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The Secret of NIMH. Currently one of my very favourite Jerry Goldsmith scores. Karol

Since there is nowhere else to put it... I love this so much. ❤️ Karol - huge fan of the channel

And it also needs saying that there are few, if any, albums in the film score world more perfect than McNeely's recording of Vertigo. A stunning achievement and to this day the finest re-recording. For me this weekend...early 00s pessimistic s-f trilogy: A.I. Artificial Intelligence Minority Report War of the Worlds Karol

An orchestral piece of music I wrote in the "spooky" style of Dukas, Lyadov, Berlioz et al. Enjoy!

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I'm not a hater of PT, love them almost equally to OT. I know about all of their flaws of course. My least favourite is AOTC because of pacing and sloppy romance stuff. And you can't argue that aesthetics and worldbuilding is on the absolutely different level from OT. And I'm also love all this "dull" politic-diplomatic Senate stuff. Plus I've started from TPM, and prequels never were hated in Russia like they were in the West or other parts of the planet.

Are you seriously saying that 4K discs take up more space in a drawer than a Blu-Ray does? Please. They’re the exact same size. And if you’re running low on space, I recommend sleeves.

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It does, but is defined differently than digital.

This theme (in particular with the rendtion at the end) moves me to tears every time and I think it might be Powell's best theme of all time. That string writing is absolutely delicious. In case the video doesn't show, it's 11:47 till the end of "Madrid Finale" from Ferdinand.

Adventure. Excitement. Do you crave for these things?! #trevorjones #jameshorner #randyedelman #johnwilliams

Interview with Thomas Newman on Leo Maltin’s podcast: https://maltinonmovies.libsyn.com/ This was really enjoyable to listen to, and occasionally very funny. A very refreshing composer interview. The hosts aren’t just slathering him with praise… they coax some really good insights and stories out of him. Thomas is so bloody humble and speaks so articulately about his craft… it makes me admire him even more.

I always will love Thomas Newman. Even if his more recent output hasn’t really moved me. But I did really grow to like Tolkien and good chunks of 1917.

Reminds me more of the "spooky" style of Elfman and Williams (Sleepy Hallow, Dracula, and Witches of Eastwick) fine nonetheless. Dukas, Lyadov, Franck's "Le Chasseur maudit" (The Accursed Huntsman - one of the best of this genre) all spend quite a bit of time in the spooky setting without any action. Just unsettling the listener. If the music spends more time with the goblins, it feels more like Elfman or others exploring the bizarre ritualistic setting of the goblins of a more modern setting.

Thanks! I sure am. Here's a video I shot yesterday: IMG_1221.MOV

Had this show up in my feeds today... good discussion with Matt Verboys of La La Land with Mike M and Bruce Broughton

Well, just when you think you pretty much know what there is to know about a score, sometimes you still stumble across something new. cc @Jay @Falstaft @Ludwig @crumbs @Datameister So, there was an "album score" of The Empire Strikes Back that appears to have been prepared by 20th Century Fox, I'm guessing as a keepsake for the people who worked on the score. It certainly was never offered for sale, but it does have the proper copyright info. It contains full scores for all the tracks on the album, with one omission: while it does contain 1M2 The Imperial Probe, it's lacking 6M3 This Is Not A Cave, which makes up the last minute or so of the first track. It also includes 1M2 New Start, 1M2 Insert Bar 80, and 1M2 Insert #2 Bar 109, none of which are heard on the album. I assumed this was just a simple mistake, until I recently looked closer and realized that there's indications of cuts not heard in the album track. The cut at 3:23 is going to sound very strange when you're not used to it, but it's exactly what's indicated. There's also a cut to something indicated at 4:13, but it's ambiguous. And I'm just guessing on that insert being used for the ending, but it seems to work well. So, here's my best attempt to reconstruct what was apparently the originally planned first track of the Empire Strikes Back album, 41 years later! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fjE-uJcsKjVkA7ufh0TGvb_W12wgwv1s/view?usp=sharing

They look good, however I will have to stick with BBC Symphony Orchestra and CineBrass for a while and make the most out of it.

