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James Newton Howard's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them


leeallen01

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10 hours ago, crumbs said:

That last paragraph is certainly illuminating, and seems to confirm what most of us suspected about his relationship with composers.

 

At least he has the self-awareness to admit it, credit to him for that.

 

Seems like he was half-joking. I mean he's always seemed like a very nice man ("suspiciously nice" as Steve Kloves once said lol), just by his demeanor it seems like he'd be less aggressive and demanding and more just...irritating in his mild-mannered needling, questioning, prying. Fussy...

 

It's interesting cause in the non-JNH-related bit I cut out of my quoting he also has some good criticisms about how composers are generally treated in Hollywood and the amount of time and attention they're afforded (or not afforded) in the process. So it seems like he gets it but maybe overcompensates with his own anxiety and hovering.

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New music in this TV spot! 

 

 

Shazam says it's from "Relieve Him of His Wand / Newt Releases the Thunderbird / Jacob's Farewell". Which subsequently made me scramble around wondering if samples were out haha, but no luck yet. But apparently this is the real deal, unless somebody recognizes it from another score. Definitely sounds like JNH.

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2 hours ago, alextrombone94 said:

Savour the moment between 0.21 and 0.22. That's as colourful as the film is gonna get.

 

It's almost as if the director is intentionally contrasting the colour grading of New York City and the inside of Newt's suitcase for a visual metaphor.

 

But I suppose he's too incompetent to do something like that...

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1 hour ago, Docteur Qui said:

It's almost as if the director is intentionally contrasting the colour grading of New York City and the inside of Newt's suitcase for a visual metaphor.

 

Well, that certainly remains to be seen. But I'm sorta liking the vibe of this thing. I actually feel like this could potentially end up being better than any of Yates's Potters, especially since it was written directly for the screen and Redmayne undoubtedly looks like a more engaging lead than Radcliffe (who I did like as Harry.)

 

53 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Also a rip from The Polar Express.

 

Good though.

 

Ahh yeah, I was wondering why it was making me think of Silvestri.

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7 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

 

It's almost as if the director is intentionally contrasting the colour grading of New York City and the inside of Newt's suitcase for a visual metaphor.

 

But I suppose he's too incompetent to do something like that...

 

Ha. Ha. Ha.

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19 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

A bit is an understatement.

 

Not for me.

 

Still not quite sold on that score at the moment. That track is clearly an improvement over the first one we got, but it's no spine-tingling material or anything. Sure, the first part is nice, but to me, it feels like I've already heard that kind of stuff before and this doesn't particularly bring any new spin on it.

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Yeah, we've heard this before but all I can say is that track was entertaining beginning to end and 0:49-1:10 gave me the tingles and jingles. 

 

Not like it's distinguishable from the X number of pieces like this that we've ever gotten from JNH, Williams, Horner etc but this is the kind of energy that I like. This sounds alive to me.

 

It also assuages a lot of the pervasive ideas that Yates was inevitably going to smother JNH. Will be interesting to hear what the overall tone and sound of the score is.

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7 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Yeah, we've heard this before but all I can say is that track was entertaining beginning to end and 0:49-1:10 gave me the tingles and jingles. 

 

We NEED to have a track dedicated to this theme (or motif) in a fully develloped and epic way ! :P

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Probably risking looking like an over-eager ignoramus :P I doubt this is from the score but anybody know what this is?

 

 

Not enough of an expert to know if it's something by one of the Russian masters or just pastiche.

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

I'd be satisfied enough with a bunch of scattered full-bodied 30 second melodic statements like that. A lengthy thematic piece is almost too much to ask for these days...

 

I can't agree with this. It would be really sad !
On the other hand, you're not completely wrong either…

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4 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Well, this is a bit better.

 

WOW WOW WOW! Everything I wanted and more. I so wanted a perfect combination of his Peter Pan magic and his King Kong 30's NYC, and he delivered, with more. I sincerely hope the rest of the score follows this piece, rather than the first one we had. 

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I'm guessing we'll hear plenty more of both approaches, but hopefully the balance leans toward this stuff since it's clear he did get some room to really let loose. Or at least hopefully the dark material gets more interesting.

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Yeah, hopefully those end credits tracks are newly composed arrangements. Not familiar enough with JNH to know if that's typical for him or not.

 

I think my biggest question mark is how he'll approach the (presumably) action climax with all the beasties running around causing destruction. Could be a real tour-de-force or it could just be loud and dumb. Same goes for the sequence itself, for that matter.

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...I guess I spoke to soon. that track was lovely and dynamic with that lovely 1920s jazz sound I was hoping to hear, but more importantly it's got that sense of whimsy and fits in the Potter universe! well done Mr. Newton Howard, perhaps it's only the 'dark' material that'll sound droning and electronic. it is rather bizarre how different this sounds to the title theme, but hopefully that's a sign of good diversity in the score.

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On 22/10/2016 at 10:50 PM, mrbellamy said:

Yeah, hopefully those end credits tracks are newly composed arrangements. Not familiar enough with JNH to know if that's typical for him or not.

 

I think my biggest question mark is how he'll approach the (presumably) action climax with all the beasties running around causing destruction. Could be a real tour-de-force or it could just be loud and dumb. Same goes for the sequence itself, for that matter.

 

Yes, that's the 'danger' area of this score. I'm hoping for something along the lines of his Kong action material, which was modern yet full of melody and interesting orchestrations. Or we could get something from his Hunger Games or Snow White phase, in which case we're screwed.

 

This is one of my last chances to purchase and get excited about a score this year... come on James!

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I kind of enjoyed hearing the Panem fanfare whenever it showed up and his arrangement of "Hanging Tree" was exciting. That's about all I remember having seen each of the films once and never listening to the albums.

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I always found the Hunger Games scores to have a fair number of great to outstanding moments hidden in the middle of otherwise fairly nondescript (if competently written) tracks (be it action stuff or broody ambience), apart from a few tracks that are great on a whole. I don't know the Silva album, but can thus imagine that a more compact selection of the best stuff from all scores could make a fairly strong album. And of course they work well for me as background listening material that keeps a nice mood going while I'm working and occasionally grabs my attention at the better spots.

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Well, this new track sounds nice. 

 

I liked the first one better, but music always grows on me a little over time. 

 

Speaking of the first one...

 

I have a feeling it will work really well with the film -- dare I say it might even fit under my definition of "epic." It feels like a blast of fresh air hits you as you walk down the busy streets of NYC. It feels like JNH joyfully exclaiming, "Welcome back to Potter!" You can feel the movement in the track and it's perfect for a montage/tracking shot in a big city/something like that. Can't wait to see how that opening plays out. Potter films tend to open dark so it's actually kind of cool that, seemingly, we'll get a more joyful opening. 

21 hours ago, DarthDementous said:

...I guess I spoke to soon. that track was lovely and dynamic with that lovely 1920s jazz sound I was hoping to hear, but more importantly it's got that sense of whimsy and fits in the Potter universe! well done Mr. Newton Howard, perhaps it's only the 'dark' material that'll sound droning and electronic. it is rather bizarre how different this sounds to the title theme, but hopefully that's a sign of good diversity in the score.

 

Yeah the jazz is nice.

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All this talk about about how JNH has gone downhill just reminds me how underrated his Nightcrawler score is.  Not a showy score but there's so much I really enjoy on that OST and it fit that brilliant movie perfectly.

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