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Nick Parker

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    Ludwig Göransson's THE MANDALORIAN (2019-present)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Reposted from another thread for sake of better relevance:

     

    9 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

     

    I've made this argument before, but I will continue to do so: I find scores such as The Mandalorian to be infinitely closer to the spirit of John Williams' approach to Star Wars--and indeed his creative spirit as a whole--than the efforts of the Gordy Haabs et al. In practically every aspect, Star Wars has always been a melange of countless and far-reaching influences and elements, some contemporaneous, some from the past.  

     

    For me the end result of The Mandalorian, its cocktail of Western guitar twangs, ethnic instruments, modern and vintage electronics, traditional orchestral instruments and idioms, create a sonic world that I've never heard before.

     

    Star Wars Disenchantment

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    18 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

    In interviews about the music concept for Star Wars Williams said that he wanted to give the audiance something familiar in this other world. But that is only half of the story to me. And I know that this is highly subjective. But to me the music of Star Wars was familiar in sound but apart from that completly out of this world.

    Yes, ok. I was musically not that experienced at that time, but anyway. That is my personal impression. And the music of the Mandalorian is often too familiar. The guitar music in the 4th episode destroyed the illusion instead of supporting it.

     

    I've made this argument before, but I will continue to do so: I find scores such as The Mandalorian to be infinitely closer to the spirit of John Williams' approach to Star Wars--and indeed his creative spirit as a whole--than the efforts of the Gordy Haabs et al. In practically every aspect, Star Wars has always been a melange of countless and far-reaching influences and elements, some contemporaneous, some from the past.  

     

    You grant that it's subjective, which is of course every bit valid, but for me the end result of The Mandalorian, its cocktail of Western guitar twangs, ethnic instruments, modern and vintage electronics, traditional orchestral instruments and idioms, create a sonic world that I've never heard before.

    The Official "Album Presentation vs Complete & Chronological Presentation" Thread Round 2

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    One thing I'll say that I don't think has been already is that I don't think it's fair to judge a composer on the musical qualities of an entire score, and that they're lesser if a complete score isn't engaging in every single cue, start to finish. By necessity, on most films, there's at least one moment or scene that requires some kind of musical setting, where silence would not be as effective, but still has to stay out of the way by being pretty nondescript or "flat". In these instances, the composer has to write something purely functional, not something to satisfy their sense of musical storytelling.

    What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

    Yeah.

    You only get the ' benefit" of 4k - allegedly four times sharper than hd- is if you have a wall sized screen.

     

    Putting it on a turntable?

    Clint would never do that!

     

    ( seriously, when I was a wee lad, I couldn't understand how you could act and direct at the same time. I thought you had to be BEHIND the camera to say ACTION. What a moron I was. 😆)

    People who watched the latter films first, should be shocked at how good it is. It's sincere and realistic.

    Stallone did the exact same thing with the RAMBO franchise. The first film is relatively serious and downbeat. Subsequently, he turned him into a flag waving superhero- like Rock Balboa😒

     

    I feel like the Creed movies went a long way in restoring the character to his earthy roots.

    Michael Giacchino's TRAVELOGUE: VOLUME 1 (2020)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Arpy said:

    There are albums of some alternative music I've got that have some absolute stonkers on there that I would burn in an instant, yet they're mixed in with some of my all-time favourite tracks. I've found artists by listening to one track and then going to their catalogue and finding absolute shit.

     

    I've definitely encountered this, too, both qualitatively and tonally. It's not necessarily the norm in my experience but you're completely right in stating the possibility that there might be some surprises.

     

    What I meant moreso is that on many, if not most albums, they are collages of individual tracks, united by an overarching concept more than anything else, whereas film score albums tend to be a tapestry where distinct tracks can be more difficult to discern, just by the very nature of what film music usually has to do. Let's take a famous score such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, we'll say. The opening track, In the Jungle...it's moody, filled with all kinds of tense and mysterious instrumental colors and harmonies. I love it, and I love listening to it. But would I really call it a standalone track the way I would, I don't know, "Doin' It Right" by Daft Punk? Hell no.

