List of eligible scores for OSCAR, 2009

In order to be eligible for the Academy Awards, a score cannot automatically be considered unless someone (the composer for instance) sends out a "for your consideration" Oscar promo CD of their scores.

Now, the academy awards have always been the most popular awards each year, some calling it a celebration of the cinematic art in the spotlight of the most glamorous worldwide event, others considering it as a highly overrated celebration of the business of Hollywood money, but nevertheless the whole events draws attention, no matter what.

The 'best original score' category however, has been loosing its eligibility year by year, because of a general notion that characterizes their choices and emits characteristics having to do with a lack of knowledge in the field, and draft & quick issuing of the winners, just for filling out with the rest, "more important" categories of the awards. Most importantly, the choices the Academy makes in the 'best original score category' are often laughable as they ommit the truly notable and worthiest scores of the year, often for technical reasons but not alone, and the ones they do finally choose to award are usually not even good scores, or good music for the matter.

This year, things seem to be even worse however. The list of eligible scores for Oscar Consideration suggests that the truly great scores this year aren't eligible once again, and it was a good year for film music. For instance, no Brian Tyler scores at all ("The Killing Room" was a breath of fresh air from Tyler this year, a very good dark score and it should have - at least - been eligible for sure), there are no David Newman scores, no Beltrami's "The knowing", no Harry Potter nor Zimmer's "Angels and Demons", no Brian Eno's the "Lovely Bones", no "Red Canvas" (not released in the US), no Dario Marianelli's excellent score for "Agora" (not released in the US), no Philippe Rombi's beautiful "Un Homme Et Son Chien" (not released in the US), no Ennio Morricone's lyrical orchestral graces of "Baaria" (not released in the US), no "Pope Joan" (not released in the US), not even the exotic "Mao's Last Dancer" (not released in the US), just to name but a few of the omissions.

Apparently only 81 scores have been deemed eligible by AMPAS for the Oscars this year. They are:

1. Bates, WATCHMEN
2. Bellon, IRON CROSS
3. Beltrami/Sanders, THE HURT LOCKER
4. Bradshaw, BRIGHT STAR
5. Brandstaetter, PUNCTURED HOPE
6. Brett, PLANET 51
7. Burwell, A SERIOUS MAN
8. Cave/Ellis, THE ROAD
9. Cnejevicvi, EVA
10.Coulais, CORALINE
11. Danna, ADORATION
12. Danna, THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE
13. Danna/Danna, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS
14. Danna/Simonsen, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER
15. De La Puente, THE MISSING LYNX
16. Debney, ALIENS IN THE ATTIC
17. Debney, HOTEL FOR DOGS
18. Debney, OLD DOGS
19. Debney, THE STONING OF SORAYA M
20. Desplat, CHERI
21. Desplat, COCO BEFORE CHANEL
22. Desplat, FANTASTIC MR. FOX
23. Desplat, JULIE & JULIA
24. Desplat, THE TWLIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON
25. Eastwood/Stevens, INVICTUS
26. Eidelman, HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU
27. Elfman, TERMINATOR SALVATION
28. Englishby, AN EDUCATION
29. Eshkeri, THE YOUNG VICTORIA
30. Giacchino, LAND OF THE LOST
31. Giacchino, STAR TREK
32. Giacchino, UP
33. Gold, ADVENTURES OF POWER
34. Goldenthal, PUBLIC ENEMIES
35. Golijov, TETRO
36. Hamlisch, THE INFORMANT!
37. Hisaishi, PONYO
38. Horner, AVATAR
39. Howard, DUPLICITY
40. Iglesias, BROKEN EMBRACES
41. Isham, BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS
42. Jablonsky, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
43. Kent, 17 AGAIN
44. Kent, GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST
45. Kent, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
46. Kent, UP IN THE AIR
47. Kloser, 2012
48. Korzeniowski, A SINGLE MAN
49. Lara, RUDO Y CURSI
50. Lennertz, ADAM
51. Mansell, MOON
52. Marianelli, EVERYBODY’S FINE
53. Mothersbaugh, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS
54. Muddiman, SKIN
55. Navarrete, INKHEART
56. Newman T, BROTHERS
57. Newman R, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG
58. Ottman, ASTRO BOY
59. Ottman, ORPHAN
60. Penn, SUNSHINE CLEANING
61. Penn, THAT EVENING SUN
62. Powell, ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS
63. Rabin, RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN
64. Rahman, COUPLES RETREAT
65. Rohatyn, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE
66. Shorter, DISTRICT 9
67. Silvestri, DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL
68. Silvestri, G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA
69. Silvestri, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN
70. Toprak, THE LIGHTKEEPERS
71. Wagner, PARIS 36
72. Wedren, BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA
73. Yared, AMELIA
74. Yevtushenko, THE LAST STATION
75. Young, CREATION
76. Young, DRAG ME TO HELL
77. Young, THE UNINVITED
78. Zarvos, SIN NOMBRE
79. Zigman, MY SISTER’S KEEPER
80. Zimmer, SHERLOCK HOLMES
81. Zimmer/Pereira, IT’S COMPLICATED

