My Vote is Marty Supreme's by Oneohtrix Point Never. The film already has an awesome selection of 80's needle drops but Daniel Lopatin manages to brilliantly create a series of complimentary 80's pop inspired instrumentals that are highly emotive and genuinely pretty. I can hear Tangerine Dream, Carlos, late Morricone, Vangelis and Moroder in it, and it sits comfortably with those heavyweights.

Been listening to it for last two days and its making me yearn for melody to return to modern soundtracks.

He was snubbed by the Oscars which is embarrassing, because its probably the most memorable soundtrack of the year, its so good it elevates a pretty messy film.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2026 at 11:24 AM

Might not be your cup of tea but production and songwriting took years and you can tell. Song structure alone is mind blowing for modern day pop music. This is the crack equivalent of hooky, melodic music.

 

Heard a few of the tracks over last few months, Technically fun and super polished modern dance pop.

Unfortunately, as a middle aged man I really struggle with the pop song writing K pop explores. They just don't speak to me emotionally at all.

Not that they need my demographic anyway :D

The producers are clearly having fun because its a musical. The switching of elements through the tracks is definitely to be applauded.

I've seen the directors talking about developing the film and definitely admire their persistence and passion. Pretty wholesome story, good work all round. I'm just too old for it :D

 

Jerskin Fendrix's Bugonia

Ludwig Göransson's Sinners

Jonny Greenwood's One Battle After Another

Daniel Lopatin's Marty Supreme

Tomaz Alves Souza Mateus Alves' The Secret Agent

m83's resurrection

Ryan Holladay–Hays Holladay–Zach Cregger's Weapons

Kangding Ray's Sirāt

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2026 at 1:03 PM

Nice! im going to have a listen to Bugonia and Weapons soundtracks today. I remember liking Weapons.

 

Weapons' score it’s the kind of music that has an incredible impact, especially when you see it paired with the film... I remember that when I watched it, it struck me deeply (It doesn’t operate in the manner of a traditionally and beautifully composed John Williams theme; instead, it achieves its power through surprise, impact and atmosphere, remaining profoundly unsettling, in a provocative way...

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2026 at 1:13 PM

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING 2025 - Soundtrack Suite | Max Aruj & Alfie Godfrey

Spoiler: Highlights from soundtrack album of the newest installment of the Mission: Impossible series

Highlights from soundtrack album of the newest installment of the Mission: Impossible series

0:00 We Live and Die in the Shadows
0:22 Main Titles
1:20 Come Home Ethan
2:00 Martial Law (pt. 1)
3:10 Martial Law (pt. 2)
3:44 It's Only Pain
3:31 Mt Weather (pt. 1)
5:36 Mt Weather (pt. 2)
5:56 The Entity's Future
8:08 I'll Be Waiting (pt. 1)
8:56 I'll Be Waiting (pt. 2)
9:50 Eye of the Storm
10:42 Nothing Is Certain (pt. 1)
11:10 Nothing Is Certain (pt. 2)
11:36 Fireflight
13:56 The Icecap
16:12 Ascending
18:04 Cons
18:52 We'll Figure It Out
20:02 Your Final Reckoning
20:24 Liftoff
21:44 Decisions
23:00 This Is Not Good
24:02 Problems
25:26 Ten Seconds... Maybe
26:14 Good Luck
27:00 A Light We Cannot See
30:38 Encore
31:26 The Arctic
32:36 This Is My Mission
35:46 Final Reckoning
37:34 For Those We Never Meet
39:22 Curtain Call

 

I totally forgot to mention this one... such a solid score. Great reminder!

 

I remember it being more atmosphere.


Sirat is sitting there ready to be watched at some point, I already know Rays techno work, so i'm intrigued.


Recently I've needed more than moody atmospherics in a soundtrack to make me really LOVE them. Marty is very nostalgic but I feel its emotions are more naked and optimistic. It steps outside of current/common soundtrack emotions and trends. It also defines and drives the scene instead of being another pedestrian supporting bed.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2026 at 1:35 PM

Marty Supreme is more colorful, expansive (positive), and hybrid, with a strong presence of synthesizers and pop references. It ultimately amplifies the humor and competitive intensity, creating an almost retro-futuristic aesthetic for the character. Bugonia, on the other hand, is darker (dense!), minimalist, and atmospheric, generating unease and tension as an extension of the film’s paranoia and social critique (conspiracy theories, denialism, predatory capitalism, class warfare, the opioid crisis, and ecology: all of which expose a damn humanity that never learns anything as a society). They serve different functions. Stylistically, I prefer the music of Bugonia, but I acknowledge that Marty Supreme might be the one capable of rivaling Sinners and One Battle After Another... but that remains to be seen!

 

Interesting you mention Bugonias narrative. Ill always lean towards what stimulates me purely emotionally. I don't judge a soundtrack on the underlying story themes of the film ever, and Ill disagree, I think all soundtracks have only one job regardless of style or story - support and amplify the story telling by effecting the viewer emotionally.