Ugh. We're talking about comparing film to commonly available home video formats. As I said, 4K is the going to give you all the benefits you can squeeze out of 35mm film in terms of resolution. Could a 3K UHD disc do the same? Sure. But that's not the standard. 4K is. 1080p doesn't cut it, 8K is overkill. What you've seen from a 3K camera is immaterial to this discussion.

Right, what I meant is that it's not "pixelated" like digital. In the case of film it'll just start to look like no difference is taking place the higher the pixel resolution. Better anti-aliasing perhaps, but I doubt anyone would notice that, especially if you're sitting at least a few feet from your TV. I'm a supporter of the 4K format, but I can't really see the benefit of going higher. As it is I can't see a huge difference between 1080p and 4K on my TV. 8K would just be unnecessary unless like I said before you're sitting inches from a large PC monitor, or you have a massive theater setup in your home.

This. Honestly, taking an answer print and scanning it in 4K and then releasing it as 4K is a kinda scam. I can just as well take an 8mm film, scan it in 20K and release is as a 20K film... I've seen bits of the 4K77 project, and had had a look at Harmy's. As you say, they're both reconstructive works, with varying (but far, FAR from perfect) degrees of success. Also, as far as I can tell, Harmy does retain a few small changes that were made to the films during their theatrical run.

Maybe you're so anxious to see it that you have high blood pressure?

Those are an absolute benchmark in my eyes. It's a shame Spielberg doesn't oversee more film restorations because his film's home video releases are consistently excellent.

Lockington ain't that bad, his score for San Andreas is the best Michael Kamen score not written by someone named Michael Kamen

Of course Harmy isn't exactly what a proper home video release would look like (if for no other reason than It's constructed from home DVD & BD sources). I'm just saying it's closer than 4K77. Don't me wrong, I love 4K77. But people expect a slick, polished presentation on modern home video releases, and the raw look and grain alone would put people off from 4K77. It's just a few steps above a Grindhouse print. Both 4K77 and Harmy are attempts at preservation, which would not be the goal of a home video release. Even removing the SE changes, a proper "unaltered" home video release would still do plenty that would infuriate purists, like clean up the matte lines, fix hundreds of other SFX glitches and small mistakes, and probably a new colour grade & sound mix whose goal wasn't necessarily to match the theatrical releases. Basically, it would look and sound like the current official 4K's available, without the Special Edition crap. The D+ 4K project from OTD is frankly closer to that than either 4K77 or Harmy.

Lucas isn't the owner anymore and isn't immortal. Also, he did the SEs and PT, his opinion is irrelevant.

I'm glad I'm not alone in picking up on that, this piece having a bit more of the kind of expressive academic approach, if the term can be applied, that he often takes in his concert works. For my part, I rather like it. Gives it a bit of a daring quality, and I like how it kind of serves as an extended take in the style of some of his more complex film music passages, at least to my ears.

Pops on the March is a bit odd. It is nice, but it just doesn't have the flow of his other marches. Apropos to this thread, it feels like a mashup of his pure concert hall style and his occasion pieces. It is like my brother. I am glad it exists, but I do not plan to visit often.

So Thomas’ next project is John Madden’s World War II drama Operation Mincemeat, expected early next year. They collaborated previously on The Debt and both The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films, the latter of which are some of my favourite scores from Newman in the past ten years. They really are lovely. This new project will probably have more in common with 1917 perhaps? I don’t know. Newman often disappoints but occasionally provides something spectacular. I’m not sure if the subject matter will offer much opportunity for the sort of thing we’d like to hear from him but DO look up the history of the subject matter… it’s one of the more bizarre yet successful moves from the Allies during the war that, admittedly, has been covered before but not on the big screen. Could be interesting.

I was never able to get into the Debney Superman, even when it was the only game in town. But that Tadlow Lawrence... Hoo doggy that's some good stuff.

Except, I would say, that it looks quite brilliant. It's packed with shots that display interesting colour schemes across the widescreen canvas.

I definitely noticed the choir in the scene when Natasha fought all the widows. As regards the movie itself, I don't really post movie/TV opinions on the forum anymore but I will relate this story of seeing the movie in the theater yesterday: Spoiler for the post-credits and apologies for the impolite language Now that is the glory of the theatrical experience.

JNH wrote some of the most beautiful music of his career for The Postman. I love the score! I never watched the movie, though.

