Which movie(s) do you think has the best soundtrack?

I think American Psycho has a good soundtrack and I listen to it occasionaly.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 44 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Tron Legacy, but that's cheating as it's essentially a Daft Punk music video.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    The Matrix
    O Brother Where Art Thou?
    Forest Gump

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    +1 for The Matrix. I once watched the film at a theater where the music was played live by an orchestra. One of my favorite movie experiences of all time. The soundtrack is incredible.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (1 child)
    • Pirates of the Caribbean (personally, At World's End has the best, Hans Zimmer)
    • The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)
    • Gravity (Steven Price)
    • Tron Legacy (Daft Punk)
    • Moonlight (Nicholas Britell)
    • Harry Potter (can only speak to the ones by John Williams)
    • Braveheart (James Horner)
    • The Matrix (Don Davis)
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    More general answer than you expected, but...

    I really like when the sound design in movies makes sense - it "plays" in radio, gramophone...

    For example "Black hole sun" cover in first episode of Westworld is just brilliant and caught me off guard (I didn't know what it is about).

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    The adjective for this type of music is "diegetic". That's sound which is occurring and audible in-universe, not just to the audience.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    My favourite example of this is in Grosse Point Blank, when the GNR cover of Live and Let Die is playing non-diagetically, right until the moment Martin walks into the store, and suddenly a cheesy muzak version of it is playing over the shop radio. It's beautifully done :-)

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 15 points 2 years ago*

    Birdman. Just drums. Really fucking good drums. Also they appear in the middle of one scene in an excellent way.

    Also: not a movie, but Cowboy Bebop. Lots and lots of great tracks.

  • source
  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago

    Once upon a time the west. (Ennio Morricone)

    Blade runner (Vangelis)

  • source
  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago

    The Lord of the Rings

    This is Howard Shore's Magnum opus. It's what distinguishes this movie as more than just a great adaptation. His use of themes to represent not only races and kingdoms but characters, objects (like the One Ring, of course), and even concepts is a level above most movie soundtracks. There are even elements of storytelling through the music!

    For example, the first time we hear the theme for Gondor is when Boromir is in Rivendell. Since he's more or less alone, the theme is played by a single French Horn in a somber (almost tragic) style. In Return of the King, we see Minas Tirith, capital of Gondor, in all its glory, and so the full orchestra plays the theme.

    One more: As the Fellowship begins to break down, so too does the theme. We go from heroic phrases to shorter, interrupted instances. There's a book about the soundtrack written by Doug Adams. I highly recommend it if you're interested!

  • source
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    The Blues Brothers - it's stringing together performances from famous musicians, and the soundtrack was successful as an album in its own right.

  • source
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)
    • Spawn
    • Baby Driver
    • Garden State
    • the Lord of the Rings trilogy
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I know you said movies, but a soundtrack for a show I'm hooked on currently is Legion (FX/Marvel, on Hulu). The whole entire show has an amazing cast to begin with, but Jeff Russo (Fargo, Star Trek Discovery, more) and Noah Hawley put together one hell of a score. I highly recommend it and the show.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    Dazed and Confused

  • source
  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Can't believe no-one mentioned The Crow..

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 10 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    I am quite fond of the recent Dune movies' soundtrack. Hans Zimmer can make a good bwowwwum, and a helping of One-Woman-Wailing :tm: also helps

    Aside for that I would get into movie musical territory. A much derided subgenre that I adore.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 10 points 2 years ago*

    A few not listed:

    • The Crow
    • Empire Records
    • Leaving Las Vegas
    • Get Shorty
    • Grosse Pointe Blank
    • Pulp Fiction (listed elsewhere)
  • source
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago*

    Reservoir Dogs, O Brother Where Art Though, Blues Brothers, From Dusk til Dawn,

  • source
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    I'm going to reframe this as who I think the best composers are:

    Bernard Hermann, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, etc.

    John Williams, E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc.

    Akira Ifukube, most of the Shōwa era Godzilla movies

    Shiro Shigasu, Evangelion, Shin Godzilla

    As far as new work, I'm partial to Scott Stafford on Ultraman Rising. It came out on Netflix this past June and I was really surprised how good that movie and soundtrack were.

  • source
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)
    • The Village

    • O Brother Where Art Thou

    • Amélie

    • Pride and Prejudice

    • Shutter Island

    to name a few.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    For me the criteria is: would the movie be very different with another soundtrack. The below offerings truly elevate their movies imo.

    Tron Legacy

    Blade Runner

    Black Panther

  • source
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I quite like the Interstellar soundtrack.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Akira(1988)

    The soundtrack compliments the action so well.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)
    load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    28 Days Later

    Trainspotting

    Garden State....could not tell you a single thing about the film but when it was released, the soundtrack was full of my favorite artists at the time

    Honorable mention: Most Wes Anderson films have pretty thoughtful soundtracks but I've never been blown away or introduced to a new band

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Watched Blade Runner 2049 2 days ago. Had a very good soundtrack but I wouldnt just listen to it just.

    Personal favorites:
    Tron: Legacy
    Pacific Rim

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, or anything by Clint Mansell

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    The Big Lebowski deserves a mention.

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    The Matrix soundtrack is amazing

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Romeo and Juliet (the one with Claire Danes and Leo DiCaprio)

    Pulp Fiction

    Buena Vista Social Club

    Help! (Or any of the Beatles movies)

    Purple Rain

    La Boum (French movie, 1980)

    Fame and The Kids from Fame (the 1970's Original, not he reboot)

    Blues Brothers

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    The Third Man has that fantastic zither theme.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    A Knight's Tale

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Eraserhead, Side B

    The album has been seen as presaging the dark ambient music genre, and its presentation of background noise and non-musical cues has been described by Pitchfork's Mark Richardson as "a sound track (two words) in the literal sense". -wikipedia

    The mood and tone of Eraserhead and its soundtrack were influenced by Philadelphia's post-industrial history. Lynch lived in the city while studying painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and was fascinated by its feeling of constant danger; describing it both as a "sick, twisted, violent, fear ridden, decaying place" and "beautiful, if you see it the right way."[8][9][1] Lynch and Splet used avant-garde approaches to recording on the soundtrack; including crafting almost every sound in the soundtrack from scratch using bizarre methods. The ambiance of the love scene in the movie, for example, was produced by recording air blown through a microphone as it sat inside a bottle floating in a bathtub.[10] Lynch and Splet worked "9 hours a day for 63 days" to produce the soundtrack and all of the sound effects in the film. Splet recalls the sound effects Lynch called on him to produce for Eraserhead as "snapping, humming, buzzing, banging, like lightning, shrieking, squealing” over the five years it took to produce the film and its soundtrack. -wikipedia

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Good Will Hunting has a fantastic soundtrack.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Stranger Than Fiction, soundtrack by Spoon

  • source
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›