That aside, solid list. Yes, Grand Budapest Hotel should win it. Summers score is great and will be overlooked. Gone girl score is IMHO the weakest among the renowned collaboration. (Weakest doesn\’t mean bad). Whiplash is good. And a special shout out to Mica Levi for UTS. Freaky score.

Agree on the score tho.

I think David Wingo should deserve props for his work on Joe, if it isn\’t his best score to date it\’s in keeping with the tone of the film – of course Take Shelter got a vinyl reissue recently which I might pick up, as it might be his best to date. Keegan DeWitt jazzy score for Listen Up Philip was suitable and reminded me a little of Woody Allen and Robert Altman (specifically The Long Goodbye) but also a lot of 60\’s French cinema (Godard, Malle)…seems there\’s a trend for jazzy stuff at the moment, but it might be coincidence – I\’ve not yet seen Whiplash or Birdman, but am hopefully seeing previews this weekend (the former) and in a few weeks (the latter), but have heard some of Sanchez\’s score for Birdman and it is indeed excellent. You\’re right to mention Marco Beltrami too, whose score for The Homesman was a great modern Western one and definitely followed the changing tone well. Dev Hynes, another guy I met once, has mutated styles since I first heard him but I think his work as Blood Orange suits him well – Palo Alto is actually a much better film than Sofia Coppola\’s most recent film The Bling Ring, and part of it can be attributed to the soundtrack-score.

As for the usual suspects, Hans Zimmer actually impressed me on Interstellar (I don\’t usually get on with him…earlier in the year his 12 Years A Slave score was sometimes good but sometimes derivative or even bland) as did Alexandre Desplat with The Grand Budapest Hotel (more so than Moonrise Kingdom) but not so much on Godzilla (I would have liked a more bombastic approach).

Can\’t wait to hear what Jonny Greenwood has for us in Inherent Vice – of course There Will Be Blood and The Master are two of my favourite scores (and films) of the last 10 years, and from what I\’ve seen not only is one of my favourite bands in this new one (Can), and one of my favourite musicians (Neil Young), but also one of my favourite tunes by Minnie Riperton! I\’ll be singing along to those in the cinema I bet. Interested to see what A Most Violent Year has to offer – I think JC Chandor is an interesting director, and of course the two leads are the best of the best working today (of their generation)…not sure I wanna spoil the whole score though so might just sneak myself a little bit of it!

As for scores you might have missed…not many I don\’t think! You covered all of my favourites I think! Maybe Jeff Grace for Kelly Reichardt\’s Night Moves…wasn\’t much of a fan of Cold In July in general and think he did better work on her film (as well as it being a much better film too). I love the sparse use of music in thrillers…The Rover was an inspiring sound mix, with the score blending in with the diegetic soundtrack – there\’s one that was underlooked, both as a film and even more as a score! What else…well Inside Llewyn Davis, but I\’m sure that doesn\’t count in the US as you had that last year – so I\’ll mention T Bone Burnett\’s work on True Detective, which obviously was the clincher in engaging everyone to the action but not letting it descend into melodrama (or comedy). Mr Turner had a nice score, very melancholic and really set the ambiguous tone – was a nice change from the general period costume grandiose approach…I seem to remember a notable use of oboe (or was it clarinet? I\’m not a woodwind expert) which was particularly inspired, I thought. Also one for TV – I really like Matt Berry\’s use of music on his own show Toast Of London…he is an acclaimed musician as well as a comedian and blends the two both in the theme tune for the show and occasionally as musical scenes in the actual episodes (it\’s a pretty daft sitcom). One last mention would be Philip Glass\’ score for Godfrey Reggio\’s Visitors, which is obviously always a treat, though the film is quite difficult to watch on your own at home – it was probably meant for cinemas but I don\’t think it got a theatrical release here. Still, his score was a standout!