No soundtrack is more 'worthy' or 'interesting' because of the films topics? It cant reflect the dense complexity of a story, its a wordless medium, it explores emotion that arises from the story.

To be honest i don't think Marty or Bugonia are great films when it comes to the script/story, but all the other departments really delivered, elevating both films.

Constant unease and ambient tension is maybe losing its specialness/novelty after almost 30 years of dark ambience heavy horror and thriller soundtracks? its getting samey? If someone went all Jerry Goldsmith it would be a blast of fresh air at the moment :D

I know its not a cool thing to say but i don't always 'enjoy' Greenwoods soundtracks with Anderson. It is so 'nervous' feeling and still One battle is easily one of my movies of the year. I would never listen to it on its own though. If it won i would understand why, even if its not my taste at all.

Sinners - Don't like the film OR the soundtrack for many, many reasons.

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2026 at 3:14 PM

Regarding a score being judged solely by its emotional impact and not by the narrative themes or the complexity of the story, perhaps that should indeed happen (since more films with outstanding scores could reach the public). However, if you look at the films usually awarded “Best Score,” they often appear not purely for musical merit, but because of choices that also involve narrative, publicity, and even the film’s overall reception.

As for each score having a unique role, this is well established, ever since Richard Davis summarized that scores are complex informational constructions with physical, psychological, and technical functions. So, there is no contradiction here.

I don’t think a score is more interesting simply because a film is dense or complex. The point is: when you have a provocative film and a score that enhances that atmosphere, as in Bugonia, it gains strength. But it is always a matter of personal taste. As a colleague of mine, an air traffic controller who studied guitar as a hobby, used to say: "–if I miss a note, the teacher just frowns, but no one dies. If I lose sight of a plane, or a doctor makes a surgical mistake, it can be disastrous!!!". In art, impacts are subjective and evaluated differently.

I agree that other departments can elevate films. Each work is a unique “semantic frame,” whose value also depends on narrative, publicity, and reception. Today, creative boldness from names like Goldsmith, Goldenthal, Davis, or Williams often sounds like “excess.” We are in a moment less favorable to film music based on motivic development, especially melodic. Recently, I composed a melody for a documentary, and the director asked me to remove it, not because of quality, but because it was “too beautiful” and risked pulling the audience out of immersion.

In recent decades, theater directors and audiovisual creators have shown an almost fear of melodies, 'cos historically, they have been extremely effective means of providing structural functions (organizing and developing forms and/or the very experience of musical times. I am referring here to Kramer’s concept of musical time, which highlights the paradigm shift in listening: from linear narrative to more specialized and atmospheric modes of perception—precisely where the prevailing zeitgeist fits in!), variations of mood and expressivity, and serving as engines of tension and transformation of perception and memory (different types of motivic treatments that result in the perception of a thematic nucleus that expands, confronts, and resolves—or not—tensions, thereby creating a sense of musical narrativity, as described by authors such as Almén). From both a musicological and practical perspective, directors have favored neutrality (avoiding music that dictates emotions too directly), the aesthetics of liquid postmodernity (valuing sound as atmosphere rather than as a linear construct that generates a desire for resolution), and the strong influence of the post-1960 tradition (minimalism, musique concrète, and electronic music), which shifted the focus from melody to aspects such as texture and repetition.

In short, they are regarded as overly explicit and narrative, running the risk of guiding or excessively manipulating the audience’s emotions. This is the somewhat “foolish” zeitgeist of the present, but in practical terms, it is what prevails! At least, until someone comes along with something entirely outside this pattern and redefines the creative “compasses.”

I understand your point about Jonny Greenwood. I’ve learned to appreciate his work, though many directors are unaware of composers who, historically, might carry more weight. Yet it is crucial to recognize something significant: Greenwood is highly esteemed, particularly among directors (most notably within the realm of art-house cinema), because he thinks conceptually about music, not just in terms of common practical application. As for One Battle After Another or Sinners, they are interesting choices, but my preference goes to Bugonia, because it is surprising and cognitively provocative in chaotic times (we are witnessing the current system imploding, yet struggling to react in a desperate and barbaric manner, revealing both its fragility and its inability to reinvent itself).

In the end, film music is not judged solely by its isolated emotional impact, but rather by a combination of narrative, historical, and market factors. The contemporary rejection of melody, the absence of more elaborate motivic treatments, and the dismissal of anything that departs from atmospheric modes of perception (moment, vertical and gestural times) all constitute the prevailing biased zeitgeist. And do you know what one of the greatest contradictions is? In general, cinema and mass culture do not engage well with postmodern music (I myself am not one of its strongest advocates, though I do admire many composers who practice it). The curious thing, however, is that cinema seeks to incorporate concepts derived from modern art—the very same concepts that permeate postmodern music!—which creates an almost paradoxical tension: The concept is adopted (postmodern conceptual thinking), but the object (postmodern music) is not, and that, in itself, is deeply paradoxical! Yet this discussion already goes beyond the scope of this post...

 

Last edited: Feb 12, 2026 at 11:17 PM