Coolest Movie Soundtrack

[A Rainy Knight]

Hopefully, the title will tell you what I'm asking. You can say more than one if you want to.

I like the main theme to the Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, I got the best parts of it off of iTunes.

Also, of course, Star Wars. John Williams is excellent.

Finally, UHF. Weird Al put out an album called "UHF Soundtrack and Other Things." The main theme to the movie is my favorite song on the CD.

@V UHF is a somewhat old comedy that Weird Al helped design, acted in, and recorded the soundtrack to. It is the movie in which you would find the world's greatest TV show: Wheel of Fish! :smallbiggrin:

[Freshmeat]

Agreed on both PotC and Star Wars. Don't know what UHF is though.

A few of my own, on the top of my head:
- The good, The bad & The ugly. Not just the usual theme. The two pieces near the end of the movie (when Tuco finds the cemetery and the three-way mexican stand-off) are simply fantastic.
- Memento. The soundtrack of this one is pretty weird. I can't really think of the exact word to describe it right now, but suffice it to say that it sets a certain mood. And it does so in a nearly perfect way.
- The Godfather.
- Fargo.
- The cliché (James Bond, Mission Impossible)
- Reservoir dogs (only a few of them though)
- Kill Bill 1 & 2 (again, only a few - most notably 'The lonely shepherd', as well as 'Battle without honor or humanity'. Of course, most of these were actually taken from other, minor movies.)
- Eyes Wide Shut
- 2001: A space odyssey
- A clockwork orange

And probably a lot more I'm forgetting.

[Glawackus]

-One of the last pieces in the Batman Begins soundtrack, when Batman is trying to stop the monorail train, is fantastic...Molossus, I think?

-Toto's soundtrack to David Lynch's Dune adaptation is fantastic. I wish I could say that for the movie. :smallyuk:

-Maybe the gold standard, though, is Philip Glass's soundtrack to Candyman. Perfectly atmospheric and creepy as all get-out.

[bugsysservant]

I always liked the themes to LoTR. Especially the raiders of Rohan. Or pretty much anything by John Williams is good.

[Semidi]

The Lost Highway - David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins, and Marilyn Manson all have lovely tracks . Not to mention one of the best Nine Inch Nail's songs "Perfect Drug."

The Crow - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult(After the Flesh, one of their best), The Cure(Burn, great song), Nine Inch Nails(Joy Division cover, better than original), Stone Temple Pilots, Violent Femmes, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Rollin's Band, and Pantera? One of my favorite albums.

[13_CBS]

Not sure about coolest, but here's some of my favorites:

Entire OST to Memoirs of a Geisha
Theme from Schindler's list
The Battle from Gladiator
Pirates, of course
Most of the OST from Kingdom of Heaven
Kelas from Conquerors of Shambala
Tank from Cowboy Bebop (yes, it's an anime; but yes, there's a movie for it)
Much of the original pieces from Kung Fu Hustle (especially Blade of Gu Quin)
Promentory/The Gael from Last of the Mohicans

[DomaDoma]

James Horner's soundtrack to Braveheart. You can hear every pulse of emotion, every pang, every doubt, every victory, and when it comes time to throw the sword you just want to cry out in triumph because of the brilliant, brilliant score.

If phoenix song existed, it would be something like this.

[Amotis]

I can ramble on and on about the awesome soundtracks of the minimalists and classical contemporary and Deer Hunter and The oh so epic omg MOGWAI AND KRONOS QUARTET TOGETHER!!?!?!1 Fountain...

But I have one deep down that I'll never let go.

Black Orpheus

[Ted_Stryker]

Let's see, I think I own a total of four soundtracks -- The Wall, Passion, Less Than Zero, and Koyaanisqatsi. I guess they'd be my top 4 then. There's also Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger, which became a soundtrack about 10 years after the album was released, but I'm not sure that counts.

[DraPrime]

The music from the highway scene in Matrix Reloaded was simply awesome.

