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Elfman revealed he's scoring The Actor in an interview with Marci Wiser this morning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Actor_(upcoming_film) Sounds interesting.

That big build up to Elfman's Batman theme seems a bit weird since it's coming off...Elfman's Batman theme.

This is a grim read. ‘Lost’ Illusions: The Untold Story of the Hit Show’s Poisonous Culture | Vanity Fair

Lots. I rewatched the theatrical cut last night for the first time in around 13 years and I was surprised by how much was missing. The music for Decker's killing scenes is missing, along with the cue for Boone getting run over, the build-up to 'Meat for the Beast', the cue for when the police torture one of the breed, a very strange cue for when the priest meets Baphomet and lots of bombastic action from the last half hour (including a cue by Shirley Walker and, significantly, the fight between Boone and Decker).

When Batman was breaking all sorts of box office records, Elfman was asked by his agent if he could score any movie, what would he want to do? He said he'd want to work with Clive Barker and Sam Raimi. Elfman's next two projects would be for Barker (Nightbreed) and Raimi (Darkman) before he was hired to do a replacement score for Dick Tracy in between. Even though it's very clearly post-Batman Elfman, it's still quite a distinct moment in Elfman's discography. The brutal tribal music has never really been touched on elsewhere in his career. It also features Elfman's only real stab at straight horror scoring - child murder and decapitations! (I know I could be describing Sleepy Hollow there, but it's all very tongue-in-cheek.) Nightbreed had a deeply troubled production and post-production. The movie was ultimately taken away from Barker and re-edited to hell and back. Barker has said that Elfman's score is the only part of the theatrical cut of the movie that wasn't compromised at all. I guess coming off Batman came in handy.

Intrada releasing an expanded Nightbreed 'in a few weeks'. Bear McCreary will be thrilled. He loves this score. Intrada Soundtrack Forum • View topic - Coming in a few weeks...

Happy 70th birthday to Danny Elfman. Celebrating with some of my favourite scores of his. I - briefly - met him a few years ago after a performance of his violin concerto, and the words that came out were 'I love Dolores Claiborne.' And I do! It's so achingly sad and a perfect marriage to the (very underrated) movie.

Desplat isn't above doing this. His score for Deathly Hallows Part II is very much Desplat meets RC.

Dafoe. Beetlejuice 2: Willem Dafoe Joins Jenna Ortega, Michael Keaton – The Hollywood Reporter

Thor and Apes are weird in that even though Doyle is obviously adapting his voice to fit modern blockbuster sensibilities, the narratives are really, really strong in both. There's a lot going on in both of those scores. I think they're more interesting than Eragon and The Last Legion, even if the later two are more overtly Doyle.

I mean writing music for the coronation is more embarrassing than scoring The Emoji Movie.

The waiting room cues are essential!

The problem with Burton's recent work is that it's largely lifeless (no pun intended). Maybe this is the exact movie/character to help him loosen up. Random thought: Elfman wrote an extended Alice suite for the Alice in Wonderland live-to-picture shows. This ended up being recorded and included on the sequel's score. It informs that score quite a bit actually. I'd love it if he were to somehow include the extended build-up to the main theme for the Beetlejuice suite he wrote. It's so exciting and seems perfect for such a belated sequel. 0:46 - 1:15.

Interview ahead of next week's premiere. A Conversation with Composer Danny Elfman | WETA

Unfortunately, I think of The Hunger Games series as a huge missed musical opportunity. Don't get me wrong, there are several highlights to each score, but the narrative just isn't there. I don't blame JNH at all. The temp tracking in each movie is insane. There are several cues from other scores by other composers in the first movie - often in pivotal scenes (the introduction to District 12, the beginning of the games, the ending montage...). And the repurposing of JNH's score from one movie to the next is nonsensical most of the time. For example, 'The Train' from the first movie plays the wonderment of Peeta and Katniss seeing all the luxury that The Capitol has to offer ...in the sequel, it plays the horror of them having to go back in the arena. Every other cue in the last two scores references a cue from the previous scores, and I could never make heads or tails of it. The Katniss theme introduced in Catching Fire sounds the exact same in almost all its reprises, despite the fact that that character goes to hell and back. The same music that plays District 12 in Catching Fire plays District 12 in Mockingjay Part I...and it's been destroyed. I think it's very telling that the suite at the end of Mockingjay Part 2 is a collection of cues from the franchise. It's a greatest hits package because JNH wasn't allowed to musically tell the story. I really hope that JNH is allowed to do more with this one.

He has a piece for the King's coronation (yuck), but it's only four minutes long. I think it just a Branagh decision.

All the Doyle scores that touch on horror - Dead Again, Frankenstein, Needful Things - are great. I'm so disappointed.

No Doyle on A Haunting in Venice. What a bummer. A Haunting in Venice Trailer: Kenneth Branagh Returns as Poirot Alongside Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey & Michelle Yeoh (movieweb.com)

I've always liked the Oz score. It's lacking a theme as brilliant as Alice's Theme, but it's all narratively very tight. It's mixed really well in the film, too. I think of it and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as sibling scores in my head. The (long!) albums are bookended by suites of the main themes. The Main Titles from Oz and main on end from Doctor Strange are very similarly structured. Strange's stuttering theme feels like it's searching for something; Oz's theme also feels like its struggling to find itself. Elfman's Strange theme doubles as a love theme. Like the love theme in Oz, it feels broken. Even though the main character themes get the most play time, the scores are dominated by the villain themes, both of which are very redundant of other Elfman themes. Having said that, the use of the themes is narratively very satisfying. Wanda's theme is even like a waltz. The heart of both scores lie the themes for the supporting characters who help the main character become a better version of themselves - the America Chavez theme and the China Girl theme. The line between source music and score becoming blurred - Lethal Symphonies and Fireside Dance.

Doyle concert in Scotland this year to celebrate his 70th birthday. Peter Capaldi and Richard E. Grant will be appearing. RSNO 2023/24: Patrick Doyle’s Music from the Movies — Glasgow Life Just booked my ticket.

A proper release of A Family Man would be very much appreciated.

Summer School getting a CD and vinyl release Danny Elfman’s “SUMMER SCHOOL” soundtrack coming to vinyl (including bloody “Chainsaw and Dave” variant) and CD - Rue Morgue (rue-morgue.com)

I think Big Eyes is my least favourite Elfman score. It's so nondescript. That whole movie was weird. It's like it was so actively avoiding melodrama that it didn't have much drama at all. Even though it's far from his worst, and even though I'll check out everything he does in hope of a return to form, that's the movie where Burton lost me. That movie should have been great.

I've no idea what Bacon's score is like, but the music Elfman wrote was heavily electronic.