Really enjoying them, you do a masterful job with these rundowns! I sense a theme of dminishing returns and derivative sounds for this era, and which could be you burning out on the same sound or that sound getting really stale from any point of view (or both, I definitely concur with your assessments on most of these!)
> Prison Break Season 3 (2007-08) and Season 4 (08-09) - **
> Ramin Djawadi; technical score advisor Rob Simon; assistant composer
> Bryce Jacobs
Heard this once or twice and found it decent, but given that I listened to it right after hearing Iron Man for the first time, I was mildly disappointed!
> Angels and Demons (2009) - ****
An absolute powerhouse of a score that makes up for the diminished thoughtfulness from its predecessor with the bombastic histrionics that mark Zimmer at his best. Side note, a friend from college who didn't listen to soundtracks much said she knew and loved "Science and Religion," and someone else loved "180 BPM," so I wonder if this is a score that non-score fans gravitate towards?
> The Sims 3 (2009) - ***
This was essentially my impression when I listened to it a couple years ago. Perfectly fine, even atypical of what we expect from him, but The Sims isn't exactly a game series that makes for highly engaging stand-alone listens.
> Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) - **
I revisited this before you went live on this, and I was struck by how underwhelmed I was. As you said, the strengths of the prior score are just... gone. The themes, I did not expect them to be marginalized so quickly. "NEST" is fun for me as a Linkin Park fan (I adored "New Divide" in high school, still remember speculating with a friend if that was the title of their new album), but a lot of the music is so bland and blah. Like a lot of stuff on this list, it's fine but stale. Lisbeth Scott's cues are excellent though, and do salvage it as a solo listen.
> G-Force (2009) - **
My sister adored this movie as a kid, and I remember enjoying it. The score's on my to-listen, though your review makes me a little reluctant now!
> Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) - ****
Hell yeah. The best score of the series, and I think the best film too. The themes are a great blend of new and old, and it has the best action music Powell wrote for the franchise. This is a 4.5 score for me, only a few slapstick moments holding it back. Also, this was likely the worst of his in this era for track-splitting to accommodate choir royalties. So glad they worked that out!
> Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - *½
Was gonna say this needs a relisten for me, but hmmm... Well, I will re-listen, but I'll keep what you wrote in mind. This one remains popular with the "epic music" crowd on YouTube, and you'll still see Reddit fanboys talking about it, but that's about it. I know games require a lot of music, but from what I remember of it, that's a ridiculous number of add'l composers! All for something that could have come from a library, apparently (and in the future may well, given Bleeding Fingers...)
> The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) - **
Enjoyed it in the film and on my one listen. HGW does well with these bread-and-butter thrillers, and I have a soft spot for them, but I definitely see how it gets stale on marathons like this!
> The Fourth Kind (2009) - **1/2
That film sure was something, talk about wild viral marketing. The musical highlights are quite good, and I throw it on during a rainy autumn day. It's overlong at 45 minutes though, they really should have trimmed the dissonant stuff.
> Solomon Kane (2009) - ***½
Heard it, enjoyed it, can't remember it now. I hate for a fella of his talent to have such a low profile, but given how Hollywood chewed him up, I can't begrudge his current environment.
> It’s Complicated (2009) - ***
It's interesting to see how composer-director relationships can just peter out like that. Never heard this, may seek it out. Yeah, a director not getting a zimmerling, I wonder if she declined another RC composer or what.
-------------------
Can't overstate how much I love this series, thanks for all you do!