When it comes to soundtracks I love Dazed And Confused , which has no purpose beyond being a duplication for what it might have sounded like riding around in the mid-70s listening to classic rock, but it’s a very entertaining simulation. And the film usually matches film to mood very well.
Scorsese’s soundtracks – After Hours instantly springs to mind are very carefully selected, and he’s a master at selecting previously recorded songs – in that case from folks as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Peggy Lee, The Bad Brains and The Monkees – as something of a running, usually ironic commentary played against onscreen goings-on.
To some degree Spike Lee’s Crooklyn does the same, and all three of these films put enough care into their soundtrack selection that they almost work like unorthodox musicals…
“Un Femme et une Femme” or anything that has Michel Legrand on the credits
The Life Aquatic and Southland Tales
Here’s some I didn’t see posted yet.
Black Hawk Down
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Fountain
Gladiator
Boogie Nights
Reservoir Dogs
Saturday Night Fevor
Swingers
Rushmore
Dead Presidents
Anchorman
Goodfellas
Synecdoche, New York
There Will Be Blood
Magnolia
The Royal Tenenbaums
Pulp Fiction
Brick
Here are some I wish I could actualy find soundtracks for, or that I could somehow get the music from:
Brand Upon the Brain!
Breathless
The 400 Blows
Savvy
Bela Tarr’s films
Sweet Movie (1974)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)
John William’s The Fury
Requiem For A Dream
The Piano
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
The GodFather
Phantom of The Opera, Green Street Hooligans, Cry Baby
Splendor
Mysterious Skin
Breakfast on Pluto
The Notorious Bettie Page
Nil by Mouth
Anything John Williams. Or more recently, Thomas Newman.
In Bruges soundtrack was beautiful
Ghost Dog’s score is great, I love it.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly! Tom Waits, The Velvet Underground, Joe Strummer… just great. The music in that film, in my humble opinion, pushes that film to another level entirely.
Tetsuo, the Iron Man
Maborosi
I fell in love with composer Alexandre Desplat after i heard his score for Birth!
The score to The three colors trilogy gives me the chills every time I hear it. Zbigniew Preisner is an absolute genius!
They All Laughed
Polyester
True Stories
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
“Mr. Arkadin”
“The Battle of Algiers”
“8 1/2”
“A Clockwork Orange”
“Once”
“Requiem For A Dream”
“Fantasia”
ANY Bernard Herrman score :) and Johnny Greenwood’s score for There Will Be Blood!
Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, The Hours, Pulp Fiction, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Elevator to the Gallows, and The Third Man
Frida
Pulp Fiction
Million dolar hotel
across the universe
Man, there are so many and I don’t feel like making a list right now, but I’ll say that the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack is epic. The Lux Aeterna score (the one they use for at least 6 movie trailers each year) is an incredibly powerful piece, especially when heard in context. I’m going to refrain from listing any of my favorite soundtracks and just reiterate my first point, the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack is great.
My Favorites….
Saturday Night Fever
Cabaret
Pulp Fiction
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Flash Gordon
A Hard Day’s Night
It’s still pretty rare to hear the Velvets on a film soundtrack — the epilog to Berlin Alexanderplatz being an exception. That was also a nice thing about The Royal Tenenbaums, the use of the Velvets and Nico. And Lou Reed’s Street Hassle at the end of The Squid and the Whale. And the two songs from Loaded in High Fidelity.
Dazed and Confused.
The soundtrack from the film Swim Fan (2002), Dir. John Polson, particularly the song playing over the closing credits.
Jaspar Lamar Crabb
Empire Records: barely released movie that ended up stinking anyway…but good soundtrack
Garden State: THE SHINS!
Casino: Where else are you gonna find Nilsson AND Georges Delerue?