HunterTech

I wasn't too interested in this whole competition, besides maybe taking pre-existing music and lining it up with the footage for funsies. But seeing the absolute divide from the winner made me really curious in wanting to listen to it. And honestly: I thought it was great? It's definitely the most interesting thing I've heard in ages. That chiptune/electronica/orchestral fusion is really inspired, and gave the scene a particular energy that most modern approaches would simply lack. Might it have been overdone and not fully fitting of the scene? Perhaps, but I'd much rather have something the composer really put a lot of thought into than something that feels like it came out of the factory. The initial laugh that I had (that seems to be a recurring first reaction) was more out of joy than disbelief over what I was hearing. It actually made me interested in hearing what else this guy did, so kudos for that. Quite frankly, I do wonder if a lot of the backlash is people being too accustomed to the scores of today. Considering the most exposure the average peep has over any film music now is whatever seemed "epic" to them, is anything that's not just your regular action music too ludicrous? Like there was one video I saw a while back that slammed Ottman's X-Men theme, but absolutely adored Jackman's First Class. It just makes me go to what I've wondered about recently, if music has simply gotten too serious these days. The runner ups sounded alright, but they were mostly in line with what you'd expect from someone who's looking at modern sensibilities. Maybe that's why the winner appealed to me so much, since it has that sense of fun that I find is just missing so often now.

Was there ever any credence to the notion that JNH and Shyamalan had a falling out during After Earth? Admittedly, his films post that are rather low budget for what his works previously have been, so maybe the reality is that he'd have been too expensive for the most recent outings. But then there was one interview where he apparently was in the cards, before sticking with Thordson. It's just a bit of a messy situation from the looks of it. As for Split/Glass, I'm having a tough time deciding if I find them better or worse than your average RCP outing. The soundscapes can sound intriguing at points, and there are some okay cues, but it basically is just West messing around with his tools, really trying to get that moody/grungy sound. Not awful, but very little stands out, especially when the latter effort really could've been a nice merging of Unbreakable and Split. This cue here I maintain could've been a good starting point for what the rest of Glass should've been, since I love how worn down and distant yet close it feels, while having a bit of the rawness the rest of the score has:

I'm just realizing I don't actually own any Zimmer CDs, likely thanks to my preference towards C&C sets in regards to my super picky criteria for what I use my money on. I'm sure if the Mondo M:I-2 LP release and Xperiments got put out on CD, I'd have happily bought both. I've grabbed loads of stuff digitally, but here's what I have on my phone currently (some of which are multiple sets): Angels & Demons Batman v Superman Black Rain Days of Thunder Gladiator Inferno Madagascar 1-2 Man of Steel Mission: Impossible 2 Pirates 1-4 Rain Man The Da Vinci Code The Ring The Simpsons Movie Dark Phoenix/Xperiments The Rock Amazing Spider-Man 2 Cool Runnings Sherlock 1-2 Dark Knight Trilogy

The issue lies on the fact that modern Hollywood has producers be on the composer's ass to make the score sound a specific way. That's likely the reason quite a few scores do very little for me, since whatever vision it had at the start gets thrown out besides one or two decent themes and/or cues. Of course, there are still some that can bypass that and make some magnificent pieces of work, but even I have to admit that RCP generally specializes in making composing machines. Could it be that Zimmer's practices led to everything being the way it is now? Perhaps, but it doesn't change the fact that it looks like it'll stay like that for a while, and it's a bit disappointing. As for the authorship issue, as with before, I feel like we'd have heard something about it by now if there was truly discontent with it behind the scenes. HZ still gives royalties to each member in the team cue by cue (which you can find on places like the previously mentioned Zimmer website), and very recently have begun to appear in the tags of albums on streaming services. If that's not good enough, then I'm sorry that having everyone be on the album cover would look too cluttered (as Xperiments proved).

Hmmm? Oh, I guess you forgot to read this specific part of my reply: In fact, Dark Phoenix might be my favorite thing to come out of last year score wise, so perhaps my decision to lump that in-between two seemingly critical paragraphs was a bad choice on my end.

