GOAT Movie Themes - The Championship

Arts & Entertainment
441

See, I was looking for any excuse not to vote Rudy, but then it kicked in at the 2 minute mark and won my vote.

1 Like
442

Damnit I’ve been on a Voodoo mama kick recently, there’s 3-4 similar songs on the soundtrack that are amazing as well. Shame it has to be slaughtered.

1 Like
443

It was originally a Iraq war protest song (which gives it - and Richter - extra points for being great, just not for being a movie theme).

1 Like
444

It’s an excellent theme and got just about the worst draw possible.

2 Likes
445

Let it be said that Shutter Island is a much better movie than Inception. But the theme just can’t hang at the level of the Inception theme.

1 Like
446

I don’t think a song needs to be original to a movie in order for that movie to use the song as a theme, no?

447

No but it’s a shame that the score for Arrival was disqualified from Oscar contention because of that same song being used in the movie. And it really fits Arrival too.

2 Likes
448

No - just saying I docked it slightly for not being an original score. I have those two in my top-10 songs I listen to while working, so needed some way to decide which to vote against.

1 Like
449

Round 1, Block 4 Justifications

  • Inception vs. Shutter Island-This is a brutal match up for me as I love both songs. The only reason I’m giving it to Inception is that it was original to the movie it’s for. That’s no slight toward On the Nature of Daylight, which weaves an incredible emotional tapestry that was once again used for great effect in Arrival. Even though I think it’s a beautiful song, I think it’s also one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. I’m not sure the song chosen for Inception is even my favorite song on that soundtrack, but for the main reason stated above I’m picking Inception.

  • Sherlock Holmes vs. Amelie-Sherlock Holmes must be one of those scores Hans Zimmer didn’t do (Hans doesn’t do all his scores if you didn’t know that) because this doesn’t really sound like his style. I’m voting against this because there are too many ‘Hans Zimmer’ songs in already. Amelie is a nice theme, but I’m really just voting against Hans Zimmer.

  • Oppenheimer vs. Rudy-Not really feeling the strings/EDM keyboard hybrid on the Oppenheimer song. Rudy is better overall than the Oppenheimer one, to me, so I’m picking that. Jerry Goldsmith is probably not going to get his due in this competition either, so I might as well get one of his votes out of the way.

  • Back to the Future vs. Austin Powers-Man, another shameless ripoff Silvestri does of Williams. This time, it feels a lot like Amazing Stories, which came out in the same year. Maybe Williams was ripping off Silvestri. I’m not really sure anymore :roll_eyes: Even though the mix of the Austin Powers song is completely mystifying, I still love that Quincy Jones song. It easily beats the Back to the Future song for me, even though it can be argued Back to the Future’s theme is more iconic. Are people in today’s modern age still aware of the first Austin Powers and what a cultural impact it had coming out as something so different and strange in 1997 than what else was out there? The movie was so influential that later views basically watered down 90 percent of what made that movie so great when it came out. While many will disagree, I don’t think that movie holds up at all today with only some scenes remaining truly funny, even though that wasn’t the case then where it felt great all the way through and was infinitely rewatchable.

  • The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly-Hmm, I had no idea that’s what that song was from, since I haven’t seen The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That’s a song that’s transcended the movie into the zeitgeist. It’s kinda cheesy though (the wa wa wa vocal), even though I’m not sure if that’s just this version of it. Another more orchestral version still has that cheesy vocal, so whatever. I have literally no idea what Babylon is, so this song is perfectly identifiable with it for me. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly wins for me because it’s identifiable without me having seen the movie while Babylon and this song couldn’t even be identifiable by me with dental records.

  • Fame vs. The Rock-The opening scene of Fame is so great. It’s not on YouTube, but it is worth catching if you’ve never seen the movie. This song does a good job of capturing the feel of the movie. It’s really not a great song, but it does its job. As a side note, I did all the audio laybacks in NTSC and PAL for the TV show version of Fame. That was 136 episodes and I think it meant I had to watch each episode twice. I bet you haven’t done that. And here we have Hans Effing Zimmer again, back when he was still probably doing all his music for The Rock. He was in a bit of a zone in this era with this and Crimson Tide. As much as I want to pick against him, I can’t really do that here, because it’s a good theme.

  • The Dark Knight vs. Star Trek TMP-Hans Zimmer again??? Really??? Maybe we should just have a Hans Zimmer GOAT Movie Themes competition, huh? I’m helped a lot in this choice in that this is kind of an adaptation of the Batman Begins theme, which I liked a lot better than this version. For Star Trek TMP, it’s quite a trick to create an iconic theme that’s nothing like the original property it’s based on and that’s…well…really kind of expected from a giant like Jerry Goldsmith. And that’s why he’s getting another vote from me this round.

  • The Hunt for Red October vs. Superfly-The Hunt for Red October song undersells what it could have been and that’s a no-go for me. The choir sounds small, which is indefensible to me. I think this should have a big epic sound, but it does not…at all. Now speaking of epic, I nominated its opponent so The Hunt for Red October never had a chance anyway. This soundtrack is the rare example of a soundtrack truly elevating a movie that’s only kind of good without it. It’s a great soundtrack all the way through and if you haven’t seen the movie, there are at least one or two performances of Curtis Mayfield in it. He was a genius and he’s getting my pick in this match up.

2 Likes
450

You really, really, really gotta fix that.

2 Likes
451

Currently free on Tubi, Pluto, etc.

2 Likes
452

I’m not even gonna listen to whatever is against The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Back to the Future and Austin Powers both way better than most first round themes. Too bad they have to go against each other so early.

1 Like
453

gonna need a lot of tiebreakers this round!

Back to the Future vs. Austin Powers? C’mon, man!

1 Like
454

We should have put this up (not for Kill Bill but for the Yakuza film that it’s originally from)

1 Like
455

I recommend listening to it, though I of course don’t recommend voting for it. The one thing that’s unimpeachable about Babylon is its soundtrack.

1 Like
456

This is gonna be like when that one critic ruined the perfect Rotten Tomatoes score for Paddington.

457

It’s a legit top 10 for this tournament so far.

1 Like
458

The quality of the Babylon film itself swings wildly throughout the movie - including some elite high points, but other scenes that aggressively don’t work for me - but when that theme kicks back in at the end all I can think is, “I must have just watched one of the great works of cinema.”

2 Likes
459

Round 1, Block 5, Matchup 33

#2 Everything I Do (I Do It for You)

VS.

#127 Warsaw Concerto (Dangerous Moonlight)

#2 Everything I Do (I Do It for You) vs. #127 Warsaw Concerto (Dangerous Moonlight)

  • #2 Everything I Do (I Do It for You).

  • #127 Warsaw Concerto (Dangerous Moonlight)

0 voters
460

Round 1, Block 5, Matchup 34

#63 River Kwai March

VS.

#66 2001 A Space Odyssey

#63 River Kwai March vs. #66 2001 A Space Odyssey

  • #63 River Kwai March.

  • #66 2001 A Space Odyssey

0 voters