The politically correct nominations:

The Passion of the Christ
The Aviator*
Harry Potter Azkaban

*What's this I hear about Shore's Aviator not qualifying because there are more songs in the picture than there is score? Is this the yearly weirdness as expected from AMPAS?

The cool nomination: a Jon Brion score.... Eternal Sunshine or Huckabees.

Underdogs: The Notebook, Sideways, Birth, Vanity Fair, or even Two Brothers, or is Warbeck not really an Oscar magnet? Lemony Snicket, too. T Newman is an Oscar magnet, or at least was.

Things like The Incredibles should not be nominated, as it's essentially a rip off of John Barry/James Bond 60s music. I love the music, but it's not original.

I am ready for some surprises.

If Troy is nominated, I will hack moviemusic.com and destroy the business.

And... this year we will see no Hans Zimmer.

That's my take!

I think harry gregson williams deserves his first nomination.Shrek 2 will be nominated for best animation movie,and is one of the most hits films in history.
And the score has memorable themes and is very well orchestrated.I think shrek 2 have to be the same for HGW than lion king for MR.Zimmer.

And the oscar goes to.....
JOhn debney.
because Shore have 3 oscar(and aviator not deservers even the golden globe...its completely wrong ) and finding neverland is from a Almost Aknowledge composer.
John debeney will be the perfect choose.

I can see why Craig Armstrong's "Ray" would be, as voters are too stupid to know they are voting for the score and not the Ray Charles songs. (See "Round Midnight" and "The Full Monty" for why that rule has been enacted.)

You can also eleminate "Shrek 2." It's score is almost entirely music and themes rescored from the first film. I think John Williams "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" however is eligible as it is almost entirely new material.

As for Giacchino's "The Incredibles," while the score evokes the Barry, Schifrin, Goldsmith styles of 1960s spy scores, it IS original material and effective scoring. I think it should be nominated.

James

I'll stick my neck out and say FINDING NEVERLAND will win this year!

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Originally posted by zimmerito:
Yes..but shrek 1 was not nominated.
and shrek 2 have much new material.I think you must listen de cd release..
Dinner family,the ball,Meant to be....
See u!

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Trust me...he isn't going to get the nomination. If Giacchino is pastiche and not eligible, then Gregson-Williams won't for using themes from the first film. I don't care how much is new...most of it was based on themes from the first film.

Other than Williams' 2 efforts this year I can't say I've been too impressed with what's out there. Part of that is due to the great FSM and Varese club releases we've had this year, all of that great music from the past has overshadowed most scores from this year.

Yared's Troy would have been one of my choices had it remained with the film but.....

And it seems Passion Of The Christ will be snubbed, I could see Debney's score as a nominee though.

Finding Neverland might be the choice to go with.

WIN OSCRA FOR SHURE!!!!

Is Howard Shore really disqualified because there are more songs than score? If so, that's just stupid. I thought this was supposed to be music experts voting on the score award? Or is that just who nominates them. Either way, that's ridiculous if it's true.

The score for "Lemony Snicket" is simply Thomas Newman doing what he has been asked to do in pretty much every film since "American Beauty."

I have heard "The Aviator" cannot be nominated for the reason listed. I personally don't know why that is the case.

It will be interesting to see if Rolfe Kent's score gets a nod along with other possible nominations. It may be the one that sneaks in, though it would be odd.

I have not heard the new Desplat score for "Baby", my guess is it would be overlooked.

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Originally posted by sakman:
Sorry Peter but if your comments regarding "The Incredibles" was applied to pretty much any score it would make them all ineligible. Alberto Iglesias' score for "Bad Education" would easily fall into this category. Both of these scores are essentially homages to former eras of music. The latter suggests the Goldsmith/Schifrin/Mancini 60s and the latter the Hitchcock/Herrmann film noir and thriller styles.

The score for "Lemony Snicket" is simply Thomas Newman doing what he has been asked to do in pretty much every film since "American Beauty."

