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The Flop Three of the Top Three


Brundlefly

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Of course everyone has at least three favorite composers and logically they made at least three enjoyable scores. But what about the scores that you do not really like (or like the least) ALTHOUGH they have been composed by one of your favorite composers? I'd like to know your three LEAST PREFERED scores by your three favorite composers.

 

1. JOHN WILLIAMS

   1. Always

   2. The BFG

   3. Far and Away

 

2. JERRY GOLDSMITH

   1. Along Came a Spider

   2. Congo

   3. Runaway

 

3. ENNIO MORRICONE

   1. Mission to Mars

   2. U-Turn

   3. Face to Face

(I don't know enough Morricone titles to say which ones are really his worst.)

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Hmm, I'll have to think about this for a bit. Figuring them out for Goldsmith will be a bitch because, even if I dislike a score overall from him, there is almost always at least one cue that I really dig. 

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2 hours ago, Romão said:

Mission to Mars is among my favorite Morricone scores

 

Yes!

 

The only score I really dislike that is high profile enough to mention is Hook. 

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John Williams:

1. The BFG

2. The Adventures of Tintin

3. The Book Thief

 

Michael Giacchino:

1. Doctor Strange

2. Zootopia (or Zootropolis) 

3. Inside Out - catchy theme, bizarre and unlistenable score.

 

Howard Shore - The Hobbit Trilogy

Brilliant music all-round, but ultimately it's a challenge to get through and not as immediate and memorable as his prior LotR scores.

I still listen to each of them as often as I can, parts are beginning to grow on me and I'm sure after more listens I'll have a better opinion of them.

Here they are in order from my favourite to least favourite in the context of this thread:

1. The Desolation of Smaug

2. An Unexpected Journey

3. The Battle of the Five Armies

 

 

 

ps. - I love cues and moments from each score, but as a whole are my least favourite, either they're just not as memorable or engaging, or there really only are a few things I personally enjoyed. If you love and adore any of them, I'm not going to bash you.

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1. John Williams

 

a) JOHN GOLDFARB PLEASE COME HOME

b) THE BOOK THIEF

c) THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

 

2. Danny Elfman

 

a) AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

b) MEN IN BLACK 3

c) ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

 

3. Elliot Goldenthal

 

a) ROSWELL

b) THE TEMPEST

c) PET SEMATARY (not a bad score, but it freaks me out every time)

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43 minutes ago, Sally Spectra said:

Alice Through the Looking Glass was one of the most boring and disappointing scores I'd ever heard.

 

Especially because the score for the first movie is so brilliant! The only good thing about the LOOKING GLASS score was "Alice's Theme", but that's a leftover from the first anyway.

 

I don't like Elfman in big action blockbuster/superhero mode these days.

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Williams:

 

Book Thief

Sleepers

Seven Years in Tibet

 

 

Elfman: 

 

Big Eyes

Taking Woodstock

Wisdom

 

 

Gia:

 

Tomorrowland

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes of the Dawn of the Planet of the Dawn of the Apes

Star Trek into Dankness

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I probably have more Gia scores than anybody outside of Elfman and Williams, both of whom I keep complete collections.

 

I could have replaced him with Zimmer, who I like about as well (although I don't like anything of Zimmer's as much as I like, say, Speed Racer, The Incredibles, Up, or Super 8).  I have a bunch of Goldsmith, but honestly that was more of an early film score listener's attempt to TRY to like Goldsmith despite never really liking Goldsmith.  Every other composer, I kind of pick up based on whether I like the score in-movie or not, and it's pretty rare.

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I like Goldsmith when I have positive attachment to the movies (Gremlins 1/2, The Mummy), but a lot of the "classics" leave me cold - Poltergeist, The Omen, POTA, etc etc.  I think the only Goldsmith score I'd throw on besides the three mentioned above would be maybe Star Trek TMP.

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4 hours ago, mstrox said:

Williams:

 

Sleepers

 

Elfman: 

 

Wisdom

 

Whoa! These are actually some of my favourite scores by each composer!

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A joke. A story with a humorous climax.

 

Thor, I'm deadly serious. 

SCHINDLER'S LIST is gratuitous schmaltz, JURASSIC PARK is the Emperor's new clothes, and FAR AND AWAY is so chock full of faux Oirishisms, it's insulting.

This is, of course, just three film scores from a composer whose collected works are nigh-on worshiped, by yours truly. 

The thread title says "The Flop Three".

These are mine.

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Of course it is. ALWAYS is unashamed schmaltz, but it's schmaltz with integrity.

SL has lofty ideals, but it punches far above its weight. It's the listen-to-this-it'll-change-your-life context I abhor. It's dishonest, and that's why I don't like it.

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42 minutes ago, Richard said:

A joke. A story with a humorous climax.

 

Thor, I'm deadly serious. 

SCHINDLER'S LIST is gratuitous schmaltz, JURASSIC PARK is the Emperor's new clothes, and FAR AND AWAY is so chock full of faux Oirishisms, it's insulting.

This is, of course, just three film scores from a composer whose collected works are nigh-on worshiped, by yours truly. 

The thread title says "The Flop Three".

These are mine.

 

Alrighty, then. I'm not going to berate you or anything, but for me, they are obviously all the very best of John Williams.

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5 hours ago, Richard said:

Of course it is. ALWAYS is unashamed schmaltz, but it's schmaltz with integrity.

SL has lofty ideals, but it punches far above its weight. It's the listen-to-this-it'll-change-your-life context I abhor. It's dishonest, and that's why I don't like it.

 

Yeah Wojciech Kilar should have scored it.

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Williams is not a flop person. At worst, he's boring and WASP-ish. Though i would have to single out 'Stanley & iris' as a really poor score - the underscore sounds as if Williams never learned to write chamber music, a lot of half-finished sketches still waiting for a final draft. But then, 'S&I' is a rather poor and insubstantial movie, so...

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1 hour ago, publicist said:

Williams is not a flop person. At worst, he's boring and WASP-ish. Though i would have to single out 'Stanley & iris' as a really poor score - the underscore sounds as if Williams never learned to write chamber music, a lot of half-finished sketches still waiting for a final draft. But then, 'S&I' is a rather poor and insubstantial movie, so...

 

Williams doesn't have a lot of "what the hell was he thinking" films in his filmography. Not after he became big. I would say that Heartbeeps is the only one. Even SpaceCamp is just boring

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7 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Alrighty, then. I'm not going to berate you or anything, but for me, they are obviously all the very best of John Williams.

 

Thank you, Thor, for not biting my head off.

Its easy to dismiss a "bad" score, that's associated with a "bad" film (BFG, THE BOOK THIEF, HEARTBEEPS), but one is going to encounter far more flac, if one sticks one's head above the parapet, and criticises a "great" score, from a "great" film (SCHINDLER'S LIST, JURASSIC PARK). It goes against the grain, against popular opinion, and it's bound to rub people up the wrong way. Many JWfaners like these scores. I don't necessarily dislike them; they just don't do much for me.

At the end of the day, though, its just a parlour-game, one of many played on this site. Long may these games continue.

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