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Anyone interested in this movie and score? I loved Chris McQuarrie's The Way of the Gun (his sole directorial feature so far) and I always found the score by Joe Kraemer quite interesting, so I'm intrigued by this new feature.

Now, as you may know, Jack Reacher is based on popular series of crime novels written by Lee Child (which I haven't read) and I know fans of the books were sorely disappointed by the choice of Tom Cruise as the leading character--in the books Reacher is described as a middle-aged big tough guy with dark blonde hair.

However, the movie looks interesting mainly because it seems to harken back to 1970s action thriller stylings (i.e. The French Connection, Taking of Pelham 123, Scorpio, etc.), a favourite genre of mine. I was reading FSM's Tim Grieving http://projectorandorchestra.com/reaching-high/'>blog post about the film and when I read the following paragraph I was truly excited:

The music—which I had already fallen for on its own terms—starts the film with a direct, uncompromising theme for Reacher, and proceeds throughout the film with motifs and development and sumptuous orchestration and utter, oldschool memorability. This is one of the most exciting film scores I’ve heard in a long time and—in a year blessed with a beautiful new John Williams score—that is high praise indeed. Joe Kraemer was instructed to score Reacher like the classic action films of the ’70s (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The French Connection), an era of films that McQuarrie looks to as the essential model. Kraemer responded with something that would comfortably sit alongside the best of 1970s film music, yet is totally undated. I am in awe of this score, and it raises the already sterling merits of the movie.

This one looks like a score to look forward to.

Here's the trailer for those who haven't seen it yet:

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Yes, the trailer makes the film look like a generic bland actioner (Hollywood studios really need to re-think deeply their promotional/marketing strategy). But from Greiving's blog it seems there's much more in it. Let's hope for the good.

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Most western women (including my gf) went ballistic when they learned the news that the world's most famous cheesy short arse had secured the Reacher role. The character of the books apparently being a 6ft5" brick shithouse with the broody weathered looks of Viggo Mortenson meets Gerard Butler.

I was quite amused by the resoundingly universal disapproval. Saw the trailer before Skyfall and it looked quite cringy. I very much doubt there'll be many wet pairs of knickers in theatres this winter, much to female kinds disappointment.

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It's set and filmed in my city, so I'm optimistic. I'm looking for the first really great Pittsburgh movie because, honestly, Striking Distance, Inspector Gadget, and The Next Three Days really don't do it for me. No, I haven't Sudden Death, She's Out of My League, Mysteries of Pittsburgh, or The Dark Knight Rises (stretching it), yet.

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Thanks for the nice mention, Maurizio.

For you JW kids, here's a fun quote from my interview with McQuarrie:

"We eventually did bring [the producers] the first eight minutes of score that Joe was a real champ to do as a demo. When Tom [Cruise] heard it…I’ve never heard back from him so quickly in my life. I heard back literally eight minutes later. He said, “Who is this guy?? Where did you find him? I haven’t heard a score like this since John Williams scored Born on the Fourth of July.”

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Here's a fun quote from my interview with McQuarrie:

"We eventually did bring [the producers] the first eight minutes of score that Joe was a real champ to do as a demo. When Tom [Cruise] heard it…I’ve never heard back from him so quickly in my life. I heard back literally eight minutes later. He said, “Who is this guy?? Where did you find him? I haven’t heard a score like this since John Williams scored Born on the Fourth of July.”

Wow!

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Thanks for the nice mention, Maurizio.

For you JW kids, here's a fun quote from my interview with McQuarrie:

"We eventually did bring [the producers] the first eight minutes of score that Joe was a real champ to do as a demo. When Tom [Cruise] heard it…I’ve never heard back from him so quickly in my life. I heard back literally eight minutes later. He said, “Who is this guy?? Where did you find him? I haven’t heard a score like this since John Williams scored Born on the Fourth of July.”

You're welcome, Maestro! I always enjoyed your blog posts.

Great anecdote from Mr. Cruise! :)

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Indeed. Between the influences at play and Cruise's comment, this sounds like a winner. I wasn't planning to see the film before, but it's definitely on my radar now.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

LA-LA LAND RECORDS PRESENTS

NEW RELEASE: Tues, 1pm (PST) Dec 18, 2012

Available for order at www.lalalandrecords.com

Tues, 1pm (PST), Dec 18, 2012

“JACK REACHER”

Music by Joe Kraemer

RETAIL PRICE: $15.98

STARTS SHIPPING JAN 4, 2013

GOING OUT OF PRINT 12/31/12!

