Best Original Score:
How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell):
Powell gives an enjoyable Celtic/Gaelic mash-up to the film, making great use of bagpipes, snare drums, & recorder. Has the most memorable melodies of the year.
Inception (Hans Zimmer):
Zimmer's layered, powerful score is right on target with all the emotional cues and bombastic action sequences. A wholly original, commanding, and effective work.
The Social Network (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross):
Reznor and Ross' dense atmospheric themes help to give the movie a unique aesthetic identity; soft spoken but agitated, with a somewhat hostile edge.
Tangled (Alan Menken):
Chalk it up to nostalgia, but Menken's score just managed to hit a soft spot with me, taking me back to the days of my childhood when he'd be producing an Oscar-winning score every two years.
TRON Legacy (Daft Punk):
Their musical stylings are a perfect fit for the cyber environments of TRON Legacy. They aptly combine synthesized beats with full-bodied orchestrations.
Just missed: The Ghost Writer, I Am Love, True Grit
