The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn VS. War Horse

[Josh500 1,615]

Which score / movie do you prefer? 

 

These 2 movies and scores (made back to back) couldn't be more different from each other, but they have one thing in common: their incredibly high quality. 

 

I guess it's not a question of which is better. It's a question of which do you, personally, like better, and why.

 

Edit: It's a really tough decision, but I'd say, War Horse for both score and movie.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Tintin for both easily and I really like both. Tintin is Williams masterpiece before VII.

 

Some of the most complex and elaborate writing that Williams has done.

[Josh500 1,615]

3 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Tintin for both easily and I really like both. Tintin is Williams masterpiece before VII.

 

Some of the most complex and elaborate writing that Williams has done.

 

I agree. Tintin the score is a masterpiece. Some of the set pieces like Snowy's Theme send Falcon are mind-blowingly good.

 

I think it's (almost) on the same level as Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

I'm tempted to change my vote. Score for Tintin. 

 

 

[Alex 2,833]

Tintin for the sheer complexity of some of JW's writing

[Josh500 1,615]

58 minutes ago, Alex said:

Tintin for the sheer complexity of some of JW's writing

 

I realized that I absolutely adore Tintin's theme. I wish we had a proper concert version of this theme... like Raiders March. 

[Thor 7,474]

WAR HORSE for score. I don't care for the TINTIN score at all.

 

Movies is more difficult. Both have significant flaws in parts and/or elements, but also some really great sequences. Neither are Spielberg favourites of mine, and I would put them more or less evenly in that box. But if I had a gun to my head, maybe WAR HORSE.

[Josh500 1,615]

15 minutes ago, Thor said:

I don't care for the TINTIN score at all.

 

Wow, that's harsh. 

 

Maybe it's because I didn't have very high expectations for this score after KOTCS, but I was blown away by Tintin. This score is immensely enjoyable, fun, listenable, and even deep (complex). It's got tons of great themes and memorable moments.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Scores, I go back and forth all the time but I've been more fond of War Horse lately. Both hold a special place with me, being my first releases on the forum and coming after that 3.5 year wait; really loved at the time that they were both so episodic since it allowed for so many different Williams styles at once.

 

Film, I guess I'd also give the edge to War Horse. Hard to say since I think it has both higher highs and lower lows than Tintin.

[Josh500 1,615]

Yeah, both scores are so good, it's really almost impossible to say which is better...

 

War Horse is also a somewhat unique entry in the JW cannon (British music, Western music, WWI music...?). Joey's theme is heartbreakingly gorgeous.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Tintin all the way.

[Thor 7,474]

8 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

Wow, that's harsh. 

 

Maybe it's because I didn't have very high expectations for this score after KOTCS, but I was blown away by Tintin. This score is immensely enjoyable, fun, listenable, and even deep (complex). It's got tons of great themes and memorable moments.

 

Well, it's great that we can experience things differently! My disappointment in 90% of Williams' post-2005 material is no secret by now, and I'm afraid TINTIN falls into that category. But I would say that a) it has a couple of decent tracks, b) it's grown on me a little bit since I first heard it and c) it's better than THE BOOK THIEF.

[Josh500 1,615]

3 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Well, it's great that we can experience things differently! My disappointment in 90% of Williams' post-2005 material is no secret by now, and I'm afraid TINTIN falls into that category. But I would say that a) it has a couple of decent tracks, b) it's grown on me a little bit since I first heard it and c) it's better than THE BOOK THIEF.

 

I'd be disappointed in the post-2015 JW scores, as well.... IF NOT for Tintin, War Horse, and The Force Awakens.

 

These 3 are modern masterpieces. 

 

[BloodBoal 7,538]

These are not masterpieces in any way, shape or form.

 

Good scores, though.

[Thor 7,474]

I certainly wouldn't use that word about anything he's done lately either. I care for neither FORCE AWAKENS nor TINTIN, and WAR HORSE survives only because of a handful of great tracks. But it's certainly not a JW favourite either.

[Quintus 5,399]

13 hours ago, Josh500 said:

Which score / movie do you prefer? 

