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Daniel Pemberton's ENOLA HOLMES (2020) + ENOLA HOLMES 2 (2022)


TheUlyssesian

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Interesting British composer that I first noticed for his score to Man from UNCLE which remains I think a pretty good score with good themes. His Napoleon Solo theme is one of endless cool and swagger. We have his score for another Henry Cavill production out this month and below is the main theme which has been released so far.

 

 

You might think the music is too peppy and upbeat but remember this is for a cheerful YA film.

 

For what it's worth, I liked the main theme when I first heard it. But then I saw the promotional video below and I realized that I remembered the theme very well and it is definitely somewhat memorable.

 

 

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I love Pemberton's score to Ocean's 8 so played these 2 videos here but I dunno, it didn't do much for me.

 

I'll still check out the OST on Spotify tomorrow

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2 hours ago, Jay said:

I love Pemberton's score to Ocean's 8 so played these 2 videos here but I dunno, it didn't do much for me.

 

That's Pemberton's most accomplished 'classical' score (rough orchestural jazz with a hard Goldsmith vibe):

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

We watched this film this weekend.

 

Despite the good premise, cast, and production values, I found it to be very boring overall (the directing let the good aspects down), so as a result I found myself paying close attention to the score because I was more curious about that than anything happening on screen.

 

I am sad to report after hearing the whole score in context in the film, it still just doesn't do much for me.  I loved Ocean's 8 and enjoyed Man From UNCLE and Spider-Verse, but I just can't connect to what he does here.  Oh well

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I'm a big fan of OCEAN'S 8, THE MAN FROM UNCLE, STEVE JOBS and MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN. But THE DARK CRYSTAL was uneven, and I'm not a big fan of THE COUNSELOR, ONE STRANGE ROCK, YESTERDAY. So he's a bit hit and miss, but I would argue that 9 times out of 10 (or at least 7 times out of 10), Pemberton delivers the goods. I'm curious where this falls.

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It's not bad but ertainly falters as a 60-minute album. And while Pemberton can be catchy, in score like this and several others the main themes sound like a catchy karaoke backing track with the lead melody missing.

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The movie kind of turned me off right away because the very first thing after the opening logos is the track in the first video in this thread underscoring MBB riding a bike and talking directly to the camera in a Fleabag-esque way but about a bunch of exposition to set up everything, and the whole sequence just seemed poorly constructed to me and the music while pleasant on its own didn't seem to actually fit what was happening on screen at all.  

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I saw the movie too yesterday and I quite liked the score.

 

I think it definitely is mixed very well in the movie and stands out prominently.

 

I like the permutations of the mystery theme - it transforms from a soft theme to almost a militaristically strident march in some cases. 

 

The love theme is also nice.

 

I think there might be 4-5 themes in there all told besides the mystery theme, main theme and the love theme.

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I think it was too frequent. I think she turned to the camera literally every 2 minutes. I agree it was unnecessary. And the story is pretty easy to follow so not completely sure it was needed.

 

I think if they cut out her monologues, it could save 10-15 mins of runtime.

 

Edit: And MBB was very good. I saw a movie star in there. She can now easily carry movies.

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Yea, it was a very straightforward child-friendly young-adult-book plot blown up into a 2 hour pg13 modern action fest, basically

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Not at all CutThroat Island level, but here are a couple other good 90s pirate scores to represent:

 

https://youtu.be/v-pz17PBs_s

 

And this for my money is far superior pirate music from Zimmer than most of his Pirates of the Caribbean work (Up Is Down maybe being an exception but I heard one of his assistant composers wrote that):

 

 

Yavar

 

 

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I watched the film last night and really enjoyed it. I stopped it a couple of times to locate the track I was hearing.

 

Right after watching I went to listen to the OST properly and I liked it. The album is a tad overlong, with a handful of midsection tracks that probably don't need to be there, but other than that I think Pemberton did a great job. The 'mystery' theme is very memorable, and while I don't find Enola's theme quite as good, it's still used very well throughout the score. Annoyingly it's not on 7digital (my usual digital purveyor) so I'm quite likely to buy the CD.

 

I rather liked the 4th wall stuff - didn't take away from the film at all for me.

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15 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Not at all CutThroat Island level, but here are a couple other good 90s pirate scores to represent:

 

https://youtu.be/v-pz17PBs_s

 

And this for my money is far superior pirate music from Zimmer than most of his Pirates of the Caribbean work (Up Is Down maybe being an exception but I heard one of his assistant composers wrote that):

 

 

Yavar

 

 

 

What does any of this have to do with Enola Holmes?

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This is one movie I am happy to skip.

 

It seems awful right down from its woke inception to its pc-agenda fueled completion.

 

So that’ll be a ‘No thanks’ for me. ‘Back in the cupboard for you, Granola Holmes.’

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17 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

What does any of this have to do with Enola Holmes?

 

I'm 99% sure that Yavar replied to this thread instead of the pirate music thread, which is right next to this one at the moment. :lol:

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4 minutes ago, rough cut said:

This is one movie I am happy to skip.

 

It seems awful right down from its woke inception to its pc-agenda fueled completion.

 

So that’ll be a ‘No thanks’ for me. ‘Back in the cupboard for you, Granola Holmes.’

 

 

You don't seem to have any idea what the film actually is if that is what you think.  It's set in the 1890s, based on a 10 year old book, and has nothing woke or PC about it.


Where did you get the ideas that it was those things?

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Huh. I watched the film and didn't think it pushed any agenda, or was particularly feminist >shrug<

 

Is every film with a female main character considered a woke feminist movie these days? 

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No, and I don’t mind a female led movie, a diverse cast or any other of the ‘woke’ pillars... if those decisions are taken for any other reason rather than being just that, which seems to be the case here.

 

It just seems to me that this movie was written and cast to please pc-sensibilities rather than anything else, which I find tired, awkward and boring.

 

It’s the same kind of recipe that will make up the Oscar’s new checklist before nominating a movie for an award.

 

So, I’ll pass on this one.

 

But whatever: me not watching this movie shouldn’t take the enjoyment out of it for somebody else. Like what you like.

 

But to pretend that these kind of movies aren’t made with an agenda in mind is a bit too innocent for anyone who has an above average interest in movies.

 

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I mean, I've seen the film and you haven't, and I didn't pick up on these agendas you think are in there.  i think their agenda was money - they saw a book series that was making money so wanted to make more money by filming it

 

I didn't even like the movie, as I stated above, so i don't even recommend it or anything. But I don't think it fits into the narrative you are describing.  The film's failures are not some agenda forced into it, the film's failure is that it's kind of boring.

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None of that flew over my head, of course I remember the subplot about the reform bill.  That subplot doesn't make the film woke or feminist, though.

 

We recently watched the 2019 Charlie's Angels reboot film with Kristen Stewart, that was more woke and feminist than this movie

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14 minutes ago, Jay said:

I mean, I've seen the film and you haven't, and I didn't pick up on these agendas you think are in there.  i think their agenda was money - they saw a book series that was making money so wanted to make more money by filming it

 

That's the great thing about the arts. Plenty of people see the agendas and like them, plenty see the agendas and hate them, and plenty don't see them at all. Nothing wrong necessarily with any of that. 

 

At the end of the day, if you (just referring generally here, not to you Jay specifically) don't like or enjoy YA movies...you won't like this and I won't recommend it to you. If you don't like seeing films that slightly exude "girl power"...you won't like it and I won't recommend it. I enjoyed it. Others won't. That's about all I can say about any film these days. 

 

8 minutes ago, Jay said:

None of that flew over my head, of course I remember the subplot about the reform bill.  That subplot doesn't make the film woke or feminist, though.

 

My apologies, I didn't know if the bill subplot didn't connect to that history for you or if maybe the film sort of just flew by and you may have glazed over if you weren't enjoying it.

 

I would agree though. I don't think this film is super woke or feminist, even with that connection to the bill. I found it pretty tame in that department if I'm being honest. What I liked about the film was the talent involved and just in general I enjoy entries into the Sherlock Holmes universe...well most of them. It was a fun, tame, YA Sherlock Holmes adventure. I didn't find anything offensive or overt about it and didn't even find the "girl power" aspect I keep referring to that I picked up on, to be big enough to praise it as innovative or anything. It's just there when I watch it. It was an entertaining flick for me. It's fine. The end.

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11 minutes ago, rough cut said:

It just seems to me that this movie was written and cast to please pc-sensibilities rather than anything else, which I find tired, awkward and boring.

 

Having seen and enjoyed it, I think you're overanalysing something that just isn't there.