Guess I'm one of the few who really like THE POSTMAN (the movie).

Top of the world

I wish they would have used this as a variant:

From what I've seen the previous year there's no music on the HBO site, just links to the episodes and few documentaries. Really sad when you know all the great music that could be upload on it

Indeed, just pointless moaning from my side. It was even me who got that hint about Innerspace out of MV.

I don’t know anything about Dune so that might be fitting but. When I look at this trailer I’m like “Yay another desaturated sci-fy film”. I.WANT.COLORS 😂

And publish the CRs too because just reading about music we can't listen to will be infuriating. Or not being able to read about music he didn't write about that gets released later.

Oh snap I didn't realize you hadn't been paid. What a bummer. And sorry to hear about your acquaintance Yes, here's hoping the Amazon show leads to a release of your Hobbit book (and Hobbit CRs?)

Wait, someone was supposed to pay me for that!? Rats! Contracts -- at least in my situation -- are not necessarily given expiration dates. Not that I think it would matter in this case. The rights are so specific that you can't really even shop these things around. Between the movie and likeness rights, the Tolkien Estate, and the music publishing, the book needs to be done a very specific way. Right now, I'm trying to see what comes with the Amazon show. My deep hope is that a) it sort of clears up some rights restrictions and b) it rekindles a bit of interest. We shall see. It doesn't help that the Amazon production itself is a bit of an enigma. (Note to Amazon: if you hire me as a music consultant, I will erase that last sentence.) Impossible Silence -- I don't want to get into it, but someone I was close with had a mental breakdown while we were in production. (This was not someone involved with Impossible Silence or film music at all.) Tragically, that person did not survive the ordeal. I turned my attention away from the book during that time, and it's been very difficult to regain momentum. We actually started the ball rolling again in 2019/2020, but the pandemic stopped everything once again. Compared to the suffering others experienced in both these circumstances, the derailing of a niche film music book is, of course, nothing at all. I only mention it to address the question. Again, I still haven't given up hope. In this instance, putting a little time between writing and publishing actually makes the rights a bit easier. The few things that would had to have been cleared will all be public domain soon. So that's good. And hey, Spielberg is making a movie now that he's been trying to get going since before the days of E.T., so sometimes these things just take a long, long time!

