Thor 7,507 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 35 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said: Men in Black has some great themes, but some of the underscore isn't among my favorite of his. Same here. Smokin' theme (which was played live last week in Vienna, btw), and one or two fine tracks beyond that, but otherwise a bunch of contrapuntal noise. In fact, I have problems with most Elfman scores from the mid to late 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted October 2, 2017 Author Share Posted October 2, 2017 2 minutes ago, Thor said: Same here. Smokin' theme (which was played live last week in Vienna, btw), and one or two fine tracks beyond that, but otherwise a bunch of contrapuntal noise. In fact, I have problems with most Elfman scores from the mid to late 90s. Maybe, but I think it's pretty rare that you love a score 100% from start you finish, all the underscore included! In fact, the underscore is apt to be boring most times, that's pretty much its definition! If a score has a great theme or two, then I consider it to be a keeper! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,368 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 But that makes the scores I DID put in my top 5 (Batman, Returns, Scissorhands, M:I, MA!) - they are brilliant from start to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fancyarcher 350 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 8 minutes ago, Thor said: Same here. Smokin' theme (which was played live last week in Vienna, btw), and one or two fine tracks beyond that, but otherwise a bunch of contrapuntal noise. In fact, I have problems with most Elfman scores from the mid to late 90s. I'd say Mission Impossible has his best underscore from that period. He's definitely grown over the years, so his underscore is less frenetic now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yavar Moradi 2,599 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Exactly. For a score to make my top 5 it has to have a lot more in it than just one really good theme. Otherwise Wanted would be on my list! Main theme is catchy as hell but the rest is a big "meh" from me: Yavar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,507 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 5 minutes ago, Josh500 said: Maybe, but I think it's pretty rare that you love a score 100% from start you finish, all the underscore included! In fact, the underscore is apt to be boring most times, that's pretty much its definition! If a score has a great theme or two, then I consider it to be a keeper! Of course, but from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE onwards, Elfman got this hankering for extremely dense orchestrations and TONS of wild counterpoint that just don't appeal to me. There were very few individual tracks amidst the "noise" that appealed to me. Especially in action scores (in drama stuff like GOOD WILL HUNTING, it was more tolerable). He still does it, but the frequency by which they came was much shorter back then. In the first part of his career, and in the most recent (especially from 2005 onwards), several of his scores felt/feel more consistent and "open". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted October 2, 2017 Author Share Posted October 2, 2017 3 minutes ago, Jay said: But that makes the scores I DID put in my top 5 (Batman, Returns, Scissorhands, M:I, MA!) - they are brilliant from start to finish. I should listen to these again, from start to finish. Mostly I just listen to the Batman theme, and rarely to the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,368 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Aw man yea, pay more attention, the Batman scores are fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demondm810 399 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 1. Batman 2. Batman Returns 3. The Wolfman 4. Edward Scissorhands 5. Age of Ultron 5. Mission: Impossible 5. Spider-Man 2 Josh500 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted October 2, 2017 Author Share Posted October 2, 2017 This theme is great, though. It's Danny Elfman's masterpiece, I'd say, second only to the Simpson's theme... https://youtu.be/pzd5duS7qe0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Batman Batman Returns Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Parker 3,040 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 28 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said: Exactly. For a score to make my top 5 it has to have a lot more in it than just one really good theme. Otherwise Wanted would be on my list! Main theme is catchy as hell but the rest is a big "meh" from me: Yavar It's been years and years since I've listened to this one, thanks for sharing a link! Definitely agree with you about the score. I really liked his other three from 2008, though; a lot of people seem to diss Hellboy II, which I certainly did, when I first listened to it, but it became a favorite of mine! I used to buy every Elfman score that came out until about 2010 or so, but my interest in him started to wane, and my tastes began to diverge from his voice. Over the last year or so, though, I've had that feeling of "Huh, I wonder how the guy is doing." While his palette seems to be a little more monochromatic than in his earlier days, after checking some of his scores over the last several years, I'm reminded why I enjoyed him when I was younger; while I don't go crazy over his stuff, I do have a lot of respect for him as film composer in the tradition of Jerry Goldsmith, where he experiments and tries to do something unique for the film he's working on. That said, my first reaction to Tulip Fever was "Holy crap! I miss this side of Elfman!" Josh500 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,507 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 36 minutes ago, Nick Parker said: That said, my first reaction to Tulip Fever was "Holy crap! I miss this side of Elfman!" Well, he's done a LOT of that stuff in recent years, and it's what I love with his current output. Not the big blockbusters, but those types of more intimate, lovely, smaller affairs. If you liked TULIP FEVER, I also recommend MILK, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, TAKING WOODSTOCK, RESTLESS, PROMISED LAND, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN, THE END OF THE TOUR and THE CIRCLE (more electronic, but still very much in this vein). Josh500 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICHARDSTRAUSS68 107 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 1. Mars Attacks 2. Batman 3. Beetlejuice 4. Batman Returns 5. The Nightmare Before Christmas Josh500 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightscape94 965 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 In no particular order: Batman Edward Scissorhands Sommersby Black Beauty Spider-man 2 With special consideration to The Family Man. Disco Stu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie 1,059 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Batman Planet Of The Apes Sommersby Edward Scissorhands Wolfman Josh500 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh500 1,615 Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 4 hours ago, Thor said: Well, he's done a LOT of that stuff in recent years, and it's what I love with his current output. Not the big blockbusters, but those types of more intimate, lovely, smaller affairs. If you liked TULIP FEVER, I also recommend MILK, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, TAKING WOODSTOCK, RESTLESS, PROMISED LAND, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN, THE END OF THE TOUR and THE CIRCLE (more electronic, but still very much in this vein). I've never seen any of those movies, and until now, I have never even heard of them (except for MILK, that is). Are the movies themselves good? I've lost interest in watching movies a few years back, thinking 99% of them suck. But this is a good of way of missing a lot of little gems, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,507 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 5 hours ago, Josh500 said: I've never seen any of those movies, and until now, I have never even heard of them (except for MILK, that is). Are the movies themselves good? I've lost interest in watching movies a few years back, thinking 99% of them suck. But this is a good of way of missing a lot of little gems, as well. I haven't seen TULIP FEVER and THE CIRCLE yet, but the other movies are pretty good, yes. Josh500 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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