 

These 2 movies and scores (made back to back) couldn't be more different from each other, but they have one thing in common: their incredibly high quality. 

 

I guess it's not a question of which is better. It's a question of which do you, personally, like better, and why.

 

Edit: It's a really tough decision, but I'd say, War Horse for both score and movie.

 

Come on poll boy, get your bloody act together. 

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,338]

War Horse, score and movie! Only listened to half an hour of Tintin and then my annoyance with the film got the better of me, so maybe I'm nt being fair, but War Horse is so much better.

[Incanus 5,713]

For the film the Adventures of Tintin

For the score War Horse although Tintin comes just a smidgen behind.

[Josh500 1,615]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

I certainly wouldn't use that word about anything he's done lately either. I care for neither FORCE AWAKENS nor TINTIN, and WAR HORSE survives only because of a handful of great tracks. But it's certainly not a JW favourite either.

 

They're not masterpieces only if you compare them with such classics as Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Jaws, or E.T.

 

But when compared with the rest of the output from other composers post 2015, I think it's permissible and feasible to refer to these as masterpieces....

 

But yeah, to each his own.

2 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

War Horse, score and movie! Only listened to half an hour of Tintin and then my annoyance with the film got the better of me, so maybe I'm nt being fair, but War Horse is so much better.

 

Tintin the movie is just good, not spectacularly good or unique in any way.

 

I'd say the score is by far the best part about it. Without it, it'd be half as memorable. 

[nightscape94 965]

War Horse score, but not by a ton.  Tintin is still brilliant.

Tintin movie.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

I'd have enjoyed Tintin a great deal more if he hadn't spent half of his screen time thinking aloud. 'I wonder what this is. Why did he take those scrolls?' Maybe if you kept quiet for a moment, you'd actually draw conclusions a bit faster?

[Josh500 1,615]

35 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I'd have enjoyed Tintin a great deal more if he hadn't spent half of his screen time thinking aloud. 'I wonder what this is. Why did he take those scrolls?' Maybe if you kept quiet for a moment, you'd actually draw conclusions a bit faster?

 

That's just Tintin. That's the way he is in the comic books....

 

That's not Spielberg's or Williams's fault.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

I know, but I can't stand it.

[Thor 7,474]

My MAIN problem with TINTIN is the over-reliance on virtual cinematography, which became nauseating at some point (especially in 3D in the theatre). Then I have some minor issues beyond that. But there are some great things in it too. A few years ago, I spoke it with the VFX master behind this and WETA productions on TINTIN and other films, Sebastian Sylwan. You can read it here (scroll past the Norwegian intro):

 

http://montages.no/2012/05/intervju-med-sebastian-sylwan-fra-weta-digital/

[MrScratch 294]

Tintin for both.

 

I haven't seen either movie but Warhorse looks extremely boring. Movies about horses just do not interest me in the least. I will get around to watching Tintin one day, it looks mediocre.

[Wojo 2,453]

I'll vote for the Tin Tin movie because I haven't seen Bore Horse yet, though I heard its score a few times but don't remember a thing. tinTIN had that thing in that spot that I like. 

[Josh500 1,615]

1 hour ago, MrScratch said:

I haven't seen either movie 

 

WTH. Why not? What are you waiting for? 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, MrScratch said:

Movies about horses just do not interest me in the least. 

 

Saying that War Horse is just about a horse is like saying Schindler's List is about some list.

 

It's really about the WAR. WWI and WWII respectively.

[Thor 7,474]

I agree with Josh.

 

While I liked 'animal movies' when I was a kid, I can't stomach them now (the anthropomorophization of them). I expected WAR HORSE to be exactly that, but thankfully, it wasn't. The horse is a horse; no more, no less. Everything else is mirrored through it. The human predicaments.

[MrScratch 294]

34 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

WTH. Why not? What are you waiting for? 

 

 

 

 

Saying that War Horse is just about a horse is like saying Schindler's List is about some list.

 

It's really about the WAR. WWI and WWII respectively.

