Thursday Token Themes

Welcome a weekly feature here at Movies With Abe. I’m a hugely enthusiastic fan of film scores, and music is far too often an element of cinema that goes unrecognized. Therefore I present a platform for a look – or rather, a listen – to some fantastic film scores. I’ll be selecting a composer and one or more of their film scores for your listening pleasure, embedded from YouTube.

This week’s featured composer is Craig Armstrong, who hails from Scotland. I chose Armstrong because of one particular score, which is the last listed in this post, only to discover that he has written some terrific music, albeit not usually for top-notch films. The main theme to “The Incredible Hulk” is exciting and full of adrenaline, and the same is true of “Storm” from “Elizabeth: The Golden Age.” His soundtrack for “World Trade Center” is far more melancholy, and appropriately so, as evidenced by the piano theme. You (and I) may not recall the score to “Ray” since the other music was far more prominent, but “Della’s Theme” is still a great piece. The violin solo theme to the Robert Redford starrer “The Clearing,” which really was a disappointing film, is top-notch. And then we come to the Portuguese love theme from “Love Actually,” which captures the wondrous spirit of that film, perfectly subtle and solemn at times and then bursting with excitement and love at others.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)



Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)



World Trade Center (2006)



Ray (2004)



The Clearing (2004)



Love Actually (2003)