Yeah, I was gonna make a comment yesterday about how I'm likely not the first to ask if this is an actual appreciation thread, or if its more of an "occasional routine dumping ground" thread. I've grown to really not give a shit about who does what on an HZ score outside of artist tags and specific stand outs, since the work process is never 1:1 on every single work of his. Some will be more dominated by the team, while others might be more his own. Doesn't matter to me as long as the music is good, for which he's been more consistent on that front than several other modern composers. Definitely has his misses, but the style and ideas can usually carry a work of his. That being said, I do wonder what people will have to say about this supposed glimpse into how a score like these go (from the guy who runs the HZ website): And about Mazzaro on Bond, he did have this to say, so make of it what you will:

Because this is the era where despite all this information being available for anyone to look through, I guess it's easy to forget that hey, that's just how it was at the time. Seeing as attention spans are becoming worse for many, it's not too surprising that anyone half-paying attention might just suddenly get outraged. That being said: thanks to the internet being such an open platform for people to share their voices, it does remind one that even if it doesn't affect you directly, media has the potential to really leave an impact. Everyone has different experiences, and as such can lead one to look at a thing critically that someone else might just think nothing of. Me personally, I never think about how I what I watch, since I've lead a very comfortable life so far. However, anyone who's had to deal with tough issues or study the world might give things a second look that most people wouldn't. Sure, some will complain because they've lived too nicely to have actual problems in life, or are just misguided about everything, but it's ultimately not as common as the world wide web and entertainment industry might push it as. I'm guessing that because you're all mostly a bunch of old guys having had these films for so long, all this sudden outrage and precautions will seem silly. Times are changing, and in ways that are clearly directionless currently. But as I see it, there's nothing (besides Disney's eventual ownership of the planet) that tells me that censorship is gonna get worse, especially as there's as much push back about this particular treatment of older films.

I sometimes wonder if companies are just doing things like this to specifically cause outrage at this point, because I've never heard anyone complain about Aliens and some of the other movies the warnings have been slapped on to. I'm not denying that some people are too up their own asses to recognize what might actually be considered problematic, but based on how modern culture has evolved, this is reeking of corporate businesses knowing this will get attention and thus bring more awareness to whatever movie service this is. It's more likely just something they've done just to save face in case something happens, but it's hard to tell in these times. Like honestly: tell me if you've actually seen a person rag on about how outdated Aliens is. If they exist, it sure as hell never popped up in my feed that shows me that sort of thing from time to time. The only people I've seen be in uproar, ironically enough, is all the people that normally mock outrage culture. Guess they gotta be angry if the "snowflakes" aren't adhering to the confusing "SJW" narratives this time.

Striping seemed to have already been becoming the norm, and now the pandemic has made it basically mandatory. I probably won't be able to notice it unless it was pointed out to me, but it is a shame that having a large group of musicians in one room to record will pretty much be a novelty at this point.

Took time to find a rather common gif? And your only response is to ridicule him instead of standing your ground on the points you've made or maybe ignoring it? With this and all the other talk about "progressives" ruining everything, I can't help but wonder if maybe the one with issues isn't the guy you're responding to.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) - Michael Giacchino Considering the mini-discourse regarding Gia a couple of posts prior, it's only appropriate I hear an effort of his that's most emblematic of his issues. Action writing that's too chaotic, themes not being greatly utilized, underscore that's too occupied with hitting the on screen beats, and stylistically too basic. The Ethan and Julia theme I'll still stand by, but it takes only something this mediocre to make me appreciate Balfe's Fallout a bit more. I definitely recommend one hear Ghost Protocol instead.

Orrrrrrr Adam Wingard didn't like the idea of anyone who wasn't a synth guy doing the score, and just went with one of the currently available safer bets for blockbusters.

Because there's no real racial connotations to them? You say those names to me, and it wouldn't tell me too much in regards to what the person's ethnicity is. They're Indian, which admittedly I'm not sure if Patil or Parvati/Padma are particularly stereotypical in their culture.

The thing that makes II odd is that it's the only entry in the series to be released on Disney's label, Hollywood Records. Considering the score has never had an LP release prior, whatever legal issues that's prevented the score from being on digital streaming seems to be a non-issue in this case. It's pretty likely they're probably working out the kinks now, but it seems to me that this release probably exists because Disney would have more control over it.

So what would you guys consider the ideal runtime? Because I've rarely ever been bored by a modern blockbuster, but that's because I'm a youngster who's probably the target audience. What would be a good balance for getting just enough material in there before it gets excessive?