Original Score Oscar Finalists: Listen to the Soundtracks

By Abe Friedtanzer

The fifteen finalists for Best Original Score are here, and I always enjoy this time of year because I have a constant playlist going whenever I’m not watching something so that I can familiarize myself with all the cited scores. I had hoped Benedetta (listen to this track) would make the finalist list, and also thought that Last Night in Soho (here’s the main theme) would be here, but overall it’s a decent list and worth indulging in to choose your five favourites. But for now, check out a track from (almost) every shortlisted film as well as some relevant stats for the composer behind them. For reference: a composer appearing twice on this list is not uncommon. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross beat themselves last year, triumphing for Soul (with Jon Batiste) over Mank...

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Oscar's Eligible Original Scores for 2015

Thomas Newman has 12 nominations but has never won. Can this be the year? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (our much obsessed over AMPAS) has released the list of this year's original score contenders. The music branch is one of the most controversial laden in the Academy and they regularly make rulings that make people crazy. This year the most high profile scores that have been disqualified due to pre-existing material are The Revenant and Love and Mercy. Now, a lot of films use pre-existing material  -- particularly if they part of franchises like this year's Creed, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Man From UNCLE, which are all eligible -- it's just a question of "how much?" pre-existing they use. And that's where the annual controversies spring from, as when AMPAS let Babel slide (despite a score that had much much less original music than pre-existing music) and it won the category!

In a strange turn of events given Oscar darling Alexandre Desplat's typical yearly work load, he's not even the most eligible contender this year with only two scores.

The complete list of eligible scores (and more info) is after the jump. I've highlighted 15 my favorites but which are you rooting for? 

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