 

I just have little to no interest in either movie.  Especially War Horse. I realize it's also a war movie, but isn't the bond/friendship between the kid and the horse central to the plot?

 

Post-Saving Private Ryan Spielberg has been very uninteresting to me, and  occasionally downright awful.

 

The only two I've liked were Lincoln and Munich. 

[mrbellamy 6,272]

29 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

I just have little to no interest in either movie.  Especially War Horse. I realize it's also a war movie, but isn't the bond/friendship between the kid and the horse central to the plot?

 

It is and it isn't. It's a pretty episodic story. Some great imagery and two or three brilliantly staged/scored sequences, not sure you'd find it worth the 2.5 hour slog just to get to those. It's quite a maudlin movie, really, but it has some good old-school craftsmanship.

 

I didn't really find Tintin that interesting, apart from the falcon chase....I'm tempted to say that alone would be worth looking up on YouTube just to appreciate on its own merits.

[Loert 2,510]

Tintin for both, though I have only seen snippets of both movies. 

 

As others have said, Tintin is an amazingly creative score and a very fun listening experience (first 30 seconds of The Clash of the Cranes notwithstanding!).

 

As for War Horse, I confess I was forced to read it as a child and I was bored to tears. I skipped every other chapter just to get it over with (I didn't even realise until after I'd finished that the narrator was the horse). Then I was forced to go and see the theatre production with the rest of my class. I couldn't hear what the characters were saying, the gunshots were loud enough to send me into shock, I didn't understand anything that was going on stage; it was just awful. So currently I don't have any urge to see the film, and I think I'll just stick with the (very pleasant) score.

[MrScratch 294]

13 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

 

It is and it isn't. It's a pretty episodic story. Some great imagery and two or three brilliantly staged/scored sequences, not sure you'd find it worth the 2.5 hour slog just to get to those. It's quite a maudlin movie, really, but it has some good old-school craftsmanship.

 

I don't doubt any of the movie's technical merits.  But from what I know of the plot, it's not enough to hold my interest.

13 hours ago, Loert said:

As for War Horse, I confess I was forced to read it as a child and I was bored to tears. I skipped every other chapter just to get it over with (I didn't even realise until after I'd finished that the narrator was the horse). Then I was forced to go and see the theatre production with the rest of my class. I couldn't hear what the characters were saying, the gunshots were loud enough to send me into shock, I didn't understand anything that was going on stage; it was just awful. So currently I don't have any urge to see the film, and I think I'll just stick with the (very pleasant) score.

 

This paragraph was far more entertaining than the movie seems to me.

[Josh500 1,615]

11 hours ago, MrScratch said:

 

I don't doubt any of the movie's technical merits.  But from what I know of the plot, it's not enough to hold my interest.

 

This paragraph was far more entertaining than the movie seems to me.

 

For somebody who hasn't even seen EITHER movie (!!!), you sure have quite a vocal opinion.... 

 

Not sure if you're kidding or not, but whatever. 

[MrScratch 294]

14 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

For somebody who hasn't even seen EITHER movie (!!!), you sure have quite a vocal opinion.... 

 

Not sure if you're kidding or not, but whatever. 

 

"Are you trying to develop a sense of humor or am I going deaf?"

 

I'm not kidding.  I just answered the poll questions and responded to those who have directly addressed me. Since I haven't seen either one, I answered the poll question as: which movie I'd prefer to watch.  Right now, I have little interest in these two movies for the reasons I stated.  Another factor is that I don't watch as many movies as I used to, partly because I have a kid now and also because I watch more TV shows nowadays in my spare time since TV has never been better (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc.).

[Josh500 1,615]

11 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

 

"Are you trying to develop a sense of humor or am I going deaf?"

 

I'm not kidding.  I just answered the poll questions and responded to those who have directly addressed me. Since I haven't seen either one, I answered the poll question as: which movie I'd prefer to watch.  Right now, I have little interest in these two movies for the reasons I stated.  Another factor is that I don't watch as many movies as I used to, partly because I have a kid now and also because I watch more TV shows nowadays in my spare time since TV has never been better (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, etc.).

