My 2013 Movie Soundtrack Playlist

Movies and music; a match made in heaven.

I haven't written anything on movie scores on this blog yet but I've really been blown away by some knock-out soundtracks this year so I felt compelled to put together a quick Spotify playlist of tracks for you all.

The ever wonderful Hans Zimmer has had a busy year; Mr. Zimmer produced the soundtracks for Man of Steel, The Lone Ranger and Rush. Meanwhile, Of Monsters and Men have had a lot of thier tracks floating around movie trailers and soundtracks, from About Time, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

I've put together a collection of my favourite movie soundtrack moments in a Spotify playlist for you all to enjoy. In my mind, the real highpoint is Hans Zimmer's work on the Man of Steel soundtrack. It is up there with Inception as some of his best work.

Also, there's the score Steve Price put together for Gravity. The 11-minute-long Don't Let Go is awesome.

Also, just for a bit of fun, I've thrown in some stand-out tracks from films like Iron Man 3, Django Unchained and, yes, I couldn't resist throwing in the William Tell Overture from The Lone Ranger for a finale.

You can find the playlist by clicking on this link here: 2013 Movie Soundtrack Playlist. Enjoy!

Forming the Justice League #3

"Okay, let's settle this with a staring contest"

If haven't heard by now, where have you been? Man of Steel director Zack Snyder has unveiled plans to continue his Superman success story with a sequel - a sequel that features none other than the Caped Crusader himself, Batman.

Cue the second blog post in a month that discusses Man of Steel, a sequel and crafting the Justice League...

Voice of Reason #13: Haters Gonna' Hate

Man of Steel may be raking the big bucks across the globe, but critics haven't been as impressed as the audience- with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 56%, Man of Steel is classed as 'rotten', as well as being outstripped by World War Z, Fast and Furious 6 and Iron Man 3. So, this week, we ask this; "Is Man of Steel getting an unfair bashing?" and "Why is this blockbuster season so filled with hate?"

Forming the Justice League #2

Zach Snyder's Man of Steel

The release of Man of Steel (and its huge box-office success) has left movie lovers and aficionados all pondering one thing; is this the start of something bigger and greater? Are DC about to 'do a Marvel' and get all of their heroes onto the same page?

The 10 Highest Grossing Films of 2013

Just some of the cinematic
heavy-weights hitting the silver screen
this year

As you may or may not have heard, a certain Marvel film hit cinema screens across the world in the last few weeks, kick-starting the 2013 blockbuster season. In just its first weekend, Iron Man 3 made nearly $200 million, effectively making back its entire budget in the space of just a few days. All this talk of money got me thinking; is Iron Man 3 set to make more than the gigantic $1.5 billion that The Avengers took this time last year?

So, with so many big releases set to hit the big screen across the next few months and beyond, I saw this as a great opportunity to hazard a guess at which 10 films would be making the most money in 2013.

Voice of Reason #11: Trailer Trash

The Wolverine bares all in his latest trailer

"Right, that's it." I close my Internet browser and turn to my girlfriend in a huff; "There's no need to see that film now. They showed the whole film in the trailer."

Know the feeling? Ever felt that a trailer has shown too much? Then dear fellow, read on...

My 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2013

With 2012 behind well and truly behind us (pah, 2012! What a joke!) I look forward to my most anticipated films of the coming 12 months. We've got action, comedy, drama, science-fiction and fantasy all on offer, so something for all cinematic tastes. What film are you looking forward to most in 2013?

Voice of Reason #5: Forming the Justice League

Would a Justice League film ever match the might of the Avengers?

Let's face it; the success of The Avengers took us all by surprise. We all knew it was going to be big; maybe 600, maybe 700 million dollars big, but not 1.5 billion dollars big. Not only did The Avengers topple the previous comic-book movie milestone that is The Dark Knight but the combined weight of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye defeated Autobots, wizards, Hobbits, Pirates and Jedis - it is now the third highest grossing film of all time behind Titanic and Avatar.

Needless to say, this caught the attention of some big-wigs over at DC Comics; since the Avengers premièred in cinemas in April, there has been increasing speculation that DC will follow suit and put together a silver-screen mish-mash of their premier superheroes by Summer 2015, right alongside the planned release date for The Avengers 2. Talk about jumping on the bandwagon! The thing is there are a multitude of reasons why DC wouldn't be able to pull this off. Firstly, they need foresight.

One of the best things about the Avengers was the way in which Marvel had planned it out over as long as they had; laying the foundations back in 2008 with The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man, Marvel played the long game. A side-reference here, a Tony Stark/Nick Fury cameo there, the universe in which Marvel's Avengers resided was interconnected and steadily built upon, layer upon layer.

After Iron Man, Marvel took the time to give Thor and Captain America their introductions. It didn't feel rushed or messy. On the other hand, a Justice League movie would be the complete opposite of this. 2015 is less than 3 years away and DC have little to no framework around which to build a Justice League film. Since The Dark Knight trilogy literally just wrapped up, DC haven't had time to give Christopher Nolan's Batman any no inter-linking nature with either Ryan Reynold's piss-poor Green Lantern outing nor Zac Snyder's upcoming Man of Steel reboot. There is no inter-weaving narrative, no acknowledgement of a wider universe.

2011's Green Lantern movie

For a successful Justice League movie, DC would need to get all of their character's on the same page as Marvel did with the Avengers.Not only would this mean formulating successful origin stories for Wonder Woman and The Flash but also rebooting Batman and Green Lantern.

And with Batman literally having just hung up the cape and cowl, it is hard to imagine anyone relishing the prospect of a entirely new reboot for the World's Greatest Detective. No-one wants to see "Batman Begins Again" (working title), especially after Nolan, Bale and co. knocked it out of the park. Seriously people, let the poor guy take a break - he broke his back making that last movie!

Likewise, it'd be hard to find many people chomping at the bit for a re-boot of Green Lantern so soon. Superhero movie saturation is becoming a serious issue and too many reboots makes the genre a borderline joke.

Another thing DC would need to work on before a Justice League movie would be introducing Wonder Woman and The Flash with their own respective films. The former in particular has been a title touted for a while. Could DC make these two work? Maybe. Maybe not. Wonder Woman would face the task of trying to become cinema's first successful female superhero - Catwoman and Elektra really failing to hit the mark. Meanwhile, The Flash (as a concept) would be a really hard character to ground in reality given his ability of running really really really fast. Whilst Batman has the possibility to be grounded in reality (as The Dark Knight trilogy showed us), I can't see audiences siding with a high-concept character such as The Flash.

So whilst the idea of a Justice League movie has been the talk of the town in recent months, I don't buy into it. If DC didn't have the foresight to get all their ideas on the same page then that's too bad for them. Unfortunately for them, Marvel have already got their towel on the "superhero ensemble movie" sun-lounger.

What do you think? Would you watch a Justice League movie?