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 Howard Shore. The Canada native is a three-time Oscar winner, triumphing each time for his contributions to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Most recently, he teamed as usual with filmmaker David Cronenberg to provide the haunting, foreboding score for “Eastern Promises.” I still find it hard to believe that no awards bodies took note of the music from “The Departed,” which was a perfectly calibrated introduction to the Boston mob world. His theme for “A History of Violence” was frightening and almost deafening, while the anthem for Howard Hughes from “The Aviator” was alternatively triumphant and tentative. His music for “Panic Room” was thrilling and foreboding, and he gave the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy a proper saga theme, filled with much emotion and feeling. The “Philadelphia” soundtrack delivers a message of importance, and one of my favorite scores ever is the music from “The Silence of the Lambs,” just right for the old-fashioned, dated feel of the movie.

Eastern Promises (2007)



The Departed (2006)



A History of Violence (2005)



The Aviator (2004)



Panic Room (2002)



The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)



Philadelphia (1993)



The Silence of the Lambs (1991)