For his work on The Amazing Spider-Man, see here.
For his work on Star Trek, see here.
- His theme for Universal Pictures, used in the 1990s,
is so epic and beautiful there are fans who say the studio's current theme pales in comparison. Just listen to the full version, composed for the studio's 75th Anniversary.
- Horner's track "Resolution and Hyperspace" from Aliens is so awesome that it explodes out of the movie itself and reappears at the end of Die Hard instead. Or start at 03:06 during the track Futile Escape from Aliens. It's a theme that constantly builds, gets more intense, and really gets your adrenaline pumping. So awesome he used many cues from it for the themes of the Marines in Avatar.
- In Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars, a cheezy rip-off of Star Wars and The Seven Samurai, Horner gives out a terrific theme. Corman used it again for the trailer of his terrible Fantastic 4 movie. He also reused the music in several entire movies (Space Raiders, Sorceress, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom and so on).
- The soundtrack for Apollo 13 is consistently praised as one of Horner's most solid all-around efforts. To name just a few highlights: the aforementioned main theme with the patriotic trumpets, the famous launch scene, the edge-of-your-seat "Re-Entry and Splashdown", and last but definitely not least, Annie Lennox harmonizing with herself beautifully over the end credits. The main theme from Apollo 13 is frequently used on "teaser trailers" for movies that don't yet have soundtrack music written for them, to give them the appropriate level of awesomeness.
- The main theme from The Rocketeer is just lovely; sweet and soaring and wistful. Then the melody repeats, picking up a bit of speed and another layer of orchestration each time through, until finally it's become an action theme so badass that it's been repurposed as background music for pretty much every other action movie trailer released since then.
- Regardless of the fact it's a "kid's movie," the score from The Land Before Time is haunting and effective and is nearly Pavlovian in getting you to cry. Just watch the hatching of Littlefoot without remembering that first traumatic viewing. "If We Hold On Together" is another good one.
- An American Tail:
- The main theme sets the tone for the whole movie.
- There's the first appearance of the Statue of Liberty with a choral version of "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor".
- "The Great Fire" is incredibly dark, deep, and emotional for having come from a children's movie.
- His score for the sequel, Fievel Goes West, is a beautiful throwback to the classical Western scores of Dmitri Tiomkin and Elmer Bernstein. The western flavor given to the familiar main theme in the opening overture is noteworthy, of course, but he gets bonus points for "In Training", which features an intense homage to Aaron Copland's "Hoedown".
- The main theme
- The final scene of Braveheart, wherein Robert the Bruce at last rallies the Scotsmen to independence, the music starting slow and then building and building to a glorious crescendo, intermingling flawlessly the leitmotifs for heroism and for Scotland as Wallace's sword is thrown in the face of the English oppressor.
- For most of Avatar, the music is pretty good. It gets thrown into EPIC territory with the track 'War' It is better than sex.
- And what about 'Jake's First Flight', at 2:15, where after two minutes of boys choir and native drumming it suddenly breaks into magnificent Christmas music? That'll sweep ya up right there.
- 'Quaritch Down'. The Big Damn Heroes fanfare is simply epic.
- And what about 'Jake's First Flight'
- Windsong from the 1998 remake of Mighty Joe Young is tear-inducingly beautiful.
- Numerous tracks from the Troy soundtrack; Hector's Death, followed by pretty much all the others that play during the various battle scenes.
- His tear jerkingly beautiful soundtrack for Casper. Especially One Last Wish.
- His theme for The Perfect Storm is heartrendingly poignant and heroic, capturing the mood of the film perfectly.
- Field of Dreams has several beautiful parts.
- The place where dreams come true when Ray's father returns.
- Doc Graham's Memories, when Moonlight Graham gives up his dreams to turn back into his future doctor self to save Karin.
- The place where dreams come true
- The entirety of his soundtrack to Terrence Malick's epic The New World is wonderful, but "A Dark Cloud is Forever Lifted" is absolutely breathtaking.
