Jump to content

What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)


Ollie

Recommended Posts

10 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

I thought you grew out of this cartoon crap! Well, if we can lobotomize Matriss and make him love The Last Jedi, then we can work wonders with _your_ brains, Sev.....:devil:

I break away from cartoons when she's on-screen, at least.

tumblr_pinhehLqnp1ry0vn2o1_500.gif

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Second interesting Britell score this year. It's an eclectic mix of pop, reflective and dramatic styles, with a piercing trumpet cutting through a half questing/half driving americana motif characterizing Dick Cheney's rise. After the tedious 'Moonlight' he upped the game with the agreeably fluffy 'Battle of the Sexes' (and 'If Beale Street Could Talk' only a month prior), the guy seems one to watch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nick Parker said:

If something as toned down in Elfman's color palette as this is considered too quirky and "retro" for a bunch of comic book characters, then...are the studios the real villains when it comes to the watering down of film scores?

Sigh.  This is not what Korngold hoped for, is it? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nick Parker said:

I thought you grew out of this cartoon crap! Well, if we can lobotomize Matriss and make him love The Last Jedi, then we can work wonders with _your_ brains, Sev.....:devil:

 

Also, listened to Justice League last night. It...wasn't...too bad. I actually...kind of liked what I heard...

 

His handling of his older material is bafflingly and embarrassingly weak, and pales in the creative abandon and excitement that he exhibited circa Batman, but there were a few times where I thought, "Hey, this is Danny Elfman!" 

 

It's interesting to read all the YouTube comments that rip into this score, saying that it's way too cartoony. If something as toned down in Elfman's color palette as this is considered too quirky and "retro" for a bunch of comic book characters, then...are the studios the real villains when it comes to the watering down of film scores?

I think FSM roundup summed it up perfectly: Elfman tried to create a score for everyone and ended up writing one for no one.

 

I like some parts of it, perhaps even majority is ok. But it cannot decide what it tries to be. That is a huge problem.

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, crocodile said:

I think FSM roundup summed it up perfectly: Elfman tried to create a score for everyone and ended up writing one for no one.

 

I like some parts of it, perhaps even majority is ok. But it cannot decide what it tries to be. That is a huge problem.

 

Karol

 

Didn't think of it in those words, but I can definitely agree with that. It's too orchestral and bombastic for fans of the new DC sound, it's too drum boomy and portentous string ostinato-y for fans of more old-school superhero scores, particularly Elfman's...it's not that the music sounds incoherent or anything because of it, it just feels like a servant of multiple masters.

 

I wonder if he went all-out on this one, it sounds like Whedon wanted him to...which is unfortunate if so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No I don't think he did. I think he was desperately trying to meet deadline. It was a rush job after all. Sometimes he thrives on tight deadlines, sometimes he fails. He tries to be enthusiastic in this video:

 

 

I actually sort of like his main Justice League theme. It's really hard to pinpoint exactly which one it is because it is always played in various styles and guises. It doesn't really have a fixed rhythm attached to it (like old Batman, Superman or even his Avengers) so it's less noticeable. But it's a nice long-lined theme actually:

 

 

And I do like the ominous take on Superman fanfare.

 

Karol

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Using JW's Superman theme made absolutely no sense and it sounded quite bad in that only instance. If he insisted that his Batman theme should be associated with that version, he could have at least made it sound good. So much for that.

 

The only part of JL I liked was that one track with the Wonder Woman theme, which Elfman didn't even do. He even trashed Zimmer in that interview like he's a JWFan poster while delivering a boring score that's inferior to all Batman-related scores.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How do you know he didn't compose that one specific track? I know Pinar Toprak worked one this score and said she scored a scene with WW. But nobody ever said it was this scene, or did they?

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

Using JW's Superman theme made absolutely no sense and it sounded quite bad in that only instance. If he insisted that his Batman theme should be associated with that version, he could have at least made it sound good. So much for that.

 

The only part of JL I liked was that one track with the Wonder Woman theme, which Elfman didn't even do. He even trashed Zimmer in that interview like he's a JWFan poster while delivering a boring score that's inferior to all Batman-related scores.

Listening to parts of that score, it seems like something that any no name would have done for a modern superhero flick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hated the score to Justice League (not to mention the movie). The way Elfman just casually brushed off nearly all the previously established DCEU themes (like Man of Steel) was unforgivable, and using John Williams' Superman theme was just plain wrong (despite how amazing that piece of music is, it just doesn't fit with Cavill's Superman at all). Using Wonder Woman's theme was a good move, but it was purely orchestral in Justice League instead of the orchestra/electronics split it had in BvS and Wonder Woman, and so (in my mind anyway) it sounded far inferior to previous iterations.

