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IFMCA Award Nominations 2013
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED; POLISH COMPOSER ABEL KORZENIOWSKI LEADS FIELD
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2013. In this 10th Anniversary year of the IFMCA’s creation, the most nominated composer is Abel Korzeniowski, who received six nominations: Score of the Year, Best Drama Score and Film Music Composition of the Year for his work on director Carlo Carlei’s new screen version of the classic Shakespeare romance “Romeo and Juliet”; Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Horror Score and Film Music Composition of the Year for his work on director Randy Moore’s unusual satirical fantasy-horror set in a nightmarish Disney theme park, “Escape From Tomorrow”; and a personal nomination as Composer of the Year. Kraków, Poland-born Korzeniowski has previously been nominated for three IFMCA Awards, winning the award for Best Drama Score for “A Single Man” in 2009. Read more…
Movie Music UK Awards 2013
Film music went from strength to strength again in 2013. In terms of it’s world wide excellence, the breadth of outstanding music coming from all corners of the globe is astonishing – some of the best scores of year emerged not only from mainstream Hollywood productions, but also from Japan, Poland, the Czech Republic, Mexico and Spain, Germany and even Russia. As such, narrowing down my choices for the best of the year has been a very difficult task – one of the most difficult in recent memory. However, I’ve finally been able to put everything into some sort of logical order – so, for your reading and listening pleasure, I present the 2013 Movie Music UK Awards! Read more…
Academy Award Nominations 2013
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 86th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2013.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- WILLIAM BUTLER and OWEN PALLETT for Her
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Philomena
- THOMAS NEWMAN for Saving Mr. Banks
- STEVEN PRICE for Gravity
- JOHN WILLIAMS for The Book Thief
These are the first Oscar nominations for Butler, Pallett and Price, although Price was nominated for a Golden Globe earlier this year for Gravity, and Butler and Pallett have been nominated for 7 Grammy awards for their work as members of the rock group Arcade Fire. This is the 6th Oscar nomination for Desplat, the 12th Oscar nomination for Newman, and the 49th Oscar nomination for Williams, who previously won in 1971 for Fiddler on the Roof, 1975 for Jaws, 1977 for Star Wars, 1982 for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and 1993 for Schindler’s List.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ and ROBERT LOPEZ for “Let It Go” from Frozen
- PAUL HEWSON (BONO), DAVID EVANS (THE EDGE), ADAM CLAYTON and LARRY MULLEN Jr. for “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- KAREN ORZOLEK and SPIKE JONZE for “Moon Song” from Her
- PHARRELL WILLIAMS for “Happy” from Despicable Me 2
A fifth nomination, “Alone Yet Not Alone” from the film Alone Yet Not Alone by Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel, was issued, but later rescinded when it was discovered that Broughton had breached Academy campaign rules
The winners of the 86th Academy Awards will be announced on March 2, 2014.
Golden Globe Winners 2013
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 71st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2013.
In the Best Original Score category composer Alex Ebert, from the band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, won the award for his score for All is Lost. In his acceptance speech, after a brief and humorous aside with award presenter Sean “Puffy” Combs, Ebert said:
“Thank you, and thank you guys here. JC [Chandor], thank you, for having the faith to see into what I had done before and see that you thought that I could do this. You know, even the most deft pen is a clumsy tool, and yet we still try for magic. Thanks for letting me try, all over your movie. Thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press. I cannot believe this, this is crazy. Thanks to Brian Ling, and Linnie, and I’ll wrap it up. That’s it. Thanks, thanks to everybody, thank you, thank you, thank you!”
The other nominees were Alex Heffes for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Steven Price for Gravity, John Williams for The Book Thief, and Hans Zimmer for 12 Years a Slave.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (The Edge), Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. of the Irish rock band U2, and Brian Burton (Danger Mouse), for the song “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
The other nominees were Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for “Let It Go” from Frozen; Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion from Coldplay for “Atlas” from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; Ed Rush, George Cromarty, T-Bone Burnett, Justin Timberlake, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “Please Mr. Kennedy” from Inside Llewyn Davis; and Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff for “Sweeter Than Fiction” from One Chance.
BAFTA Nominations 2013
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 67th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2013.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- HENRY JACKMAN for Captain Phillips
- THOMAS NEWMAN for Saving Mr. Banks
- STEVEN PRICE for Gravity
- JOHN WILLIAMS for The Book Thief
- HANS ZIMMER for 12 Years a Slave
These are the first BAFTA nominations for Jackman and Price. It is the 4th BAFTA nomination for Newman, who won the award in 2000 for American Beauty and again in 2013 for Skyfall. It is the 15th nomination for Williams, who has won on seven previous occasions: for Jaws in 1975, Star Wars in 1977, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in 1983, Empire of the Sun in 1987, Schindler’s List in 1993, and Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006. It is the 6th BAFTA film nomination for Zimmer.
The winners of the 67th BAFTA Awards will be announced on February 16, 2014.
