An Original Score can be a powerful thing. It can be emotional, memorable and convey the themes of the movie. However, this seems like a pretty weak year for Original Scores. There actually were some great scores this year that the Academy failed to notice. Clicking on the links will let you hear snippets of the various soundtracks.

5th Most Likely To Win: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

John Williams celebrates his 50th Oscar nomination this year. This guy gets nominated for everything he does, but he already has five Oscars. Does he really need a sixth one? Plus, it seems like there’s nothing really special about this score, though it serves as a nice callback to his Oscar winning score on the first film. Nice career nomination, but he really doesn’t have a chance at winning.

4th Most Likely To Win: Sicario

This doesn’t sound like something Academy members would vote for. The score is more threatening than anything else, and the sound is very modern. The only ‘contemporary’ soundtrack to have won here is The Social Network, and that movie was a major Best Picture contender. This would be such a weird winner.

3rd Most Likely To Win: Bridge Of Spies

It’s the only Best Picture nominee in this category, and Thomas Newman is one of my favorite composers. But after walking out of this movie, I had to struggle to remember a single note of this score. There’s very little actual music in the film, much of the story is told in silence. There’s an outside chance this could win, but I doubt it.

2nd Most Likely To Win: Carol

What a lovely winner this would make. It’s a shame to see such a beautiful film get swept under the radar so much this Oscar season. But what can you do. Personally, I would love to see this film win. And I think it has a very good chance to surprise us, but…

MY PREDICTED WINNER: The Hateful Eight

Ennio Morricone is a great composer who has never won an Academy Award. This year seems to be the perfect opportunity to fix that, even if it’s for a movie that not a lot of people loved. He already won the Globe to prove it. Listening to this score, it sounds like something the Academy goes for. I was gonna wait for the BAFTAs to clarify things, but Carol didn’t even a BAFTA nod (And they loved that movie.) It really looks like Morricone is winning here.

I’ve seen three of the nominated films. My personal ranking is;

1.) Carol
2.) Bridge Of Spies
3.) Sicario