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Month of March, 2002

	Skip directly to: The 2001 Multi-Category Filmtracks Awards

The year of 2001 marked the grand return of the fantasy film and fantasy score, and when it came down to awards time, the mainstream fantasy genre took flight. The late year powerhouses of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone were joined by A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Monsters, Inc., and A Beautiful Mind in the "Best Original Score" category. All five have fantasy elements to them, and more interestingly, all five are major American films. There is no Red Violin or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in this year's music nominations, which is a rare nod to the American mainstream. Also absent from the nominations, due to eligibility problems, was the crown jewel of this year's soundtracks: Moulin Rouge. Taking the music awards at every other show for the 2001 season, Moulin Rouge won't net Craig Armstrong an Oscar, even though his masterful job of arrangement may well have warranted one for him. Even Moulin Rouge is a fantasy film of sorts, rounding out a year of imaginative music for heroes and villains, delusions and monsters.

Filmtracks' awards pages have a different look and arrangement this year as well. Below you will find a basic analysis of the Academy's choice of nominations for "Best Original Score" and a summary of how the fans at Filmtracks voted during the preceding Theme of the Month's booths. Located on a separate page this year are the Filmtracks' multi-category picks, with nominations for every imaginable score-related aspect of 2001.

The Basic 2001 Academy and Filmtracks Choices:
	Year		AMPAS picks		Filmtracks Picks
	2001		A.I. Artificial Intelligence (John Williams) A Beautiful Mind (James Horner) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (John Williams) The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore) Monsters, Inc. (Randy Newman)		The Affair of the Necklace (David Newman) A.I. Artificial Intelligence (John Williams) A Beautiful Mind (James Horner) From Hell (Trevor Jones) The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)* Moulin Rouge (Craig Armstrong)**
	* winner highlighted in blue.     ** considered ineligible for some awards due to adaptation of previous content.

Analysis: There are three scores that need to be on everyone's list of nominations for "Best Score of 2001." All three have been nominated for the major awards shows thus far, and they are the ones from which this year's Academy Award winner will emerge. First, John Williams' A.I. Artificial Intelligence is an emotional powerhouse of a score, with operatic vocals that brought audiences to tears. Even though the film was an early summer release (and was released significantly earlier than all of the other Academy picks), A.I. Artificial Intelligence holds its own over time. The tender and yet brutal swing of emotions in the score were a vital part of the film, and its album is, in some way, more of a success than the film itself. The second mandatory score is The Lord of the Rings. Very few people expected Howard Shore or Peter Jackson to deliver a product that could compete with major Hollywood dramas, but they succeeded. The film has swept the post-terrorism world off its feet and the music, fueled also by Enya's contribution, has been equally loved by the mainstream. Third, James Horner's A Beautiful Mind cannot be overlooked. The film is a favorite to win numerous major awards, and there are scenes in that film during which Horner's music is pivotal. When Nash gets deep into his calculations, Horner's intricate piano work keeps up. These three scores were non-negotiable.

The waters got a little muddier here. The score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone gained Williams his second Oscar nomination of the year, though the score has not been as well received in other awards gatherings and in the popular view. Its thunder was significantly stolen by The Lord of the Rings, and with A.I. Artificial Intelligence offering a superior alternative by Williams, the nomination of Harry Potter for an Oscar was somewhat of a surprise. Even though it is a solid score, it repeats much of the same material that Williams has employed in the past, and isn't half as original as A.I.. Thus, it does not belong on the list. The nomination of Randy Newman's Monsters, Inc. was ridiculous in every way. It proves that Randy Newman could die tomorrow and the Academy would still try to nominate him for years to come. Along with Rachel Portman and John Williams, Newman is a darling of the Academy and can do no wrong. They were wrong, however, in recognizing the rehash known as Monsters, Inc.. What's even worse is that we'll have to see and hear Newman sing once again at the ceremonies this year.

