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There is a great film buried somewhere in the mess that Gangs of New York ended up being.

Rewatching Silence really helps. I feel like it's aged like fine wine. And it feels the most sincere and honest expression of Scorsese's latest output. And I find nothing about it "Oscar-baitey", even if it might on the surface, appear to have all the general traits of an Oscar-bait film. I found no part of it conceited. It feels like a very genuine meditation on Scorsese's internal questions around faith.

Yes, and it was visually glorious.

It's the best film on that list. I remember some kind of guitar/cello theme? Didn't make much of it, but it all worked.

I didn't have much of a problem with anything you highlighted. I mean he's not entirely wrong about classic science fiction (and most big film music for that matter) being guided by Euro-centric music traditions...although he's ignoring specific genre/film context in some of those examples. And the European orchestra, considering its predominant role in world's biggest and wealthiest institutions, needs no defending... But what makes him the authority on non-European modes of music? I cringed at 6:50, where he has a European white woman demonstrate South Indian konnakol (Carnatic percussive rhythms), albeit poorly may I add, and callously identify that as "rhythmic stuff" without an acknowledgement of its musical roots. NONE of that is original to Loire Cotler...that was a very basic korvai pattern any South Asian musician will recognize. Add to that throwaway remarks like "make that sound like a Tibetan war horn" and "ethnic landscape"...all of this reeks of cultural appropriation, exotification and white privilege, however impressive its assembly may be...all amassed to reinforce the Zimmer name and brand. It's an awards campaign. He and his team are pushing for puff pieces like this to reel in voters.

Thanks guys. I'd be coming from Toronto, so it's not too bad. But I really want to see Williams in action (I know he might not be conducting this one) this year, and I've missed the ticket sales window on most of the other concerts. Do we know if anything else might be coming up this year (like the Boston concert you mentioned) that hasn't been officially announced yet?

Hmm. Then maybe I'll grab 'em. I would like to see this. Is it first come first serve, you just grab the best seat on the lawn before the concert starts? Curious how this works.

Are the lawn seats worth making the trip out?

Sure. But it was a pathetic "critique" though... Early Göransson was the best Göransson!

I'd normally agree with you. But considering how trashy most modern trailers are (cough Amazon's LOTR cough), I honestly think this is as good as it gets for classic franchise trailer music these days.

Trailer didn't look great visually, but I liked how the music was used. And always down for more Ewan McGregor. Might actually watch this one...

Woops, was referring to pub's post about The Fury!

Fantastic gem of a score. Also I love that the Main Titles is now from "HBO's Euphoria" ...whatever it takes to reel the Gen Z kids in...

Some of Giacchino’s arpeggios reminded of the Batman parody music in 30 Rock:

Take out Carax's Annette, and you have some mighty fine films on that list. How was Lapid's Ahed's Knee? I missed it at TIFF, but really enjoyed his other films and was looking forward to it.

Yes. I think he was a random pissed off orphan from the abandoned orphanage. I thought he didn't know, but now suspect it's left for the viewer to decide, since there was that whole little speech about people missing the point when they want to know who's under the mask.

Film is great. Score is functional, does its job and hits all the right beats, like solid aesthetic window-dressing to an already strong film. But as music, has little artistic merit of its own.

The Batman I really enjoyed this. Easily the best looking Batman film so far. This is an impeccably shot and staged film. Gotham feels alive and oozes personality in a way that its predecessors haven't quite been able to. And I liked the noir genre for the most part, although all its twists and turns start to lose steam halfway through. And the ending is essentially a riff on The Dark Knight, without the same punch. But stylistically, it knocks it out of the park. You can excuse some of the shakier writing for all the film's cinematic heft. The cast is strong, but Paul Dano doesn't really bring anything especially new to the role (it pales in comparison to any other psycho/crazy role he's done). Andy Serkis is wasted, Jeffrey Wright makes a great Commissioner Gordon and both Pattinson and Kravitz own their roles well, even if they have no real chemistry together. The score is serviceable and shines the most during the Penderecki knock-offs, but other than that, nothing to write home about. It's not the best Batman film across the board, but it is quite good.

Indeed. I also really liked Selma, but found her response to Laura's post condescending and just unhelpful.

Agree with the Stu on this one. It's not nostalgia...it's just boring. It is sonically more interesting than the Spider-man scores though, I'll give you that. But I was never interested in any of his Spidey stuff. Yea...that one was bad. It was like hearing someone trying to make the "Moonlight Sonata" out of cardboard...the core materials and writing chops just aren't there. And yet we got 15min of it!

Because it's exactly that. Nothing more. He does nothing else with it except change instrumentation and add "modernist" special effects (without modernist sensibilities) and stretch them out in infinite loops. One only needs to listen to Beethoven's 5th, Jaws or even Signs to hear what could be accomplished with such cellular ideas by musically adept hands. Even Zimmer's two chord calling had a more dramatically interesting musical function. And it had far more variety in the other pieces that came with it (the bat flapping, the longer-lined theme, etc).

That opening was a lot more sophisticated than any of the suspense writing in this score.

Indeed, and it got just a fraction of the attention that Bohemian Rhapsody did.

Anybody else watch Euphoria? It's messy, soapy/campy, self-indulgent and super stylized with some cool moments, but the last season finale featured Williams' The Fury. Was a fun musical cameo.

Meh. Bohemian Rhapsody is an incredibly average and unremarkable film. Overrated. I am mildly looking forward to watching West Side Story, if only to see an old pro at work.