Like with the 2008 poll, I felt like this could be a good opportunity to cover all the music I never got around to. I only have about 30 scores on my 2007 list as it existed a week ago, so I started compiling a list of all the things. But there are three problems:

1. The voting window is smaller this time
2. I'm going to be very busy in the next four weeks
3. This list exploded beyond reason.

So... I've tried to organize the list into chunks, and now I'm going to inflict it on y'all and get some help trying to make sense of what's most essential to cover. They're broken into chunks, mostly by composer or by whatever "genre" I've made up. Some of these might get struck from the list just by my inability to actually find any music, but most of it's out there I think.

Definitely getting to these best I can:
The absurdly productive guys:
I am Legend (Howard)
Charlie Wilson’s War (Howard)
Michael Clayton (Howard)
The Lookout (Howard)
Great Debaters (Howard)
Water Horse (Howard)

Golden Compass (Desplat)
Lust, Caution (Desplat)
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (Desplat/Zigman)
Bridge to Terabithia (Zigman)
Wendell Baker Story (Zigman)
Why Did I Get Married? (Zigman)
Martian Child (Zigman)
Pride (Zigman)

Next (Isham)
Gracie (Isham)
In the Valley of Elah (Isham)
Reservation Road (Isham)
Lions for Lambs (Isham)
The Mist (Isham)

Partition (Tyler)
Bug (Tyler)
War (Tyler)
Alien vs Predator: Requiem (Tyler)

Spider-Man 3 (Young)
Ghost Rider (Young)
Lucky You (Young)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Burwell)
The Hoax (Burwell)

3:10 to Yuma (Beltrami)
The Invisible (Beltrami)
Live Free or Die Hard (Beltrami)
Surf’s Up (M. Danna)
Breach (M. Danna)
Lonely Hearts (M. Danna)
Fracture (Danna/Danna)
Closing the Ring (J. Danna)

Genre whimsy and dreary dramas:
Atonement (Marianelli)
The Brave One (Marianelli)
Ratatouille (Giacchino)
Eastern Promises (Shore)
The Last Mimzy (Shore)
Enchanted (Menken)
Beowulf (Silvestri)

Zimmer/Powell/HGW:
POTC: AWE (Zimmer)
Simpsons Movie (Zimmer)
P.S. I Love You (Powell)
Gone Baby Gone (HGW)
Shrek The Third (HGW)
Bourne Ultimatum (Powell)
The Number 23 (HGW)

Remote Control B squad:
Bee Movie (RGW)
Transformers (Jablonsky)
National Treasure 2 (Rabin)
Hot Rod (Rabin)
Premonition (Badelt)
Shooter (Mancina)
August Rush (Mancina)

Just British Things:
Flood (Wiseman)
HP 5 (Hooper)
Last Sin Eater (McKenzie)
Miss Potter (Westlake)
Black Book (Dudley)
Hannibal Rising (Eshkeri/Umebayashi)
Stardust (Eshkeri)

Hot Fuzz (Arnold)
Amazing Grace (Arnold)
Sleuth (Doyle)
The Last Legion (Doyle)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Armstrong/Rahman)
Island of Lost Souls (Cornish)

International charms (but mostly the French):
Angel (Rombi)
Las 13 Rosas (Banos)
Les Deux Mondes (Harvey)
Kite Runner (Iglesias)
Youth Without Youth (Golijov)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Pinto)
Arthur and the Minimoys (Serra)
1408 (Yared)
The Orphanage (Velazquez)
The Legend/Story of the Great King (Hisaishi)

The esoteric stuff:
There Will be Blood (Greenwood)
Assassination of Jesse James (Cave/Ellis)
Zodiac (Shire)
Wind Chill (Mansell)
Joshua (Muhly)

Grab bag:
Hairspray (Shaiman)
The Bucket List (Shaiman)
I Know Who Killed Me (McNeely)
We Own the Night (Kilar)
Rush Hour 3 (Schifrin)
No Reservations (Glass)
Cassandra’s Dream (Glass)

Grab bag 2:
Halloween (Bates)
300 (Bates/Goldenthal)
Across the Universe (Goldenthal)
Once
Sweeney Todd
Walk Hard

So this is already 99 score lmao. I need to curl up into a ball and cry.

