Jump to content

Grade Speed Racer by Michael Giacchino


Grade Speed Racer by Michael Giacchino  

28 members have voted

  1. 1. Grade Speed Racer by Michael Giacchino

    • A+ (100%)
      3
    • A (95%)
      4
    • A- (90%)
      2
    • B+ (89%)
      5
    • B (85%)
      5
    • B- (80%)
      3
    • C+ (79%)
      0
    • C (75%)
      0
    • C- (70%)
      0
    • D+ (69%)
      1
    • D (65%)
      0
    • D- (60%)
      2
    • F (0%)
      3


Recommended Posts

The movie opens this week, the soundtrack out, and many of you have heard more music than will be on the soundtrack...so now it's time to grade the score!

Click here to see past and overall poll statistics

Added New Interactive Rankings sheet, with sorting/filtering abilities, this'll be helpful when the poll database gets nice and big and you wanna sort by A's only or B's only, or by composer.

Available Press Reviews

TrackSounds - 8.0/10

IGN - 7.8/10

In the effort to make polls...more than just silly polls, I've also added a "Press Reviews" section, so as to make each poll for each soundtrack a sort of center of information for that soundtrack...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

My only complaint with these polls is that it's been so long in between. But it's nice to see them back, in any case. I'll have to give Speed Racer a listen sometime soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, it's just the forum has been so inundated with polls for the last few months that I didn't even want to bother adding to it.

Since it doesn't seem like it's gonna let up anytime soon, I went ahead and posted this one.

Even back when I was doing these full force, I always tried to limit myself to two grading threads per page of 40 topics.

Imagine if everyone went by that standard!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

B+

I don't have the CD yet, but I loved the movie, and found the score to be consistently engaging. It made terrific use of the theme song -- which, methinks, is an awfully good sign for his upcoming Star Trek music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not familiar with this score yet, so I won't vote for now.

Glad to see these polls back! I missed them! Would be nice if we could somehow compare the results of these polls with the ones I'm posting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A- because it is not entirely original since it deals with other composer material.

Which seems to be all that Gia's getting, film-wise anyway.

How is he going to shed his image of "pastiche-king" if he keeps taking jobs like this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A- because it is not entirely original since it deals with other composer material.

Which seems to be all that Gia's getting, film-wise anyway.

How is he going to shed his image of "pastiche-king" if he keeps taking jobs like this?

The incredibles, Ratatouille, The Family stone, Sky high do not deal with other composer material per se.

And i havent heard the independent films, but i suppose those neither.

I mean i would give Rattatouile 4.5-5 stars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A- because it is not entirely original since it deals with other composer material.

Which seems to be all that Gia's getting, film-wise anyway.

How is he going to shed his image of "pastiche-king" if he keeps taking jobs like this?

Speed Racer doesnt sound like pastiche to me, unless he is mimicking someone I'm not familiar with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad to see these polls back! I missed them! Would be nice if we could somehow compare the results of these polls with the ones I'm posting.

That's a lot of standardizing math. :dance:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean, I can standardize our scores into something comparable (since right now they're at different scales)....it'd take less than 5 mins in Excel...

But if you want to keep it up...um...we'll have to go by the same scale. :dance:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From that review, it sounds as if some good cues have been left off of the album, which is a shame. But I'm still going to buy it when I buy the (2-disc!) Lost season three soundtrack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From that review, it sounds as if some good cues have been left off of the album,

they are nice, but two of the ones mentioned are one minute long. No much lost, but still, the CD has 10 minutes to spare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haven't seen/listened to it yet but I really like that database you got there. You and Pieter need to work together. :rolleyes:
What did you have in mind? Something like this?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A- because it is not entirely original since it deals with other composer material.

Which seems to be all that Gia's getting, film-wise anyway.

How is he going to shed his image of "pastiche-king" if he keeps taking jobs like this?

Agreed-- though he has done some things entirely on his own such as Ratatouille and Lost.

I liked the complete score a lot, found it very enjoyable (except for the cartoony stuff) and well done, but was somewhat disappointed upon hearing the last track and discovering the TV series themes (I did not know either series or music), and thus that the whole thing, including what I liked the best, was much derived from this already existing material.

It was still a brilliant job, but I was disappointed by this revelation nonetheless.

B+

I don't have the CD yet, but I loved the movie, and found the score to be consistently engaging. It made terrific use of the theme song -- which, methinks, is an awfully good sign for his upcoming Star Trek music.

... using which theme(s)? Courage's? Goldsmith's? Both? Horner's? All of them?

If all he does is compose a whole score based on one or two themes by previous composers, it will be yet another disappointment; even if it's well crafted, and brilliant from a merely technical viewpoint, creatively, it will not be as interesting as what came before.

All the Trek movie composers quoted Courage's theme, but all of them created several new themes of their own, and wrote very distinctive scores.

Goldsmith's "Enterprise" theme was a major new theme, and Horner and he wrote very different scores for the sequels than they had for their first Trek movies.

I hope Giacchino will go this way and not the so-called "homage" way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

but was somewhat disappointed upon hearing the last track and discovering the TV series themes (I did not know either series or music), and thus that the whole thing, including what I liked the best, was much derived from this already existing material.

It was still a brilliant job, but I was disappointed by this revelation nonetheless.

On the contrary, that was what I found to be most brilliant of it all. The TV series theme is as much a part of Speed Racer as another element, but it can also get incredibly annoying. I love what Giacchino did with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

B+

I don't have the CD yet, but I loved the movie, and found the score to be consistently engaging. It made terrific use of the theme song -- which, methinks, is an awfully good sign for his upcoming Star Trek music.

