What is the last film you watched?

[Morlock 11]

Morlock- who's rent/buy ratio is about 90%/10%

[Koray Savas 2,251]

And, besides, there was one element so much worse than anything else in the movie: The music. WOW that was terrible. It wasn't even dumbed down orchestra. This literally sounded like a guy on an electric guitar, along with some random synthy orchestra, trying to copy 'The Kraken'. A good score may have helped this film feel more unified, more structurally sound. One of the worst scores I've ever heard in a film.

It was a good score, better than most of the crap composed by people that think they can be composers. The fact that it was an action score, with a guitar, and synths were used, does not make it bad. A score doesn't need to be written by hand to be good. No copy off "The Kraken" here, Djawadi used "Kashmir" primarily for the rythym.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

No it was crap. It was a bad score, and it was noise, Djawadi is a non talent. it is my only gripe of the film

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Noise - the universal definition for RCP music. I consider noise to be loud construction work. If your ears are too sensitive and you want to cry to the soft violins of John Williams, be my guest, but it's not noise. It's action music, which a lot of people associate with a guitar. If you didn't notice, Iron Man is fitting for hard rock. It started out with AC/DC, it finished with Black Sabbath, the theme was based off of Led Zeppelin, it is a fitting rock score.

[Ollie 1,059]

Too bad the rest of the music between those songs was pure garbage.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

ACDC and Black Sabbath are garbage of a sort too.

Its a terrible score, face is Korey, another zimmer clone failure

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I agree to an extent, Djawadi isn't talented. I'm trying to say that it fit the movie rather well for what it was. The context was right, which makes it successful in a certain light.

[Ollie 1,059]

I would have preferred they just used all heavy metal songs for the score.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

ACDC and Black Sabbath are garbage of a sort too.

Its a terrible score, face is Korey, another zimmer clone failure

A lot of what AC/DC and Black Sabbath recorded was pretty poor, but they also were responsible for some great hard rock . . . including the two songs used in Iron Man.

I actually like Mark's idea; using all hard rock songs would have given the movie an interesting identity.

Still, the music (apart from the use of the two songs, which serve a nice narrative function) is of no particular interest to me in this particular movie. It's not good enough for me to care about, and it's not bad enough to upset me.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It's not good enough for me to care about, and it's not bad enough to upset me.

I'll drink to that.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

It's not good enough for me to care about, and it's not bad enough to upset me.

I'll drink to that.

uhm, I'd like to contribute $5,---$10 dollars Mrs. White.

[A24 4,326]

I can't comment on the Iron Man score because I haven't seen the film but if it's 'different' then I'm all for it. I've heard that the score to There Will Be Blood is experimental guitar music by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. Believe me, that album is so going to be mine. It's nice to see people straying away from the traditional orchestral scores.

Alex

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Yeah. Let us all remember in awe that masterpiece (both film and score) that is Dead Man.

It's been an excessive while since I last saw it, actually.

[A24 4,326]

Yeah. Let us all remember in awe that masterpiece (both film and score) that is Dead Man.

It's been an excessive while since I last saw it, actually.

Never saw Dead Man.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

You won't like it. You don't do drugs.

[A24 4,326]

I dunno, I like Broken Flowers.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

The way I see it, the film is supposed to recreate the feeling of a peyote trip through mostly silent images. Similar in concept to A Scanner Darkly, but completely opposite in execution.

[Morlock 11]

I can't comment on the Iron Man score because I haven't seen the film but if it's 'different' then I'm all for it. I've heard that the score to There Will Be Blood is experimental guitar music by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. Believe me, that album is so going to be mine. It's nice to see people straying away from the traditional orchestral scores.

Alex

It's a terrific score. But it's not guitar- it's a string ensemble work (well, mostly).

[A24 4,326]

It's a terrific score. But it's not guitar- it's a string ensemble work (well, mostly).

It's not? Damnit! Well, I'm going to buy it anyway.

Here's an interview with Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood talking about music:

There Will Be Blood

Alex

[Morlock 11]

Yeah, caught that a few months ago. I think one really needs to see the film to appreciate how different the score is. Like everything else in the movie, it is strange and different and uniquely ambitious.

Speaking of Jarmusch, right after I read the above posts, I viewed the latest Simpsons episode. It's really a weakness, as everyone knows the latest seasons suck. But this episode was actually a decent one, and Jarmusch had a funny guest spot on it.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

The score for There Will Be Blood was one of the most distracting and inappropriate I've ever heard in a film, especially in the opening few scenes. It definitely didn't need to be a traditional orchestral score, but it should've at least complemented the film.

[tpigeon 3]

I never got the hype about the score or the film, in the case of There Will Be Blood. That the film was even compared to No Country For Old Men is staggering to me. Then again, I've only seen it once.