Find out more at http://moviescoremagazine.com/2010/01/brian-eno-and-others-not-eligible-for-oscar/

Desplat to receive the ‘Hollywood Award’

Desplat to receive the ‘Hollywood Award’

French composer Alexandre Desplat, who is currently scoring the eagerly anticipated Twilight sequel New Moon, will be honoured during the 13th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards. Desplat, who was Oscar-nominated for his score for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Queen, will receive the ‘Hollywood Film Composer Award’ during a gala ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 26.

For more info, please visit moviescoremagazine.com

EMMY AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER, JIM DOOLEY, COLLABORATIVELY SCORES PS3’S NEW SUPERHERO ADVENTURE GAME, inFAMOUS

EMMY AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER, JIM DOOLEY, COLLABORATIVELY SCORES PS3’S NEW SUPERHERO ADVENTURE GAME, inFAMOUS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[author: Karoline Brandt, CW3PR]

Emmy award-winning composer, Jim Dooley, collaboratively scores PS3’s new superhero adventure GAME, infamous Dooley’s Soundtrack to the second season of ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” also to hit stores mid July Los Angeles, CA -- The highly-anticipated, highbred soundtrack to PlayStation 3’s infamous, with music by Jim Dooley, was recently released on May 21st, 2009. Sony released the soundtrack on itunes five days prior to the game release date (May 26th) to give gamers a taste of the game. The soundtrack features musical scores from world-renowned composers James Dooley and Mel Wesson, and features music from underground electronic musician Amon Tobin and electric cellist Martin Tillman.

Sony describes infamous as “the journey of Cole McGrath, the lone survivor of an explosion that levels six square blocks of Empire City. As Cole discovers the source of his newfound, electrifying powers, players are given the choice to exact revenge, protect the innocent or do a little of both. These choices are presented in a richly interactive and organic living city, a place where actions create broader reactions in the citizens and landscapes around them. Experience the role of a modern day superhero tasked with making the choice between fame and infamy.”

To learn more about the music of infamous and see interviews with Jim Dooley and Martin Tillman, tune in to watch the April episode of Qore available on the PlayStation Network.

Exclusive Interviews with inFAMOUS composers, Jim Dooley and Mel Wesson, about the hybrid scoring process of the game can also be found on Music4Games.Net.

More of Dooley’s music can be heard on the upcoming soundtrack to the second season of ABC’s award-winning show Pushing Daisies. The soundtrack is scheduled to hit stores nation-wide this July and will be released by Varese Sarabande Records. The album will release at the same time as the Daisies second season DVD collection. A unique bonus feature of this soundtrack will be full vocal tracks by Kristin Chenoweth reprising her cameo songs from episodes of the show, such as “Eternal Flame” and “Candle on the Water”. Fans will have a chance to win an advanced, signed copy of the soundtrack at JimDooley.com.

The final three unaired episodes of Daisies were shown at the Paley Festival last month at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. The event was hosted by Brian Fuller and Jim Dooley hosted a live 7-piece orchestra which played music from the show. Photos from the event can be found at www.jimdooley.com

ORCHESTRAL COMPILATION: Dooley’s contributions to his latest Orchestral CD (Volume 4) will be released on June 4th at the Golden Trailer Awards, and will also be for sale on itunes. Key placements from the last volume included Spider-man 3, The Golden Compass, Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix, Body of Lies, The International, and many more. Position Music is a sponsor for the event, for more information please contact Tyler Bacon at 310-442-8170.

