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Nic Cage Fugue

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Posts posted by Nic Cage Fugue

  1. 3 hours ago, Strangways said:

    The Hymn contributes to making it one of my favourite movie openings. The stillness and cold of the inlet, the exchange between Ramius and Borodin then the theme coming in as the camera pans out to reveal the might of the Red October.

     

    And the sting over the title card.

     

    It really is one of the great movie openings. Just from your short description I picture it, hear it, and get goosebumps. 

  2. On August 20, 2016 at 3:04 PM, Strangways said:

    The Hunt for Red October, expanded.

     

    Fantastic.

     

    It's fascinating how the movie score opens with the five-minute Hymn of Red October, which plays uninterrupted over the opening scenes of the movie. This piece lays out all of the score's thematic material. Almost everything that comes after is derived from that hymn; even the suspense and action cues come out of it. This shows the tremendous amount of confidence director McTiernan had in Poledouris, that essentially this one piece of music would be allowed to drive his movie. It's such a bold decision and I can't think of a modern film scored this way. 

  3. Pan is fun for sure. I think I prefer it to the How to Train Your Dragon scores, actually.

     

    The Golden Compass by The Composer Desplat

     

    I love this rich and complex score. The themes might be too subtle for some people but there are so many of them, and they're so beautifully intertwined, that it will take me years to unravel it all. Texturally it's a gorgeous work, too. The opening track, with its creaky woodwinds and subtle piano, perfectly sets the stage for the moody, intelligent, wildly ambitious score to come. The man could have written a couple of catchy fanfares and called it a day, but he treated the project with the same seriousness as Shore did LotR. It might not jump out at you on first or second or even third listens but it's got a depth and power that sticks with you. 

     

  4. Man of Steel by Hans Zimmer

    If this is the kind of stuff I'm missing by not listening to Remote Control superhero scores then I feel I've made the right decision. Obnoxious, repetitive, and totally at odds with everything Superman. Mostly dreck. 

     

    Mad Max: Fury Road by Junkie XL.

    In the same vein but appropriate to the torched MM landscape. And there are a couple of lovely sad string pieces. Might actually revisit this one.

  5. The Untouchables - Ennio Morricone

     

    One of my all-time favorites. A film score that seared its composer's name in my head forever upon first viewing in junior high. From that off-kilter, inimitable title track to the soaring, blissfully over-the-top Untouchables theme to the absolutely heartbreaking Death Theme, I love this score so much. I don't think I could appreciate until now how ingenious Machine Gun Lullaby is. Ingenious and oh-so-Morricone. I'm sure he's written better scores but none I cherish more. Can you imagine such a crime drama score being written today, so bold and melodic and brazenly sentimental? I can't. 

     

     

  6. Avatar - James Horner

     

    Never one of my favorite Horner scores but I feel like I must reassess that opinion. One of the most gorgeously textured scores - the mix of electronics, orchestra, and choir is really quite stunning and unique sounding. Many have combined those elements before but few have done so with such understated beauty and emotion. And it's a score that builds to something. I guess James excelled at writing scores that felt like a journey of discovery but this one begins so unassumingly atmospheric, gradually unfolds its thematic material, and brings it all home in "War," one of the most rousing action cues he ever wrote (and he wrote some barnburners). I miss this guy so much. 

  7. 45 minutes ago, TheWhiteRider said:

     

    It would be hard to explain without a dreary academic parsing, but Giacchino has had a very observable arc of what I'd call increasing compositional confidence.  The music is becoming more free and spontaneous where before you could always sense a heavy framework to what he was doing, like he was composing by textbook rules.  The thing is, a track like Crash Decisions seems to be an exception to this, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend that as one to demonstrate this!

     

    I'm noticing many more variations on the main theme, like that very pretty choral bit at the end of Hitting the Saucer. 

  8. I really like this score. The Yorktown theme has been playing in my head all weekend. But also while I tend to find Giacchino's action music a bit shrill and uninteresting I think there are some exciting, listenable action cues here. Some of them seem to have actual motifs of their own!

     

    I like what he did with the Krall theme. By the end of the movie, it has transitioned into something a bit noble. Not sure I agree with that read on the character but it's musically satisfying. 

     

    And the choral bit at the end of Hitting the Saucer might be the most beautiful thing I've heard from Giacchino. In general it sounds to me like he tinkers with his main theme a lot more this time around. Might be my favorite of his Trek scores but I need to listen to Into Darkness a few more times. 

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