Earlier tonight i watched Sling Blade for the third time. The first two times for whatever reason i didn't pay much attention to the score. But upon this screening i was amazed at how brilliant the music is in this movie. From the opening where to the scene when Karl It's such a well done score from beginning to end , I'm anxious to buy the soundtrack.

What movie(s) had a greater impact or new appreciation on a repeat viewing?

The Last House on the Left (2009)

John Murphy is quickly becoming one of my favorite composers. The movie might have been bad, but his score was easily one of the highlights. I recognized that he did some work on Kick-Ass as well, and his themes there really make the scenes they're featured in.

the score from

No Country for Old men

I forgot what documentary (maybe just an interview?) I was watching one time, but the composer said that it's good if the viewer doesn't notice the score. Basically, the composer doesn't want to distract the viewer from what's happening on screen, but complement it.

I'm not sure if that's an industry thing or just his opinion, but I thought it was interesting. Of course, I enjoy listening to movie scores so I intentionally listen for them while watching movies.

I tend not to notice the score on most movies during the first viewing. On the second viewing I often focus on the music.

Case in point: The Fellowship of the Ring, one of my favorite scores of recent years. I didn't fully appreciate it until I got the DVD and was able to watch the movie several times. I especially liked the music suite over the credits and the fan club list in the Extended Edition. I even purchased the full length 3 CD plus DVD surround set when it was an Amazon DotD.

The first score that really caught my attention was good old Star Wars. I saw the movie six times in the theater in 1977-78, which gave me plenty of time to appreciate the music. I purchased the score on records* and then again on CDs when those came out.


* "records": large black vinyl discs a foot or so across that were used for analog sound recordings prior to the advent of digital CDs and DVDs.

Claudio Gizzi's hauntingly melancholy score from Paul Morrissey's Blood for Dracula