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Now i know how the pure, true and honest heartland people of America sound. Thanks, Hans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY8_TI2xxkE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0t_XAxOddc
STOKER - Clint Mansell
After a longer pause, Mansell delivers a interesting new score that floats on a delicate mixture of pronounced piano work, strings and some electronic backing. The morbid story inspired a dense and harmonically rich work that might be one of the best of 2013 yet, only that it takes some time to get used to it. One should if the deja vu of scores like OZ, IRON MAN & Co. isn't quite all you ever wanted from film music.

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES - Henry Mancini
Mancini switching gears between his patented fluffy cocktail source tunes and dramatic variations on his famous title theme - mostly on somber strings. As the tune is strong, he is able to wring out some very poignant and long-lined cues (NO GUTS and I WANT COME HOME both run over 7 minutes). It is not necessarily essential to people only listening to tutti STAR TREK/WARS stuff, but if you love Mancini's tunes, it's a wonderful gift to see him deconstruct them in a dramatic way.

Star Trek Into Darkness
The film is a roller coaster. Which is both good and bad. Is it darker? I'd say dark-ish. For every serious incident, there is a goof. They crammed in is so much stuff in it that it not entirely succeeds in what it tries to accomplish, I reckon. It's very uneven. At times I thought to myself "oh this is pretty cool", then "that wasn't too subtle", then "I didn't see this coming", then "seriously, JJ?", then "whoa what a ride", then "no, only not that!". The tone shifts every 10 minutes. Not sure what to make out of it, to be honest. Bennedict Cumberbatch's performance is as uneven as the film itself. In some moment he's really good, in some moments way too over the top in it's stillness (if you can even do that). Giacchino's score is functional, only sometimes exceptional. There is some good stuff in there, but I still hate his main theme.
I couldn't help thinking this film was Star Trek only for the first 10 minutes of its running time. Otherwise it's a modern breakneck action blockbuster with some references to the series thrown in into a mix. And some of those are quite bothersome and heavy-handed, I might add. I wish it was my first date with this franchise. That would have made it much more enjoyable.
In some ways better than the previous one, in some ways worse. As I said - uneven.
Karol

Proof that vibrant colors and Williams' theme (the 2 laws for great filmmaking according to the average JWfan) are no guarantee for greatness.

Look how vibrant! Is that want you want? Really?

Samples.
Karol

You can also put me down for Nico Fidenco.

I felt it was time to clear a few titles off my SAE wish list and discovered that GDM is reissuing a remastered Django. Needless to say, I immediately placed an order. I had the older expanded edition on my list for years, it was $38. Now $22 with better sound!

http://www.quartetrecords.com/fear.html

I think it stands to reason that being subjected to those little ideological pills over the years of course is a) a mirror of society at large and b) a subtle way of introducing certain 'realities' to people feeding on them. I know that most will chuckle at the thought that TWILIGHT, TRANSFORMERS & Co. and their implied subtexts have any bearing on society as a whole - i'm sure it does although i admit i'm not sure in what way, exactly.
If anything, this belongs in a thread devoted to Michael Bay, who is one of the number one sledgehammer salesmen for this line of stuff.
@Wojo: stop being facetious. BEN HUR's subtitle is 'A TALE OF THE CHRIST', not OCEAN'S RISE, CITIES FALL, HOPE SURVIVES'

DEEP IMPACT is mushy christian propaganda with a really despiceable ideology behind it. It was dethroned by I AM LEGEND nine years later, though.

On the other hand, that movies 'reject themes' does not automatically mean they must be objected to Zimmer pop/rock stylings. I keep on saying how the biggest problem of RCP & Co. is the underscore: here the lack of musical form is most apparent and appalling.

