Shoes

Exactly!! Like Shakespeare in Love, A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, Chicago, American Beauty --- all those antieverything movies......clearly an obvious liberal bias.

JW would be proud of J-Alba!! ....and even if he's not, I sure am!

My apologies then.... Let the sarcasm fly - you're doing well so far.

Re: Stafancos Don't get me wrong dude, some of your stuff has some good laughs in it, but the overall sarcasm is amazing and comes off soooooo angry about petty little threads.....and this coming from a guy who started the "How Will John Williams Die?" thread.

"Mmmmmm....baby, I love the size of your collection." Chicks dig it!

Mark wrote: I don't even like to think about it....While I know there are plenty of people with more CDs than me, when it starts to push 700 film scores, plus regular music.....ughhhh....I could have just bought a nice boat or something...

Stefancos wrote: And I can appreciate that....the difference is that some people get so caught up in 4 notes, that it ruins the rest of the entire score for them. And if that's the case, that's cool. But, it's the bigger, thematic self-repetitions that bother me a lot more than a simple 4-note danger motif....I could care less about that. And the shakahuchi flute I think was too overly used in Willow. I prefer the instrument in a lot of his other scores (including Zorro's) where it's played down a bit....it's a very cool sounding instrument. Ted wrote: I have to say "give them a listen." Spitfire Grill is my personal favorite Horner...Sneakers is just a lot of fun and has a great mix of action and subtlety....Iris is really nice with Joshua Bell's violin. Even for some Horner-haters, I would think that they could at least appreciate some of those scores....

Ted wrote: HA! Well, on a JW board I certainly didn't expect to be in the majority about Horner's music. But the fact that I'll keep discussing it is because I try to be honest about his flaws, as well as his talents. Horner has plenty of scores that I simply cannot stand to listen to (Unlawful Entry anyone??)....And I'll never blindly claim "So WHAT!!" in trying to defend his re-uses. I personally don't feel as much offended when he re-uses material - I only feel cheated because I just honestly want to hear brand new ideas and themes each and every time. He has so much beautiful music that I just don't understand why he won't abandon his old ideas; feel proud of the work that he's done, but move on from it....create something jsut as good or better, but completely different..... That's where I find his shortcomings. The Missing & the Zorro scores are both really good....In fact, though, I wasn't as impressed with the 2nd Zorro, because I liked the 1st one better.....even though "The Train" is a fantastic cue. What do you think about his softer scores though? like Bobby Fischer or Spitfire Grill or Sneakers or Iris? It's these smaller scores where I think he excels.... And I didn't even like Iris as much. I thought it was good, but it's not a truly fun listen. ....But it's his over-the-top stuff that I miss, and don't get to see much of anymore. Although The Missing brought some of it back....what a great final cue "The Long Ride Home." But again....that's just me!

superman wrote: I don't even think I know what "tone" means... This is just one of those cases I mentioned where sometimes the musically-trained tend to look down their noses at those of us who aren't, even though we're all just trying to enjoy music for what it is: a pleasure. Just don't see the point in ever telling someone that they're flat-out wrong when it comes to something as simple as musical taste. By the way, my favorite overtures: The Cowboys -- (luckily JW has played this 3 out of the 6 times I've seen him perform with the Chicago Symphony) Does the Superman main titles count?? Or how about Thomas Newman's Oscar and Lucinda titles??

Dr.Smith (LOVE the name & avatar) wrote: I think we all just need more neurologist friends....we've all got one right?? I wonder what they'd say about me if they knew I enjoyed watching South Park as much as listening to the theme to the NBC News broadcast.... hmmm???

GoodMusician wrote: It's impossible to disagree that modern Horner is harder to appreciate than his earlier works, if you look at it thru the eyes of the self-repetitions -- but while A Beautiful Mind certainly starts off nearly identical in the piano build-up as Bicentennial Man, the rest of the score is just hauntingly beautiful....the car-chase scene is brilliant, and the love themes are gorgeous. So, while I openly criticise the repetition of the opening, I'm not going to hold it against the rest of the score, which is fantastic. ...And I'd also love to hear your arrangement if someone can teach you how to put it into a PDF file, because I have no clue how to either...

See, that's really cool. And not just because it's Horner, but the fact that you've studied enough to know how to do that with any music....if you lived around Chicago I would have paid you to do something like that for our wedding -- I'm sure that sounds fantastic!!!

Thanks Ted....and congrats right back at you for October 21st!!! All the Best to you! And Merkel, thanks! Unfortunately the string quartet couldn't play any Dire Straits!! ha!

richuk: Very well said -- And that's the key: I love Zimmer's work and the MV crew (including The Rock, Armageddon, and all of PotC- both films). I can certainly admit 100% that the thematic content is nowhere near the works of John Williams, but here's the thing....So What!!! Not everything has to be a friggin symphonic masterpiece to enjoy!!! It's still fun to listen to! And that's all that really matters....Isham has blown me away lately with his scores for Black Dahlia, Eight Below, Racing Stripes....I swear that I didn't know he had it in him, but they're sounding great....

And that's understandable. I never tried to say that JW music shouldn't be appreciated. He's had a much broader career than has JH (conducting the Boston Pops for starters) or pretty much any film composer out there. But as for "the same old notes slapped on a page" comment, obviously there was a first time that a Horner theme was written: When the Apollo 13 theme was played....when the Willow theme was played....the action music of Aliens...the Braveheart theme for the 1st time...etc etc.... Those wonderful themes show off the composer's talent -- it's his lack of an expanding pallette that it his downfall. So, it's just disappointing to see people who are obviously very passionate about film scores and orchestral music (a very tiny community mind you) choose to hate a fellow composer, rather than enjoy what there is to offer. BUT, that's everyone's own personal choice and taste. I'd rather take the approach of looking at each individual score on its own and deciding whether or not I like it and enjoy listening to it. For example, I think that Horner's new one All the King's Men is rather boring....it's getting good reviews from what I can gather, but I'm bored by it, as it just seems to not live up to the potential it had. But that certainly doesn't make me like Horner any less. I just choose not to enjoy that particular score (and many others) of his.....But it's the same with Zimmer, Williams, Thomas Newman, Goldsmith, Brian Tyler or Gregson-Williams or anyone ---- these guys all write the music to fit the film: sometimes I'll enjoy the music on CD, and sometimes I won't....it's pretty much that simple. I just feel sorry for the people who simply choose to ingnore the works of a significant member of the film scoring community. And like I said: It's all about preference and taste -- if gkgyver (btw, I LOVE the Newman avatar!! ) had to turn off the Braveheart theme half-way thru, then that's obviously his choice. Personally, it's not like I would turn off EITHER Superman or Braveheart.....it's just that if I had to choose one, I'd choose Braveheart. I just love good music and I don't care who writes it because I have no axes to grind and don't feel disdain or loathing for anyone.... Case in point: I'm getting married next Saturday, and the string quartet that we've hired will be playing The Princess Bride "storybook love", Superman "love theme", Braveheart "for the love of a princess", and the bride will walk down the aisle to Legends of the Fall "The Ludlows." It should be a nice, outdoor ceremony....