What happened to Danny Elfman?

[mxsch 115]

I mean, really. Scissorhands and Batman like one of the best soundtracks of all time. Now his signature style is almost vanished, except two excellent Alice scores. Even Silvestri not good in his recent works, but he at least saved his trademark sound and somewhat returned to form in Ready Player One.

 

And to throw my 5 cents, Justice League score is absolutely underrated. Yeah, rushed, but even in this form much better than all this Zimmer hacks work. Plus merging Superman and Batman themes for the first time in motion picture ever and two absolutely badass action tracks of his whole career. I've wanted to hear this to themes in one track so many years, by the way...

 

I'll bet that Junkie will write another headache piece of shit for Snyder Cut, good God.

 

Problem here is that film music industry is so infected by Zimmer studio that almost every blockbuster score not from them are automatically better.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

He became largely mediocre in the mid-2000s and no one cares about him anymore in terms of his film work because it's just crap for the last 15 years. A shame.

[mxsch 115]

1 minute ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

He became largely mediocre in the mid-2000s and no one cares about him anymore in terms of his film work because it's just crap for the last 15 years. A shame.

Minus Alice, right?

Silvestri in bad shape overall too btw. So sad to see your favourite composers in such way. And David Arnold is a shame too. He had so much potential in 90's...

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

No, including that. I don't care what the nutbags on this site say about his later work for Tim Burton films. It's all crap. He seems to have been abducted by aliens along with Tim Burton by the year 2005, replaced by shitty clones.

[mxsch 115]

Just now, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

No, including that. I don't care what the nutbags on this site say about his later work for Tim Burton films. It's all crap.

Matter of opinions, ok.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Look, I've probably had too much bourbon and FOX News tonight, but you know I'm right. THIS guy did Pee-Wee, Beetlejuice and the Batmans? It's impossible to believe.

[Holko 9,499]

He put all his creative juices into envisioning Forbidden Zone 2 and had none left for actual work.

[mxsch 115]

1 minute ago, Holko said:

He put all his creative juices into envisioning Forbidden Zone 2 and had none left for actual work.

Elfman and Arnold like the biggest wastes of film music, I think.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Silvestri did well on his last two Avengers scores. He's never really evolved, but he hasn't gone backwards either like Elfman has.

[mxsch 115]

1 minute ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

Silvestri did well on his last two Avengers scores. He's never really evolved, but he hasn't gone backwards either like Elfman has.

Never listened to them in whole, but there is a great stuff like Portals. If we are talking about evolution, we all know what composer was and is good in it...

[crumbs 14,302]

Arnold's vanishing act upsets me a lot more. So much unfulfilled potential, simply a sensational composer who writes excellent, memorable themes. His orchestrations are layered and complex, his utilization of the orchestra was brilliant.

 

I feel like Elfman said everything he had to say in that "trademark" style so I understand why he moved away from it.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

He said all he needed to say with ID4 and Godzilla. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Problem is no-one replaced that Baby Boomer generation of composers who thrived in the early Digital Age. The new crop that followed was anonymous and boring.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

OK, boomer.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

You could have boomed more.

[mxsch 115]

12 minutes ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

He said all he needed to say with ID4 and Godzilla. 

I like Stargate and TND more. And Casino Royale is dope too, esp. this two brilliant action cues

Still waiting for TND expansion that got delayed thanks to new Bond which was delayed too.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Gen X had no musical talent. Now that they're in charge of everything, well...

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

1 hour ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

He said all he needed to say with ID4 and Godzilla. 

 

Godzilla is when he started sounding less inspired.

[Thor 7,472]

I guess it depends on what you're listening to. If you've only listened to Elfman's blockbuster scores in the last 15 years, I can agree with the assessment in the first post. But that's just half of what he's done. After 2005 and the "Serenada Schizophrana", he's been more concerned with Philip Glass-ian minimalism in many of his scores. Within that idiom, and for smaller films, he's been on fire! I absolutely adore stuff like THE CIRCLE, THE END OF THE TOUR, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN, STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, PROMISED LAND, RESTLESS, THE NEXT THREE DAYS and so on. And the concert works. But I get practically zero satisfaction from listening to stuff like DOLITTLE, THE GRINCH, JUSTICE LEAGUE, MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and what-have-you. 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I haven't seen ANY of those films except ULTRON(zzz)!

I'm probably missing some good music .

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Godzilla is when he started sounding less inspired.

DIE ANOTHER DAY is quite good.

SHERLOCK s.4 is superb-

 

 

 

 

v

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

44 minutes ago, Thor said:

THE CIRCLE, THE END OF THE TOUR, THE UNKNOWN KNOWN, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, PROMISED LAND, RESTLESS, THE NEXT THREE DAYS, DOLITTLE, THE GRINCH, JUSTICE LEAGUE, MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and what-have-you. 

 

Zzzzzzz...

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

Don't forget Fifty Shades of Grey.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

My favourite movie!

[Thor 7,472]

46 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Don't forget Fifty Shades of Grey.

 

Those three movies lie somewhere in the middle for me; they're sorta 'blockbusters', but the scores are more laidback. Alas, the textures aren't as interesting as in the other "indie"-type movies I mentioned earlier; they just kinda 'sit there'. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is much better, within that idiom. So I've never been able to grasp on to the FIFTY SHADES scores, even though I own all three (the first on CD, the other two digitally). But I've listened to them maybe twice each, at most. I should reserve some judgement untill I've properly familiarized myself with them.

[Jay 37,293]

5 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

He said all he needed to say with ID4 and Godzilla. 

 

I dunno how you can love ID4 and Godzilla so much, yet not love Stargate and Tomorrow Never Dies just as much

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Godzilla is when he started sounding less inspired.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,502]

2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Don't forget Fifty Shades of Grey.

