Previous HYPE Post: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=139151

Something tickled my brain as I was working on this, which made me dig into the archives. It turns out that Callum and I posted our first HYPE Day! post in February of 2015. Which means I've been half-assing this preview series for a full decade now. (Guess I could have full-assed it for just half a decade instead.)

Highlights from the last two months: Kind of covered it in my April Fool's post lol. Not a whole lot of standouts, but Brave New World, Mickey 17, and Love Hurts generally delivered for me.
Scores that were fine: lots of 'em. Out of the ones I was most excited for, Alto Knights and Electric State.
Scores I'm going to call out because I'm feeling ornery: The Gorge, Black Bag, Novocaine. Real letdowns.

Now, Hastily dashed together for over ten years, it's your HYPE Day! Standings:

April Attractions:
Already out: A Minecraft Movie (Mark Mothersbaugh)

Drop (Bear McCreary) - Techno thriller set in a high-rise restaurant. Film looks fun, hope Bear felt inspired by this one. April 11.
Sinners (Ludwig Goransson) - Ryan Coogler! Vampire movie! Period piece! Michael B. Jordan! Two of him! (bonk) Expecting great stuff from Ludwig. (Related: Olivier Deriviere's new game score South of Midnight is really good, and seems to have a similar Deep South Gothic fantasy vibe.) April 18.

And...that's about it for the big headliners.

Others of note:
G20 (Joseph Trapanese) - Action flick, April 11.
The Amateur (Volker Bertelmann) - Action flick, April 11.
The Accountant 2 (Bryce Dessner) - Action flick, April 25
Until Dawn (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wallfisch basically the go-to horror guy now. Does the game this is based off of have good music? April 25
Havoc (Tyler Bates) - Sure. April 25

May We Have Some Blockbusters?
Another Simple Favor (Theodore Shapiro) - I'm surprised there's a sequel to A Simple Favor, but I quite enjoyed Shapiro's score for the first one, so sure, let's do another! May 2.
Thunderbolts* (Son Lux) - Superhero score from the guys who did Everything Everywhere. I liked that score more than a lot of y'all, but I have no idea what to expect from this. Not loving the vibes around the movie but we'll see! May 2.
Karate Kid: Legends (Dominic Lewis) - Awww yeah! Just in time to fill the Cobra Kai-shaped hole in my heart. Also since this is also a sequel to the Jackie Chan movie, maybe this will give me the nudge to finally listen to Horner's score. May 30.
The Phoenician Scheme (Desplat) - Wes Anderson scores can be extremely hit or miss. And it feels like the whole concept may have peaked with Grand Budapest Hotel. And Asteroid City really pissed me off. BUT... this one's an espionage thriller. And I do like my Desplat spy thrillers. May 30.

Promising stuff from the middle of the month:
Fountain of Youth (Chris Benstead) - Heist adventure film from Guy Ritchie? Hell yeah.
Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Lorne Balfe) - So Fallout's score grew on me over time. Dead Reckoning's did not. But also... maybe this is the last film in the series. Hoping they go all out. May 23.
Lilo & Stitch (Dan Romer) - The latest in remakes no one asked for, but I like Romer and think he's a good fit for this. May 23.
Fear Street: Prom Queen (???) - No composer listed that I can find. But Beltrami and co wrote some great material for the previous three films, so perhaps they'll return? May 23.

Also of note:
Nonnas (Marcelo Zarvos) - Comedy flick, btw Zarvos' Good American Family score was pretty solid, worth checking out. This is out May 9.
Fight or Flight (Paul Saunderson) - Action movie on a plane! May 9.
Clown in a Cornfield (Brandon Roberts/Marcus Trumpp) - Slasher film, but two of Beltrami's best former assistants are on it. May 9.
The Last Rodeo (Jeff Russo) - Sports drama, May 23

Jump Start on June Just in Case:
John Wick: Ballerina (Tyler Bates/Joel J. Richard)
The Life of Chuck (Newton Brothers)

What are you HYPED for?

> Drop (Bear McCreary) - Techno thriller set in a high-rise restaurant. Film looks fun, hope Bear felt inspired by this one. April 11.

It's a Christopher Landon joint, so that used to mean something fun (Happy Death Day) but now it means more by-the-numbers stuff (Freaky, We Have a Ghost). Plus when was the last time Bear didn't delegate a good chunk of a horror/thriller film score to the S&S crew? One of the Cloverfield scores maybe? Still, reviews of the movie coming out of SXSW were pretty good.

> Sinners (Ludwig Goransson) - Ryan Coogler! Vampire movie! Period piece! Michael B. Jordan! Two of him! (bonk) Expecting great stuff from Ludwig. (Related: Olivier Deriviere's new game score South of Midnight is really good, and seems to have a similar Deep South Gothic fantasy vibe.) April 18.

So jacked.

> Karate Kid: Legends (Dominic Lewis) - Awww yeah! Just in time to fill the Cobra Kai-shaped hole in my heart. Also since this is also a sequel to the Jackie Chan movie, maybe this will give me the nudge to finally listen to Horner's score. May 30.

Pretty good if you don't mind some thematic regurgitation (gee, real big surprise with a Horner score). An interesting transition point between Avatar and The Amazing Spider-Man in places.

> So jacked.

I just hope we get the Göransson who usually shows up for Coogler and not the Göransson who usually shows up for horror flicks.

> It's a Christopher Landon joint, so that used to mean something fun
> (Happy Death Day) but now it means more by-the-numbers stuff
> (Freaky, We Have a Ghost). Plus when was the last time Bear
> didn't delegate a good chunk of a horror/thriller film score to the S&S
> crew? One of the Cloverfield scores maybe? Still, reviews of the
> movie coming out of SXSW were pretty good.

Well, yeah.

