Thomas Newman is another of Alfred Newman's sons, David Newman's brother, and therefore part of that very musical family which also includes Lionel Newman and Randy Newman. Thomas quickly made a name for himself with his early soundtrack work on "Reckless" and "Desperately Seeking Susan". This led to his employment on some high profile hollywood films including "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe", "Scent of a Woman" and "The Shawshank Redemption" where he has displayed an easy ability to both use and mix a wide variety of traditional and popular styles. Since this inauguration, his career has seemed to grow exponentially, with recent years building a CV putting him at the top of the profession with "Up Close and Personal", "The Horse Whisperer", "The Green Mile", "Meet Joe Black", "American Beauty", "Erin Brockovich" and "The Road to Perdition"!
Among Newman's supreme talents is the ability to musically paint great subtleties of mood and emotion. This was ably demonstrated on the soundtrack to "The Horse Whisperer", whose early scenes in New York use dreamlike music to establish the events before and after the accident which physically and emotionally scars a young girl and her horse, affecting her family. When the horse is taken to the Whisperer in Montana the music takes on a slight touch of country, and then superbly highlights the trials and steps leading to recovery, which also entangle the lives of those involved. Although the music in this film is quite prominent, sometimes Newman's music is required to take a back seat. This was evident in movies such as "In the Bedroom" where he was able to subtly heighten scenes of apparent normality and suggest all sorts of thoughts that might lurk under the surface.
This ability was stretched further in the haunting dreamlike music in "American Beauty" which is perfectly suited for the movie's blending of fantasy and perspectives on reality. Its main sounds are tuned percussion though based on short figures rather than overt melody (another Newman hallmark). The success of this movie and popular identification with its heightened reality in mundane circumstances, has resulted in the music (and many imitations) being used in many other places including TV and radio. In many ways Newman is leading the way in finding a new voice for film music. His distinctive music seems to enjoy sounds which jingle and tinkle, using piano, strings or pads, and tuned percussion played with mallets, while blending natural and synthesised instruments, and sprinkling the mix with effects. His style can use aspects of popular, jazz, classical and world music, yet their fusion is uniquely Thomas Newman and always interesting.
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- Reckless
- Desperately Seeking Susan - a mix of pop, rock, synth and world music (some Chinese sounds for the Chinatown setting) and featuring Madonna
- Girls Just Want to have Fun
- Jumpin' Jack Flash
- The Lost Boys
- The Great Outdoors
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
- Scent of a Woman - many of Newman's trademark sounds and some Tango music by "The Tango Project"
- The Player - unusual, with hints of jazz scales and off tuning
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Little Women
- How to Make an American Quilt - an evocative soundtrack with interesting oboe parts
- Unstrung Heroes
- Up Close and Personal
- In The Bedroom - captures the scenes of domestic normality and the disturbing events that unfold
- The People vs. Larry Flynt
- Phenomenon
- Oscar and Lucinda - winning the composer a "best original music score" award from the Australian Film Institute
- The Horse Whisperer - a recommended soundtrack displaying Newman's talent
- The Green Mile - very delicate sounding
- Meet Joe Black - there is some similarity to the work of James Horner
- American Beauty - the unusual themes for this movie are laid back, with a haunting beauty
- Erin Brockovich - there are a couple of songs by Sheryl Crow but it's Newman's distinctive music which dominates the soundtrack, sad at times but generally upbeat
- The Road to Perdition - the music hints at Irish origins, but generally takes a back seat in support of the narrative
- Finding Nemo - Thomas seemingly following his cousin Randy in the scoring of musical animations
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - another children's film, in this one the music is quirky yet magical with a music box theme and matching eccentric characters by being scarey without being horrifying
- The Good German - this oscar-nominated score is very much in the old tradition of film scoring and very much a departure for Newman
- Wall-E - a delightful, characterful score to accompany the latest Pixas-Disney creation
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