Beyond Desolation Gustavo Santaolalla’s haunting and evocative score for The Last of Us Part II — exemplifies his mastery of cinematic sound. His melodies accompany Ellie’s journey, with a signature blend of traditional Latin American instruments and modern electronic sounds. The music perfectly captures the […]

Alien Alien (1979) is a groundbreaking film that follows the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo, as they investigate a mysterious signal on a desolate planet, and encounter a deadly extraterrestrial creature. The film’s claustrophobic suspense, and iconic (H.R. Giger) creature design have made it […]

La Muerte De La Poderosa I revisit The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack often. The whole thing is a masterpiece. I love everything Gustavo Santaolalla does, but for me, the big two are: The Motorcycle Diaries and Brokeback Mountain. Gustavo Santaolalla’s work on The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) embodies […]

Invited “Invited” is of course, by multi-instrumentalist composer, Gustavo Santaolalla. Having won 2 Academy Awards, he’s widely considered one of the greatest film-composers of all time. This piece is originally played on Santaolalla’s signature instrument, the Ronroco (a small Andean guitar). The Last of Us […]

Across the Stars This song is a beautiful motif by the greatest film composer of all time, John Williams. Across the Stars was recommended to me by one of my long time Intellimusica members, and it’s one of the all-time classic Star Wars themes. In […]

Her Life Was Over, by Gustavo Santaolalla, is a short fingerstyle motif from the soundtrack of Wild Life. This film is a documentary about life of Doug Tompkins (founder of North Face) and his wife, Kris. Although the documentary is not widely known, the guitar […]

Theme for a Father Lost at Sea This piece is from Netflix’s Outer Banks, Season 3. The composer is Fil Eisler. It’s a beautiful, cinematic guitar piece that found it’s way onto my Spotify recommendation’s. While the beginning of the passage is relatively simple, and […]

Tim & The Bears I’ve always loved this piece by the legendary British folk guitarist, Richard Thompson. Tim & The Bears is from Werner Herzog’s quirky documentary, Grizzly Man. The film is about Timothy Treadwell, a nature enthusiast who lived with Alaskan Grizzlies for 13 seasons […]

A Time of Quiet Between the Storms After completion of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune in 2021, Hans Zimmer, was still inspired and continued writing music. This led to the piece, A Time of Quiet Between the Storms. Zimmer tours extensively, bringing his film music to audiences […]

Schindler’s List “Schindler’s List” is one of the greatest films of the 20th Century, and it serves as an accurate, historical document of the Holocaust. In kind, Oskar Schindler is one of greatest heroes the world will ever know. Schindler was a paradoxical figure; a […]

Bella Poor Things is a 2023 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The movie is based on the 1992 novel (of the same name) by Alasdair Gray. The story follows Bella (Emma Stone), a young woman in Victorian London, who is brought back to life by […]

Spanish Ladies “Spanish Ladies” is a traditional British naval song, dating back, by some estimates, to the 1620’s. The song is considered a sea shanty; work songs sung by merchant sailors. I first heard this tune as a kid when Quint (played by actor Robert […]