Wojciech Kilar, 1932-2013
Composer Wojciech Kilar died on December 29, 2013 at his home in Katowice, Poland, after a battle with cancer. He was 81.
Kilar was born in Lvov, Ukraine, when it was still part of Poland, in July 1932, but moved to Katowice in Silesia in 1948 with his father, a gynecologist, and his mother, an actress. Kilar studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice under composer and pianist Władysława Markiewiczówna, at the State Higher School of Music in Kraków under composer and pianist Bolesław Woytowicz, and in Paris with the legendary Nadia Boulanger in the late 1950s. Upon his return to Poland, Kilar and fellow composers Henryk Górecki and Krzysztof Penderecki led an avant-garde music movement in the 1960s, during which time he wrote several acclaimed classical works.
Kilar scored his first film in 1959, and went gone on to write music from some of Poland’s most acclaimed directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Wajda. He worked on over 100 titles in his home country, including internationally recognized titles such as Bilans Kwartalny (1975), Ziemia Obiecana (1975), Rok Spokojnego Słońca (1984), Życie Za Życie (1991) and Pan Tadeusz (1999), plus several others in France and across other parts of Europe. Read more…
Golden Globe Nominations 2013
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the nominations for the 71st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2013.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- ALEX EBERT for All is Lost
- ALEX HEFFES for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- STEVEN PRICE for Gravity
- JOHN WILLIAMS for The Book Thief
- HANS ZIMMER for 12 Years a Slave
These are the first major film music award nominations for Ebert, Heffes and Price, although Ebert has previously been nominated for a Grammy award for his work as a member of the alt-rock group Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. This is the 24th nomination for Williams, who previously won Globes in 1975 for Jaws, 1977 for Star Wars, 1982 for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and 2005 for Memoirs of a Geisga. It’s also the 11th nomination for Zimmer, who previously won Globes for The Lion King in 1994 and Gladiator in 2000.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ and ROBERT LOPEZ for “Let It Go” from Frozen
- PAUL HEWSON (BONO), DAVID EVANS (THE EDGE), ADAM CLAYTON, LARRY MULLEN Jr. and BRIAN BURTON for “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
- CHRIS MARTIN, JONNY BUCKLAND, GUY BERRYMAN and WILL CHAMPION (COLDPLAY) for “Atlas” from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- ED RUSH, GEORGE CROMARTY, T BONE BURNETT, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, JOEL COEN and ETHAN COEN for “Please Mr. Kennedy” from Inside Llewyn Davis
- TAYLOR SWIFT and JACK ANTONOFF for “Sweeter Than Fiction” from One Chance
The winners of the 71st Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 12, 2014.
Star Wars
After much thought and deliberation, I have decided that, from now on, I will no longer be assigning star ratings to any of the reviews I write. The main reason for this is because, for too long now, I have had the feeling that many of my readers simply look at the star rating at the end of the review and use it as a quick and easy overview of my thought processes about a particular score, when in actual fact I want the meat of the review itself to convey my feelings. Slapping an arbitrary *** rating onto this score or that score really does nothing other than try to distill 2,000 words of prose into a single idea, whereas in reality the differences between three star, three-and-a-half star and four star ratings are subtle and can be swayed by all manner of different criteria.
So, here we go. I hope that the change in thinking will not be too radical for everyone. I do spend a lot of time crafting my thoughts and trying to put over intelligent arguments and detailed descriptions of each score I review, and hopefully the lack of an all-encompassing thumbs-up or thumbs-down will encourage people to really read what I write, (hopefully) understand my point of view about things, and stir up some interesting debate and discussion, both in the comments here and on the MMUK Discussion Board.
Thanks everyone!
— Jon
Passionata Film Scoring raising funds for Oklahoma Tornado Relief
The tornado which devastated parts of Oklahoma the other day has left many people dead and thousands homeless. My friend Phil Watkins, of Passionata Film Scoring, is currently running a silent auction to raise money for the American Red Cross and the Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund.
Please see the following message from Phil for further details on how to donate to this worthy cause. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2012
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 85th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.
In the Best Original Score category composer Mychael Danna won the award for his score for Life of Pi. In his acceptance speech, Danna said:
“I share this wondrous award with our visionary captain, Mr. Ang Lee – there he is! We’re playing this game again! – who guided a truly global cast and crew in the telling of this wondrous, beautiful story that transcends culture and race and religion. In the same spirit, musicians from around the globe came together to breathe life into this music, and I hold this award on their behalf. I want to thank my beautiful Fox family, my mom who’s in a balcony here watching, my father who’s also watching, and most of all my wife Apurna and our two beautiful boys who remind me every day why stories like this need to be told. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Academy. Thank you.”
The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, Thomas Newman for Skyfall, and John Williams for Lincoln.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall”, the title song from the James Bond film of the same name.
The other nominees were Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri for “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi; Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted; Joshua Ralph for “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice; and Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer for “Suddenly” from Les Misérables.