> So jacked.

Michael sure looks that way!

> Pretty good if you don't mind some thematic regurgitation (gee, real big
> surprise with a Horner score). An interesting transition point between
> Avatar and The Amazing Spider-Man in places.

If you had to pick two Horner scores to not sell me on it haha...

Not much there that's super catching my attention but I am a little hyped for two TV scores coming this summer:

Alien: Earth and Strange New Worlds Season 3.

So maybe we'll get a SNW Season 2 album one of these days.

> Already out: A Minecraft Movie (Mark Mothersbaugh)

The bits I've heard so far, sounded good fun.

> Karate Kid: Legends (Dominic Lewis)

Ooh, could be fun.

> Lilo & Stitch (Dan Romer)

Still, why isn't this Silvestri?

In answer to the quality of the Until Dawn game scores- the original had a score by Jason Graves (Moss, Dead Space, Tomb Raider) and it was excellent. Eerie but enjoyable main theme and a pretty secondary theme for the protags, mixed with a soundscape that was surprisingly tonal for much of the runtime (more so than the average Wallfisch horror lol). I would strongly recommend it. HOWEVER the remake (only version on PC, raaaagh) was scored by Mark Korven and, well… It’s a Korven. Far more experimental, less thematic, less melodic, and more challenging. Check out IF you liked the Witch/Them/Resident Evil Raccoon City.

> April Attractions:
> Already out: A Minecraft Movie (Mark Mothersbaugh)

I recommend this one to all. It's a "play the stupid comedy movie mostly straight" affair and Motherbaugh is clearly having fun in the fantasy-adventure genre. You can skip the songs at the start of the album, though... even if a few of them are based on themes int eh score proper.

> Drop (Bear McCreary) - Techno thriller set in a high-rise
> restaurant. Film looks fun, hope Bear felt inspired by this one. April 11.

Toss of the coin if this is a Bear McCreary effort or a "Bear McCreary effort" (i.e, associates galore).

> Sinners (Ludwig Goransson) - Ryan Coogler! Vampire movie! Period
> piece! Michael B. Jordan! Two of him! (bonk) Expecting great stuff from
> Ludwig. (Related: Olivier Deriviere's new game score South of Midnight is
> really good, and seems to have a similar Deep South Gothic fantasy vibe.)
> April 18.

Looking forward to this one!! Also thanks for reminding me I need to check out South of Midnight.

> And...that's about it for the big headliners.

*insert comment about 2025 being a so-so year thus far*

> Others of note:
> G20 (Joseph Trapanese) - Action flick, April 11.

Such a stupid looking flick. Maybe Trapaense can give us some retro-power anthem theatrics? Will probably be electronic drones and screeches, though.

> The Amateur (Volker Bertelmann) - Action flick, April 11.
> The Accountant 2 (Bryce Dessner) - Action flick, April 25

... eh?

> Until Dawn (Benjamin Wallfisch) - Wallfisch basically the go-to
> horror guy now. Does the game this is based off of have good music? April
> 25

Admittedly I'm O.K with Wallfisch being our go-to horror composer at the moment. We usually at least get a solid central theme out of his work in the genre.
As for the OG game, I haven't listened to it yet though it's a Jason Graves venture so I have high hopes. The remake that came out last year had a quick replacement score by Mark Korven which was... serviceable.

> May We Have Some Blockbusters?
> Another Simple Favor (Theodore Shapiro) - I'm surprised there's a
> sequel to A Simple Favor, but I quite enjoyed Shapiro's score for the
> first one, so sure, let's do another! May 2.

The first one was surprisingly good and is another case where it's a perfectly good "one and done" affair. Early buzz on the sequel is that it's pretty bad.

> Thunderbolts* (Son Lux) - Superhero score from the guys who did
> Everything Everywhere. I liked that score more than a lot of y'all, but I
> have no idea what to expect from this. Not loving the vibes around the
> movie but we'll see! May 2.

Sure. I'm kinda over current superhero scores, but this one might be a fun diversion.

> Karate Kid: Legends (Dominic Lewis) - Awww yeah! Just in time to
> fill the Cobra Kai-shaped hole in my heart. Also since this is also a
> sequel to the Jackie Chan movie, maybe this will give me the nudge to
> finally listen to Horner's score. May 30.

Wait... they're making a legacy sequel to the Jakie Chan remake? Huh. Anyway, moderately curious to hear what Lewis does. Also should probably revisit Horner's effort as well.

> The Phoenician Scheme (Desplat) - Wes Anderson scores can be
> extremely hit or miss. And it feels like the whole concept may have peaked
> with Grand Budapest Hotel. And Asteroid City really pissed me off. BUT...
> this one's an espionage thriller. And I do like my Desplat spy thrillers.
> May 30.

It's Desplat. I'll give it a chance.

> Promising stuff from the middle of the month:
> Fountain of Youth (Chris Benstead) - Heist adventure film from Guy
> Ritchie? Hell yeah.
> Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Lorne Balfe) - So
> Fallout's score grew on me over time. Dead Reckoning's did not. But
> also... maybe this is the last film in the series. Hoping they go all out.
> May 23.
> Lilo & Stitch (Dan Romer) - The latest in remakes no one asked
> for, but I like Romer and think he's a good fit for this. May 23.
> Fear Street: Prom Queen (???) - No composer listed that I can find.
> But Beltrami and co wrote some great material for the previous three
> films, so perhaps they'll return? May 23.

I have pretty equal amounts of tempered expectations for all of these. Hope at least one or two prove to be especially great.

> Also of note:
> Clown in a Cornfield (Brandon Roberts/Marcus Trumpp) - Slasher film, but
> two of Beltrami's best former assistants are on it. May 9.

Oh yeah... I remember seeing a couple of articles about this flick several months ago.