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Have we reached peak Hans Zimmer?


Alex

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Zimmer will get his inevitable Oscar nom for Dunkirk, and producers and directors will constantly be asking to use that score for temp-tracking, don't ya worry! We aren't out of the "dark times", just yet. 

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As long as Zimmer continues to make simple repetitive "pounding" music that filmmakers can easily change around, nothing gonna's change I'm afraid. I do think he's a decent choice for Blade Runner 2049 though.

 

:unsure:

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Nice that the article is aware that Zimmer himself is not responsible for everyone else aping one little corner of his output, but why assume that BR2 will receive bombastic treatment?  The sensitive moments of Inception tease what Hans can do with electronic melancholy. 

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*sigh*

 

Another Zimmer-bashing thread? Really?

 

As much as I was disappointed by Johannsson's departure, I can hardly think of a better and more suited project for Zimmer than the new BLADE RUNNER. He would have been my original first choice when Vangelis was not available.

 

While my favourite Zimmer period is the 90s, I'm still amazed by how much he pushes himself still. I can see him doing that for several more decades, regardless of what his 'copycats' do. So no, we've not necessarily seen his creative 'peak'.

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So in reading that article I learn that Vangelis is still making music...something I did not know.  I just assumed he had retired.

 

So if that's the case, why isn't he scoring BR2049?

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It is not that what is written is not true, but the author says he wrote the article after the public "outraged" created the hashtag #StopHansZimmer. This hashtag did not exist until the article was published.

 

That smells like publicity.

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22 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

So in reading that article I learn that Vangelis is still making music...something I did not know.  I just assumed he had retired.

 

So if that's the case, why isn't he scoring BR2049?

 

He just released first album in fifteen years the prior year. For all we know, he may have been approached for Blade Runner, and simply wasn't interested. He hasn't worked on a major film since 2004. 

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18 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Anyway, I blame musically illiterate and unadventurous filmmakers for the current state of film music, not Hans Zimmer.

 

I don't blame Zimmer at all. Any more than I blame Lucas and Spielberg for inventing the modern blockbuster.

 

Zimmer is who he is. You might as well blame a cocker spaniel for barking.  It's the insatiable demand by studios for his brand (and I do mean brand) of music that caused him to start farming the work out.

 

Zimmer's scores have their place. I just wish it wasn't everyplace.

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2 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

So in reading that article I learn that Vangelis is still making music...something I did not know.  I just assumed he had retired.

 

So if that's the case, why isn't he scoring BR2049?

 

Put simply, he wasn't asked

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3 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

Because Hans Zimmer is at its peak.

:lol:

 

Scores like Gladiator, Last Samurai and Black Hawk Down are badly overscored. The music has no dramatic effect, when it's playing the whole fucking time and especially not, when it's playing during the war and heavy combat scenes!:angry: He latently spoiled those movies for me.

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I still remember in the 1990s when people were saying the same thing about Williams. 

 

Because yes, every Williams score sounded like Williams and every non-Williams score sounded like bad Williams. 

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That is completely true.  And just as the stretch of lukewarm grandiose symphonic blockbusters gave way to big drums and chugging strings, big drums and chugging strings will give way to something else.  The former phase did diminish my ability to enjoy many of Williams' most popular "big scores," but the latter hasn't totally killed my appreciation of the very fine Zimmer works being aped.  I don't want him to do any more, though.  That's the difference I guess, that Williams kept going in a very similar direction to the one he had been for most of his subsequent scores.  The big departures of 2000 - 2005 are why I love that period of his so much.  But the corner of Zimmer's body of work diluted by imitations is really quite small.

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6 hours ago, Fancyarcher said:

 

He just released first album in fifteen years the prior year. For all we know, he may have been approached for Blade Runner, and simply wasn't interested. He hasn't worked on a major film since 2004. 

 

He wasn't.

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Quote

What’s particularly galling in the Blade Runner 2049 case is that this sort of bombast has nothing to do with Ridley Scott’s 1982 film, save for the closing credits.

 

Finally somebody feels they way I do ... (some sunny day).

 

7 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

So in reading that article I learn that Vangelis is still making music...something I did not know.  I just assumed he had retired.

