LSH

OLD - M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN I... have... no words.

So I went to see it this afternoon. On the whole, I quite liked it. It's fucking long... and feels like it... but I admit it's fairly well paced. I lost track of how many action set-pieces there are; there's a lot. The first half is more engaging though, up until Felix's death. Tonally, it's a bit all over the place. It's both the silliest and the most melodramatic of all Craig's outings. His death wasn't an enormous surprise but I didn't expect it to be so over the top. It reminded me of THE ROCK with the levelling of Alcatraz... I was kinda expecting Bond to walk off in the distance (like Connery in that film). Ana de Armas is the best character in it by far. You can completely tell she's having fun playing that - unfortunately brief - role and it really introduces some much needed fun into that Cuba set-piece. Score-wise, I'm impressed. The Barry nods and the appearance of Vesper's motif from Casino Royale feels very welcome, if not slightly forced. Action music was a little generic but the angry Arnold-esque brass is very clear in the mix and is a refreshing change from Newman's more restrained action style in the previous two instalments. Overall, I'll put this behind CASINO ROYALE and SKYFALL but way ahead of SPECTRE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. ***1/2 out of *****

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU - THOMAS NEWMAN An underrated score from Newman, I think. It’s mostly born from his quirky rhythmic stylings but in a mature context. Colour me a fan.

Reviews are extremely positive so far, especially in the UK.

No love for the The Water Horse? So underrated and under-mentioned. By far his best live-action fantasy.

Oh fair enough. I genuinely thought it had been officially released, apologies.

Where are you listening to it?

I haven't had the chance to hear this release yet but I've always thought that it's a very fine score. Frizzell did a good job. If I'm not mistaken, Howard passed on a few projects to other composers during this short era? Didn't Debney take on LIAR LIAR the same year? Was James just getting a bit too popular around 1995-7?

I visited home recently (Birmingham, UK) and they were filming this in the major railway station there when I was getting my train back.

It's an absolute travesty that this guy wasn't brought back. What a superb action score. He has excellent command of an orchestra.

Kristen Stewart as Lady Diana is curious casting but count me intrigued. I'll definitely check it out.

I’m a big fan of this one too. The Swimming cue is epic and the action music at the end is top notch stuff in the vein of KING KONG.

DINOSAUR will always be top for me as it was one of the first JNH scores I discovered. ATLANTIS and TREASURE PLANET come next; I think they are really great and return to them regularly. As for the more recent entries, MALEFICENT probably tops the rest. I'm still 'digesting' RAYA and JUNGLE CRUISE but have found lots to like. NUTCRACKER is nice but I've only listened through once. I will need to give it another go soon.

Third listen…. i really like this. Yes, it’s a very ‘busy’ score but there’s a great deal to like here. Again, the action music is top notch. It’s fantastic even. I would love to have witnessed this being recorded.

You might be right but I still need to digest this score a bit more. Those cues I mentioned stick out though. The action writing is superb though, I agree. On par with King Kong and The Waterhorse, which contain my favourite ‘recent’ fully orchestral action music from Howard. Also, like most have mentioned… how fantastic is it to have a score like this in a film-world dominated by Zimmer??? I’ll answer for you. It’s superb. People over at FSM are complaining that it‘s too much of a Williams pastiche. That’s the whole point! Piss off.

Just finished my second listen. It’s definitely growing on me. It’s a slow burner. I reckon I’ll love this by the end of the week. The ‘Market Chase‘ cue is my favourite so far. Lot’s of John Williams-esque channelling. Really REALLY good brass writing in there. Some of the best action writing JNH has done. That mini-fanfare at 1:07 actually gave me goosebumps. John Powell has his work cut out. ‘I Want You To Rest Now’ is another banger. Howard is always good at writing finale or ‘resolution‘ cues… the kind that start gorgeously and end with a fanfare of sorts. Love it.

Haha, I really like the look of this! Interested in hearing what Harry Gregson-Williams will cook up too... since this has Daniel Pemberton written all over it.

Just finished my first listen. Lots to digest. I like the 'sound' of it but it will need to be heavily refined as a playlist.

Ooh, a suite!

TITANIC - JAMES HORNER I've always loved this score and the stunning expansion has given us so much lovely stuff. That 2 ½ Miles Down cue is stunning. Giving us more than we even knew was written. The action cues for the film's third act are all here, Trapped On D Deck being my particular highlight. A Building Panic is completely different to the identically named cue on the follow up album but is even better. That percussion. I LOVE THIS

I'm interested... What is your favourite 'Hornerism'? Of all his numerous traits and stylistic doings - plagiaristic or not* - what repeating musical motifs or textures do you love the most? One of my favourites is the 'rolling' final chord that always resolves a sentimental chord progression, usually with piano in there somewhere. Examples: JUMANJI (immediately in this case): More obvious in this one, from THE PERFECT STORM, again immediately: *this will not become a debate about his 'stealings' from the classical repertoire... keep it civil I have more, I just want to open it out to the forum... By the way, is this worthy of a thread, if it hasn't been done already? Favourite 'isms'.

One of my favourite films ever. For that reason I try not to watch it too much... once a year usually. I felt that it was time, appropriately with some good wine to accompany. Fantastic jazzy score from Rolfe Kent.

Adam Driver... Jodie Comer... + Not sure what I think about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a 14th century capacity. And they're the primary writers on the gig. Crazy. I'll judge later. Holding out hope. Ridley Scott is sadly the epitome of 'hit-and-miss' in recent years. Especially when it comes to 'historical epics'. GLADIATOR was awesome in spite of its many many flaws, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN was great in the Director's Cut version, ROBIN HOOD was fucking awful, and EXODUS had its moments but was just a bit so-so. Score-wise, I'm quite happy that Harry Gregson-Williams is back. I expect something more KINGDOM OF HEAVEN flavoured (even though 200+ years separate the events of each film). Nevertheless I love that score. Will see this in the cinema though, most definitely.

Yeah, you're right. The only one that springs to mind is AVATAR... and that blows everything else out of the water that year.

Oh man, I cannot wait for this.