Looking for movies with good score/musical background.

I don't like movies. I love them. Score and acting are my priority in choosing a movie to watch. (Off course genre too). My favorites are those scores that makes you feel down/dark.

About score, I'm not solely looking for unique score or those hmm I can't explain it, If compared to a novel, I'm not solely looking for a Shakespeare type of novel. What I'm seeking for are those perfectly fit with the whole movie, or can influence your emotion regardless of what's your currently mood is. They make the movie stronger.

Example of score in movie I like that I think is perfect for the movie are;
-Inception
-The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises
-12 Years a Slave
-Requiem for a Dream
-Silver Linings Playbook
-All is Lost
-Gravity
-Jurassic Park (who doesnt)
-The Imitation Game
-LofR and HP series

Particular genre:
First priority: Thriller (not horror)
2nd: Drama
3rd: Scifi
4rt: Biopic
5th: Survival (please not horror esp. zombie)

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Conan the Barbarian (the '81 version).

The score is better than the film but the two combined make it one of my favorites.

Go watch Leone's westerns, especially Once Upon a Time in the West. Sountrack/image relation can't get much better than that!

Moon
Total Recall (the first one, not that Colin Farrell abortion)
Gladiator
American Beauty
Meet Joe Black

Anything Hans Zimmer, Clint Mansell, Jerry Goldsmith or Philip Newman, basically, and you can't really go far wrong.

Also, if you're able to, get hold of some 'Two Steps From Hell' scores. They do loads of incidental soundtrack stuff, which is usually great. For something a bit more chilled out, Ludovico Einaudi is someone that you're maybe heard but never realised who it was.

I've just got hold of the Blu-ray of Monsters (2010), which I've already seen, and that has a fantastic, moody score, by Jon Hopkins.

Some more of my favourite scores in recent years:

Dredd
Tron: Legacy
X-Men: First Class

Robocop had it's score done by the same orchestra that did Conan the Barbarian (original).
Trivia: Did you know the "Rider's of Doom" theme from Conan the Barbarian was used in the advertising commercials for the N64 Zelda Ocarina of Time?

I'm going to also mention Heat (1995) because the music in that is incredible.

My son was prime age for that game when it came out. I gave him a copy of the Conan soundtrack and he still loves it to this day (at 24 yo).

You should try Whats Eating Gilbert Grape and Point Break 90s version. Both have good background music.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Amazing soundtrack done by a long time David Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti. Very dark and jazzy.


City of Lost Children
Another amazing masterpiece that fits the movie perfectly. Very child-like and hypnotic but dark and ominous at times as well.


Donnie Darko
Plenty of amazing score songs but also quite a few 1980s hits. A very cool soundtrack.

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Thomas Newman is a favorite if mine - his "American Beauty" score in particular, as well as "Salton Sea". Bernie Hermann's stuff for Hitch if you're in an Old School mood, especially "Vertigo". Goldsmiths's "Planet of the Apes" is a 12-tone experiment that just works. Horner's "Braveheart" has some nice thematic stuff (and is much better than his "Titanic" score, IMO). Agree strongly on Reznor's "Social Network", something to check out...

I love the score in Sunshine (And most films by Danny Boyle in general). Especially the scene near the end as he ejects from one ship to the other- gives me chills every time. And Peggy Sussed by Underworld in the end credits is killer (and very hard to find anywhere but youtube)

I also love the tone set by The National songs in Warrior. I don't know if you're supposed to cry in an MMA film, but the fight at the end with About Today playing always brings tears to my eyes.

Under the Skin has a beautiful score by Mica Levi, I can't listen to the soundtrack without instantly being pulled back into the emotions felt when watching the film.



Drive has a great OST consisting of a few awesome pre-existing tunes from artists Kavinsky, Desire, College, as well as an original score by Cliff Martinez (which I'm not so bothered about).



Oldboy also has an amazing score, by Jo Yeong-Wook. Once you have seen the film, I don't believe it possible not to hear the soundtrack without having your mood and perspective altered to that which was held during the watching experience.

Thrillers:
The girl with the dragon tattoo (2011)
The Double (2013)

Scifi:
Arrival (2016)

I guess Mad Max: Fury Road counts as survivial.

I've mentioned this before, but background music is something that I rarely take notice of during a movie, so if I mention that the movie has an outstanding soundtrack, that's a HUGE compliment. When it comes to movies with great musical scores, these are some of the titles that come to mind off the top of my head:

Titanic
Hannah and Her Sisters (Most Woody Allen movies have incredible music)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Gone with the Wind
The Road to Perdition
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Psycho (1960)
Now Voyager
Sunset Boulevard
Sweet Smell of Success
On Golden Pond
Driving Miss Daisy
The Godfather

Yeah, that's a good one.

Road to Perdition
Dune
Skyfall
Oppenheimer
Gladiator
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Blade Runner 2049

How about ...

The Wandering Earth
Monster Hunter