Ted

[Morlock 11]

I was sucked into the film from the get go. A staggering experience. To me, it felt like someone found something new to do with film. And no ordinary performance or score would have been right. It's one film that I'm actually kind of scared to revisit...it had quite an effect on me. The scope of it, the flawless execution of such a theoretically flawed concept...compositions that left me dumb-founded, one of the greatest sequences I've ever seen on film. Powerful filmic experience. 2007 was truely a year of marvels at the cinema.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I liked No Country For Old Men better too. Daniel Day Lewis' performance in There Will Be Blood was amazing, though; the best parts of the film were him beating the sh!t out of Paul Dano.

[Morlock 11]

Me too. Had (and has) more of a hold on me.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I started watching The Thing from Another World last night. I can't get over how contemporary it actually feels for a 50 year old movie.

Still I got home late and decided to turn it off around 130 so I could go to sleep. Only got through half of the dvd.

[A24 4,326]

I started watching The Thing from Another World last night. I can't get over how contemporary it actually feels for a 50 year old movie.

Still I got home late and decided to turn it off around 130 so I could go to sleep. Only got through half of the dvd.

Is that the original The Thing?

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Ok, I guess I'm the first one here to watch Speed Racer.

Now, I went in expecting the worst. I hated the trailer for one, and was ready to walk out of the theater with the worst spent 8 bucks of the day. However, I had the feeling that if this works, it was going to be pretty darn good. If not, its going to be absolutely rubbish. The good news. Its good. Its darn good. And its so unconventional and hyperkinetic that there was no way anyone can make a good trailer out of it. The scenes just don't work in trailer form. Its cheesy, but in a good and imaginative way. It looks like the future seen through the glasses of an LSD intoxicated dude in the 60s and rendered by Pixar. Its Roger Rabbit but with 3D cartoons instead. Yes, its garish, absolutely over the top and thoroughly gaudy, but it has the spirit to pull it off. The story is pretty rudimentary but I feel it has an edge of sincerity. Enough to get by. The Giacchino score is great fun and uses the original Speed Racer theme to great effect (and in many variations too!). Definitely a fun movie, if totally unorthodox. Admittedly, its going to be a love it or hate it thing. For me, I love it. ***1/2 out of ****

Burga - admittedly a bit of a childhood Speed Racer fan.

[A24 4,326]

Burga - admittedly a bit of a childhood Speed Racer fan.

It must be since this is about the lowest rated movie of the year.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I think from the outset it was clear that conventional critics were going to hate it. Like I said, love it or hate it. Its not memorable, I won't defend it to the death and I'll probably find it 45mins too long on a repeat viewing, but its fun, cheery and light. There are far worse ways to spend a lazy hot summer afternoon these days.

Burga - who plays lots of videogames, is not an anime fan in general, does not have ADD and believes his inner 5 year old is still very much alive.

Burga 2 - now craving for the Giacchinno score to tide him over till Indy IV arrives...

[Bryant Burnette 654]

I, too, just finished watching Speed Racer.

I've never seen one single episode of the cartoon, but that's probably going to change. For me, this was one of those rare experiences where I was just absolutely entranced from start to finish. It's cartoonish and silly and trippy and hyperstylized and whatever other adjectives meaning "excessive" you want to throw at it, but I found it to be just staggeringly awesome. I may not have the same reaction when I watch it a second time; who knows. But the first time through, I enjoyed it about as much as I've enjoyed a movie this decade.

[A24 4,326]

I think from the outset it was clear that conventional critics were going to hate it.

I think from the outset it was clear that conventional joyride fans were going to like it.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I think from the outset it was clear that conventional critics were going to hate it.

I think from the outset it was clear that conventional joyride fans were going to like it.

I was expecting to not like it (like I said, I thought the trailer was a disaster). When I bought the ticket (on impulse), I wondered whether my money would have been better spent on a that newly introduced Mega Mac (Double Big Mac to you Americans) instead.

I, too, just finished watching Speed Racer.

I've never seen one single episode of the cartoon, but that's probably going to change. For me, this was one of those rare experiences where I was just absolutely entranced from start to finish. It's cartoonish and silly and trippy and hyperstylized and whatever other adjectives meaning "excessive" you want to throw at it, but I found it to be just staggeringly awesome. I may not have the same reaction when I watch it a second time; who knows. But the first time through, I enjoyed it about as much as I've enjoyed a movie this decade.

Good to see I'm not alone!

[tpigeon 3]

Well the critics can rip it all they want. I'm looking forward to Speed Racer.

I recently watched Charlie Wilson's War and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, both of which I expected a great deal more from. Still, neither were bad.

Ted

[QMM 4]

I liked Before the Devil Know's You're Dead a great deal, although it was my first Lumet film.