Get the following for only $2.98 each before they are gone: HAUNTED HONEYMOON, SPEECHLESS, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, BEACH BLANKET BINGO and HELL’S BELLES. And get the following for only $4.98 each: HAUNTED SUMMER and THEATER OF BLOOD. Only at www.lalalandrecords.com

JACK REACHER LLLCD 1240

Music by Joe Kraemer

STARTS SHIPPING JAN 4th

RETAIL PRICE: $15.98

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ORDER “JACK REACHER” starting Dec 18th at 1pm PST at www.lalalandrecords.com and get your CD autographed by composer Joe Kraemer at no additional charge. Autographs are limited while supplies last and are not guaranteed.

La-La Land Records and Paramount Pictures present the release of composer Joe Kraemer’s (THE WAY OF THE GUN, AN UNREASONABLE MAN) original motion picture score to Paramount Pictures’ acclaimed thriller JACK REACHER, starring Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins and Werner Herzog, and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Kraemer fashions a crackerjack corker of a score, infusing it with an unmistakable 70s vibe that results in a sound that is as knowingly retro as it is freshly contemporary - the perfect compliment to this taught, wildly entertaining mystery/action/thriller cocktail. Produced by Joe Kraemer and mastered by Bruce Botnick, this special CD release features an exclusive Bonus Track that is not available for digital download. Film music writer Tim Greiving provides liner notes with additional notes from the composer and writer/director. (Note: This is not a limited edition release).

TRACK LISTING:

1. MAIN TITLE 3:47

2. WHO IS JACK REACHER? 3:10

3. THE INVESTIGATION 3:19

4. BARR AND HELEN 4:37

5. FARRIER AND THE ZEC 4:36

6. THE RIVERWALK 4:02

7. HELEN’S STORY 3:10

8. EVIDENCE 8:30

9. HELEN IN JEOPARDY 4:56

10. THE QUARRY SEQUENCE 3:55

11. SHOWDOWN 4:33

12. FINALE & END CREDITS 7:25

13. PRISONER HUMAN BEING (BONUS TRACK) 4:37

TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 61:13

All of us here in La-La Land wish you a wonderful, safe holidays and a happy and healthy New Year! Thanks for supporting us – we couldn’t have made ten years without you! Here’s to ten more, starting more exciting releases in 2013!

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There is a short snipped of the score posted in the new FSM Online issue. Nothing outstanding yet, but it does sound more traditional.

Karol

The interview is really interesting--it's nice to hear that Tom Cruise supported the composer so much.

Here's a short interview with Kraemer I found on YT. Questions are pretty generic, but he gives some nice comments:

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Since it starts shipping on January 4th, I'll just wait for some more samples (hey we should get to hear something in about three hours) and I can then place my order right after Christmas as I'll get paid by then.

Karol

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Here's a cool article about the score and Joe Kraemer from Variety. Copying it here because Variety articles don't stay online forever

'Reacher' composer back in the action

Joe Kraemer savors bigger scope since first pic with helmer Christopher McQuarrie 12 years ago

By ANDREW BARKER

The realm inhabited by big-budget film composers is a small, exclusive club, and alert auds might have been surprised to see the name Joe Kraemer attached to score a project as high-profile as Christopher McQuarrie's Tom Cruise starrer "Jack Reacher." And indeed, the film represents a huge step forward for the maestro -- his first big break since his last one.

Acquainted with the director since he was a teenager, the Albany-raised Kraemer first teamed with McQuarrie on the 2000 pic "The Way of the Gun." It was Kraemer's first real marquee scoring assignment after stints as a sound editor, yet even with a strong cast and praise for his music, the film "just didn't open," as Kraemer put it, and big-budget follow-up projects were slow in coming.

Keeping busy with a plethora of TV, indie film and documentary scoring work in the following decade (most notably the Ralph Nader docu "An Unreasonable Man"), opportunity knocked once again when McQuarrie returned to the director's chair to adapt Lee Child's thriller tome "One Shot." The composer seized the chance with both hands.

"For me, where I'm at in my career, it's a huge deal," Kraemer said. "It's the first opportunity that's come along since 'Way of the Gun' to really work on a much larger scale."

For the film, Kraemer reached back to the music of McQuarrie's biggest influences -- especially the 1970s films of Sidney Lumet and Alan Pakula -- and recorded in resolutely old-school environs. The entire score was finished in four days, recorded all the way through by a 90-piece orchestra, without dividing the musicians into smaller ensembles.

Furthermore, when Kraemer first received the film, it came without a temp score. The silence was particularly daunting for the composer when he was confronted with the film's dialogue-free initial five minutes.

"Without dialogue or music, it all felt so real when I first got it," he recalled. "You can easily imagine how the wrong music could just crush that sense of realism. It can be tricky not to step on a more delicate moment."

Worries about overwhelming the material were not unfounded, as the score engages with the lower end of the spectrum to subwoofer-endangering degrees -- Kraemer's orchestra included no less than eight basses and two tubas -- as well as embracing the full volume and scope of such a large ensemble. Minimalist it isn't, but the composer was careful to apply such power delicately.

