What is so great about James Newton Howard?

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Yeah, now even I want to listen to it.

[David Coscina 4]

Falling Down is a great JN Howard score. Hard to find but has some great cues on it, especially The Pier. Hmm, I think I'll give that a spin now. I also love Unbreakable.

[Richard Penna 3,778]

Ahh yes, Unbreakable, a truly relaxing score. A good example of the mix between modern and classical styles that he's capable of.

I've been thinking recently that one of JNH's great strengths is composing strong finales. King Kong, Signs, Sixth Sense, Lady in the Water, Outbreak, etc all have stunning final cues/sequences. Plus there's his end credit suites - talking of which I'd love to know why he wrote and recorded a suite for LitW and didn't put it on the CD when there was still miles of space.

Can't wait for The Waterhorse :)

[aj_vader 535]

Signs is the first time I was introduced musically to JNH, His score terrified me, its fantastic. My favourite score of his would have to be King Kong, I thought it was original and worked fantastic with the movie, also its fun to hear.

[David Coscina 4]

JN Howard to me had two personalities as a film composer. There's the one who wrote Falling Down, Signs, Wyatt Earp, Flatliners, Grand Canyon, The Village, etc. and then the one that writes average stuff like Pretty Woman, and other Julia Roberts drivel. Luckily he seems to write more better scores than average ones. I'm still not sure where I stand with King Kong. Some of it I like but the end cue really sounds like Howard Shore, even in his use of the boy falsetto. The chord progressions going from the VI-i is also right out of The Prophecy from LOTR. And while that's a common progression, the scoring for orchestra is almost identical. That said, I still like the cue and where Howard takes it. Very emotional. Given the time constraints, I think Howard did a very good job on it.

[Jeshopk 8]

Chris Bacon also wrote music for Kong, so maybe he did that.

[Richard Penna 3,778]

Or maybe something from the Jackson - Shore relationship came through. Maybe Shore had even recorded that sequence?

Fiery Angel - I don't much like his Julia Roberts, sugary romantic side either. I'm thinking there must be someone common (besides Roberts) in those films that he has a relationship with or something, because I can't see why he would choose to do them, unless the money was good.