[DeathQuaker]

Kinda depends on what you're looking for.

John Williams can always produce a solidly good soundtrack--just about anything he's done is usually in the "pretty brilliant" category.

Pirates of the Caribbean is great... though I was always disappointed that with a trilogy, it didn't produce more than a few variations on the same couple themes.

The latest Harry Potter soundtrack was wonderful (and even better than Williams' work for the same series of movies, IMO--to some extent, anyway).

For something a little different... Hans Zimmer's compositions for "The Power of One" (a movie about a boy growing up in South Africa... came out in the 90s, iirc) often moves me to tears.

Those are all instrumental scores, for the most part.

For "soundtracks" involving a collection of pop songs and/or similar stuff... heh, I love "Josie and the Pussycats." Laugh all you like, the songs written for that movie were great, and the performance is brilliant. Kay Hanley I believe is the name of the lead singer for that... an independent recording artist, IIRC, and quite good.

[Sundog]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Basil Poledouris soundtracks for "Conan the Barbarian" or "Hunt for Red October." They should definitly be on the list.

[Jack Squat]

A Knight's Tale
Van Helsing
Mask of Zorro
The Rock
The Mask
Mortal Kombat
Serenity/firefly
Any movie by Mel Brooks (although I like History of the World's, Young Frankenstein's, and Men in Tights' best out of all)
Stargate (though I did like the show's theme better)
Indiana Jones
Star Wars (both trilogys really...though I am partial to blaring Imperial March when walking down a hallway)
Jaws (only seen first one, can't say anything about the others)

[kpenguin]

Anything by John Williams. The man is composing genius.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I agree. Gustav Holst and Richard Wagner were composing geniuses.

[Corlindale]

The Nightmare Before Christmas. Simply packed with great songs and great music.

I'm also quite fond of the soundtrack of Amélie, and as for more recent movies; Children of Men(The use of King Crimson especially won me over).

[Glawackus]

The Nightmare Before Christmas. Simply packed with great songs and great music.

I'm also quite fond of the soundtrack of Amélie, and as for more recent movies; Children of Men(The use of King Crimson especially won me over).

Amen on CoM. The scene driving through the city just kept getting stranger and stranger, and then "In the Court" started playing and I freaked out.

[Equlan]

Braveheart had a good soundtrack. I also liked LotR's quite a bit, but I markedly prefer Rohan's theme... which I incidentally do not own :smallannoyed:

If The Wall counts, then that is awesome as well.

And though it's not a movie, I rather enjoy the Black Adder song from the first season. :D

[Aizle]

Well from an overall soundtrack standpoint, it's awfully hard to do better than John Williams or Danny Elfman. Anything those guys have done is pretty great.

From a single song standpoint, I have to go with Heavy Metal. The sequence in the film where the horde is storming the fortress to Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules" is just plain awesome.

[ALOR]

Glory and Braveheart are excellent sound tracks.

[Vampiric]

I agree with LotR, very good. As is PotC. Got the sounds tracks:smallbiggrin:

I also liked the music from the Bourne trilogy.

But I am so very, very disappointed that the greatest movie song ever has not been mentioned.

'Clubbed To Death' by Rob Dougan. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMq4akUZr8c) (video is a bit odd, though. I prefer it in the film...)

It's the music from the 'woman in the dress' scene in The Matrix. And it ROCKS.

[CrazedGoblin]

Pirates of Caribean and Lord of the Rings were emense awsomeness:smallbiggrin:

[Ninaboo]

Kill Bill Volume 1.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

The Village
My favorite soundtrack ever. Never heard such hauntingly beautiful music.

The Fountain
Lords of the Rings
Pirates of the Caribbean

^ other top favorites

Actually, anything by James Newton Howard or Clint Mansell are fantastic.

[Joosbawx]

Ocean's Eleven - My all time favorite soundtrack.

Pulp Fiction - Speaks for itself, just like Reservoir Dogs.