I have heard "The Aviator" cannot be nominated for the reason listed. I personally don't know why that is the case.

It will be interesting to see if Rolfe Kent's score gets a nod along with other possible nominations. It may be the one that sneaks in, though it would be odd.

I have not heard the new Desplat score for "Baby", my guess is it would be overlooked.

There are plenty of good scores out there but very few that may stand the test of time or that stand out from the crowd significantly. I think that has to do with the fact that a lot of the composers in Hollywood are at about the same point in their development and career. The future looks great.

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I think you mean "Birth" and not "Baby." Desplat might sneak in only because the score did get some attention. But I'm doubtful.

I like Rolfe Kent and I think his score is nice, but the film "Sideways" is the most overrated film of the year. It's just a nice film. Best picture...hardly.

If Dave Grusin had scored it, he'd have the nomination and we'd all be bitching about how his little jazz score got in there. (See "Fabulous Baker Boys.")

While "Lemony Snicket..." isn't groundbreaking for Thomas Newman, I'd hardly compare it to "American Beauty."

I have long trumpted the talents of Jan A.P. Kaczmarek and would love to see him nominated and win for "Finding Neverland." His score for "Unfaithful" should have been nominated a couple of years ago.

I'm also glad someone mentioned Iglesias' "Bad Education." Another great score that will probably be overlooked.
I feel only the main title is Herrmannesque.

Roque Banos' score for "The Machinist" is VERY Herrmannesque.

What I think is interesting about the reappearance of 60s-style jazz, or Herrmann-esque writing is that it is now in that 30-50 year old range. A little film named "Star Wars" ushered in the sound of 1930's films about 35-50 years after its heyday as well. While some of these styles have been around, it generally takes a high profile, or successful film, to catapult its attention.

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Howard Shore's music for "The Aviator" will be missing from Tuesday's Academy Award nominations. Shore's score is one of several that have been disqualified by the Academy's music branch executive committee under Oscar rules. Also failing to make the Oscar cut are Craig Armstrong's score for "Ray," Harry Gregson-Williams' music for "Shrek 2," James Newton Howard's score for "Collateral" and director Clint Eastwood's music for his "Million Dollar Baby."

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Are these rules listed somewhere? Is it the songs/score confusion excuse? I don't mean this to sound like a rant, but I think anyone who seriously cannot tell the difference between the songs and score in those films should not be eligible to vote for the award.

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Originally posted by Bryan T:
Are these rules listed somewhere?

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Anyway, as for the eligible scores, I haven't been able to see all of the end-of-the-year releases, but right now the one I really hope to see nominated is Sky Captain. I also enjoyed Williams' Prisoner of Azkaban (one of Williams' best in ages, I think), Shigeru Umebayashi's House of Flying Daggers, James Newton Howard's The Village, and John Debney's Passion.

I guess we'll see what happens.

I will bet on:
Les Choristes (Coulais) - this is the dark horse. I will not be surprised at all to see it make a surprise appearance.
Finding Neverland (Kaczmarek) - the likely winner
Polar Express (Silvestri) - As my inclusion over The Incredibles. I think Giacchino will not be picked out, being a young pup at the moment.
Spanglish (Zimmer) - The Academy won't go with something as zany as either Jon Brion score, so this will be the one that stands in for all comedies.
The Passion of the Christ (Debney) - only because I can't see where else the Academy will turn. Record sales always count for something.

With the exception of the last, that's the most G-rate set of scores nominated in a long time. Bit risky - betting on two European film composers. And including Coulais over Santoalla or Umebayashi as well - but it is a safe score of the kind the Academy tends to love - e.g. Life is Beautiful, Postman. But I seriously don't expect to see a John Williams score there this year. I think after one year away it will not occur to many people to elevate him for his work on The Terminal.

Note - I would dearly love to see any of The Village, Birth, The Aviator, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and House of Flying Daggers nominated - but I'm NOT GOING TO.