"There isn't wall-to-wall music here, and the music comes in odd places," Kraemer noted. "There's no music during the car chase or the fistfights, which is unusual. But that's a gift to me, because I'm not forced to tread water, musically, for three minutes because the director is worried that the scene isn't working."

Kraemer also credits his personal relationship with the director for inspiring some of his bolder experiments, as he knew he wouldn't be booted from the job for pushing the envelope.

"There's an implicit sense of trust (between us), and plus I know what Chris likes," he said. "I know he likes a great, big, brassy crescendo, so I can use that as a sort of anchor to build on and try something different."

Yet experimentation for its own sake was never the intention, and Kraemer was thankful for the ability to simply work with an orchestra of "Reacher's" size and scale.

"I'm certainly not a purist or a snob, and I think electronic and ambient scores are perfectly valid," he said. "I've done some myself, and I love scores like the one Daft Punk did for 'Tron.' But I wonder if anyone even aspires to reach that John Williams level of ability these days. There's such a charge I get from hearing a full orchestral score -- it really is the pinnacle of the art form."

http://www.variety.c...e/VR1118064081/

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Quite effective, superb spotting. The aforementioned car chase is completely quiet. It has a nicely vibrant yet collective main titles sequence that I'd compare to Source Code, and some more atmospheric brooding underscore ala Howard Shore. It feels like a film/score from another era, and I think that was precisely the point. The plot is pretty much one in a million from old school noirs, and the bad guy motive is more or less explained with "We do this because this is what we do" but McQuarrie's writing and direction is so strong that it doesn't even matter. Cruise gives a fun performance, one that was witty and made me chuckle unlike his usual blockbuster fare like Knight & Day where he seems like he's just being Tom Cruise. The film opens with "A Tom Cruise production" ... "Tom Cruise..." but don't let the ego get to you ;)

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Just got back...the film was very enjoyable. Cruise plays an arrogant asshole, and that's part of the fun. I had a ton of fun. However as much as I enjoyed the film, I can't help but wonder if this type of thing is contributing to some of society's problems...in the wake of the Newtown shooting, the glorification of violence in the media (and more specifically, of shootings) has become suspect, and I can't help but wonder if movies like Jack Reacher play a part in that.

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Cruise is "fun" as Reacher? So if this is supposed to be as "hard boiled" as they say, does that mean he's fun in an ironic sense? Like he's unintentionally funny, but he gets away with it because it's a novelty to see him hamming it up?

Ooo my gf would HATE this!

Apparently women take this strictly alpha male Reacher fella, really, really seriously. Tom Cruise being fun doesn't sound respectful of their fantasy!

I must admit I have come to know a few women fans of this series and every single one of them is "boycotting" the move, lol. It'll be mildly interesting to see who wins, in the end.

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Cruise is "fun" as Reacher? So if this is supposed to be as "hard boiled" as they say, does that mean he's fun in an ironic sense? Like he's unintentionally funny, but he gets away with it because it's a novelty to see him hamming it up?

Ooo my gf would HATE this!

Apparently women take this strictly alpha male Reacher fella, really, really seriously. Tom Cruise being fun doesn't sound respectful of their fantasy!

I must admit I have come to know a few women fans of this series and every single one of them is "boycotting" the move, lol. It'll be mildly interesting to see who wins, in the end.

They go through such lengths to make him into a macho badass that it comes across as an incredibly cheesy portrayal of Reacher. Which is exactly what the filmmakers intended, I'm sure.

Best line:

- random girl trying to seduce Reacher: I'm Sandy.

- Reacher: So was I...at a beach in Florida last month.

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I think the thing I liked best about Cruise as Reacher is the sort of world-weary POV he brings to the character, which seems to be right in line with the books (which I haven't read). So when Cruise's Reacher ends up in a street fight, he's almost disappointed that it's come to this, "Remember, you wanted this..." he says, and then he takes 5 guys out, as LA WEEKLY says, "convincingly". Reacher isn't having fun, as opposed to, say, Ethan Hunt. Cruise the actor IS having fun playing Reacher though, you can tell. Even his very last scene, he's very much the reluctant hero, which I enjoyed seeing.

It's the sort of part Newman or Eastwood would have played when they were 50 and would have been lauded for, but Cruise at 50 gets slammed for...who knows, maybe in 10 years it'll be looked on a turning point in his career.

As for the score, it definitely seems like they were going for the 70's in terms of spotting and execution, even if it did have some modern sounds in it (synthy waterphone-type sound, techno-y bass drum). Reminded me of David Shire and Howard Shore when I listened to it on it's own...

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David Shire comparison is definitely a thing to get excited by!

I have to admit, none of the trailers made me want to watch it. But now I am kind of curious...

Karol

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