 

2 hours ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

My favourite movie!

...and it's my hair colour 

 

 

Well done for posting, @Thor.

THE CIRCLE is great.

 

Ps, it's not a popular choice, but my favourite Arnold is CHANGING LANES.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

THE CIRCLE is great.

 

I hope you're not referring to the film, because that sucks.

[Arpy 4,145]

What about Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2?

Frankenweenie? Meet the Robinsons? Oz the Great and Powerful? 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,502]

No, no. Haven't seen the film, so I can't comment. I meant the score.

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

6 hours ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

Silvestri did well on his last two Avengers scores. He's never really evolved, but he hasn't gone backwards either like Elfman has.

 

The thing people seem to forget about Silvestri is that he has never really changed his style -in terms of his orchestral writing. I think people tend to look back at his older works more fondly because he was allowed to have more fun... But it's true that he has never evolved or challenged himself more.

 

I think people also forget guys like Silvestri don't take film music as seriously as some may think. Sure, he takes it seriously and he likes doing it, but at the end of the day it's a job. And credit where credit is due, Silvestri writes to picture and more often than not his music fits like a glove. He's a very meticulous and precise composer in terms of fitting the music to the screen. He doesn't really seem to care about the listening experience on its own. His job begins and ends with the movie. I really wonder what he would do in a concert work.

 

However, don't you forget the biggest lost promise of them all: Don Davis.

[rough cut 1,714]

6 hours ago, mxsch said:

I Justice League score is absolutely underrated.

I agree with this...

 

6 hours ago, mxsch said:

I'll bet that Junkie will write another headache piece of shit for Snyder Cut, good God.

 

...and this.

[Bespin 8,480]

Composers have to work on bad movies to eat, that's life.

[crumbs 14,302]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

I dunno how you can love ID4 and Godzilla so much, yet not love Stargate and Tomorrow Never Dies just as much

 

Agreed. He doesn't have a single score in that 90s/early 2000's period that isn't thoroughly listenable from start to finish, or doesn't have a couple of banging themes. Bond became so much poorer after his departure, it's such a shame he didn't return for Craig's finale.

 

With any luck Campbell will return for the next film and bring him back, though I suspect Zimmer (and his 38 ghostwriters) will stick around like a bad rash.

 

6 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Godzilla is when he started sounding less inspired.

 

Huh? Godzilla is a great score! Every cue has a highlight in some way!

 

Geez, if only modern film scores sounded as 'uninspired' as Arnold's Godzilla, instead of the lazy, temp-track regurgitation that passes for most film music these days.

[Edmilson 7,393]

Arnold's Godzilla is pretty excellent.

 

It's a shame that these days he is only hired to work on British TV.

[gkgyver 1,645]

7 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Gen X had no musical talent. Now that they're in charge of everything, well...

 

Every generation has talent. But the inflated ego and entitlement this generation was raised with keeps them from putting the work in to achieve real greatness. 

[ymenard 54]

The Unknown Known is the last good score I've heard from him.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

I don't know that one. Highlights?

[Thor 7,472]

THE UNKNOWN KNOWN was my favourite score of 2014. You can check out my (very brief) comments in this podcast: http://celluloidtunes.no/celluloid-tunes-25-the-10-best-scores-of-2014-9th-international-edition/ (from about 45:30).

[Bayesian 1,359]

If Elfman were to turn his attention to concertos and ballet scores to the exclusion of all else, I'd have no complaints at all. He seems to be one of precious few film composers who is succeeding in navigating this transition (and has the chops to deserve that success). In fact, apart from JW, who made the transition decades ago, are there any other such composers alive today?

 

In terms of film scoring, I'd love to see more Tim Burton collaboration. They've always ranked in my book as the greatest director/composer partnership after SS/JW.

[Thor 7,472]

7 hours ago, Bayesian said:

If Elfman were to turn his attention to concertos and ballet scores to the exclusion of all else, I'd have no complaints at all. He seems to be one of precious few film composers who is succeeding in navigating this transition (and has the chops to deserve that success). In fact, apart from JW, who made the transition decades ago, are there any other such composers alive today?

 

A few. Goldenthal, Richter, Preisner, Davis etc. It also seems that more and more film composers are experimenting with doing concert works - JNH, Desplat, Powell etc. I always think of Horner; he passed away just as he was finally getting back into concert works.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

7 hours ago, Thor said:

 

A few. Goldenthal, Richter, Preisner, Davis etc. It also seems that more and more film composers are experimenting with doing concert works - JNH, Desplat, Powell etc. I always think of Horner; he passed away just as he was finally getting back into concert works.

 

Horner's Pas de Deux was rather disappointing and pastichey, though.

[Thor 7,472]

6 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Horner's Pas de Deux was rather disappointing and pastichey, though.

 

It was OK. Not on the wild, experimental level of "Spectral Shimmers" or anything, but better than a lot of the scores he wrote in the last 5-6 years of his career. I think if he had gotten a few more pieces under his sleeve, we would have seen an immense improvement.

[gkgyver 1,645]

15 hours ago, Bayesian said:

If Elfman were to turn his attention to concertos and ballet scores to the exclusion of all else, I'd have no complaints at all. He seems to be one of precious few film composers who is succeeding in navigating this transition (and has the chops to deserve that success). In fact, apart from JW, who made the transition decades ago, are there any other such composers alive today?

 

Shore 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

3 minutes ago, gkgyver said:

 

Shore 

 

Sure

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

Zzzzz...

[Mephariel 451]

He keep writing the same fantasy scores over and over again and his more minimalistic scores have no impact on me. 

[Lord Zimmer 211]

He has always been shit.

[Thor 7,472]

Wow.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

20 minutes ago, Lord Zimmer said:

He has always been shit.

 

Look who's talking.