O Brother, Where Art Thou - Another Cohen Brother's vehicle, which usually includes a good soundtrack, but I admit it probably has somewhat limited appeal.

Grosse Point Blank - one of my favorite movies and a really fun soundtrack.

Cowboy Bebop - Best anime music, ever. Awesome. Unparalleled.

[Sigbru]

Probably Shrek 2... I loved Pirates too

[Bayar]

LoTR is good. I mean, I listen it when I am at the computer...even when I am playing other games, like wolfenstein ET or WoW.

[PlatinumJester]

Kill Bill 1+2.

[bosssmiley]

"Hero" - fantastic use of music in a film. :smallcool:

[Corvus]

LOTR is pretty good. The Terminator 2 theme is quite nice as well.

My vote goes to the Bladerunner soundtrack though.

[Jorkens]

Amen on CoM. The scene driving through the city just kept getting stranger and stranger, and then "In the Court" started playing and I freaked out.
I've actually heard more about the soundtrack to CoM than I have about the film, largely because it's about the first soundtrack to use dubstep prominently. So what did you think of the spaced out bass heavy electronic bits? I'd be interested to know what impression this stuff is making on a non-specialist audience...

[MrsbwcMD]

The Village
My favorite soundtrack ever. Never heard such hauntingly beautiful music.

This is also my favorite soundtrack. I downloaded a few of the pieces to my iPod, and it's amazing the scenes that play out in my mind when I listen to them. I also enjoy the soundtracks to "Sense and Sensibility" and "Little Women."

[JabberwockySupafly]

Not a single person mentioned Peter Gabriel's work on The Last Temptation of Christ. For shame!

[TheRiov]

Jurrasic Park

[Spreeth]

John Williams and Danny Elfman are both musical geniuses. Their compositions are emotionally evocative, demonstrative of the relative scenery employed by the various directors with whom they work, and inspired. Count me as one of their many fans!

[Logic]

Just about anything by Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, and John Williams is a musical masterpiece.

In fact, I will go so far as to say that the best part of Star Wars is the score.

Otherwise, Chris Mansfeild did an awesome song for Requim for a Dream called "Lux Aterna" which evokes such powerful emotions. I can't vouch for the rest of the soundtrack, as I have not heard it.

[Ted_Stryker]

Not a single person mentioned Peter Gabriel's work on The Last Temptation of Christ. For shame!
I beg to differ:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3219181&postcount=9

Passion (http://petergabriel.com/discography/release/Passion/190/) is the name of Gabriel's soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ.

[The Demented One]

I'd say Kill Bill. Awesome soundtrack.

[Icewalker]

I particularly like the pirates of the Caribbean music, and some of the Gladiator music as well (GO HANS ZIMMER)

LOTR music has some good pieces to it, but most of it is a little soft for me. Haven't listened to many other soundtracks.

Oh, the Bourne movies have amazing soundtracks. Actually, the second one does, I haven't heard the first and third.

[Tirian]

It's hard to rank musicals, so I won't try. Also, John Williams: I hope that history properly places him in the company of the greatest classical composers.

If you mean movies that collect pop songs that should be arranged together, then Stand by Me, The Adventures of Priscilla, and The Full Monty. If you mean incidental background music that sounds great even without the movie, then may I recommend The Sting, Tootsie, and Flash Gordon.

[LesterLester]

of course the usual suspects(John Williams, etc, although Hans Zimmer's stuff sounds quite the same(Gladiator<>Pirates of the Carribean)
And I don't know if anybody mentioned Houe of flying Daggers
That soundtrack is incredible!!! Oh yeah and the ost to Ghost in the shell 1+2+stand alone complex!

[Stijl]

Crimson Tide
Waterworld
Black Hawk Down
Beyond Rangoon
Braveheart (as mentioned before or course)

[Om]

To mention one that hasn't come up yet, I found the techno beat to Run Lola Run to be pretty good.

[Bayar]

Oh, yeah, and the soundtrack fron The pick of destiny (the D rocks!!!)