Favorite JNH Shyamalan Score?

[WampaRat 1,105]

Fantastic scores for films that range from “Terrific” to “The opposite of a movie”;) 
 

Which one is your favorite Shyamalan score by James Newton Howard?

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

I can't remember if I've heard The Happening, but I assume it's bad.

 

@WampaRat, c'mon, make the voter names public!

[Jay 37,352]

I mean Signs is the best but they were all great until After Earth

[Thor 7,495]

As I said in the other thread, THE VILLAGE is in a class of its own here. My second pick would be SIGNS, but then for the remaining, there are only bits and pieces that I enjoy -- rarely the whole album. Like "The Great Eatlon" from LADY IN THE WATER. I never connected as strongly to JNH's Shyamalan scores as I do a great deal of his other work. Primarily 80s through the 90s.

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

Signs for the win!

 

Lady in the Water has a great cover though, or what do you say, @Kasey Kockroach?

[WampaRat 1,105]

@Jurassic Shark 

In the words of Max from the first Mission Impossible:

“ I don’t need to tell you what a comfort anonymity can be. It’s like a warm blanket...”

 

#deepcut 

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

If you're going to quote MI, please quote the best entry.

 

Who's Shamalan, btw?

[WampaRat 1,105]

Touché. That was a lot of Shyamalan I needed to fix.

 

(the best M:i is number 2 right?;)

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

Best film and score is no. 5 (haven't seen no. 6 yet, but I've heard the sad excuse for a score).

[Chen G. 3,949]

Good question, but quite tricky. Lots of great scores came out of this collaboration.

 

I think it goes to Unbreakable, but its an embarrasment of riches.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Signs for the win!

 

Lady in the Water has a great cover though, or what do you say, @Kasey Kockroach?

She was perty then, then she got HAWT after having kids.

 

 

...that is a terrible way to put it, I know. 

[Richard Penna 3,686]

It's either Signs or The Village. Very different types of score, which makes it difficult to choose a favourite. They're also the only two for which I'd like expansions.

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

I don't know if there's anything of significance to add to the Signs OST.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

There's about 10 minutes missing, plus the odd alternate. Admittedly, no proper highlights - more one for people like me who like the movie and want to hear all the music.

 

The Village on the other hand, is missing a ton of good stuff.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

1. Signs 

2. The Village

3. The Last Airbender

[WampaRat 1,105]

I’m surprised to see Unbreakable getting more votes than The Village. 
It’s a terrific (and very different) score than The Village that’s for sure. 

[Edmilson 7,436]

1. The Village

2. Signs

3. Unbreakable

4. The Last Airbender

5. The Sixth Sense (Malcolm is Dead is terrific)

6. Lady in the Water (I love The Healing)

7. After Earth

8. The Happening

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I only know the first five, but Lady in the Water is still my favourite. Less for the big moments (The Great Eatlon) and more for the sublime, slightly minimalistic stuff - Charades and Cereal Boxes.

 

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Lady in the Water has a great cover though

 

I agree.

 

[Richard Penna 3,686]

The minimalist stuff in LitW is indeed really good. It can't overtake Signs for consistent detail and atmosphere, or The Village for sheer beauty though.

 

The Last Airbender is a 3-4 star score in my book - it has some amazing highlights, but the entire album doesn't work that great. I only have a self-made suite from After Earth, the album for which immediately felt too long. I feel that the moment the films switch from largely character-based stories to big SFX extravaganzas, the scores largely follow suit.

 

Still can't decide whether Signs orVillage take my top spot. They both have huge personal meaning. The former absolutely bowled me over when I was first discovering scores, and the latter kept me company during a family holiday to the States.

[GerateWohl 4,357]

The village and signs are great. But I think, Unbreakable is still my favorite score of these even though I don't like the album presentation. An extended score of this would really be a dream come true. If it would be about my favourite album presentation it would probably be The Village.

The Happening by the way is fine. I liked the score even though I haven't watched the movie. 