Stuff I might get to. Anything here a must-listen?
Remote Control C squad:
Rescue Dawn (Badelt/Reijseger)
TMNT (Badelt)
American Gangster (Streitenfeld)
Disturbia (Zanelli)
Hitman (Zanelli)
D-War (Jablonsky)

Three guys scoring 90% of all comedies:
Alvin and the Chipmunks (Lennertz)
Blades of Glory (Shapiro)
Year of the Dog (Beck)
The Seeker (Beck)
The Comebacks (Lennertz)
Fred Klaus (Beck)
The Perfect Holiday (Lennertz)

Maybe?
Norbit (D. Newman)
Black Snake Moan (Bomar)
The Namesake (Sawhney)
Planet Terror (Rodriguez)
Pathfinder (Elias)
28 Weeks Later (Murphy)
Rise of the Silver Surfer (Ottman)
The Invasion (Ottman)
Evan Almighty (Debney)
Georgia Rule (Debney)
Even Money (Grusin)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Clinton)
Ocean’s Thirteen (Holmes)
Evening (Kaczmarek)
Arctic Tale (Talbot)
Skinwalkers (Lockington)
Death at a Funeral (Gold)
Dedication (Shearmur)
September Dawn (Ross)
Return to House on Haunted Hill (Wiedmann)
Things We Lost in the Fire (Soderqvist)
La Vie En Rose (Gunning)
The Warlords (Kam/Wing/Ho)

Maybe maybe?
The Reaping (Frizzell)
Underdog (Edelman)
Balls of Fury (Edelman)
Hunting Party (Kent)
Wild Hogs (Castellucci)
Reign Over Me (Kent)
The Condemned (Revell)
Shoot Em Up (Haslinger)
Into the Wild (Brook)
Feast of Love (Trask)
Awake (Revell/Sim)
Diving Bell and Butterfly (Cantelon)

So that's 48 more. Again, 4 weeks. Which includes some vacation time, so less Void Feeding than I've become used to.

So far I've knocked out all the Zimmer, Powell, HGW, Beltrami, Danna, and Danna scores. (Except for Lonely Hearts, couldn't find that one). So 14 down... 85 to go? Maybe more?

Please help.

I gave you a very solid list. You ignored it.
You did this to yourself.

Also, what was the consensus on Nomad? 2006?

> I gave you a very solid list. You ignored it.
> You did this to yourself.

Yes, you helped lengthen this list!

Also I forgot to ask for TV recs, because those were just film scores I shared. The same main three from 2008 are still in contention (Who, Lost, BSG), any others of high importance?

> Also, what was the consensus on Nomad? 2006?

I'm planning on 2005 lol, until Mr. Boles issues an official ruling.

> The Orphanage (Velazquez)

God fucking damnit! I knew there would be a favourite score of mine that I’d completely forget about when preparing my submission. 🤦‍♂️ I’d have ranked that one highly too. Needless to say, I definitely recommend you give it a listen.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0ysDI9mIS9CrbQHKUUDR2G?si=N0xunSIpRySclCY9B0FuAA

> God fucking damnit! I knew there would be a favourite score of mine that
> I’d completely forget about when preparing my submission.

Part of my motivation posting this was to give everyone who hasn't voted yet a starting list of sorts.

> 🤦‍♂️ I’d have ranked that one highly too.
> Needless to say, I definitely recommend you give it a listen.

>
> https://open.spotify.com/album/0ysDI9mIS9CrbQHKUUDR2G?si=N0xunSIpRySclCY9B0FuAA

Yes, it's lovely, but one I never updated in my rankings. Curious to see where it lands now. I have a suite of it in my "low budget horror classics" playlist.

> Part of my motivation posting this was to give everyone who hasn't voted yet a starting list of sorts.

Haha, it’s all good. I’m getting the spanking I deserve for being so hasty with my submission.

> Part of my motivation posting this was to give everyone who hasn't voted
> yet a starting list of sorts.

Thanks, I needed a list.

Also, my favorite score of the year is not on your list. I wonder if anyone can guess what it is.

> Thanks, I needed a list.

> Also, my favorite score of the year is not on your list. I wonder if
> anyone can guess what it is.

I have to assume it's a game or television score, because otherwise I'm at a loss haha.

Skipping over the composers you already said you got to...here are the 10 you must hear.

> Golden Compass (Desplat)

> Spider-Man 3 (Young)

> Angel (Rombi)

> Ratatouille (Giacchino)

> Las 13 Rosas (Banos)
One of his better Spanish scores

> The Last Legion (Doyle)
Held up a lot better than I remembered. Immense is the word that comes to mind.

> Atonement (Marianelli)

> The Legend/Story of the Great King (Hisaishi)
The score of a million names.

> Bee Movie (RGW)

> Transformers (Jablonsky)
Wait, what's this doing here?

It's not great, but it is an essential score to hear from the decade.

Other ****

> Ghost Rider (Young)

> Eastern Promises (Shore)

> Enchanted (Menken)

> August Rush (Mancina)
Just make sure you hear both albums!

> Island of Lost Souls (Cornish)
Overrated. But still a blast at times.

