#73 – 2026 Oscars Special

Jon and Andy camp out on Hollywood Blvd. for another marathon episode on this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Original Score. Is it possible there are some trends in film scoring that have us excited? Do we completely understand them? And, should we have been listening to all this music in our sleep?

Jon and Andy camp out on Hollywood Blvd. for another marathon episode on this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Original Score. Is it possible there are some trends in film scoring that have us excited? Do we completely understand them? And, should we have been listening to all this music in our sleep?

Come on down as Jon, Jon, Jon and Andy, Andy, Andy haunt Danny Elfman's score to the 1988 supernatural comedy Beetlejuice! How did Elfman's background stand him in good stead for this particular brand of craziness? Which of his formative musical influences shine through this score? And, what’s a painless way to buy an ’84 Ford?

Join Jon and Andy as they check into Alexandre Desplat's score for the 2014 Wes Anderson creation The Grand Budapest Hotel. How does Desplat's music align with Anderson's idiosyncratic perspective? What instruments give it its very particular zing? And, how might Wes Anderson edit this podcast differently?

Listen as Jon and Andy take a long, meandering stroll through and around Miles Davis’ score for the 1958 crime drama Elevator to the Gallows. How did this French film wind up looming large in the history of American jazz? What special mood does Davis find, and what special note helps him describe it? And, what would you give to hear Miles imitate Marlon Brando?

Follow along as Jon and Andy do a hard-target search of James Newton Howard’s score to the 1993 man-on-the-run thriller The Fugitive. How do this film and its music match this cultural moment? What technical rule does Howard break, and why doesn’t it matter? And, wait a minute, does this plot actually make any sense?

It’s back to the Oscars stage for Jon and Andy, to talk about this year’s nominees for Best Original Score, and it’s back to some age old questions: Do we want our music made out of notes or blobs? Does reading up about these scores get in the way of our curmudgeonly opinions? And, how much music should a musical's music music?

Are you here for an affair? Ah yes, an episode of Settling the Score, very good sir - this one's about Simon and Garfunkel’s song score to Mike Nichol’s classic 1967 satire The Graduate. How was this movie pioneering in its use of music? Do these famous songs engender sympathy or skepticism for the characters, or both? And, it's okay to ask: do these lyrics actually mean anything?

“I love this score.” “I know.” Jon and Andy search their feelings about John Williams’ score for the 1980 hit sci-fi fantasy sequel The Empire Strikes Back. How important has this score been to our hosts? How does its mastery show itself on different scales? And, what are the odds of successfully navigating this show’s longest episode ever?

Jon and Andy go straight down the line through Miklós Rózsa's score for the 1944 film noir classic Double Indemnity. Which elements of this music sound like noir, and which don’t? Why do we enjoy stories about bad people? And, where’s a good spot in L.A. to sneak into if you want to hear some Schubert?