Tag Archives: Michael Giacchino

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Song of the Day #4,486: ‘The Glory Days’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#2. The Incredibles (2004)
(down one spot from previous ranking)

Even after a decade of Marvel releases, Brad Bird’s The Incredibles remains the greatest superhero movie ever made.

This tale of a family of “supers” forced to live underground by a government that doesn’t appreciate them is just as thrilling and inventive 16 years after its release as it was the day it came out. And the marital and family dynamics that set it apart from typical action fare are just as resonant.

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Song of the Day #4,484: ‘Married Life’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#4. Up (2009)
(up five spots from previous ranking)

My revisit of Up was one of the most rewarding surprises of this exercise. I hadn’t seen the film since its 2009 release, and my memory was that the film didn’t live up to its famously powerful opening.

And yes, that opening sequence is astounding. After Carl and Ellie meet as children, a wordless montage traces their entire lives together, through good times and bad, until death ultimately does them part. One of the top five Pixar sequences ever, no question, and possibly number one.

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Song of the Day #4,483: ‘Ratatouille Main Theme’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#5. Ratatouille (2007)
(down two spots from previous ranking)

Brad Bird’s Ratatouille is a triumph of both concept and execution.

The premise — a rat with a gift for cooking — is both comically simple and curiously profound. Imagine if your very existence was uniquely horrifying in the very setting you felt most at home.

The visuals of this movie are breathtaking, with Bird taking full advantage of his Paris setting, and Michael Giacchino’s score is among my very favorites in a Pixar movie.

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Song of the Day #4,480: ‘Dream Productions’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#6. Inside Out (2015)
(no change from previous ranking)

Inside Out followed a trio of mediocre Pixar films (Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University), making viewers’ first reaction relief that the studio hadn’t lost it.

Far from it. This movie is thrillingly inventive, taking the somewhat familiar idea of “people inside your head” and exploding it with visual and thematic ingenuity.

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Song of the Day #3,090: ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Theme’ – Michael Giacchino

rogue_oneThe end of 2016 (mercifully) approaches, and I will soon count down my favorite songs of the year. I found it to be a pretty average year for new music, with a couple of major exceptions, but I should be able to scrounge up 10 finalists.

In the meantime, I will dedicate this week to some of my favorite 2016 movies. I have still yet to see several films on my wish list, so I’m not calling this list an official countdown, but rather a chance to mention a handful of movies that made an impression on me this year.

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