RECENT and UPCOMING APPEARANCES: Dooley recently appeared and spoke at the Education through music LA (ETMLA) Talk for teacher composition lecture (see image attached), and will be appearing May 27th alongside Pushing Daisies star Ellen Greene at the “Women in Film” event in Beverly Hills.

On July 22nd, Jim will be teaching an exclusive seminar class of about 20 prolific composing students at the Cal State University Summer Arts Digital Media Program.

Dooley graduated from NYU with a degree in Music Composition and studied the art of film composing at USC. Dooley joined Media Ventures in 1999 and began collaboration with the world-renowned Hans Zimmer both as his Chief Technical Engineer on Gladiator and as an additional composer, arranger and orchestrator on such notable features as The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Ring, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Ridley Scott's Hannibal and Black Hawk Down. Dooley worked on several animated feature scores such as Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Madagascar, A Christmas Caper and the Academy Award-winning Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Dooley's most ambitious projects to date have been scoring all episodes of “Daisies”, an original score to Simon West's remake of the box-office record-breaking, cult-classic-thriller When a Stranger Calls, and composing the complex, interactive scores for videogame titles such as infamous and SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy Seals and U.S. Navy Seals: Combined Assault. He also fully scored the German animated release Urmel aus dem Eis ("Impy's Island"), DreamWorks Animation's musically-acclaimed short First Flight, and worked with director Fred Savage on the theatrical sequel Daddy Day Camp. Jim has also provided score for episodes of ABC television series, What About Brian, and has scored such projects as Little Mermaid 3: Ariel's Beginning, a sequel to Urmel aus dem, and his first amusement park attraction score for the Simpsons ride at Universal Studios.

Most recently, Jim completed the score for the film Obsessed starring Beyonce Knowles, and attended the premiere in New York City.

For more information on Jim Dooley visit www.jimdooley.com

MARK ISHAM'S personal album with singer Kate Seberano: "BITTERSWEET"

Check out MARK ISHAM's new solo album with jazz / soul / pop singer Kate Seberano.

In the album, Mark collaborates with other musicians as well, like Alan Pasqua, Tom Warrington and Peter Erskine. You can find more about the team behind the album if you click here.


The album is called "BitterSweet" and you find out more as well as listen to sound clips, view photos and notes as well as information on the album or even buy it, at the album's official website.

Click here to preview and order the album.

Also, be sure to check out the composer's official website for more, which can be reached via this link here.

GRAMMYS' winners announced, THE DARK KNIGHT wins

From GRAMMYS' official website, HERE.

Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media
(Award to Composer(s) for an original score created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current legitimate motion picture, television show or series or other visual media.)

The Dark Knight James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer, composers [Warner Sunset/Warner Bros.]

NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR OSCARS 2009 - BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The associated press gave away the nominations for all the categories for this year's ACADEMY AWARDS which you can view HERE, with the nominations for BEST ORIGINAL SCORE being:


"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Alexandre Desplat;
"Defiance," James Newton Howard;
"Milk," Danny Elfman;
"Slumdog Millionaire," A.R. Rahman;
"WALL-E," Thomas Newman.

BAFTA AWARDS 2009 - NOMINEES

The full list of nominations for the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2009 have been announced by Gemma Arterton and Hayley Atwell.

You can view the entire list HERE, at the organization's official website.

As far as the MUSIC category is concerned, here's the list of nominees as presented in www.bafta.org

MUSIC

• THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Alexandre Desplat
• THE DARK KNIGHT – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
• MAMMA MIA! – Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
• SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – A. R. Rahman
• WALL•E – Thomas Newman

It is of particular interest to see that the A.R.Rahman Bollywood trend goes ahead empowered and undisturbed, plus among the range of several excellent scores released this year combined with the large numbers of pretty good musical scores that went out as well, the inclusion of MAMMA MIA! amidst the best scores of the year is quite simply ridiculous, to put it hubmly.

However, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a very worthy release from this year, certainly proving that Alexandre Desplat is perhaps the most creative and imaginative film composer working in Hollywood today; his output certainly showcases so.