My turn! Ridiculously long post ahead! Ramin Djawadi – I’ve never understood what the big deal is. Catchy themes for GAME OF THRONES and WESTWORLD etc., and he deserves credit for being part of the team that launched the whole MCU series with IRON MAN, but I’ve never found much to latch on to, musically. Nick Glennie-Smith – such a stalwart in the Zimmer camp, and associated with many of my favourites by Zimmer. I usually love his stuff. He’s the main creative force behind THE ROCK, one of my favourite soundtracks of all time. WE WERE SOLDIERS is also nice. Something completely different - but entertaining - for HOME ALONE 3. Jim Dooley – probably the one I know the least. Some good patriotic stuff on THE LAST SHIP. Steve Jablonsky – when he’s on, he’s really good. TRANSFORMERS is excellent. PAIN & GAIN is a bonafide masterpiece. THE ISLAND is great. ENDER’S GAME has a few nice passages. The horror stuff, I could give or take. Christopher Willis – weird to think that he has an RC connection, because his two most famous scores, DAVID COPPERFIELD and THE DEATH OF STALIN both draw heavily on Shostakovich. But goes to show the different talents and styles that come out of the company. Matthew Margeson – absolutely adore his EDDIE THE EAGLE, which was one of my top favourites that year (very “Days of Thunder”). MISS PEREGRINE was OK, but other than those, he hasn’t made much of an impression on me. Klaus Badelt – always been a fan. Mostly because of THE TIME MACHINE, but also excellent efforts like K19, 30 COULEUR and especially BEAT THE DRUM. PIRATES, I could give or take. As others have said, Zimmer’s stuff is better. It’s been a while since he did high profile stuff. Jacob Shea – he’s one of the new Bleeding Fingers guys, isn’t he? I’ve sampled some of those nature documentaries, but they didn’t do anything for me. Andrew Kawczynski – made his first mark on me with his funky CHAPPIE stuff, but very little since. I tried to give IN FULL BLOOM a shot, but it was only so-so. I want to hear more trip hop, break beats and that kind of thing from him. Harry Gregson-Williams – I used to really dislike HGW back in the day, because he wasn’t overt and thematic enough, but have come to appreciate him more in later years. He tends to have sophisticated things going on under the surface. His masterpiece is still KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, but also enjoy THE MARTIAN, the NARNIA movie and obviously CHICKEN RUN. I rediscovered SMELLA’S SENSE OF SNOW recently, after disliking it in the 90s. Rupert Gregson-Williams – HGW’s younger brother took a while for me to discover and appreciate. It was only with the hilariously entertaining POSTMAN PAT: THE MOVIE in 2014 that I stood up and took notice. Also enjoyed HACKSAW RIDGE, although I’m curious about Debney’s rejected effort. Blake Neely – never been able to get him, most recently exemplified by the noisefest that was GREYHOUND (film was OK, the soundscape was too dense). People rave about THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, but that didn’t do much for me either. Heitor Pereira – always seemed like the odd one in the group. Had his niche or specialty surrounding Hispanic flavours and guitars, so I never explored him much. Seemed a bit like a one-trick pony. He seems pretty good at putting himself out there, because he keeps popping up in documentaries and whatnot. Benjamin Wallfisch – one of my absolute favourites of his generation. He blew me away with a string of gorgeous symphonic scores (SUMMER IN FEBRUARY, BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN, DESERT DANCER and partly BITTER HARVEST). Loved the old school funk in KING OF THIEVES. And then he shows amazing Vangelis/synth chops in BR2049. Definitely top 3 among the RC people at the present time. Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) – I’ve been a big fan ever since his remix of Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation” in 2004. Conservative film scores fans like to rag on him, but that just makes me love him even more. Adore FURY ROAD and think some of the big blockbuster action scores are fine (ALITA, for example), but where he’s really shown excellence in film music is in more indie or lowkey affairs, like BRIMSTONE, DISTANCE BETWEEN DREAMS and WHITE LINES. In the first, he gets to show off his orchestral chops, in the latter beautiful synth/EDM elements that he already knows well. Mark Mancina – not really someone who “came out of” MV/RC. He’s been a legendary film composer for decades, and also a successful producer for the likes of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Yes. Favourites include SPEED, TWISTER, MOANA, TARZAN and the very underrated RETURN TO PARADISE. John Powell – yes, it’s difficult not to vote for him. He is the best of the bunch. But for me, it’s not so much because of his animated efforts, good as some of those are, but rather 90s live action stuff like FACE/OFF or the wonderful ENDURANCE. Singlehandedly redefined action film music with his first BOURNE score; something even jedi master Zimmer had to take into consideration in the aftermath. Trevor Rabin – as with Mancina, a veteran who never really came out of MV/RC. More known as a latter-day Yes frontman, really. Not everything he’s done has been equally good, but when he’s been on, he’s been really good. I interviewed him two years ago (he put me on the guest list of the Yes concert that same evening too!), and in this conversation, we cover what I consider his highlights. Geoff Zanelli – not one who’s been on my radar very often, but I always found it amusing how his HITMAN is one of the foremost examples of how influential the BOURNE scores were in the mid 2000s. He did YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT last year, a film I really liked. His score was effective in it. Lorne Balfe – like Junkie, he gets a lot of bad rep from certain fans, but I don’t care. While I agree that there are certain works of his that feel interchangeable with almost anything else, he can also deliver really great stuff when he’s inspired. His DARK MATERIALS concept albums are amazing, and his bits on AD ASTRA ain’t bad. Some good things in that ol’ BIBLE series from the early 2010s. And he certainly added to the visceral effect of Bay’s excellent 13 HOURS. Other favs include 12 STRONG, and – totally out of the blue – his lowkey score for Sean Baker’s brilliant “art” film THE FLORIDA PROJECT. Don’t judge a book by its cover, there’s more to Balfe than people give him credit for! Henry Jackman – an interesting case. He can do trip hop and various EDM stuff easily, but he also has a very classical background. Zimmer has often said he wants to see the latter side of him more, and I agree. But I’d like to see and hear both! PUSS IN BOOTS remains the favourite to this day. Marc Streitenfeld – how odd it was to see this relatively unknown suddenly become Ridley Scott’s composer of choice. And I have to admit I didn’t hear that much of note at first. But as time has gone by, I’ve noticed quite a few nice little ideas in his music. I will always be an avid PROMETHEUS defender untill the day I die, and although HGW has the upfront role with the “Life” theme, Streitenfeld created a wonderful, bleak, haunting sonic universe in this film that has grown on me. Also quite like ROBIN HOOD, AMERICAN GANGSTER, THE GREY and his lovely little, intimate affair for A GOOD YEAR. That was the list of the poll. Let me also give shoutouts to: Gavin Greenaway - God, how I love his B.U.G.S. theme from the 90s! Trevor Morris – some good stuff on VIKINGS. Jeff Rona - beautiful score for Scott's WHITE SQUALL, and his muscular symphonic score for THE REGATTA SUITE for the Olympics is highly impressive. Don't confuse him with MV co-founder and rascal Jay Rifkin, which I did a lot back in the day! Atli Örvarsson – what a journey he’s had. From working at RC, doing big blockbusters, to moving to Iceland and doing weird, little, artsy Icelandic films. Love the guy, met him many times and consider him a ‘good acquaintance’. Favourites include COLETTE, THE EAGLE and – post-RC - REYKJAVIK STORIES. .....oh, and: Hans Zimmer - one of the best film composers who ever lived. All naysayers get my middle finger immediately!

