crocodile

Karol

Well, I will tune in anyway. Karol

Finished the Severance today. Having had a bit of clash with work culture in the past year (which caused me a lot of energy and stress), I can say this series resonated so well. It's sort of what 2023 felt like to me (exaggerating slightly), being trapped in a world of jargon and corporate politics. And as much as I am intrigued by the world as portrayed here, I do not necessarily see much need for a continuation. Sure, you can answer the questions and expand upon the world, but it feels to me the series already made its point successfully enough. I feel the questions it raised are more interesting than any potential answers. I might be wrong though. Karol

Bit late to the party. It has been a rather crazy month for me, so I did not have time to post here yet. I actually missed quite a few important scores so that list is far from comprehensive. I have yet to hear the new Desplat and Powell. I also liked Supercell. BEST SCORES OF 2023 1. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 2. Creed III 3. The Marvels 4. American Fiction 5. Oppenheimer TOP 10 BEST TRACKS OF 2023 1. The Airport from Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 2. Training Montage from Creed III 3. After Earth from Night After Night: Music from the Movies of M. Night Shyamalan 4. Captain Rambeau from The Marvels 5. Final Fantasy VIII (Mono no aware) from Final Symphony II 6. Ponyo On The Cliff by the Sea (suite) from Joe Hisaishi: A Symphonic Celebration 7. What Have We Done from Oppenheimer 8. Dark Times from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 9. Worlds Collide from The Flash 10. Mo Ergaste Forn (Full Version) from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 Three of these are new suites from pre-existing works. Not sure if it counts. BEST CATALOG TITLES OF 2023 1. Hook 2. Windalkers 3. Gorky Park 4. The Mask of Zorro 5. Peter Pan I also liked all the new Horners. And that new The Sound of Music sets is pretty. FILM SCORE LABEL OF THE YEAR La-La Land BEST FILMS OF 2023 1. John Wick Chapter 4 2. Oppenheimer 3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 5. Creed III I didn't mind Dial of Destiny, although it took a second viewing for me to warm up to it. BEST TV SEASONS OF 2023 None. I just had a quick look through the "best of" lists, and I have not seen almost anything from 2023. And what I did see was just OK. SPECIFIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2023 The Two Towers at Royal Albert Hall Great time to be a James Horner fan. John Williams still kicks ass! SPECIFIC DISAPPOINTMENTS OF 2023 Disney's Dial of Destiny soundtrack fiasco. The What If...? Season 2 album. I mean, what the hell? How to summarise all the above? I did not participate much in the 2023 culture. It appears the majority of my enjoyment comes from older and archival stuff. But it was also a difficult year so I did not have much energy for entertainment. Karol

Received this just now. Just checked my disc 4 and it is correct. Karol

That looks amazing @Holko. Karol

Karol

Of his action/thriller scores, my absolute favourite is Hostage. The CD has been out of print for ages and the score is absent from streaming services but here is a small taste: And yes @fommes TGC is still among his finest. Karol

Regardless of your opinion, that doesn't say much. A lot of really great films make little impression at first and take their time to make their big comeback some years later. Things that burn the brightest at first, on the other hand, tend to disappear or lose their relevance. Life is funny like that. Karol

Is it though? It starts off like that, sure, but my impression is that it was presented from the perspective of the main character rather than an overlaying message or anything. There are more interesting things going on underneath. One of the British traits is "bottling it up" and this film plays this to the extreme. It isn't subtle but I would not discard it altogether. If anything, makes for an interesting companion piece to Babylon, another "annoying but unique" film of the past few years. Karol

Watched Saltburn last night. It was quite entertaining in a twisted kind of way. Somewhat predictable and heavy handed but the cast certainly elevated the piece. I am in a mood for dark comedy lately so this really fit that the bill. Good score from Anthony Willis and pretty direction, both hilariously pretentious, of course. Karol

He did actually talk about some of thar on the director's commentary track on Blu-ray. Not sure if it was exactly the same anecdote though. Karol

Got a voucher for 3+ months of Apple streaming service. I decided to watch the first episode of Severance, a series I knew nothing about beforehand. But the promo/poster intrigued me somehow. That was really good actually, and quite unique. I shall finish this one. Karol

I suppose of Williams wins you can say he did so for 5 movies. More than makes up for all the snubs. Karol

I watched Naked Lunch on the recent UHD release from Arrow last night. I've never seen it before but, as usually with Cronenberg's films, the unique grotesque vision of the world, coupled with dark humour, really appeals to me. It's a really fine line to ride - make you care despite all the strangeness on display. Peter Weller is absolutely fantastic and the score from Shore is cracking too. I don't watch Cronenberg often but whenever I do, it's a trip worth taking. Karol

Decides to double dip on one of my favourite albums of 2023: Karol

Nah, they rarely introduce anyone in these concerts. In fact I can only think of a handful examples. So this mostly standard. Karol

To be honest, I wouldn't call any of the Disney movies terrible as such. They are all competent and solidly made for the most part. It's the lack of focus and imagination that's the problem. They didn't ruin anyrhing for me, just made me shrug at their worst. The scores I all like. It's quite amazing how much energy. There's some really good material in the third score and I hope we get to hear the rest of it some day. Karol

I hope it is fun. There are some portions of the new scores for Jedi games that I liked, especially when they explore new material. I hope it doesn't emulate the JW too close. While fun for 5 minutes, it is artistically pointless to ape someone. I would, however, enjoy someone's more personal take on Williams' vernacular (like Powell, for example). As long as it is creative, I am happy. Karol

I appreciate and admire that people can spot small details like this. It is amazing what they can hear. But, to be honest, I am getting to the point in life where it bothers me less and less. Unless it is a major screw up, I do not particularly care. There are dozens of other things in life asking for my giving a shit. Karol

This has a potential of being quite decent, although I won't be holding my breath. Karol

Well deserved, it seems like it was inevitable. On a side note, was I the only person not aware Dario Marianelli is scoring the new Ghostbusters? Karol

Suppose it makes some sense. They don't want people to associate the next movie with the one that did so-so. But that means they will have to actually alter the movie itself. It's like the exact opposite of Star Wars 1977. I genuinely thought these were Sankara stones. Karol

Thank you. I just needed to know whether it was recorded prior July, as others have pointed out. That makes me optimistic for the expansion. 😀 Karol

Will do. I did download it but did not yet have time to read anything. I do have a random question actually. Do you happen to know what did the recording dates for The Legend of Zorro took place in 2005? I know you have encyclopedic knowledge of everything Horner and I was curious to see which AFM reuse rules apply to this great score. 😀 Karol