bored

The music is one of the better Star Wars scores I've heard in the last few years. I really like the main theme for Cal, there's a good emotional theme for his crew, nice playful motif for the droid, an admittedly too simplistic theme for the second inquisitor, and some really good action cues. It also utilizes past Williams material very well, with the Force theme being used very sparingly, and thankfully no use of the Star Wars / Luke theme. Some of the motifs from the prequels have some clever reuses like "Palpatine's Instructions" and when Cal is training with his master before Order 66 you can hear bits of the Descent motif from "Anakin's Betrayal" and "Anakin Changes". It's just a shame the story of that game goes nowhere, and a certain character who definitely should have been killed off is arbitrarily kept alive at the end.

Not much to glean from that preview of the score, but sounds pretty good in that scene. Gave me some Spider-Man 2 vibes from the tone and orchestration which is always a good thing. The Doctor Strange theme might have played at one point, though it's pretty difficult to tell because of the sound effects. Hopefully the mix isn't always like that for the fight scenes in the final film.

Action scenes aren't exactly my highest priority in a Batman film, especially when I can just play a video game that gives me better ones than any movie ever can, but I do agree that Begins has the worst action out of the modern Batman films. I think it works in the stealth scene by the docks, as it's supposed to be confusing and bewildering, but not for the rest of them. I honestly just find those funny still. I think gags like those help balance the tone, and give the movie a bit more life without going full Marvel and caving in its whole tone in favor of jokes, or going The Batman and being so self-serious that it makes it feel like it's over-compensating.

Just saw it recently, it's perfectly fine to me. It doesn't do anything better than the Nolan films in my opinion besides the detective aspect and the costume. I honestly phased out throughout most of the car chase because I was bored, and all of a sudden Penguin was laughing at a truck exploding and I thought Batman caused the explosion for a second. Catwoman was fine, though I definitely enjoyed her character more in TDKR. Her connection to Falcone adds nothing but a tired "conquering past trauma" plotline that I don't think benefits her character that much. It feels more like filler, much like this connection's inclusion in that awful "Batman: The Long Halloween" animated adaptation. Riddler was quite frankly just laughable and lame. The incel / social media angle is something that I think is going to be extremely dated pretty quickly, and it felt like a really weak commentary on movements like that. He was also often indistinguishable from the Joker for me, with his weird giggling and laughing, along with his elaborate riddles reminding me of Joker's chess-like double meaning, unpredictable moves in The Dark Knight and comic stories like "The Laughing Fish". The only thing that distinguishes Nigma is the more saw-like aspect (which was done better and more interestingly in Arkham City), and his encoded messages. His first message he sends to the news though seems almost exactly the same beat for beat to Joker's initial message on the news in TDK, but I guess we're calling that an homage now. I also ran into a debate with my friends whether his weird fit and Ave Maria singing in the interrogation scene was supposed to be funny or not. Either way, I didn't find it funny or threatening, just embarrassing. Pattinson as Batman was fine. He's no Kevin Conroy from The Animated Series, or Batman from Arkham Asylum, City, and Origins, but I believe him enough as Batman to take him seriously most of the time. His noir narration felt kind of ham-fisted and silly to me though. I also find his Batman voice way too similar to Christian Bale's more subtle, raspy whisper in Batman Begins (besides that one stupid interrogation scene in BB). His edgy, ultra-brooding Bruce Wayne did nothing for me. I guess it's supposed to set up a more mature, and better at socializing Bruce Wayne in the next two films, but it doesn't really change the fact that I don't find him interesting here. Alfred was there. The Thomas Wayne / Falcone connection I found annoying and unnecessary. It turns a tragic crime of passion brought on by the very people the Waynes were trying to help, into a sleazy mob dealing gone sour. I know Thomas only wanted to "scare" the journalist, but making a deal with a mobster is just not something I ever want to associate with the Waynes' characters. It makes them more morally grey, sure, but it doesn't make them more interesting to me. Penguin was good. Falcone himself was played well. I'm glad the Joker scene was deleted. The score was non-descript. I noticed the Bruce Wayne theme but don't remember it, I don't remember Catwoman's theme, Riddler's Ave Maria theme was funny because I knew it was supposed to be creepy and foreshadowing but it wasn't for me, and the two-note motif worked fine but is still not that interesting. Apologies for the review-like length, but overall I found this film and its story to be better than all of the original 4 Batman films, and better than Batman: Arkham Knight, but not as good as the Nolan movies and the first 3 Batman: Arkham games. Maybe I'd call it on-par with The Dark Knight Rises. I just feel it's trying too hard to be the ultimate dark and edgy Batman, and the result feels more over-the-top, over-compensation than an authentic Batman story.

Been a while since I posted here, but I composed a new version of Michael McCuistion's old (and very underrated) theme from the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man game a while ago for a now defunct remaster of that game. I included a few more elements from Danny Elfman's music since the game was an adaptation of that film, but otherwise I tried to stay as faithful as possible to McCuistion's original. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TR3w2ild1Pkz_PGJmuQv0ms692WHF21n/view?usp=sharing On the topic of superhero music, I also remastered an original Batman theme I composed a while back. I tried to create a mix between the Elfman/Shirley Walker style, and the darker, more brooding music of the Batman: Arkham scores. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZcPzz-YrI8ZqApAcPkBT-B1ulQhHzMxi/view?usp=sharing

Yeah, that's what I was referring to.

I would also love it if Jeremy Soule was able to score Star Wars with a full orchestra this time, but that option is impossible as it was long ago signed, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.

Did he have any thoughts on the project?