John Powell is clearly going to win this so, like everyone else, looking at the others... Mark Mancina - Twister, the two Speed scores, Moana, Tarzan and Brother Bear for Disney are all pretty great (although I enjoyed Moana less than the other two - Tarzan is really great though). His Planes/Fire & Rescue scores for the Pixar/Disney Cars spin-offs are good fund. Christopher Willis - The Death of Stalin and David Copperfield guy?! Blimey. On the strength of those alone, he's right up there, both are superb. I'd never have picked him for a RC composer though. Matthew Margeson - His score Eddie the Eagle is pretty great and the Kingsman scores he co-wrote with Henry Jackman are enjoyable enough. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (written with Mike Higham) never quite makes the mark it keeps threatening to do so - given that it would have been more intimate than some of the other scores for Burton that Elfman has written of late, this definitely feels like a missed opportunity. Klaus Badelt - Ah, whatever happened to him?! K19 and The Time Machine were both quite popular on release, especially the latter, and his effort for Ned Kelly was a solid drama score but since then... meh... although of his early efforts, his first Pirates of the Caribbean score was a pretty soulless outside the main theme. One of the few occasions where Zimmer taking over definitely improved things. Henry Jackman - Think I like him more than I realised! Big Hero 6 and his two Wreck It Ralph scores were great fun, with some decent themes and Kong: Skull Island was miles better than I expected (off the back of low expectations admittedly). However I remember nothing about his X-Men score... The Gregson-Williamses - I never got much from either of Harry's Narnia scores and remember being amused in the liner notes to the second film where the director effuses about the "memorable themes" from the first film. Can't say I have any recollection. It was the moment I realised how different, say, the Harry Potter franchise, could have been without John Williams to write a theme that everyone remembers. As with many of the others, his animated scores (Sinbad in particular) are mostly enjoyable with Kingdom of Heaven as perhaps his finest dramatic work. Although he did most of his best stuff with John Powell... I seem to remember liking Rupert's work more, but looking back, I can't really think which. Over the Hedge is pretty good (and has some great Ben Folds songs too) and Wonder Woman was better than many of the Marvel scores, although Hans' WW84 feels much more fun. The others I can definitely take or leave. Lorne Balfe (still sounds like the noise an area of grass makes when it throws up) has certainly done some great work on His Dark Materials (although I'd have paid real money for someone like David Arnold or Murray Gold to get the gig) but the good thematic material still feels ill served by the lumpen, simplistic arrangements - Arnold and Gold may have written big, brassy (in every sense) themes, but they have fine orchestrators/arrangers to give those themes more nuance and depth.

Well, if you hire HanZ, you do get at least a dozen.

Uh, yeah, I'm kind of an MCU fan.

This was almost 6 years ago and only one left to go.