 

The main Justice League theme was boring and not memorable at all (not to mention incredibly short, the "theme" track was only forty five seconds long), and to top it all off Elfman used bits of the Avengers: Age Of Ultron score at points which just killed all immersion for me. The only saving grace was his use of the Batman theme (one could argue it doesn't belong here either, but damn did it sound good in the movie) though it wasn't in the score for nearly long enough.

 

I remember being so disappointed at the time. Danny Elfman is held in such high regard, and that combined with the fact that it was a score for the friggin' JUSTICE LEAGUE meant that it should've been fantastic. It should have had an Avengers-level of amazing main theme at the very least.

 

This post hasn't opened up old wounds at all.

 

Goddammit Danny you had one job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

A bad movie doesn't mean it's not a good opportunity to compose a fantastic film score. Guess who has proven that countless times.

Richard Band?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Zanobard said:

and to top it all off Elfman used bits of the Avengers: Age Of Ultron score at points which just killed all immersion for me. .

Where? I know both scores very well and I can't hear it. Aside from the fact they share stylistic choices of the composer. Which is obvious.

 

:music: Damnation Alley

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Where? I know both scores very well and I can't hear it. Aside from the fact they share stylistic choices of the composer. Which is obvious.

 

1:31

 

 

0:42

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

A bad movie doesn't mean it's not a good opportunity to compose a fantastic film score. Guess who has proven that countless times.

Danny Elfman isn’t Jerry Goldsmith.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Zanobard said:

 

1:31

 

 

0:42

 

Umm...not really. It's just written in the same modern superhero mode by the same composer (even if the latter is actually Alan Silvestri's material). It is a fragment of the JL main theme and it so happens in this particular brief statement it sounds vaguely similar to Avengers theme. But the actual full melodic line is not even the same and they go in very different directions in their respective scores anyway. It's not any more a rip off than Williams doing Hook and Home Alone in his Harry Potter scores. Or any other composer writing another score in the same genre.

 

 

 

Anyway...

 

 

 

 

:music: The Bride Wore Black by Bernard Herrmann.  I only knew the Bernstein suite beforehand so it's quite interesting to hear the rest of it. Herrmann was truly a master of colour. It's interesting how it has all the passion of the scores like Obsession but by removing trumpets and violins he achieves his bleak noir (but of course!) and coarse sound. Wonderful. His music always sounds the best just before Christmas for some strange reason.

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:music: La Sconosciuta by Ennio Morricone. Listening to the new Herrmann last night made me want to revisit this most delicious thriller score from the maestro which sometimes evokes Bennie but filtered through Ennio's own unique suspense writing. One of my favourites.

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse by Daniel Pemberton

 

It's a very interesting and rather unique blend of hip-hop and orchestra, really enjoyed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:music: Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone. It's probably his most famously sentimental and Hollywood score. Might be his most saccharine score actually (although I don't have quite as many of his albums so that might be an overstatement) and definitely the easiest one to enjoy. The two primary themes are very famous and are being played to death in concert. It's a feel good score that warms your heart. The new Quartet reissue sounds very nice indeed. As far as I can tell, it is the same exact same programme as the previous expansion just with upgraded sound. No matter how you slice it, this score is a classic.

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

War Horse by John Williams

An excellent OST for Williams' Americana score epitome of sorts. Beatiful themes and great work with focus on the strings and woodwinds, with occasional iconic solemn horn statements.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown by Vince Guaraldi

The music, I'm sure, is great. However, the album is basically like a 7.1 BluRay rip- it's full of SFX. Truly disappointing. 

Toy Story (Legacy Collection) by Randy Newman

A great expansion and a really good, fun down-to-earth score. Flew completely under the radar for me until this afternoon. Highly recommended.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

:music: Welcome to Marwen by Alan Silvestri. It's really good!

 

 

 

It's OK. Very conventional but at least the theme(s) are halfway memorable. The long credits may be enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having finished work for Christmas I've had a lot of time this week for some proper listening.

 

Hence, aside from Potter:

 

TWINE

Skyfall

A Million Ways to Die in the West

The Conspirator

Bates Motel (season 2 onwards)

Legion

Magnificent Desolation

 

I don't really seem to have any favourite composers any more...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stuff on the musical menu tonight's journey home (by train and then plane):

 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film score plus Children Suite for Orchestra)

Die Hard

Gremlins

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, crocodile said:

Stuff on the musical menu tonight's journey home (by train and then plane):

 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film score plus Children Suite for Orchestra)

Die Hard

Gremlins

 

Should have added Nightmare at 20,000 Feet for the plane ride.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.