2016 has been a bold year for remakes. Above and beyond a new “Ghostbusters,” which had so-called fanboys tied up in knots, Hollywood has brazenly taken on two beloved classics in “Ben-Hur” and “The Magnificent Seven.” Generally speaking, the originals excelled on all levels, which is why they are still fondly remembered, but the music for both has been especially indelible. In fact, I would argue “The Magnificent Seven” is as beloved as it is mostly because of Elmer Bernstein’s immortal score.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” you’ll have a chance to sample music from the remakes, alongside selections from their classic predecessors.

I’ve been listening to James Horner’s score for the new version of “The Magnificent Seven,” and while the result is not exactly top-shelf Horner – the composer was killed in a plane crash last year, not long after making some sketches after having merely read the script (an associate of his, Simon Franglen, who worked with the composer on “Titanic” and “Avatar,” was hired to flesh out the material) – it nonetheless serves as a painful reminder of exactly what’s been lost from the art of film-scoring.

Horner’s trademark use of the shakuhachi is invoked, as are “Mask of Zorro”-style handclaps and the inclusion of the all-pervasive Horner “Danger Motif” (which echoes the opening of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 and is in just about every genre score Horner composed since at least “Star Trek II” in 1982). But what is most pertinent, and most refreshing, are the snippets of bona fide melody – and some of that melody is actually stirring and uplifting. After all, Horner hit his stride in the early ‘80s, when music still had something meaningful to add to movies, beyond simply acting as a moody drone or pumped-up bass-line.

Say what you will about Horner – he was a flawed artist who lifted freely from his own and others’ work – but he was always polished, professional and dramatically effective. I would go so far as to say he may very well have been the most naturally talented film composer of his generation. He was fatally limited by a lack of originality, but he always knew his way around an orchestra.

Furthermore, he had the ability to uplift. It’s a quality not at all common in film music today, or in movies at all for that matter. Movies may retain the ability to thrill, but the thrills, I find, such as they are, are mostly adrenaline-driven. When was the last time you experienced awe at the movies, or left the theater feeling elevated or elated? More commonly, it’s the sensation of having been wrung-out, triumph experienced vicariously only insofar as having survived the latest computer-generated assault. Where is the joy in that? Where is the hope?

Horner’s score in no way displaces Elmer Bernstein’s immortal music for the original “The Magnificent Seven.” Then again, how could it? But at least he doesn’t embarrass himself. The best I can say about Marco Beltrami, on the other hand, is that he is smart enough to know there is no way a new “Ben-Hur” is going to be able to top its predecessor. So instead, he tries for something completely different.

Tune in at 6:00 EDT and hear for yourself. We’ll enjoy a little “7” and “7” with two sides of “Ben-Hur,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

Unfamiliar with Horner’s “Danger Motif?” These clips should give you an idea:

You can also it hear it here, in the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony: