Total Recall (1990) vs. Minority Report

[Jay 37,370]

Hmm. I've never heard QBVII or City Hall before. I guess I need to rectify that.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Top 5 Jerry:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Planet Of The Apes

Chinatown

Alien

Star Trek V

BONUS:

Explorers

Medicine Man

[publicist 4,643]

LEGEND!

[crocodile 8,017]

Well, I can't promise that you'll like it. These are among my personal favourites. City Hall is a timpani heavy superior brother to L.A. Confidential. And QV VII is a Schindler's List as made in Golden Age Hollywood (read: lush and grand).

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

There are some quite disturbing choral parts in QBVII that are neither lush nor grand.

[Josh500 1,615]

Top 5 Jerry:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Planet Of The Apes

Chinatown

Alien

Star Trek V

BONUS:

Explorers

Medicine Man

I've never heard POTA and Chinatown, not to mention Medicine Man!

So many JG scores that I am not familiar with yet.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

LEGEND!

In the process of getting to know it.

[crocodile 8,017]

There are some quite disturbing choral parts in QBVII that are neither lush nor grand.

Well, I was referring to the score as a whole. Not specific pieces.

It's a fascinating and lovely piece of work. And quite unique in his resume.

Karol

[KK 3,307]

There's one more thing. I do realise that's not a terribly popular opinion... but I always felt that Goldsmith's wonder, suspense, drama, fantasy always eclipsed his action. It's my least favourite aspect of his writing (hey, another parallel with JNH!). Don't get me wrong, it's probably the most masculine and kinetic in this business (and pretty timeless sounding at that) but just not my thing. Hence, the quiet parts of Total Recall are really good but that's it for me.

I somewhat agree, but mostly about his late action music - let's say post-Star Trek V, where it and everything else became very stringent and neo-classical. Whereas something like POTA features some of the best action music ever written for film.

Yes! Though claiming so usually calls for damnation by the film music community at large. Goldsmith's action, mostly in his later years, rarely did much for me. Rhythmically and tonally pleasant, but only gets to you on the surface. His action meters started to get old quickly, coming off as streamlined and sometimes begging for more substance beyond the pulsating bass and soaring melody on top. Goldsmith's best action came from the 70s. But his strengths always lied elsewhere.

Minority Report (the score) is flawed in the sense that it struggles to put together its various components together cohesively. Having said that, it's highlights put it above Total Recall for me, though I do like the atmospheric stuff in the score.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Ideal Jerry action music!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

There's one more thing. I do realise that's not a terribly popular opinion... but I always felt that Goldsmith's wonder, suspense, drama, fantasy always eclipsed his action. It's my least favourite aspect of his writing (hey, another parallel with JNH!). Don't get me wrong, it's probably the most masculine and kinetic in this business (and pretty timeless sounding at that) but just not my thing. Hence, the quiet parts of Total Recall are really good but that's it for me.

I somewhat agree, but mostly about his late action music - let's say post-Star Trek V, where it and everything else became very stringent and neo-classical. Whereas something like POTA features some of the best action music ever written for film.

Yes! Though claiming so usually calls for damnation by the film music community at large. Goldsmith's action, mostly in his later years, rarely did much for me. Rhythmically and tonally pleasant, but only gets to you on the surface. His action meters started to get old quickly, coming off as streamlined and sometimes begging for more substance beyond the pulsating bass and soaring melody on top. Goldsmith's best action came from the 70s. But his strengths always lied elsewhere.

Minority Report (the score) is flawed in the sense that it struggles to put together its various components together cohesively. Having said that, it's highlights put it above Total Recall for me, though I do like the atmospheric stuff in the score.

Idiot!

[crocodile 8,017]

I thought he showed promise?

You and Quintus can't mould his mind anymore, There are no strings on KK!

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

And now he demands more substance from AFO's 'The Hijacking'. Hopeless, really.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

An 18 year old calling out for substance?

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

KK is two years older than me? Whoa!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

It seems you're getting younger with every new post you write.

[crocodile 8,017]

TGP is three years older than me? Mind blown!

Karol

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

It seems you're getting younger with every new post you write.

Thank you, I try to stay youthful.

[publicist 4,643]

If only the musty smell of mothballs would cease...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Those aren't his mothballs

[publicist 4,643]

Never claimed they were!

[KK 3,307]

I thought he showed promise?

You and Quintus can't mould his mind anymore, There are no strings on KK!

Karol

I have been liberated!

And now he demands more substance from AFO's 'The Hijacking'. Hopeless, really.

Its always a huge gamble making any slight against Goldsmith, usually doesn't sit well with others. But hey, that doesn't make 90s Goldsmith action any less boring!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

One day....

[crocodile 8,017]

Let's face it. Goldsmith was always a discount John Williams!

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

Yeah. It's sooo easy to dismiss a good horn fanfare over bass drum hits as below one's refined tastes. And then look what they fancy instead...fucking snobs!!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Pity UKIP didn't win and kick you out!

[crocodile 8,017]

They couldn't anyway. I'm paying taxes.