 

Sure, fair enough. 

 

Still, let me just say, these are not some random movies. These are major works from Spielberg and scored by John Williams, so it's not unreasonable to wonder why you wouldn't want to watch them, even if you watch very few movies these days. This is, after all, the JW fansite. 

[MrScratch 294]

5 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

Sure, fair enough. 

 

Still, let me just say, these are not some random movies. These are major works from Spielberg and scored by John Williams, so it's not unreasonable to wonder why you wouldn't want to watch them, even if you watch very few movies these days. This is, after all, the JW fansite. 

 

I own the soundtracks, but I don't automatically see every JW or Spielberg movie.

 

Of Spielberg's major feature films I have not seen Amistad, The Terminal, Tintin, War Horse and The BFG.  I have seen everything else back to and including Duel. Terminal looks outright terrible.  Amistad is the one I most want to see out of these followed by Tintin.  I do own all of the soundtracks to these movies though for sure.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

13 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

Of Spielberg's major feature films I have not seen Amistad, The Terminal, Tintin, War Horse and The BFG.

 

It's not major.

[Josh500 1,615]

15 minutes ago, MrScratch said:

 

I own the soundtracks, but I don't automatically see every JW or Spielberg movie.

 

Of Spielberg's major feature films I have not seen Amistad, The Terminal, Tintin, War Horse and The BFG.  I have seen everything else back to and including Duel. Terminal looks outright terrible.  Amistad is the one I most want to see out of these followed by Tintin. 

I do own all of the soundtracks to these movies though for sure.

 

I agree, The Terminal is forgettable. I don't quite dare call it terrible....

 

I think The BFG might be the only Spielberg movie I haven't seen. I started watching it, but I just couldn't finish it. It's just too childish, too ridiculous. Not so much terrible as not my cup of tea. But I will some day.

 

War Horse and Tintin are fantastic, though. I have seen these many times.

[Thor 7,474]

"Major" Spielberg movies is taking it a bit far in relation to these movies. I'd say such description only applies to a handful of his films (although it's obviously somewhat subjective). Still, there are very few of his movies I outright dislike. Perhaps only 1941, come to think of it. Loads of great things in both TINTIN and WAR HORSE.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

War Horse is a great soundtrack, but the movie is a terribly underestimated masterpiece!!! It's the second part of a trilogy: Whereas Tarantino has to finish his "Rewritten History"-trilogy (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, ???), Spielberg has to finish his "Rethough War"-trilogy (Empire of the Sun, War Horse, ???) - war shown from a very abnormal and nicely new perspective!

[mstrox 6,647]

WAR HORSE

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Tintin is easily the most enjoyable adventure film in a long, LONG time. Only last year's The Jungle Book can give that one a run for its money.

So a definite win for me; still waiting for the sequel!!!

 

For the score, I voted for Tintin too, but it's a much closer match,

War Horse has some gorgeous music too, and the little action it has is pretty brilliant.

So they're neck-and-neck for me, really.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

These scores are both brilliant, as are all the JW scores in this decade, his strongest one for sure. WarHorse has more heart and soul and it got my vote.

 

As a movie, they are so different that is almost impossible to compare...

[Josh500 1,615]

On 2017-5-9 at 4:47 PM, hornist said:

As a movie, they are so different that is almost impossible to compare...

 

Just vote for the movie you enjoyed more. 

[Jay 37,306]

War Horse is the better score.  Tintin is the better movie.

 

Easily.

[rough cut 1,714]

I think I'm seeing in threes. I think I'm seeing in threes. I think I'm seeing in threes. 

[Wojo 2,453]

No, wait, I did see Tinton. Just didn't care to see it again. 

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

The Adventures of Tintin for both, although War Horse isn't far behind at all in either category.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

On 4/28/2017 at 10:37 PM, Josh500 said:

These 2 movies and scores (made back to back) couldn't be more different from each other, but they have one thing in common: their incredibly high quality. 

 

They also have the same composer and director.