     

    Michael Giacchino's TRAVELOGUE: VOLUME 1 (2020)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Arpy said:

    Why? All the time.

     

    For one, if you didn't, I'd be curious to hear how it "flowed" for you, as album storytelling and film score storytelling are often very different.

     

    Which leads to my second reason, being that generally speaking, I feel like a track can give much more a sense of a standalone album than the same for a film score album.

    Michael Giacchino's TRAVELOGUE: VOLUME 1 (2020)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Arpy said:

    This sound intriguing, I'm guessing it's part of a longer movement that the other tracks will fill out. I like the development in the trailer piece which does sound more exotic.

    Not going to judge the whole thing on that one track though. Interested to hear the rest of this perhaps with the animations and narration.

     

    How often do you listen to non-soundtrack albums, Arpy?

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    Michael Giacchino's TRAVELOGUE: VOLUME 1 (2020)

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

    That track was pretty boring.  It just kinda.... repeated the same idea a bunch.

     

    It reminds me of his piece for Gloria Cheng: once he finds a vaguely interesting idea, he just can't let it go. So here he riffs on the ever popular Neapolitan progression for minutes, with little variations that turn out more vanilla than anything. I like some of the string writing, and a few of the piano flourishes, but they don't do enough to stay interesting for a whole track. 

     

    You're right in that he was channelling an "exotica" sound, and he could probably defend this track saying that he wanted it to be chill and not go wild with all kinds of movement or anything...but all that's here are superficial trappings. I'm sure he had a lot of fun making this.

     

    (An unrelated link to an "exotica"

    track that doesn't feature more dynamic instrumentation, chords, melodies, etc. and still remain chill AF...totally non sequitur of me really

     

    )

     

     

    So in the end this track is a hollow pastiche of better things that has come before...so actually a perfect representation of Giacchino's creative soul! 

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    WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005) 2CD edition from Intrada Records 2020

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    Ohhhhhhhhhh snap!!!

     

    This is one of my favorite Williams scores...it's like he took the melodrama of Revenge of the Sith and used it as a foundation to spread with some of the most metal writing of his career.

     

    It also shows just how impressive and vast his knowledge of film repertoire can be, as he seamlessly weaves in references to the thick layers of oppressive brass of Akira Ifukube into his wholly modern and unique sensibilities.

     

    One of my favorite tracks, for those unfamiliar (trying to find ad free videos available to non Americans) :

     

     

     

    Always cue titles

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, crumbs said:

     

    The last twenty minutes is definitely the strongest. All the film's themes culminate nicely and Williams' score nails all the emotions you listed above. The horn solo is particularly stunning (and very sadly microedited). 

     

    Spielberg was right to dedicate the last 5 minutes almost entirely to music, because Williams nails the storytelling there (and the earlier scene in the bedroom is similarly touching, again thanks to that underrated theme on piano). 

     

    That's one thing too that I really liked about the movie, Joe's jealousy and attachment that loosens as he realizes that letting go would be the greatest act of love he could commit.

     

    Extrapolating from Thor, I think this was an experiment of Spielberg on tackling his influences and adorations in a very direct way--ie a remake in this case. It seems that he found more subtle ways to incorporate his filmic loves and influences into "new" projects, such as War Horse, or the 70's thrillers in Munich (and Post, less successfully). 

    Always cue titles

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, crumbs said:

    The film's humour doesn't really land to me and there's inconsistent tone, but overall it's more of a character study around how people cope with loss (which makes the light-hearted humour a bit jarring).

     

    Holly Hunter is great but Dreyfuss is miscast. "Cute" is probably a good overall descriptor, as @Nick Parker said. There's not an ounce of cynicism throughout.

     

     

    I really liked the whimsical tone that pervaded everything, and it captures a bittersweet feeling about loss, acceptance, and moving on after that gives it a surprising pungency. Definitely feels more like a cult TV classic than a film by the most consistently successful film director of all time.

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