all time, in my opinion. In the third movie they were messing with me because they kept starting to play it and I would squeal with delight, but then they would go into something else. When they finally did I bawled and cried because I love it so much.


What could my top favorite of all time be?


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1. Star Wars

Did you expect anything else? Star Wars has such an epic and iconic score, it has to be number 1. I wouldn't be my grandpa's granddaughter if it wasn't! I just put the main theme, because otherwise we would be sitting here all day, but I absolutely love the score for the binary sunsets scene and the ending ceremony, and the Catina, Darth Vader's is the ultimate villain one and adds so much to his character, and the ending Ewok score for Return of the Jedi! And that's not even going into the new ones!

One of my favorite stories (and I'm not sure that it's true, but either way it is awesome), is from when they were making A New Hope. The story goes that George Lucas was directing them and saying, "We'll do this and Leia's theme will be playing."
Just joking, Mark Hamill says, "Leia gets a theme but Luke doesn't?"
George Lucas looks him directly in the eye and says, "Luke's theme is the main theme."
It is said that up until that moment Mark Hamill hadn't realized that he was the main star!


I know you are all wondering, "Where is The Lord of the Rings?" Well, my sister loves the score for that, but I've only seen the first movie (I'm going to fix that, soon), and after I've watched the other two I'll be more attached to it.


Thank you so much for reading/listening! Let me know if you like these, and tell me what your favorites are!

MovieCritic