> I am Legend (Howard)
Howard had a very productive and impressively versatile year, but this is the only one of his 2007 scores that got **** from me, even if The Water Horse might have better highlights.

> There Will be Blood (Greenwood)

> Zodiac (Shire)

These make for a marvelously unnerving one-two punch.

Other thoughts

> In the Valley of Elah (Isham)
This is the only one of his scores worth getting to from that year, and it's a high-end **1/2 work. In other words, do not prioritize Isham's output.

> Partition (Tyler)

> Alien vs Predator: Requiem (Tyler)
Both good in parts but with overlong albums.

> War (Tyler)
If you want Bourne temp-tracking from Tyler, Eagle Eye is a better way to get it.

> Bug (Tyler)
Astonishingly bad - and not in the so-bad-it's-good way. One could argue the movie demanded something this ugly, but seriously, spare your ears.

> The Brave One (Marianelli)
Surprisingly shrug-inducing from this composer.

> Shooter (Mancina)
Don't waste your time.

> Flood (Wiseman)
Hope you enjoy theme repetition!

> Last Sin Eater (McKenzie)
It has its moments. But don't go in expecting the consistent power of his religious scores from the 2010s.

> Stardust (Eshkeri)
A fun but incredibly derivative time.

> Hot Fuzz (Arnold)
In full, this score can be a slog at times. Arnold scored the first two-thirds mostly like a slasher thriller (appropriately), and it's only in the final third that it roars into action mode on a consistent basis.

> Amazing Grace (Arnold)
I'm an Arnold stan and darn if I can remember a note of it.

> Sleuth (Doyle)
Was way better than I thought it would be, but it's also largely a small-scale monothematic score, and his kid's remixes are odd inclusions to say the least. Still, the final score track is one of Doyle's better pieces from the decade.

> Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Armstrong/Rahman)
A mess that is nonetheless spectacular entertainment at times.

> Kite Runner (Iglesias)
A mixed bag with a track-of-the-year contender.

> The Orphanage (Velazquez)
Honestly it's pretty rote orchestral horror/thriller material until the finale when it goes full Morricone on you. If people tell you they love this score, it's probably on the basis of the last 10 minutes.

> I Know Who Killed Me (McNeely)
Sufficient thriller music with a handful of lovely passages that everyone gave too much credit back in 2007 because Joel McNeely wrote it.

> We Own the Night (Kilar)
Dull.

> Rush Hour 3 (Schifrin)
That franchise was diminishing returns musically.

> Cassandra’s Dream (Glass)
Glass doing Glass things.

> Stuff I might get to. Anything here a must-listen?

> American Gangster (Streitenfeld)

Weirdly this one? For how bad a rap Streitenfeld gets, this one turned out to be pretty cool.

> Maybe?

> Rise of the Silver Surfer (Ottman)
Honestly, given that the studio forced him to write surfer rock at first, it's a minor miracle Ottman was able to turn around something this acceptable once they realized they made a huge mistake.

> The Invasion (Ottman)
Challenging, and not in a fun way.

> Evan Almighty (Debney)
Do you like temp tracks?

> Ocean’s Thirteen (Holmes)
Pure fun.

> Skinwalkers (Lockington)
I'm a Lockington stan, and darn if I can remember a note of it.

(Message edited on Saturday, July 26, 2025, at 8:03 p.m.)

> Like with the 2008 poll, I felt like this could be a good opportunity to
> cover all the music I never got around to. I only have about 30 scores on
> my 2007 list as it existed a week ago, so I started compiling a list of
> all the things. But there are three problems:

> 1. The voting window is smaller this time

*With the caveat that last time was out of the blue and this time had a months-long heads-up before starting roughly when I predicted it would.

But I, too, didn't listen to anything for this until the pressure was on. We can't all be Jon haha.

> 2. I'm going to be very busy in the next four weeks
> 3. This list exploded beyond reason.

I empathize with these challenges. I'm pretty good at flying through the stuff that I can tell has no shot, but the further back we go, the longer the list of scores I'll be hearing for the first time.

Of your list, these are ones I know I'll be prioritizing

Know they're worth it:
I Am Legend
POTC 3

Remember them being worth it but it's been a while:
Charlie Wilson's War (if only for the highlights)
The Great Debaters
The Water Horse
Bridge to Terabithia
Partition
Enchanted
Transformers
National Treasure 2 (only because it has a contender for cue of the year)
Stardust
Island of Lost Souls
300 (only because it has a cue of the year contender (which was also a contender for cue of the year when it first came out (though I actually prefer the sequel)))
Sweeney Todd (though the singing holds it back)

Plenty of stuff others have recommended that I'll need to make it through as well.