Tim Burton's composing partner Danny Elfman has put together a soundtrack with suitably zany songs and themes for this big screen version of Roald Dahl's favourite children's story. As with "A Nightmare before Christmas" Elfman himself has produced most of the vocals, processing his voice electronically to create different qualities and ranges. The soundtrack album to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can be found at these links Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. At Music Notes you can also find 7 songs/tracks of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Sheet Music.

The stage musical RENT has been an enormous success on Broadway playing for more than 10 years. This moving story is based on Puccini's opera La Boheme but adapted to modern New York with a great set of Rock songs. A recording of the original Broadway version came out back in 1996, but 2005 sees the release of a movie version directed by Chris Columbus. This remains faithful to the show's spirit, retaining many of the original cast and updating some of the song arrangements. The movie soundtrack double album can be found at these links Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

The final film of the Star Wars series tells the story of Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader. John Williams provides the score of course, with themes both old and new woven into the fabric. There are tracks for the Jedi standing against overwelming odds, for new baddie General Grievous, for the birth of Padme's twins Luke and Leia, and for Anakin's fight against Obi-Wan. Also included with the soundtrack CD is a bonus DVD "Star Wars: A Musical Journey". Here are links to Revenge of the Sith at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Batman Begins returns to the origins of the "Caped Crusader" and the film franchise returns to its original dark mood. Unusually the music is provided by two composers. The soundtrack has the dramatic throbbing power of Hans Zimmer coupled with the dark and moody conceptual music of James Newton Howard. The tracks have unusual names such as "Vespertilio" and "Eptesicus" which are actually the names of various types of bats. The album complete with sound samples can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Steven Spielberg has been working his version of War of the Worlds for some time, and at long last it is on general release. It is no surprise to learn that his usual composer partner, John Williams, is providing this music. The music is non-thematic and very much that of an intense action thriller with brief moments of intimacy. This is far removed from the cute world of "ET" and perhaps similar in style to the more recent "Minority Report". The soundtrack is now available at the following links Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Deservedly winning this year's oscar for Best Original Score, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's music for Finding Neverland is a rare delight. It is playful and infectious while never hard on the ear. Though it has been carefully crafted to fit the mood of the film, it still maintains the boyish spontaneity exhibited by Johnny Depp as J. M. Barry in the movie. A feature of the album is the inclusion of a number of tracks by pianist Leszek Mozdzer improvising on the themes from the film's soundtrack. The album can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - Since his success with "Finding Nemo" it is obvious how well the music of Thomas Newman translates into an appropriate soundscape of Children's stories. This one is based on the series of children's books following the adventures of orphans Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, and stars Jim Carrey as the evil Count Olaf. The soundtrack can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. For more information see the film's official site at www.Unfortunate Events Movie.com.

House of Flying Daggers - From Zhang Yimou, the director of Hero, this is a story set in China's Tang Dynasty where rebel forces oppose a corrupt government and two policemen plot to capture a blind dancer thought to be the daughter of a rebel leader. The music on this occasion is supplied by Shigeru Umebayashi, a veteran Japanese composer who has received numerous awards for his film music. The soundtrack can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. For more information and the movie trailer see the official House of Flying Daggers website (English version).

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - This is a great soundtrack from Edward Shearmur (Johnny English) in a style that is partly modern and partly a retro pastiche of old fashioned heroics like Flash Gordon. The film stars Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie in a traditional story of good fighting evil and features some stunning CGI effects. Just recently released, the soundtrack can be ordered from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Further information about the film can be found at www.skycaptain.com.

Hero is a new Martial Arts movie with well-choreographed fight scenes and a touch of mysticism and romance. The music is percussive for the fighting scenes and lyrical for the spiritual and romantic elements, and written by Tan Dun, composer of (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) which featured Yo-Yo Ma as the cello soloist. This soundtrack's soloist is Itzhak Perlman who uses a non-standard tuning on his violin. The soundtrack is due for release in October, though more information and ordering details can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

DreamTalker follows on from their previous album called "DreamWalker", and continues the exploration of relaxing Native American fusion by the Austrian based duo Wolfsheart & Mexx. Sub-titled "Tree of Life", this is perfectly realised new age, world, ambient, chillout music whose moods range from atmospheric and dreamy to relaxed and then completely laid back. More information, including streamed samples, downloads and ordering details are available from www.DreamTalker.info and www.MySpace.com/dreamtalkermusic.

Manderlay is the sequel to Dogville and is a provocative story of racial prejudice and slavery. Written and directed by Lars von Trier, Manderlay is set in the 1930s in the American South and features an all star cast. Both films have an ambundance of beautiful and heartfelt baroque music, and this album combines the best tracks onto a single album. Featured composers include Vivaldi, Handel, Albinoni and Pergolesi with "Young American" a song by David Bowie. Details about the CD can be found at these links Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

State of Grace 3 follows on from Paul Schwartz's previous successes with the "State of Grace" series. These albums are a cross-over fusion of Classical, Opera and Popular music, with the choral tracks using mostly Latin text. Schwartz has gathered a fine collection of singing talent on this album with Lisbet Scott providing the lead vocals on most tracks, and Rebecca Luker on "Salve Regina" The CD is available at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, and further information can be found at www.state-of-grace.net and www.paulschwartz.com.

Relax & Escape is a 4-CD collection of exceptional chill-out music selected by the radio station Classic FM. The collection includes lots of well-known classical works and quite a few popular themes from the world of film music. The selection comes from the world's greatest composers, and performed by some of the world's greatest musicians. This package is very good value for money and would make an excellent Christmas present. You can find it at this link on Amazon.co.uk.

Aria 3: Metamorphosis follows on from Paul Schwartz's previous successes with "Aria" and "Aria 2: New Horizon". These albums are a fusion of old and new, with snippets of Classical and Operatic works arranged into chill-out dance tracks with a contemporary feel. The mood is ambient and relaxing, modern yet with a subdued power arising from the use of live voices and mostly acoustic instruments. The CD can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Further information can be found at www.aria-music.net and www.paulschwartz.com.

Yo-Yo Ma plays Ennio Morricone - This new release is an exciting combination of talents from acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma who is no stranger to film music (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and the veteran composer Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). The album features specially written arrangements of his film music, and to launch it Morricone will be conducting a concert with Yo-Yo Ma in Rome on November 16th. The CD can be ordered from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Further information can be found at www.yo-yoma.com and www.sonyclassical.com.

To anyone listening to popular orchestral music in the 1950s, Mantovani needs no introduction. One of his greatest achievements was to recognise the appeal of film themes and songs and he was instrumental in their popularisation. He created and conducted his own arrangements of film themes often using his unique "cascading strings" sound. This budget album brings together some of the most popular film music of the last centrury, from Moon River and Over the Rainbow to Zorba the Greek and The Magnificent Seven. The album can be found at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

If you know someone who likes movie music, The Ultimate Movie Music Collection is the perfect gift for Christmas. It contain 4 hours of the best film music on 4 CDs covering tracks from your favourite movies. Star Wars, Jarassic Park, ET, Star Trek, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Minority Report, The Thorn Birds, Shakespeare in Love, On Golden Pond, Titanic and Crouching Tiget Hidden Dragon are just a small sample of the films included. Created by the expert Erich Kunzel conducting the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the pack is great value from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.