[Delorean90 42]

Go see 12 Angry Men ASAP.

[tpigeon 3]

And Network.

[QMM 4]

I have since seen 12 Angry Men, but not Network

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I started watching The Thing from Another World last night. I can't get over how contemporary it actually feels for a 50 year old movie.

Still I got home late and decided to turn it off around 130 so I could go to sleep. Only got through half of the dvd.

Is that the original The Thing?

Yes Alex, while typical of the 1950's there is a rawness to it that works on today's level. Dimitri Tiompkin's score is creepy, with a 50's synthetic sound. Even today, unlike may of its companions of the day, it is filled with tension and a sense of danger. You can see why its borrowed from, notably in 79's Alien.

[Humpty Dumpty 0]

I didn't find the Johnny Greenwood score all that interesting or daring. It was just a hodgepodge of Bartok, Shostakovich, and Ligeti, and much of it sounded incongruent with the scenes with which it went along.

[Maglorfin 196]

Dimitri Tiompkin's score is creepy, with a 50's synthetic sound.

Used some theremin, did he?

[Bryant Burnette 654]

I started watching The Thing from Another World last night. I can't get over how contemporary it actually feels for a 50 year old movie.

Still I got home late and decided to turn it off around 130 so I could go to sleep. Only got through half of the dvd.

Is that the original The Thing?

Yes Alex, while typical of the 1950's there is a rawness to it that works on today's level. Dimitri Tiompkin's score is creepy, with a 50's synthetic sound. Even today, unlike may of its companions of the day, it is filled with tension and a sense of danger. You can see why its borrowed from, notably in 79's Alien.

I love both versions of The Thing, and would put them both on any list of essential sci-fi (or horror) movies.

[A24 4,326]

I'll bet that you almost don't see the monster in the old version. The remake sorta showcases Rob Bottin's creations. The FX take up the central place and therefore the film couldn't fully convince me at the time. Yes, it was utterly creepy but I missed something. I thought Scott's Alien was a richer experience.

Alex

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I love THE THING. Great creatures, but the sense of despair and paranoia that infuses that movie is something else.

I just watched WATERSHIP DOWN. Still great - and so creepy - with a wonderful score.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I'll bet that you almost don't see the monster in the old version. The remake sorta showcases Rob Bottin's creations. The FX take up the central place and therefore the film couldn't fully convince me at the time. Yes, it was utterly creepy but I missed something. I thought Scott's Alien was a richer experience.

Alex

you'd be right, though you do see it, its James Arness (Matt Dillion from Gunsmoke), but you never really see the face. It is intelligent though, unlike the creatures in the Alien films (yes they are intelligent, but like a predatory animal).

I think Carpenter's film works well too, but isn't as good, it wants to gross you out, but I think Carpenter still manages to build the dread of not knowing who might or might not be infected, it is a nihilistic film. He manages to build upon the paranoia of the first film and take it to another level.

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

Caught bits of Hai-Alarm auf Mallorca on TV last night. It was - brilliant! It's to Deep Blue Sea what Deep Blue Sea is to Jaws (or even worse). The plot is about some ancient shark species (I missed most of the movie, so I don't know specifics) which must be at least 30m long and 2m high (he could just swallow a human - but he prefers to chew them so they can show more crappy FX). It also seemed capable of making at least 80km/h.

I find it somehow amazing how Germany occasionally decides to do a Hollywood movie, and then manages to perfectly copy all the bad stuff about the worst Hollywood movies, while failing to reach what level of qualty those still have left (for example, even the worst Hollywood action blockbuster usually at least has an effects budget that allows for effects which might look bad, but still are miles ahead of their German counterparts).

I'm sure it would be similar in Austria, if only we had the budgets to attempt something of that sort to begin with.

Anyway, I was serious - it *was* brilliant, and I have to watch the full thing someday. The script seemed to be on Plan 9's level of ridiculousness, only where Plan 9 somewhat managed to compensate with charm and campiness, this instead is just hilariously bad.

[Trent B 337]

I just got back from seeing Iron Man. Great flick, and the score does work well with the film. I am definitely interested to see what they do with the series.

[Morlock 11]

For some reason, I tried to see The Golden Compass again. It was unbearable. Left the room after a few minutes.

[Bryant Burnette 654]

For some reason, I tried to see The Golden Compass again. It was unbearable. Left the room after a few minutes.

I didn't hate The Golden Compass, but I will say that it has one of the all-time most unsatisfying endings. You could see people were disgusted as they came out of the theatre.

Also, what a curiosity at the box office! I don't think there has ever been an American movie that did so well overseas yet so poorly here.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Also, what a curiosity at the box office! I don't think there has ever been an American movie that did so well overseas yet so poorly here.

Starship Trooper perhaps? Got no numbers on both but yea..