Born on the Fourth of July by John Williams: Oliver Stone films really bring out the best in Williams, whose score for the film shines with both idealism and sheer Americana glory but also evokes wonderfully anguished, disillusioned and haunting tones, illustrating the two sides of the story. Again as with JFK Williams seems to channel the era and place and mindset of the film with beautiful ease, his music for the early Massapequa years a portrait of innoncence and heart tugging lyricism, the composer conjuring almost a mythic image of the ideal American childhood and early days of Ron Kovic, which is then shattered by the Vietnam war.
For the war scenes Williams writes some of his most inventive and challenging music, the score painting a chaotic, violent and disorienting picture through the string section that veers and roils, slices and stabs in horrifying series of convulsions in Shooting of Wilson. The main theme soars mock-heroically in Cua Viet River, Vietnam but is cut brutally short at its apex before the ghostly sheen of dripping synthesizer effects, torturous renditions of the main theme on strings and disembodied synthesized voices whisper to create a web of sound that accompanies the main character's wounding and delirious state in the field hospital, hovering near death.
Tim Morrison began his film collaboration with John Williams on Born on the Fourth of July, where his contribution is an important one. Morrison plays a large role in the musical storytelling not only as the voice of Ron Kovic's past, the haunting trumpet theme that speaks of the man's inner turmoil, scars and deep set wounds of his experiences in Vietnam, but also when the serene and burnished sound of the trumpet is used to evoke the Americana atmosphere with rich and warm tones that reassure and ennoble.
The End Title brings the score and album to a close with a sense of triumph and finality, Williams delivering a beautiful set of variations on the main theme and Tim Morrison is featured in several solo passages throughout and the piece ends with the grim Horrors of War theme, the solo trumpet over low strings leaving the listener to muse on the experience with these thoughful tones.
The soundtrack album is sadly a short one (only 25 minutes of score) probably because Williams most likely wanted to avoid repetition as many of the cues in the film do feature extended variations on the lyrical main theme but I certainly would not mind hearing this score in complete form as the unreleased material is some of JWs most beautiful and haunting writing. A fascinating, challenging and most of all ravishingly beautiful score.
Arlington from JFK

Ts....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lsqz1bjd-0

Ts....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lsqz1bjd-0

Ts....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lsqz1bjd-0

Not to forget that the last TINTIN didn't exactly took the world by storm, so it's not like PJ directs E. T. Part II now.
From what i've read, Spielberg respects fellow artists too much to Bruckheimer his way through their approach. I initially wrote 'artits' which is a much more apt description of PJ after having watched the colossal mediocrity the HOBBIT was.

Why should he? Obviously he stopped watching those kind of movies a long time ago (the man has taste, after all) and would just realize that the music has become simplified and pop-oriented. And still, they are worldwide blockbusters, so he likely would deduce that it's the kind of music this generation craves - why bother listening to a 70-minute onslaught of it?

Super Mario Bros. by Alan Silvestri

Check out the first part of this exclusive interview with Lukas Kendall of Film Score Monthly--a look back at his long career as a soundtrack CDs producer. It's Lukas unleashed
http://www.colonnesonore.net/contenuti-speciali/interviste/2517-qits-all-in-the-film-musicq-interview-with-lukas-kendall-film-score-monthly-part-1.html
Part 2 will be up in the next few days. Hope you'll enjoy!

InGen intended to clone John Hammond for use as the permanent tour guide.

Film music-wise it must have been (excluding catchy tv themes):
Early collector years:
Main Title/STAR WARS (Skywalker Symphony)
Main Title/SUPERMAN (OST)
End Credits/ESB (OST)
The House Raising/SECRET OF NIMH (OST)
End Title/DRACULA (JW) (OST)
Finale/CEOTK (OST)
Abandoned and Pursued/E. T. (OST)
End Title/THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (OST)
Gremlin Credits/GREMLINS 2 (OST)
Middle collector years:
King Richard/LIONHEART (OST)
Main Title/POLTERGEIST (OST)
Late for Work/GREMLINS (OST)
SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (OST)
The Meld/STAR TREK (OST)
Love Scene/EL CID (re-recording 1995)

Well, it's set in the future, but the social/cultural mindset is as different from us as ours could be to the people of the Paleolithic. Normally what you get in these films is people who are like us, specially biologically (under the excuse of the characters having to be relatable), and give them some other crazy technology depending on the story like human robots and faster than light travel and what not. Prometheus, Star Trek, etc. That can lead to a rather grim view of the future at some point.