The Black Swan (2010)

Director Darren Aronofski puts down his razor blade, turns down the Cure, spits out a mouthful of vicodin, and refocuses his energy on a spunky feel good flick about the modern dance scene. It's like Flash Dance meets Coyote Ugly! It's like...what? Oh... She has soul-crushing emotional damage? She's crazy as fuck?.... She stabs herself to death? Nevermind...

John Murphy’s Music Makes Movies Real Goodlike

This piece of music is epic.

It was composed by John Murphy for a movie that was less than epic called Sunshine. Here’s a plot summary of Sunshine: 1) The sun is running out of sunshine; 2) Nerds have somehow built a spaceship that can go to the sun without melting like a stick of butter in Michael Moore’s butt; 3) A big-assed nuclear bomb can rekindle the magical glowing orb; 4) Some weird dude who captained a previous failed mission like...lives? on the sun…or something?…and gets into the spaceship and starts a-killin’.

Oh yeah, and the main protagonist is Cilian Murphy—yep, this creepy looking guy:

Except he's in space

Don't get me wrong, if we're talking about some weird creepy side character or an antagonist, he's perfect:

I'm a "bad guy"

But, as a protagonist, it just makes watching the movie uncomfortable. I can’t get into the film when I think the hero is going to try to corner me and do stuff to me. Just looking at him, you can tell that his gangly chem lab build belies secret creepy molestation strength that could overpower Charlie Sheen on a bender.

Imma git you...

Anyway, notwithstanding the fact that plot of Sunshine is kind of a shitty poop, it does have one of the most epic soundtracks ever. In fact the soundtrack is so great, it actually makes the movie fucking awesome. The music gives you spine shivers that trick you into thinking whatever you are watching is important. Check out this clip of the music paired with random silent clips of the movie—you want to see that fucker!

And moviemakers have sure as the sun(shine) is bright latched onto this score. It has been used and used and used to manipulate people into liking movies. Check out this preview for the Adjustment Bureau (the second half):

Sound familiar? How's about this clip from Kick-Ass:

Moral of the story: John Murphy's music makes movie real goodlike, and I am stupid enough to think any movie with this soundtrack is worth seeing.