Michael Giacchino has earned a reputation as one of the finest film composers working today. His early composing career saw him work on videogame adaptations for Jurassic Park: The Lost World and The Incredibles: Rise Of The Underminer, as well as working on the Medal Of Honor and Call Of Duty series.

It was his work on videogames that brought him to the attention of J.J. Abrams, who drafted Giacchino in to provide music for Alias and Lost. Since then Giacchino has provided some of the finest film scores of the last ten years. Here are some of his highlights:

The Incredibles (2004)

Giacchino's soundtrack for The Incredibles was his first film score, having worked on videogames and TV shows for many years. For a debut, this is an incredibly confident piece of work that sounds both retro and modern at the same time, which is an amazing achievement.

Throughout the score it's easy to distinguish the pieces composed for the protagonists as they echo the moods of the scenes perfectly, and strike the right balance between serious and playful. His musical cues for the Supers are amazing, but just as much care and attention was spent on the themes for the villains, that create the requisite levels of menace and threat. It's an incredible piece of work, and based on this it's easy to see why he has become something of a Pixar regular.

Ratatouille (2007)

Following his success on The Incredibles, Giacchino reunited with Pixar and Brad Bird for Ratatouille. The film is perhaps one of the more divisive films in Pixar's catalogue and one that I resisted watching for quite some time. But when I finally relented and watched it I loved it from start to finish, and I would now say that it's one of my favourites in the studio's catalogue.

Like his work on The Incredibles, Giacchino's work here is such a perfect match that it's hard to imagine the film without it. Full of charm, sentimentality and humour, the score is structured around Le Festin, the musical leitmotif that drives the film. It's used in various instrumental pieces throughout, as well as being sung by Nouvelle Vague's Camille Dalmais.

The score was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album. Although the Academy Award evaded Giacchino here, he wouldn't have to wait too long to claim an Oscar.

Up (2009)

Giacchino won the Academy Award, BAFTA, Grammy and Golden Globe for his work here and it was very much deserved.

As with Ratatouille, the score for Up is built around a number of leitmotifs. These themes are used to brilliant effect to compliment the mood of the film, and draw out emotions from the audience, and boy does it do that. The scene that shows Carl and Ellie's relationship, accompanied by Married Life, is incredible.

Even on numerous repeat viewings of this excellent film, I find it just as emotional as I did the first time I watched it, and it's largely as a result of Giacchino's fantastic score.

Mission Impossible 3 (2006)

For J.J. Abrams's addition to the successful action franchise, he brought his regular TV collaborator Giacchino on board to provide the score for his vision of Ethan Hunt's third cinematic outing.

No Mission Impossible project would be complete without Lalo Schifrin's theme, so it's little surprise that it's used here. Giacchino doesn't dwell on the piece and uses it merely as a launch pad for his orchestral score. It doesn't have the charm of much of his other work, but achieves what's required from a score for a film of this type.

Given the fact that Brad Bird is down to direct the fourth instalment to the franchise, it would be safe to expect Giacchino to return to provide the score.

Cloverfield (2008)

Although Giacchino's contribution to Cloverfield was limited to one piece of music, I feel that the quality of the piece in question more than justifies a mention.

Given the way in which the film was shot, a score would have been inappropriate. Instead, there are a number of sourced tracks that play out during the party scene at the beginning, and Giacchino's homage to the composer of Godzilla, Akira Ifukube, Roar!, that plays out over the closing credits. Menacing and oppressive, Roar! is a fantastic piece of music that stands up to the high quality of Giacchino's material.

Roar! was initially tricky to track down, and for a time was only available on certain versions of Rob's Party Mix through iTunes, and after that mispricing saw the one track being charged the same price as an entire album. Now Roar! can be downloaded as a single track for only 79p, which is incredible value for a track that clocks in at over 10 minutes and is this good.

Star Trek (2009)

I'm sure many people approached the Star Trek reboot with a certain degree of trepidation, but I'm also sure that few were disappointed with how J.J. Abrams put his own mark on one of science fiction's most beloved franchises, and set the foundations for an exciting new series of movies.

As with his work on Mission Impossible 3, Giacchino acknowledges rather than dwells on the themes of the original series, and instead creates a confident and dramatic score that has the feel of a western in places. Like a number of his other great works, his score here goes from deadly serious to playful effectively, which is why it's such a memorable piece of work.

Speed Racer (2008)

I know that Speed Racer isn't a film for everyone, but it's one that I really enjoy. I think it achieves what it sets out to, and alongside incredible visuals, it also boasts a great score. Giacchino uses Nobuyoshi Koshibe's work from the 60s cartoon at every opportunity throughout the film's high octane race sequences to brilliant effect. Not only does this work incredibly well, but it's also a great reference point for fans of the original series.

Outside the race sequences and action set pieces is where Giacchino really puts his mark on the score by providing period cool heard in his work on The Incredibles, to enhance the dramatic set pieces.

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