[crocodile 8,006]

This is a very tough one. The first 6 scores are really great. Hard to say which one is the best as all of them are quite unique and my preference changes depending on the mood.

 

But I'll go with Lady in the Water as it offers a perfect listening experience on album. All the other ones I tend to listen to in chunks.

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

Not surprisingly, Signs is winning by a landslide.

[Knight of Ren 789]

My top would be a tie between The Village and Lady in the Water (both extremely beautiful scores, and top JNH).

 

Unbreakable follows close as a really great superhero score

 

Their collaboration I think is one of the strongest in modern cinema (only after Williams-Spielberg maybe). Too bad they don't work together anymore

[publicist 4,643]

The problem with The Village its that, beautifully written as it is, it mirrors the drabness of the movie and there are no real dramatic highlights. Lady in the Water and Unbreakable remain my favorites.

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

I gave The Village OST yet another chance, and I maintain that it's nice background music.

[Romão 2,274]

4 hours ago, publicist said:

The problem with The Village its that, beautifully written as it is, it mirrors the drabness of the movie and there are no real dramatic highlights. Lady in the Water and Unbreakable remain my favorites.

 

That's actually a very good point. The score creates a terrific atmosphere, but it lacks some sort of culmination. Something that specially Signs excels in

[Thor 7,495]

Personally, I don't really need any culmination or defined narrative in that case. It's just a beautiful tone poem, describing an autumnal landscape through the music.

[GerateWohl 4,357]

What really makes me wonder is that Lady in the Water is rated higher than Unbreakable. I neither understand that from score nor from film perspective.

[WampaRat 1,105]

Why don’t Howard and Shyamalan work together anymore? Some sort of falling out during “After Earth” was the rumor? (?)

[GerateWohl 4,357]

When I watched "Glass" to me it looked like a highly casted low budget film. My assumtion is that Shyamalan cannot affort JNH's services anymore for his meanwhile cheap movies. They would be probably the most expensive item in the film's budget. But that was just my personal assumption. Might be wrong.

 

[Thor 7,495]

Actually, those 'cheap movies' are what turned Shyamalan back in form. THE VISIT and SPLIT are great, as is the TV series SERVANT. I don't mind that JNH wasn't involved in any of these. GLASS is pretty good too, although the higher budget resulted in less filmatic 'rawness', if you will. I would certainly welcome a reunion between the two at some point, but his films and scores are fine just the way they are, for the type of films they accompany.

[GerateWohl 4,357]

GLASS is... pretty good?

 

But for a director who used to work with the same composer for most of his films not even collaborating with him on his "trilogy" is more than unusual. There must be reasons beyond that the new scores fit to the pictures.

The only thing that came to my mind is budget and production cost.

[Edmilson 7,436]

Glass is a horrible movie.

 

It could've been slightly better if JNH scored it, since the score sounds like something you'd hear on a low budget cop show on TV.

[Thor 7,495]

9 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

GLASS is... pretty good?

 

Yes. Not on the level of THE VISIT and SPLIT, but better than the post-VILLAGE films. It came in 27th of the 145 films I saw from 2019.

 

Quote

 

But for a director who used to work with the same composer for most of his films not even collaborating with him on his "trilogy" is more than unusual. There must be reasons beyond that the new scores fit to the pictures.

The only thing that came to my mind is budget and production cost.

 

I agree that in an ideal world, it would have been great to have JNH do a complete UNBREAKABLE trilogy, but I can take his absence when what we got - film-wise - was so good. The budget restrictions were a GOOD thing for Shyamalan; he would probably never have gotten back in form otherwise. And Thordson's music works very well as is, even if it isn't as memorable as JNH's UNBREAKABLE in any shape or form. Neither SPLIT nor GLASS are 'big' Hollywood movies, really. They are very different films from UNBREAKABLE. So Thordson's music is perfectly in line with that.

 

 

[publicist 4,643]

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

What really makes me wonder is that Lady in the Water is rated higher than Unbreakable. I neither understand that from score nor from film perspective.

