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James Newton Howard thread


nightscape94

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I was just enjoying the phenomenal "The Egg Travels" earlier today. Sigh...easily as good as many of Williams' best cues. 8O

Shhhh, not so loud you don't wanna stir up things....^_^

I'm somewhat looking forward to JNH's score to The Water Horse. The film looks like it might be kinda fun as well.

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With "The Water Horse" and "I Am Legend" coming soon, James Newton Howard is poised to have a big Winter. I think each of these films will provide him lucrative opportunities for a wide range of music, from quieter, more emotional passages to big action pieces. I'm looking forward to it!

Ted

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I finally got the Complete Dinosaur score (Except for the "End Credits" :D ) but it has a cue called, "Pushing and Shoving". It's 38 seconds long. Does anyone know if it was used in the movie or if it's an unused cue?

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With "The Water Horse" and "I Am Legend" coming soon, James Newton Howard is poised to have a big Winter. I think each of these films will provide him lucrative opportunities for a wide range of music, from quieter, more emotional passages to big action pieces. I'm looking forward to it!

Ted

Don't forget his incredible score to Michael Clayton. I feel this score has been virtually unheard in this forum. More people must listen to it's awesomeness!

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Don't forget his incredible score to Michael Clayton. I feel this score has been virtually unheard in this forum. More people must listen to it's awesomeness!

Either that was sarcasm, or you're 5 times the JNH fan I am.

I've heard a couple of cues from it, and well, it was nearly sleep inducing. Clemmenson gave it 1 star and he's generally kind to JNH.

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Haven't heard it, but that's the type of JNH score I would expect to be absolutely unremarkable, and totally unrepresentative of the talent he displays so vibrantly in his non-thriller scores.

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The last cue, 25 Dollar's Worth, is actually quite good. I recommend those who use iTunes to spend the $0.99. It'll surely be on my personal "Best Film Music of 2007" album, which to this point is pretty short.

Ted

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The last cue, 25 Dollar's Worth, is actually quite good. I recommend those who use iTunes to spend the $0.99. It'll surely be on my personal "Best Film Music of 2007" album, which to this point is pretty short.

Ted

Then you should get At World's End and OotP, my two favorite scores of 2007.

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I saw Michael Clayton on Sunday, and I honestly didn't even know Howard had scored this until I saw the end credits. I didn't even notice a musical cue (which is technically a good thing, I suppose) until the end during the cab ride when the strings came swelling in. In that sense the music was effective in the film. I don't know enough about it on its own terms to make any further judgement calls. It's hard to be too abrasive about music that was created more as incidental music for a movie, than what it would sound like outside the film away from its source.

Tim

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Jay Russell just posted a few short videos from the Water Horse scoring sessions on MySpace. There's a bit of the score in each clip, and what small amount there is sounds really great! I think I hear a theme, right at the beginning of the first clip, and about a third of the way through the third when the choir softens.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

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I assume you mean Charlie Wilson's War and The Great Debaters...I just found out about them today, I had no idea he had other projects coming out so soon. I wonder what they'll be like.

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Jay Russell just posted a few short videos from the Water Horse scoring sessions on MySpace. There's a bit of the score in each clip, and what small amount there is sounds really great! I think I hear a theme, right at the beginning of the first clip, and about a third of the way through the third when the choir softens.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

The choir sounds very Hornerish to me.

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But then it's not good JNH. Howard at his best is amazing. But too often, he doesn't write with his unique voice. I am not gonna judge the score by a minute long clip. But it doesn't help my fears that this score is gonna be another colorful, thematic, yet un-unique JNH score.

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Jay Russell just posted a few short videos from the Water Horse scoring sessions on MySpace. There's a bit of the score in each clip, and what small amount there is sounds really great! I think I hear a theme, right at the beginning of the first clip, and about a third of the way through the third when the choir softens.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

The choir sounds very Hornerish to me.

Actually it almost sounds like Silvestri's The Abyss.

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Then you should get At World's End and OotP, my two favorite scores of 2007.

With all due respect to both composers and all others, these were also about the only two scores this year that left any impression, and may it just be an impression of extreme derivation.

Anyway, I recently discovered Newton Howard's "Atlantis", is that one worth getting/hearing?

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Atlantis is really good. Treasure Planet is awesome. Treasure Planet has brilliant and very detailed orchestral writing, Atlantis is gorgeous and grand. I still like Dinosaur better than both of those though.

I honestly haven't listened to much recent JNH stuff, besides Lady in the Water (a lot), and Freedomland once (nice, but nothing extremely distinctive). I hope Waterhorse will be very good, but well, the jury's out, we'll see. I think I would rather him not be so popular (4 years ago I was saying the opposite!) and do less projects in a more intensive way - when a great opportunity comes along like this, I worry that he doesn't have the time to devote to really crafting something, as opposed to just getting it written. Can't anyone else (ie. younger composers) do urban dramas? ;) I know JNH does them well, but some sophisticated sound design, by whoever, would do for those...

I hope that his best scores aren't behind him. I would hate to see someone so obviously talented rest on their laurels once they reached the top. I'm a little worried too about him being unduly influenced by Zimmer too due to their close friendship.

In any case, I look forward to hearing the score (and of course, seeing the movie!)

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I think you're right about him devoting the time to really make something good. He's done a lot of movies in the last few years - if only he would slow down a little.

Atlantis and Treasure Planet are both very complex scores, with the former having some incredibly invigorating action cues which (IMO) easily have an orchestration level on par with JW. Plus Atlantis has a complete promo that fleshes out the OST a bit.

I'm really looking forward to Water Horse - that part of the country where it's set is so beautiful that I'm sure James was inspired.

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I like Treasure Planet a lot. It blows the POTC scores out of the water.

Although, the use of en electric guitar in a few tracks always bugs me.

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I like Treasure Planet a lot. It blows the POTC scores out of the water.

Although, the use of en electric guitar in a few tracks always bugs me.

Treasure Planet is a truly brilliant score, but I like POTC more.

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