The Spiderwick Chronicles

[Hlao-roo 388]

Does anyone besides David Coscina recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles? I've heard only samples, but they sound moderately promising.

[crocodile 6,294]

It's an enjoyable score. Curiously un-thematic but well written. And surprisingly dark at times for a children film. For whatever reason, Horner opted for a more dense orchestrations as opposed to his more clean-cut stuff he does for period melodramas.

Karol

[Hlao-roo 388]

It's an enjoyable score. Curiously un-thematic but well written. And surprisingly dark at times for a children film. For whatever reason, Horner opted for a more dense orchestrations as opposed to his more clean-cut stuff he does for period melodramas.

Sounds intriguing, actually.

[crocodile 6,294]

Here's an example of what I was talking about.

There are obviously, some nods (mainly to Casper) but you already knew that.

Karol

[Sharkissimo 1,971]

This is probably the darkest Horner cue for a family film.

 

 

Shivers.

[crocodile 6,294]

Never heard this before, sounds good!

It's really funny that he provides those films with such a dense and complicated textures, yet his serious stuff paints human drama as fairy tales.

Karol

[Sharkissimo 1,971]

Exactly. Maybe it's because animation gives more freedom to the composer - you have centre stage and the subtleties in facial expressions or body language aren't there. With live action, you have to provide a broader mood. I remember Thomas Newman saying that, about his experience on NEMO.

[crocodile 6,294]

As much as he might hate it, Horner is born to score blockbusters and animated films. Even if you don't like things like The Amazing Spider-Man, you have to admit that at least he's able to add a layer to the film that wasn't there. In this particular case, it was a certain gentleness that's normally absent from comic book actioners. And it almost made the film work. It's just when he gets into serious subject, that he starts to patronise and overscore.

Spiderwick might "allude" to things past and not contain a top charts tune but, from a compositional point of view, it's still more interesting than most that he's done in the past ten years or so.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,095]

KM is a big fan, if I recall.

[Hlao-roo 388]

So, Karol, by "overscore" you mean penning textures that are less "dense and complicated"?

[Jay 27,216]

Interesting, I've never heard of a film score described as patronizing before. I'm admittedly fairly unfamiliar with a lot of his more serious scores, and now I'm curious.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,476]

The Rocketeer > all other Horner

[crocodile 6,294]

So, Karol, by "overscore" you mean penning textures that are less "dense and complicated"?

No, layerying thick sentimentalism. Horner feels the need to tell the audience just dramatic and weighty this situation is.

It works for blockbuster films, though.

But I know what you're getting at. Yeah, sometimes it works this way.

Karol

[Hlao-roo 388]

Horner feels the need to tell the audience just dramatic and weighty this situation is.

But are there any Silver Age(-ish) composers who don't "feel the need to tell the audience just [how] dramatic and weighty [a] situation is" when scoring serious, human-scale dramas?

[crocodile 6,294]

Here's the thing - not with such pathos. True, Williams can do stuff like that and parts of War Horse veer towards that territory, but then again the film itself was very old-fashioned by design. But even he could restrain himself - there is barely any melodrama in, say, Schindler's List.

Karol

[Hlao-roo 388]

Here's the thing - not with such pathos. True, Williams can do stuff like that and parts of War Horse veer towards that territory, but then again the film itself was very old-fashioned by design. But even he could restrain himself - there is barely any melodrama in, say, Schindler's List.

I'm not sure we'd all agree that Schindler's List is a paragon of laudable restraint. But these discussions inevitably dead-end at some point because they're predicated on fairly arbitrary line-drawing.

[crocodile 6,294]

Doesn't every discussion on arts end this way?

Karol

[Hlao-roo 388]

Doesn't every discussion on arts end this way?

Karol

At some level, yes, but assertions of sentimentality (or the lack thereof) tend to be especially pat. In reviews, what constitutes crass manipulation or officious hand-holding is treated as a given and rarely explored.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Thats what Hitler would have said!!!

[Hlao-roo 388]

Thats what Hitler would have said!!!

Yes, I know you have special insight into that.

[Gnome in Plaid 213]

Here's the thing - not with such pathos. True, Williams can do stuff like that and parts of War Horse veer towards that territory, but then again the film itself was very old-fashioned by design. But even he could restrain himself - there is barely any melodrama in, say, Schindler's List.

Karol

Horner isn't always melodramatic. House of Sand and Fog is about as restrained as a film score can be. Apocalypto is too, but I would describe it more as "boring" than "restrained."

[Sharkissimo 1,971]

Horner feels the need to tell the audience just dramatic and weighty this situation is.

But are there any Silver Age(-ish) composers who don't "feel the need to tell the audience just [how] dramatic and weighty [a] situation is" when scoring serious, human-scale dramas?

John Barry.

THE WHISPERERS

FOUR IN THE MORNING

SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON

PETULIA

KING RAT

WALKABOUT

BOOM!

'Nuff said.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,476]

Barry > everyone

[Wojo 2,442]

Do you put John Williams in with Barry, or the everyone?