Braveheart vs. Titanic - which score do you like the most?

[Nick1Ø66 4,687]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Well, ever heard about the Nick Conundrum?

 

That's The Nick Supremacy!

[Bilbo 3,709]

6 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

Oh crikey. First the patented @Bilbo likes, and now the Jurassic Shark paradox.

 

You fancy boys and your self-involved boutique memes.

 

Hey! That’s not the way to go about getting the likes! Disco Stu actually survives entirely on a diet of my likes. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

3 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

That's The Nick Supremacy!

 

That's the conundrum!

 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

2 hours ago, Lewya said:

Agreed, Titanic is a very good movie, a must-see (not a masterpiece though), 3 out of 4 stars. But the score is mostly just poor and banal - ersatz pretty much everything. I would single out Titanic as a career low for Horner, not a high. 1995 and the duo of Braveheart and Apollo 13 was on the other hand indeed a high.

 

Titanic is one of his weaker scores, Braveheart is one of his best, so the choice is easy.

 

I might add that I pretty much never listen to either score, especially not Titanic - the same can be said about all other Horner music too, I am not a big fan of him at all even if he could be good.

Horner is mostly mediocre as a composer. The one thing he is up on Goldsmith is the fact that he did the better dinosaur score of the two, but then there is John Williams who kicks him in the ass in that regard - twice.

[Nick1Ø66 4,687]

1 minute ago, Bilbo said:

 

Hey! That’s not the way to go about getting the likes! Disco Stu actually survives entirely on a diet of my likes. 

 

If likes made you fat, Disco Stu could hibernate all winter.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

He needs to rest after all that discoing.

[Bilbo 3,709]

2 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

If likes made you fat, Disco Stu could hibernate all winter.

 

What can I say? He produces the goods!

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

Anyway, back to topic. I believe Titanic and Braveheart are the only Horner CDs I've got in my collection, although it's probably more than 15 years since the last time I listened to the former.

[Thor 7,463]

Then you have a lot of amazing discoveries still to make! I envy you.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

20 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

If likes made you fat, Disco Stu could hibernate all winter.

 

The real reason I had to take a 6 month break: all those likes were going straight to my hips!

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

5 minutes ago, Thor said:

Then you have a lot of amazing discoveries still to make! I envy you.

 

I don't think so, as I listened it to death the years after the film came out. Unless you're talking about the expanded edition.

[Thor 7,463]

6 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I don't think so, as I listened it to death the years after the film came out. Unless you're talking about the expanded edition.

 

No, I'm talking about Horner in general.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

10 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

No, I'm talking about Horner in general.

 

Oh, I've listened to quite a lot of his music, but few of the OSTs were "must have" to me on CD.  I don't count music that I don't own on CD as part of my collection.

 

19 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

The real reason I had to take a 6 month break: all those likes were going straight to my hips!

 

To your head, you surely mean.

 

[Nick1Ø66 4,687]

11 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

To your head, you surely mean.

 

 

This is so good I wish I'd have written it.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

12 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

This is so good I wish I'd have written it.

 

Thank you. I just had to write it although I didn't really mean it. Disco's a good guy. But don't tell him I said that... it might inflate his ego. 

[Chen G. 3,943]

7 hours ago, Holko said:

Haven't seen or heard Braveheart yet, but I'm trying to remedy this soon before Chen karatechops my head off.

 

🤣

 

But seriously, the score to Braveheart is a curious thing, for me. On the one hand, its mostly just Horner doing a big "Golden-Era Hollywood" score. Nothing too sophisticated thematically or otherwise. On that level, I don't suppose I would have loved it as much as I do, had it not been attached to such a masterful film.

 

On the other hand, it is a succesful score in that it weds that "Hollywood" sound to Horner's celtic schtick as well as with synth and more contemporary action music (big drums) which really fits the brutality of the action sequences. On all those fronts, it works (for me) better than Titanic. The celtic elements are more appropriate here, the synth fits in better (namely, because its used less for choir and more for atmospherics) and the action music works better by virtue of being woven throughout the score rather than popping up at the midpoint, as it does in Titanic.

 

I also don't believe in completely separating the film from the score: it was written to accompany the film and - especially in a movie like Braveheart where the score wasn't particularly fiddled with - the film is the ultimate presentation of the score. As such, I like Braveheart significantly more than Titanic and that impression inevitably rubs off onto the scores of each film.

 

None of this is to say that I don't really like Titanic, score and film. But, I mean, its friggin' Braveheart, come on...

[Brundlefly 2,385]

37 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

[to Thor]: Unless you're talking about the expanded edition.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

But a lousy boat.

 

Daddy, it's a ship.