Love the Elfman cue, but Young's really is better for the scene. Thematically, Elfman's is vastly superior. I love all of the new angles he takes the Spidey theme in the second part of the cue, with all of those variations on the secondary and tertiary themes as well as the main one, the clashing of Doc Ock's and Spider-Man's theme in the first half, and even though it does relieve too much tension, the Spider-Man theme when he starts web-swinging back to the train is so satisfying and beautiful to listen to. However, in terms of perfectly capturing the essence of what the scene is supposed to be, Christopher Young's really takes the prize. The never-ending tension brought on by the rabid snares and pounding brass, the cluster chords and trills, and the consistent villainous tone throughout the majority of the piece really make it as heart pounding as it should be, while revealing nothing about the outcome. I also agree that Young's version of the Spider-Man theme is one of the best and most creative variations on it in the trilogy, but it admittedly would have been nice if he was able to incorporate more of it when Peter's stopping the train in the second part. I actually think Young's version of Ock's theme really works in this scene. It makes the situation feel far more horrific and hopeless, whereas Elfman's version at that same part feels casual and matter-of-fact by comparison. I didn't really get Hellraiser vibes from it in this scene, as it had the normal Elfman tempo this time, and not the Hellraiser one and arpeggios that it had in the lab scenes.

The fact that Double Trouble never comes back (except for the end credits) after the middle of the film and score is utterly baffling to me.

Really? That's surprising, because I absolutely adore the atmosphere of "Meeting Tom Riddle" and "Hagrid's Arrest". There's even some surprising thematic variations throughout a lot of that middle section. There's that beautiful variation of Hedwig's Theme when Dumbledore says his quote about help given at Hogwarts, the "Wand of the Phoenix" theme when Hermione is petrified, the brilliant payoff to the Chamber theme in "Ginny is Snatched", the variation on Myrtle's theme in "Myrtle's Tale" that has elements of Hedwig's theme, etc. Plus I'm a sucker for all of the variations of the 3-note motif throughout the film, and that middle section has that in spades as well.

His work on Jedi: Fallen Order with Stephen Barton had a lot of consistent melodies that develop through the story. They even referenced other Williams themes fairly cleverly. When Cal is training as a child just before Order 66, the theme that plays there has elements of "Anakin's Betrayal" and other dies irae variants from the prequels, and I remember hearing the theme from "Palpatine Instructs Anakin" in one of the conversations with Saw Gerrera on Kashyyyk.

All I know for sure, after all of these years of sitting with this score... is that "Where No One Goes" still sucks!

Well there sort of is, in that the harmony is also partially made up of pizzicatos and dancing woodwinds, though that's largely it besides one possible homage. Again it's somewhat similar to Williams' opening phrase for Dobby, but it's so quick unlike the "Farewell" track that I have an even more difficult time thinking that was intentional:

See, I never thought "Farewell to Dobby" having similarities was a coincidence. To me it seems like he used his new theme for the trio in that scene to purposefully homage the Williams theme by changing the melody just enough to where it was ambiguous whether it was his or Williams' Dobby melody, presumably to avoid rights or royalties issues. I know @mrbellamydisagrees with me on this last point especially but I always thought the very end of the Desplat track was a variation on the first phrase of "Dobby The House Elf" as well. I don't know for sure, but it seems too much to be a coincidence. That entire track feels like it's trying evoke the original theme as much as it can.

Man, internet arguments get boring so fast don't they? I prefer to yell my opinion from my rooftop and watch everyone come out of their houses to yell at me while I yell back. Now that's entertaining!

I still haven't recovered from Alderaan being scored with Princess Leia's theme...

Prequels suck, sequels suck. Original trilogy is classic. KOTOR 1 and 2 are brilliant spin-offs. The Old Republic is ok but kind of stupid. The Mandolorian is probably good but I don't really care. The Force Unleashed is the best story since the OT, its sequel can rot in hell, and most of Star Wars is pretty fuckin dumb. You can be offended by that, or view it as the stupid, or reasonable opinion it may or may not be. Either way, I don't need a space to be neutral or negative about Star Wars, and I doubt anyone really needs a space to be positive or neutral about Star Wars. It's like Harry Potter. You either think it's dumb and terrible or not.

I personally think Chamber of Secrets is better than Order of the Phoenix in terms of filmmaking, accuracy to the book, and the overall storyline, but regardless. The Potter Scoring Project did such a great job of making the Order of the Phoenix film's score actually match the quality of the film. It's not John Williams, but man do they do a brilliant job IMO, especially in developing "Window to the Past".

I vote for the voice actor of Vader in The Force Unleashed 1 and 2, or the voice actor for Vader in Fallen Order to replace James if necessary.

Gotta vote Potter (obviously, look at my profile pic). Would have loved to see what he'd do with the thematic material he had already set up, and what new stuff he would have written. I'm especially curious because I don't know for sure if he would have reprised old themes at all from movie to movie, as Azkaban makes me think he might not have ever built up a strong continuous opera-like symphony a la Star Wars, and just resigned to changing everything just like the movies did half the time. I'd like to think he would have reprised more than Hedwig's Theme or the cloak motif, but I wish we knew for sure.

This is my entire reaction to the new Lord of the Rings show.

Looked somewhat interesting. I think the use of themes was somewhat well done, almost giving the backstory to Obi-Wan by themselves. Though I also hate the tasteless trailer versions of Williams' material. The Grand Inquisitor is baffling because we all know he was beat by lesser Jedi than Obi, so he probably can't beat him in a fight, and we know old Ben isn't going to kill him. But Hayden Christenson is back as Anakin, so maybe we'll get something interesting there? Hopefully at least an improved performance from the prequels if nothing else.