Eric_JWFAN

Just got back from a screening of Lone Ranger. Outside of the predictably great train sequences, the movie was rather meh.... Zimmer's work was even more meh. But I guess that doesn't surprise a lot here. There were some head scratching musical mistakes in this film, one being the use of John Philip Sousa marches, 28 years before they were actually composed.

You assume that your fondness for this kind of scoring is shared by the makers of MOS. Think again. MOS is from a factory line that produced DARK KNIGHT, TRANSFORMERS et al. None of these pictures thrived on memorable leitmotifs or a symphonic palette. Good point. But even if you remove leitmotif writing, there is still plenty of opportunity for orchestral creativity, movement, etc while still keeping the dark tone, and Zimmer failed miserably. Either he's too lazy, has a ridiculously brief window to write, or he simply doesn't know how do anything beyond long sustained ambient notes and loud ass drums. This score was so static it would make Brian Eno disappointed. In the film scoring world, when you're feeling really uncreative or you are in a time crunch, the "easy way out" is to simply write a long sustained note. While boring as heck, it generally works for a surprising number of moods as it creates suspense and is non-intrusive. But it's also a real "cop out" and a sign you are just not a very capable composer. Zimmer does this more than anyone in the industry. What makes the weakness of this score even more magnified is the fact that Williams does this the LEAST in the industry.

If there was any doubt that Zimmer is the most overrated composer of the last quarter century, this score cements it. A superhero flick like Superman is every film composer's dream to tackle, that rare opportunity for a composer to pull out all the stops, be CREATIVE, use memorable leitmotifs, utilize the symphonic palette and all its majestic offerings to the absolute fullest.... and what do we get? A shockingly minimalistic soundtrack with nothing but ambient sounds and extremely long sustained notes (which is what you do when you really don't know how to write for the orchestra). And of course it has lots of Zimmer's trademark "lets beat these giant drums as loud as humanly f'ing possible". What a disappointment. Even more disappointing is how many people in the world think this guy is a great composer. How sad would it be if this wins the Academy Award 35 years after Williams' masterpiece inexplicably didn't?

Ha.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/arts/music/debussys-150th-birthday-gets-little-notice.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1345635616-8MiST+DT5+xLFUIXpSrKoA

1:23 into this video. Dies Irae, Cab Calloway style.

Hard to believe two threads totaling 5 pages of posts, and not one mention of The Shining, probably the most famous and arguably most effective use of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw23KM3-Ry8

There's plenty that do. Which brings me back to my earlier statement about it being one of the best scores for a commercial. If you can't think of 5 that are better, then you'll have to agree my statement was correct, no?

Okay, so name me 5 better ones. :crickets: The scores to the last five films to be released in theaters? I wasn't talking about movie scores. Commercials.

It is kind of Verve like. I think the quality is quite good for a commercial.

Okay, so name me 5 better ones. :crickets:

Okay, so name me 5 better ones.

One of the best commercial scores I've heard in a long while.

I think there are some moments in Jaws that are quasi-bitonal.

Okay just wanted to be sure.

Good point. I remember an FSM Podcast where they said the dominant 7th chords found in the score to Superman were likely a residue from his jazzy period. Not to be anal here, but did they say Dominant 7th chords or 7th chords in general? When I think of Superman I think of tons of Maj.7th chords and a few Min.7th chords, but for some reason can't remember any Dominant 7th chords.

Thanks. :-)

Thought I'd bump this thread as the video hit 500,000 views today, and this was the first place it was viewed. :-) I really never thought it would get that many views. Thanks MrScratch! (Is he still around?)

I get what you're saying, but the burgeoning manager in me would argue that an LCD TV is a one-time investment (as long as it doesn't break and need expensive service). That projector (as long as it doesn't break and need expensive service) needs replacement bulbs every so many hours, and I don't know how much they cost. I use my 55" LCD for everything but movie watching. And since I only watch a few movies a week, the 4,000 hour bulb life is more than enough to last me until my next upgrade. If you're using it for everything (and most people don't) then yes the costly bulb replacement would be a definite issue to consider (around $300).

I use it only for movie watching - which is almost always at night - so ambient light is not an issue. Even if I did use it in the daytime, my projector is ridiculously bright and I get a very good picture with ambient light. Also, with a projector you get much better bang for your buck. A few years ago a 1080p projector was $10,000. Now you can get them for as low as $1,000. Let's see, $2,000 for an LCD TV that gives me a 55" image, or $1,000 for an LCD projector that gives me a 100" image. After having both a 55" LCD and the projector, I've learned that you watch movies on a TV, you "experience" them on a projector.

Projector: Epson PowerLite 8350 Screen: Da-Lite High Power Receiver: Yamaha RX-V765 Blu-Ray: Sony BDP-S570 Fronts: NHT Absolute Towers Rears: NHT Absolute Zeros Center: NHT TwoC Sub: Premier Acoustics PA-120

Eric, you made me a Walton fan with that vid You are totally right I think which is why I listed WW so high up my list. I noticed that. And I agree with your entire list. It's really hard to pick just one, as JW has obviously been influenced by so many composers in different ways. But if I had to pick one, Walton is always the first one that comes to mind.

William Walton. I made a video about it a few years ago. --------> http://vimeo.com/719335

I love the Amazing Slow Downer. I know it's not really an editor, just does time stretch / pitch shift but it does a better job of it than some $400+ programs. The iPhone/iPod app is the best $15 you can spend.

Agreed. That was the whole point of my thread. A completely overlooked opus in JW's career (if you can call an Oscar winner "overlooked") The thread not making it past 5 responses kind of symbolizes that fact.