 

It's a very *flowing* score with an elegant main theme, and a more modern impressionist/minimalist fairy tale twist. The big action/resolution cue at the end does help. The movie is another matter, but the scores are not really divided, concept or quality-wise. 

[Jay 37,352]

Why is Shyamalan's name in quotes in the thread title? 

[Richard Penna 3,686]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Personally, I don't really need any culmination or defined narrative in that case. It's just a beautiful tone poem, describing an autumnal landscape through the music.

 

It's not often that I agree with you, but yes, 100%!

 

The complete score has more variety than the album, and has a lot more lyrical stuff, but it boils down to the same thing - an autumnal experience.

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

Personally, I don't really need any culmination or defined narrative in that case. It's just a beautiful tone poem, describing an autumnal landscape through the music.

 

Yeah. As I said, it's nice background music.

 

4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

When I watched "Glass" to me it looked like a highly casted low budget film.

 

I guess they didn't need a huge budget for a Philip Glass biopic.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

4 hours ago, WampaRat said:

Why don’t Howard and Shyamalan work together anymore? Some sort of falling out during “After Earth” was the rumor? (?)

 

I read somewhere a suggestion that Night initially wanted a piano score, and then decided late in the game that he needed it to be fully orchestral, and JNH (and co) needed to reorchestrate it rather quickly.

 

Here it is: (3rd post down) https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?forumID=1&pageID=2&threadID=126485&archive=0

 

Someone near the bottom of the first page claims that it's why they haven't worked together since, but take that with the usual massive boulder of salt.

[Edmilson 7,436]

12 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I read somewhere a suggestion that Night initially wanted a piano score, and then decided late in the game that he needed it to be fully orchestral, and JNH (and co) needed to reorchestrate it rather quickly.

 

 

Wait, Shyamalan wanted a piano score for After Earth? Geez, this was never going to work. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,066]

Well, a piano is a one-man orchestra anyway.

[WampaRat 1,105]

@Jay My spelling and punctuation have really be called on the spot in this poll 😂 Fixed!

[GerateWohl 4,357]

48 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I guess they didn't need a huge budget for a Philip Glass biopic.

Yes. Especially the soundtrack would be cheap.

Philip and Steve furniture removal company...

34 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

 

Wait, Shyamalan wanted a piano score for After Earth? Geez, this was never going to work. 

Just like a silent movie.

[WampaRat 1,105]

Ah Lady in the Water is now tied with the Village. Very tough call there. 
My love of the Village as a movie tips the scale for me in favor of that score.

 

Lady in the Water as a movie is just...not good.

[Edmilson 7,436]

30 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Just like a silent movie.

 

At the very least it would've been an extremely bold experiment by Shyamalan and JNH. After Earth as a movie is too grandiose and action-packed to be scored with just a piano solo. 

 

I don't think I've ever heard a piano score for an action/adventure film.

[Chen G. 3,949]

46 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I don't think I've ever heard a piano score for an action/adventure film.

 

I mean, there are such scores where there's a cue for solo piano (Newton Howard's King Kong springs to mind), but yeah, I don't think there's one where its the main voice of the score.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

Much of the quieter material in this is piano driven, so a solo piano approach would like work fine, but you can't really do action or tension with piano without it basically sounding like a silent movie.

 

If it's true, I wonder at what point M. Night realised he'd made a colossal mistake, and how he was going to break it to Howard that they needed an emergency reorchestration.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Howard was asked to return for Glass. He turned it down. So my assumption is that Howard no longer wants to score dreadful films. 

[WampaRat 1,105]

Ooooh. Signs and Village neck and neck (with Lady in the Water not too far behind:)

[Thor 7,495]

10 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Howard was asked to return for Glass. He turned it down. So my assumption is that Howard no longer wants to score dreadful films. 

 

Tell that to THE NUTCRACKER and MALEFICENT! He still managed to compose decent scores for those turkeys. GLASS is much better. If he really turned it down (where's the source for this?), I'm assuming it's schedule-related.