 

Aside from a female lead (which is the entire point behind the book on which it's based), there's nothing PC or overly concerned about minority representation. Seems to me that Netflix saw that the recent Sherlock films/series have been successful, and decided to adapt something else from that world.

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7 minutes ago, Jay said:

I didn't pick up on these agendas you think are in there.

 

6 minutes ago, Jay said:

I remember the subplot about the reform bill.  That subplot doesn't make the film woke or feminist, though.


Hey man, it’s not about what I think, but I just pointed you towards some of the biggest news outlets who claim the movie to be feminist...

 

Whether you picked up on it or not, that seems to be the case.

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6 minutes ago, TSMefford said:

It was a fun, tame, YA Sherlock Holmes adventure. I didn't find anything offensive or overt about it and didn't even find the "girl power" aspect I keep referring to that I picked up on, to be big enough to praise it as innovative or anything. It's just there when I watch it. It was an entertaining flick for me. It's fine. The end.

 

Pretty much this, and I look forward to any sequels. It's just a fun couple of hours.

 

5 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Hey man, it’s not about what I think, but I just pointed you towards some of the biggest news outlets who claim the movie to be feminist...

 

Better to watch it yourself, and form a first hand opinion, surely.

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9 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Hey man, it’s not about what I think, but I just pointed you towards some of the biggest news outlets who claim the movie to be feminist...

 

Entertainment news outlets will pick up on a breadcrum on a table in the background of a movie and write an article about it. Hell, tons of articles made the rounds about a water bottle in Game of Thrones and they all wrote articles about that, instead of what actually happened in the episode. They'll steal a reddit post about some casual detail someone noticed...and write and article about it. And when one outlet writes an article about one of these things...well the others will write an article about. I wouldn't put too much stock into them, personally.

 

Entertainment is subjective. People can and will see and pick up on things that may not be there at all, or not be what the artist was intending. And this coming from someone who slightly agrees with you. Lol. But I would classify it as classic "girl power" and not really preachy or overtly supportive of feminism. It's very "safe."

 

But I completely understand why people may not like or enjoy the movie. It just so happens that I did.

 

9 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Pretty much this, and I look forward to any sequels. It's just a fun couple of hours.

 

Same here. If they made another, I'd watch it. Especially these days, I have been watching pure garbage just to give my brain a break. This wasn't garbage at all to me of course, but it's popcorn fun. Just what I've been into lately.

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Hopefully they get a better director for the sequel, this one seemed to take a great cast and a bunch of Netflix money and squander it with try-too-hard action scenes and wildly uneven pacing

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5 minutes ago, Jay said:

Hopefully they get a better director for the sequel, this one seemed to take a great cast and a bunch of Netflix money and squander it with try-too-hard action scenes and wildly uneven pacing

 

I liked the action scenes, but yes it was a bit odd with the pacing. Additionally the main mystery: Finding Enola's mother takes a back seat and is basically forgotten only halfway through the film. Only to come back very suddenly near the end.

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Yea, I thought that was an odd structure too.  The missing mother story and the helping the marquess story were like competing A plots.  They should have found a better way to mix them together

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Yes, the 'mother' plot did disappear, and then suddenly reappear, a bit awkwardly.

 

But there were lots of little comedic moments in the script I laughed at, such as the 'sharks' bit on the carriage, and 'you don't know needlework?' line.

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1 minute ago, Jay said:

Yea, I thought that was an odd structure too.  The missing mother story and the helping the marquess story were like competing A plots.  They should have found a better way to mix them together

 

I agree. If they were more intertwined and they were somehow each essential to solve the other, then it would've worked far better.

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2 minutes ago, Jay said:

Maybe they should have introduced the marquess guy earlier than the train scene or something

 

Perhaps. Or hell. Have her mother be the one trying to find this guy and trying to get him to vote, it would feel very in character considering her involvement with this background revolution happening.

 

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At least doing it this way gives Enola a choice between solving her own personal mystery, and helping someone else. That seemed to me one of the primary quandries she faced.

 

Score-wise, I read Broxton's review mentioned above, and agree with it - bought the CD earlier.

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14 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

Better to watch it yourself, and form a first hand opinion, surely.


Pass.

 

Enola Holmes’ - be it done with a PC-agenda in mind or be it just your average female led YA-movie - the movie doesn’t appeal to me. And by any and all accounts, it seems I won’t be missing out on a masterpiece.

 

So I’ll trust my gut, but I don’t mind the discussion or difference of opinion.

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