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

First pay your respect!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Probably not enough!

[crocodile 8,017]

First pay your respect!

Hey's that's better than Total Recall.

Karol

[KK 3,307]

Better, but not by much.

[Uni 306]

MR might be quite underrated around here.

I think it is. Both the film and the score.

Great point. I'd also group that with SW2 and THE PATRIOT, though the later is more like a bridge between his TPM/TLW sound and what you're describing.

Great point about The Patriot. It does have an in-betweener feel to it, bridging that late-90s to early 00s gap.

I saw Minority Report opening weekend in the theater, but haven't seen it since, so have no memory of the score as its used in the film. I really need to see this film again.

You absolutely do. I think it's a masterpiece.

I never understood why there has to be this division. I mix stuff from all decades and there's definitely some of every phase i love (minus the Mancini impersonations) and also stuff i'm not too keen on.

That sums it up for me beautifully. My "Just John" playlist spans from Diamond Head to The Book Thief, and doesn't miss much in between.

Top 5 Jerry:

BONUS:

Explorers

Love to see this one on your list. It's too easily dismissed as one of his 80s leftovers.

Y'know . . . this discussion—or the parts of it that are on topic, anyway—have me comparing these two scores in ways I never really considered before. I wonder what Philip K. Dick might've thought of them. It's hard to say how he would've regarded the movies based on his works (given the extreme liberties that have always been taken), but what would it be like if you could present these two extremely different scores from two of the finest composers of the latter half of the 20th century to the author himself (without him ever having seen the movies)?

It also has me thinking on the contrast between the two. There's lots of mind-boggling stuff in both, and plenty of action as well . . . but they each belong in their own world, so to speak, even though they were derived from the same source. And that makes me wonder what it would be like to cut some of the music from each score into the opposite movies, just to see how it would come across. (Actually, that probably wouldn't work at all, mostly because the main characters are so different from one another. The stories are told from entirely different perspectives, so they're not really compatible at all.)

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Huh. I think it features some of Jerry's very best action music!

It's great, but I prefer FIRST BLOOD, OUTLAND, CAPRICORN ONE, THE WIND AND THE LION, PAPILLON, POTA, THE SAND PEBBLES and THE BLUE MAX for action.

[Josh500 1,615]

I compared these 2 movies because, obviously, they are both based on a Philip K. Dick work. But there is more to it than that... something that intimately ties these 2 movies together. Maybe some people don't know the whole story, no pun intended...


"Due to the film's [Total Recall's] success, a sequel was written with the script title Total Recall 2, and with Schwarzenegger's character still Douglas Quaid, now working as a reformed law enforcer. The sequel was based on another Philip K. Dick short story, 'The Minority Report', which hypothesizes about a future where a crime can be solved before it is committed--in the movie, the clairvoyants would be Martian mutants.The sequel was not filmed, but the script survived and it was changed drastically and contained greater elements from the original short story. The story was eventually adapted into the Steven Spielberg sci-fi thriller Minority Report, which opened in 2002 to commercial success."

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

TGP, THE EXPLORERS is a nice score, but MEDICINE MAN?! Jebus.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Meh.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

1. MR - Minority Report is one of my favorite movies so it easily takes the "film" category for me (not to knock Total Recall, which is actually very good).

2. TR - On the basis of the two out of place MR cues (Anderston's Great Escape & Eye-Dentiscan)

3. MR - Not really a fan of TR on album to be honest. Like most Jerry Goldsmith action music, I find it far too unrelenting and noisy.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Meh.

lol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Minotity Report has more in common with Blade Runner. I think Spielberg deliberately emulated Scott at a few points, as an homage.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Wait, this isn't a Josh500 poll from years ago that's been bumped?

Minority Report is one of my favorite JW scores. I'll never forget when I handed him the album cover to sign in Boston and he looked at it stone-faced.

[Josh500 1,615]

2. TR - On the basis of the two out of place MR cues (Anderston's Great Escape & Eye-Dentiscan)

As to "Anderton's Great Escape"... I think that entire action sequence might be slightly out of place. It's a bit too cartoonish and over-the-top compared with the rest of the film, if you know what I mean. The score fits the scene perfectly, though.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

Film? "Minority Report".

Score? "Total Recall". Sorry, but JW can't hope to compare with this score (so it's a good job he's not trying).

In fact...

The music for "Total Recall" is the single finest action score ever composed. Discuss.

[Josh500 1,615]

The music for "Total Recall" is the single finest action score ever composed. Discuss.

The single finest action score composed?

No. It's great, but no.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

FAIL!!!!

[crocodile 8,017]

The music for "Total Recall" is the single finest action score ever composed. Discuss.

The single finest action score composed?

No. It's great, but no.

And what cue would that be?

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

Clever Girl or The Hologram

[Jay 37,370]

The music for "Total Recall" is the single finest action score ever composed. Discuss.

The single finest action score composed?

No. It's great, but no.

And what cue would that be?

Karol

Who said anything about a cue?

[crocodile 8,017]

I did.

Karol

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I could go the rest of my life without seeing either film or hear either score.