 

So if that's the case, why isn't he scoring BR2049?

 

if I was Villeneuve or Scott (and I had followed Vangelis' musical development over the decades), I wouldn't have called him either, as harsh it that may sound. I mean, just listen to the bonus CD (from the Anniversary version of the original soundtrack) where Vangelis is building on the original music. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

 

if I was Villeneuve or Scott (and I had followed Vangelis' musical development over the decades), I wouldn't have called him either, as harsh it that may sound. I mean, just listen to the bonus CD (from the Anniversary version of the original soundtrack) where Vangelis is building on the original music. 

 

 

 

Well Vaneglis' Blade Runner score is at least somewhat overrated anyway. Parts of it works brilliantly in context of the film (which I concede is the first priority of any score), but I've never found it to be satisfying as a solitary listening experience.  So yeah, I can't imagine any "expanded" version of the score w/new material would be much better. 

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14 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

Well Vaneglis' Blade Runner score is at least somewhat overrated anyway. Parts of it works brilliantly in context of the film (which I concede is the first priority of any score), but I've never found it to be satisfying as a solitary listening experience.  So yeah, I can't imagine any "expanded" version of the score w/new material would be much better. 

 

I agree, but then again, Blade Runner's images and sound are so interwoven that it's about the only movie where I can't break up the relationship. It's a perfect symbiosis.

 

If I remember it correctly, I think it was Nerdwriter who actually said the same thing about the score of the movie.

 

 

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10 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

The writer was clearly not arguing this is Zimmer's creative peak, but his influential peak.  I would disagree on both counts as I feel he his past both.

 

Well, we'll have to disagree on that. Just when you think there are no more ways for him to go, he pulls out something like INTERSTELLAR. So yeah, I don't think he's passed his creative peak.

 

As for 'influential peak', that's difficult to speculate. He's the biggest composer right now (sorry, Williams, Morricone etc.), and will probably remain so for a few more years. I can understand why people don't want him to take over every major franchise (like Giacchino), but you also have to ask yourself this: is the project suited to Zimmer's sensibilities? In the case of the BLADE RUNNER -- however the film turns out -- I'm more interested in this suitability than it being another example of him "taking over" something.

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1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Blade Runner's images and sound are so interwoven that it's about the only movie where I can't break up the relationship. It's a perfect symbiosis.

 

 

I agree.

 

58 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Just when you think there are no more ways for him to go, he pulls out something like INTERSTELLAR. So yeah, I don't think he's passed his creative peak.

 

As for 'influential peak', that's difficult to speculate. He's the biggest composer right now (sorry, Williams, Morricone etc.), and will probably remain so for a few more years. I can understand why people don't want him to take over every major franchise (like Giacchino), but you also have to ask yourself this: is the project suited to Zimmer's sensibilities? In the case of the BLADE RUNNER -- however the film turns out -- I'm more interested in this suitability than it being another example of him "taking over" something.

 

I agree.

 

Wow, I'm agreeing w/both cremers & thor this morning.  There's been a cosmic shift somewhere!

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2 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

One morning I came home after being out all night...a friend had opened up a new Italian restaurant in London near Covent Garden and we closed the place down, then helped ourselves to his wine cellar.  When I got home I collapsed on the couch but didn't feel like sleeping (or so I thought) so I popped in the Gladiator DVD.  Fell asleep like 5 minutes later of course.  Eventually, the movie played through and the DVD switched back to the menu screen, which looped 60 seconds from the main theme as the menu reset.

 

Over. And over. And over. For 12 hours. Having drank all night, I was constantly in that half awake/asleep dream state where time and space have no meaning and I couldn't figure out why I kept hearing the same piece of music again and again, and how long was this movie anyway?  Didn't even have the energy or presence of mind to reach for the remote and turn it off. That thing turned into an ear worm that stayed with me until it was mercifully replaced by Hedwig's Theme.

 

Not that there's anything wrong w/the Gladiator score, but after that, I didn't want to hear anything from Zimmer and pretty much ignored everything he did soundtrack wise until Interstellar.

 

Some nights though, I wake up in a cold sweat and can still hear it...the screaming of the Hans.

 

That's an intriguing story. Thanks for sharing. Never underestimate the subconscious!

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