[Lewya 360]

5 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Horner is mostly mediocre as a composer. The one thing he is up on Goldsmith is the fact that he did the better dinosaur score of the two, but then there is John Williams who kicks him in the ass in that regard - twice.

Totally agree with him being mostly mediocre. With that said, he is better than most, especially today. He could be good at his best though. I also agree - The Land Before Time I have a soft spot for even if I don't listen to it often at all. Maybe my pick for his finest score.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,343]

Takes all kinds to make a world, I suppose.

[publicist 4,643]

5 hours ago, Chen G. said:

But seriously, the score to Braveheart is a curious thing, for me. On the one hand, its mostly just Horner doing a big "Golden-Era Hollywood" score. Nothing too sophisticated thematically or otherwise.

 

Patently false. Horner's reliance on a classical british idiom and composers like Vaughan-Williams and Holst (Jupiter, not Mars) is exactly not a big Golden Era Hollywood score.

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

.

[Obi 404]

Braveheart don't have a Celine Dion song, so I vote Braveheart.

[Thor 7,463]

9 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Oh, I've listened to quite a lot of his music, but few of the OSTs were "must have" to me on CD.  I don't count music that I don't own on CD as part of my collection.

 

I see.

 

My own physical Horner collection has dwindled from 30-something to 8(!) in an effort to downsize my entire CD collection, but my digital-only collection has grown exponentially, so I now have about 50 Horner albums. Well, HAD is the right word, since my harddisk crashed and I now have to re-acquire a lot. So it's been all very much up and down over the years. But like you, TITANIC and BRAVEHEART are 2 of the 8 that remain on my CD shelf.

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

And hmm.. who's going with the free speech option?

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

11 minutes ago, Borodin said:

And hmm.. who's going with the free speech option?

 

 

S'matter too embarrased to let everyone know your choice?

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

2 hours ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

S'matter too embarrased to let everyone know your choice?

 

I'm actually terrified. Just imagine if Agent Cooper found out. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Braveheart!

[Richard Penna 3,669]

I'm going to say Titanic. The main title 'lament' theme never fails to spook me out, and overall the score has a nice amount of variety. I can't stand Rose's theme any more, and actually it ruins the full score for me, but with that moved aside, I listen to it rather a lot. The film moved me as a kid in a way that I could barely care less about Braveheart.

 

The demoting factor for Braveheart is that once you've divided the score into its two 'sounds', you have the utterly unremarkable synthy underscorre (I can't even recall it from my one viewing of the film years ago), and the more traditional sweeping orchestral bits which merge into one mass of music to me. There's beautiful stuff in there, some of my favourite individual cues from my soundtrack infancy, but nothing seems to change or evolve through the score.

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Titanic, no doubt about it.

[Chen G. 3,943]

Its finished, then.

 

Braveheart wins!

 

 

[crocodile 7,983]

Braveheart is perhaps a better score but I never find myself listening to it. Titanic is a slightly annoying score but it has some lasting power. So a tie for me.

 

Karol

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

On 7/26/2018 at 7:11 AM, bollemanneke said:

Titanic, no doubt about it.

 

There appears to be widespread doubt on this forum.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Finding him was the will of the Force. I have no doubt of that.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,343]

Can anyone actually whistle any themes from either of these scores?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Me!

[Kasey Kockroach 2,343]

Would you care to demonstrate for the class, sir?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Not right now. My ear is too sore.

[Chen G. 3,943]

3 hours ago, kaseykockroach said:

Can anyone actually whistle any themes from either of these scores?

 

From Bravheart I could say the main theme, but that’s kind of cheating because it’s a very close relative of “Amazing Grace.” It wasn’t Horner’s fault, though: the script calls for “Amazing Grace.”

 

The main love theme is very memorable, as is - to me - the piece in the scene I linked to: the closest that Wallace gets to have a theme for himself outright.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I can whistle the entire Titanic score. I've done it.

 

The real question is not which score is better, but which has the superior dynamic range.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

But can you whistle the entire LLL release?

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

I can only whistle the first note

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

37 minutes ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

I can whistle the entire Titanic score. I've done it.

 

Is that a good way to attract birds?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

12 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

I can only whistle the first note

 

The 20th Century Fox song?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The Fox logo wasn't in front of the movie until the reissue. Even in theaters, it was just the silent Paramount logo. I guess they wanted in after the movie made a bajillion dollars.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

But it's always been with the Fox logo. I've never once seen it with the Paramount logo.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Well you are so wrong!

 

https://youtu.be/yytE4JRkkmQ

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Wow!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Must be an Australian thing.

[King Mark 3,625]

Tie.

 

It's my 2 least favorite Horner scores