Drax

Many members here who have grown up appreciating film music that was challenging, compelling, intelligent and detailed now feel that the new crop using the RC aesthetic have hijacked the industry by applying an inferior aural banality that any musical expert would dismiss as drivel. As a result, newer films that could have had interesting and daring scores have become "missed opportunities" because they've just been slapped with the new, trendy and safe MV/RC/Zimmer/Jablonsky sound that studios and producers have become accustomed to applying because it eliminates risk and audiences have been numbed to it, so they demand even less.

It seems to really hurt Thor's feelings that people on a John Williams board make fun of Zimmer and co., but does he understand why people make "cheapshots" at Zimmer and his ilk? From my perspective, it's always been because people feel that quality compositions and complex orchestrations have been usurped for the equivalent of film music junk food - "McZimmer" if you will. Williams has set a very high standard of excellence that few other composers have been able grasp, but when repetitive droning influences producers to call for more of the same in almost every film, Thor should realise that this frustrates many present members who demand a lot more effort. Consequently, they’ll vent their resentment in any form that amuses them on a message board where likeminded folks will listen. Levity can be therapeutic.  

Film music aficionados have been very cynical about this trend ever since that POTC incident when Silvestri got shafted in favour of the Zimmer Factory sound when it was anticipated that the composer might have delivered a thematic and bombastic action adventure score on par with his previous score for The Mummy Returns. Granted we never heard what Silvestri would have delivered, we can presume that it would have had some bombast laced with thematic integrity, as opposed to just empty bombast that doesn't really say anything, but says it loud. The moment Media Ventures was announced as Silvestri's replacement, many of us saw it as a significant turning point that would indicate a downward trend that would hurt many other films for years to come. It became rather irritating when I was reading COS forums at the time full of adolescents drooling over the idea of Klaus Badelt scoring any new Harry Potter films because they loved the POTC score so much (and these are the people Hollywood more-than-likely listens to!). Was it really that good that no other quality non-MV score prior to that caught their ear?

After all, it’s okay if someone enjoys the Zimmer clone sound on a casual superficial level, but if anyone seriously believes that the output of Zimmer and his apprentices over the last 15 years is of superior quality and intelligence than the Williams/Goldsmith/Horner/Barry/etc. glory years of the 70s, 80s and 90s, I not only question their taste but also their sanity.

 

"Letters. Easier to open than pistachio. But what's inside... is much more delicious."

Spielberg never mentions him at all in his audio commentaries.

Home Alone 5: Lost in the Mail

I can afford this but why encourage them? The Varese DE is enough music as it is. It's a wonder why they left those 12 minutes off when it seemed like it was as complete as it could be.

The Mayans were two months late.

The shark always looked real to me.

Cool party.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man is rather good. Carpenter should have relied on her more often than... himself!

http://www.hans-zimm...b=disco&id=1101

See, this is one of the reasons why HZ is my favorite composer. You don't see John Williams doing stuff like this.

Nice gesture from Zimmer, but what a dicky thing to say.

Funny you say that since I'm listening to Cutthroat Island as I type this. Still on the first disc, but I can't get enough of the sheer overpowering orchestral majesty of this score. A quality it shares with Independence Day is that there's never a dull, skippable track.

I only ever drink water and a cuppa tea.