So what scores should be entered into the nominations instead of Harry Potter and Monsters, Inc.? Several viable candidates arose, including The Affair of the Necklace (David Newman), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (James Newton Howard), Bridget Jones' Diary (Patrick Doyle), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Elliot Goldenthal), From Hell (Trevor Jones), Hannibal (Hans Zimmer), The Mummy Returns (Alan Silvestri), and The Tailor of Panama (Shaun Davey). In the end, the summer blockbusters lost out to the power of two more obscure, late season scores. Trevor Jones doesn't get the awards recognition he deserves, and the lack of attention to From Hell continues that trend. As a suspense score, it was unparalled this past year, with many dark and brooding passages of full orchestral and choral power that offer a perfect mood for the film. Likewise, The Affair of the Necklace, while being the weakest score on the final list, took several chances in its representation of the setting and charactersfor its film. David Newman's work for the film enhanced the elements of erotica and classical flavor with an array or exotic instruments and provacative themes. From Hell and The Affair of the Necklace added a much needed balance to the list of nominees for the year. Ultimately, the epic power of The Lord of the Rings prevails over all others, completing a restoration of dignity to the fantasy score genre.

There is still one major issue to address, though... what to do with Moulin Rouge? If it had been nominated by the Academy, it would have won the award. There is no doubt about it. There's a certain relief that it wasn't nominated, because its absence means that a traditional composer and score will win the award. Even though the music in Moulin Rouge was mostly adapted from previous works, those adaptations were so drastic and refreshing, that the film became a whole new breed of musical... and form of entertainment that is as enticing as it is novel. Therefore, it belongs on the list of nominations, if even as an asterisk. More than all of the other nominated scores combined, Moulin Rouge dominated the soundtrack scene last year, and no matter how much you hate musicals, you can't deny it's overwhelming popularity. If you haven't seen the film, you won't have a chance of understanding why it belongs on the list of nominees.

The 2001 Filmtracks Surfers' Awards:
	Best Original 2001 Score		2001 Composer of the Year		Best 2001 CD Release
	1. The Lord of the Rings 2. A.I. Artificial Intelligence 3. Moulin Rouge 4. A Beautiful Mind 5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone		1. John Williams 2. Howard Shore 3. James Horner 4. Hans Zimmer 5. Alan Silvestri		1. The Mists of Avalon (TV) 2. Great Composers: Georges Delerue 3. Cleopatra (North) 4. Aliens 5. Band of Brothers (TV)
	Based on visitors' votes from 1/5/02 to 2/21/02. You can view the complete voting results at the January/February, 2002, Theme of the Month.

Analysis: This year's fan vote was the most successful in Filmtracks' extensive history of such voting booths. There were over 1,300 votes, with no more than four votes from any one IP (as well as other safeguard methods that eliminated roughly 600 fraudulent votes). When all the votes were tallied, the results were pretty streamlined, with only a small handful of surprises.

The top five voted scores were consistent with the major awards nominations. The fact that Moulin Rouge placed highly in a "best score" category at a score-only site shows the power it holds with the mainstream movie-goers and causal visitors to Filmtracks. The results in the "best composer" category gave us proof, if we ever needed it, that John Williams is still the world's premiere composer. A strong placement for Alan Silvestri was a pleasant surprise. In the "best album" category, Varèse Sarabande pulled a major victory, holding the top four most popular albums. High vote counts for the albums for The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter were more puzzling though, because that directly conflicts with all of the complaints that the CDs did not present enough of the music from the films. For incomplete and flawed albums, the both placed well. Overall, it was yet another year when the "best composer" did not compose the "best score" or compose the music for the "best album."

And now, on to...

The 2001 Multi-Category Filmtracks Awards





Be sure to visit the Filmtracks Awards pages, with Academy and Filmtracks picks from the last dozen years, as well as other Filmtracks Themes of the Month.





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Page created 2/28/02, updated 3/5/02. Version 2.1 (Filmtracks Publishing). Copyright © 2002, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. "Academy Awards" and the Oscar statue are ® AMPAS, 1998-2002. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. If you don't agree with our awards, then go suck on a popsicle and forget about it!