... using which theme(s)? Courage's? Goldsmith's? Both? Horner's? All of them?

If all he does is compose a whole score based on one or two themes by previous composers, it will be yet another disappointment; even if it's well crafted, and brilliant from a merely technical viewpoint, creatively, it will not be as interesting as what came before.

All the Trek movie composers quoted Courage's theme, but all of them created several new themes of their own, and wrote very distinctive scores.

Goldsmith's "Enterprise" theme was a major new theme, and Horner and he wrote very different scores for the sequels than they had for their first Trek movies.

I hope Giacchino will go this way and not the so-called "homage" way.

He said he was only using the Courage Fanfare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he's not capable of creating as good a Star Trek score as Goldsmith or Horner, at absolute best we can hope he can rise to the level of Generations,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... using which theme(s)? Courage's? Goldsmith's? Both? Horner's? All of them?

If all he does is compose a whole score based on one or two themes by previous composers, it will be yet another disappointment; even if it's well crafted, and brilliant from a merely technical viewpoint, creatively, it will not be as interesting as what came before.

All the Trek movie composers quoted Courage's theme, but all of them created several new themes of their own, and wrote very distinctive scores.

Goldsmith's "Enterprise" theme was a major new theme, and Horner and he wrote very different scores for the sequels than they had for their first Trek movies.

I hope Giacchino will go this way and not the so-called "homage" way.

For one thing, let's stop this odd notion that music has to be "original" in order to be worthwhile. Just because Giacchino didn't personally compose the theme to Speed Racer, it doesn't mean that he didn't use that theme in a brilliant and artistic way in writing the score for the movie. Really, he made the theme better than it was to begin with. The music plays great on its own, and MORE IMPORTANTLY it plays great in the movie. How is that disappointing?

As for his Star Trek music, I've read interviews that indicated that he woul dalmost certainly not be using any of the Goldsmith or Horner themes, because the movie takes place (at least in part) prior to the series, so it would be inappropriate to use music from any of the movies. (Although Horner's Spock theme might work, in my opinion.) I'd bet on themes from the original series getting used. And as long as he does work that makes the movie a better experience, I don't really care whether or not he writes one single new theme of his own. If he does, that's fine too. It's all about what works for the movie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he's not capable of creating as good a Star Trek score as Goldsmith or Horner, at absolute best we can hope he can rise to the level of Generations,

lets wait and hear it before saying that kind of statements.

i'm sure he will be below goldsmith, but horner? who knows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just basing it on what I've heard from him before, he's pretty average.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so...:P

'the next john williams' is average...

BTW consider the franchise lucky for having him instead of the rest of the crap scoring out there.

And sincerely, even if he writes the best score ever composed, you will still say that its average.

Just basing it on what i heard before :cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

he's just the "current" michael giacchino, there is not "next" John Williams, just the one we have. Michael will only fail if he is to be the next John Williams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll agree with Joe on this one. But Michael Giacchino IS a good composer. I've recently been enjoying his Medal of Honor scores quite a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Though you may have been joking, there are people out there claiming that Giacchino is the next John Williams. (Wasn't there a controversial thread here with that title at some point?) And Joey is right -- there IS no next John Williams, and even if there were, it'd probably be somebody other than Giacchino, anyways: Shore or Elfman or maybe Howard or Zimmer. But I don't even think any of them (with the possible exception of Shore) have that kind of consistent brilliance in them.

That said, I don't really understand why so many people have such antipathy toward Giacchino. The guy has done some great work -- The Incredibles, Lost and Alias on tv, Ratatouille, Speed Racer -- and will undoubtedly continue to do great work. He's still more or less at the beginning of his career, and is already kicking ass, which doesn't happen with too many composers. There's no reason on Earth to think he's incapable of writing a Star Trek score that's even better than what Goldsmith, Horner, Courage, etc. have done in the past. It's unlikely, in the same way that creating an instant classic is always unlikely. But impossible? Certainly not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Though you may have been joking, there are people out there claiming that Giacchino is the next John Williams.

Spielberg was the 1st to do it :cool:

Really?!? Details, please.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Though you may have been joking, there are people out there claiming that Giacchino is the next John Williams.

Spielberg was the 1st to do it :)

Really?!? Details, please.

it was in the TLW PSX game site. Since dreamworks interactive was bought by EA the site is down.

The said he was a 'young john williams'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tracks 18 and 19 on the soundtracks are an A,but the rest brings it down to B

Though you may have been joking, there are people out there claiming that Giacchino is the next John Williams.

Spielberg was the 1st to do it :)

Really?!? Details, please.

it was in the TLW PSX game site. Since dreamworks interactive was bought by EA the site is down.

The said he was a 'young john williams'

I must admit he manages to put a few great tracks in his scores,but most of it is mediocre

Link to comment
Share on other sites

tracks 18 and 19 on the soundtracks are an A,but the rest brings it down to B

Casa Cristo was good, so are the tender stuff like Racing is In Our Blood, or the bouncy 32 Hours cue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

His work on Lost, Ratatouille, and the Medal of Honor series puts him on the caliber of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith in the late 60s/early 70s for me. His body of work also demonstrates great respect and keen ears for atonality, a skill which is sadly lacking among the newer generation of composers.

If luck and skill continue to play on his side, I could see him being superior to even John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some of you may not like it but he's also in a position now where he can pick and choose what he wants to score.

He's actually able to work on stuff he truly wants to do. I believe that was in a recent interview or the FSM online interview.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.