IFMCA Award Winners 2012
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION HONORS MULTIPLE FILMS; “LIFE OF PI” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR BUT DESPLAT, ELFMAN, GIACCHINO, NEWMAN, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS ALSO WIN
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. Unlike in previous years, where one score has taken multiple victories, the main film prizes are split equally between 11 different movies and composers, the greatest spread in IFMCA history.
The award for Score of the Year goes to Canadian composer MYCHAEL DANNA for his score for director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI. Danna’s dramatic and beautiful score made use of a large number of Indian musical elements in addition to a traditional western orchestra, capturing through music one the film’s key ideas, the collision of different cultures to form the large, ethnic melting pot from which the lead character, Pi Patel, originates. This is the first Score of the Year award from the IFMCA for Golden Globe winner and double-Oscar nominee Danna, who had never previously been nominated in this category, although he did receive five previous nominations in genre categories for scores such as BEING JULIA, THE NATIVITY STORY and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS.
Hollywood A-lister DANNY ELFMAN was named Film Composer of the Year for his outstanding body of work in 2012, during which he composed music for such popular and successful films as DARK SHADOWS, FRANKENWEENIE, HITCHCOCK. MEN IN BLACK III, PROMISED LAND and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. Elfman’s music in 2012 ran the gamut of styles and genres, from the soft rock of Silver Linings Playbook to the Gothic atmospherics of Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie, to the subtle Bernard Herrmann echoes of Hitchcock, cementing his position as one of the most versatile and sought-after composers working today. This is the second Composer of the Year Award Elfman has received from the IFMCA, having previously been similarly honored for his work in 2008. Read more…
BAFTA Winners 2012
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 66th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.
In the Best Original Score category composer Thomas Newman won the award for his score for the smash hit James Bond movie Skyfall. In his acceptance speech, Newman said:
“Thank you so much BAFTA. A big shout-out to Monty Norman and the late John Barry for that iconic theme which always makes everyone get up and smile. Thank you to Michael and Greg Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, to my wife Anne-Marie, everyone at Abbey Road and Sam Mendes – brinksmanship! Thank you so much.”
The other nominees were Mychael Danna for Life of Pi, Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, and John Williams for Lincoln.
IFMCA Award Nominations 2012
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS REVEAL MOST OPEN RACE IN YEARS, WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS FOR DANNA, DESPLAT, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. The largest numbers this year are, for the most part, split evenly between four composers, all of whom received four nominations: MYCHAEL DANNA, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ and veteran composer JOHN WILLIAMS.
The nominations for Danna, Velázquez and Williams were each for a single score – director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI, director Juan Antonio Bayona’s harrowing tsunami drama THE IMPOSSIBLE [LO IMPOSIBLE] and director Steven Spielberg’s look at the last months of life of Abraham LINCOLN, respectively.
Desplat’s nominations were for his body of work in 2012 which included writing IFMCA Award-nominated music for the quirky comedy MOONRISE KINGDOM, the storybook animation RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, and the contemporary war thriller ZERO DARK THIRTY, as well as for the 1970s espionage thriller ARGO, the realistic French romantic drama RUST AND BONE [DE ROUILLE ET D’OS], the Italian satirical comedy REALITY, and the French-language biopic CLOCLO.
The other nominees for Film Score of the Year are the ambitious sci-fi drama CLOUD ATLAS by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (2 nominations), and director Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy prequel THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY by Howard Shore (2 nominations). Read more…
Movie Music UK Awards 2012
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Read more…
Golden Globe Winners 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 70th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2012.
In the Best Original Score category composer Mychael Danna won the award for his score for the fantastical drama Life of Pi. In his acceptance speech, Danna said:
“Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Well, I felt very very blessed, even before this, and I speak for the whole cast and crew, to be part of the whole Life of Pi experience. A beautiful, special film, a film of a lifetime, and I want to say thank you to Fox for being crazy enough to make this movie. I want to share this award with my director, Ang Lee – there you are! Ang, I will always treasure this voyage we made together. Thank you for guiding us to shore so safely. I want to shout out to my music crew, Rob and Doc, the musicians and singers all over the world that we recorded for this. My mom and dad, the gift of music that you gave me, thank you so much. Everyone at Fox, it’s like working with family, thank you so much. And my agents, Robert Messinger and Vasi Vangelos, my buddies back in Toronto watching, my kids back in Toronto watching, and most of all, in a room full of starlets, the most beautiful woman here, my wife Apurna. Thank you for your years of support and patience and love, it gets me through every day. Thank you. ”
The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil for Cloud Atlas, and John Williams for Lincoln.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall”, the title song from the James Bond film of the same name.
The other nominees were Jon Bon Jovi for “Not Running Anymore” from Stand-Up Guys; Monty Powell and Keith Urban for “For You” from Act of Valor; Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer for “Suddenly” from Les Miserables; and Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams and T-Bone Burnett for “Safe and Sound” from The Hunger Games.
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