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Is it possible to write the Best Film Score Of All Time in the 2020s?


gkgyver

Is it possible to write the Best Film Score Of All Time in the 2020s?  

53 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you think it’s possible to write the best score of all time in the 2020s?



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52 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

 

Jurassic Park is great obviously. I just don't think it's as cohesive as E.T.  And obviously I agree with those terms being subjective.....to a point.

 

But regardless, the films you were naming are still well before the 2020s.

 

The greatest symphonies have been written, so it might be safe to assume the greatest scores have been written.

 

 

If someone thinks Joker is better than E.T. than I want to be on E.T.'s spaceship and learn how to be a botanist wherever the fuck E.T. lives and get the hell out of here.

 

I disagree with the statement that the greatest symphonies have been written means the greatest scores have been written.

 

There is a huge difference between scores and symphonies. One of my favorite scores (and one of the most acclaimed) is Interstellar, and that won't win any symphony awards.

 

As for your statement about Joker, you better start packing...

 

21 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Imagine a composer nowadays being handed the reel for E.T.

 

they'd probably have no music when they fly on their bikes, and we'd just hear the pedaling of the bikes and E.T. breathing.

 

or worse, utterly forgettable.

 

the movie would be straight to Netflix and forgotten in a week.

 

Come on man. You think John Powell will score that E.T. scene with no music? Or Giacchino? Or Desplat? Or even Zimmer? I think you are exaggerating the lack of orchestral scoring quite a bit. The truth is, there is probably more orchestral scoring now than ever before because there are more movies now than ever before. You just have to cast a wider net to find good ones. 

 

As for the movie being forgettable, I agree. It is hard to make a memorable alien movie nowadays. And there are a lot better movies since E.T.

 

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19 minutes ago, Mephariel said:

 

I disagree with the statement that the greatest symphonies have been written means the greatest scores have been written.

 

There is a huge difference between scores and symphonies. One of my favorite scores (and one of the most acclaimed) is Interstellar, and that won't win any symphony awards.

 

As for your statement about Joker, you better start packing...

 

I'm not trying to compare symphonies and scores.

 

But the greatest symphonies have been written. And a lot of the greatest film composers have taken a decent amount of inspiration from them.

 

I don't think Interstellar is bad, I remember enjoying the music greatly during that film.

 

You can enjoy that more than E.T.

 

E.T. isn't even my favorite score.  But it's my choice for greatest score of all time.

 

I can't fathom thinking the score to Joker is better than E.T.

 

Put on ANY track of E.T. right now and it's filled with emotion and beauty.  And you know where you are in the story/film, and you want to keep moving to the next part.  It's adventurous, scary, beautiful, romantic, sad, and happy.  It's everything that a score and film should be.

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Just now, Bellosh said:

 

I'm not trying to compare symphonies and scores.

 

But the greatest symphonies have been written. And a lot of the greatest film composers have taken a decent amount of inspiration from them.

 

I don't think Interstellar is bad, I remember enjoying the music greatly during that film.

 

You can enjoy that more than E.T.

 

E.T. isn't even my favorite score.  But it's my choice for greatest score of all time.

 

I can't fathom thinking the score to Joker is better than E.T.

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It is simple. All it takes is someone who watched both movies and think the music in Joker works better than the music in E.T. 

 

Joker won every award that year. Someone probably think that already. 

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13 minutes ago, Mephariel said:

 

Come on man. You think John Powell will score that E.T. scene with no music? Or Giacchino? Or Desplat? Or even Zimmer? I think you are exaggerating the lack of orchestral scoring quite a bit. The truth is, there is probably more orchestral scoring now than ever before because there are more movies now than ever before. You just have to cast a wider net to find good ones. 

 

As for the movie being forgettable, I agree. It is hard to make a memorable alien movie nowadays. And there are a lot better movies since E.T.

 

 

I don't think any of those composers would have made awful decisions.

 

It simply would not have been as great.  John Williams is that good.

 

I can't think of one movie since E.T. where the score of the last 30 minutes is as powerful and as much as a 'character' itself than anything on screen.

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1 minute ago, Bellosh said:

 

I don't think any of those composers would have made awful decisions.

 

It simply would not have been as great.  John Williams is that good.

 

I can't think of one movie since E.T. where the score of the last 30 minutes is as powerful and as much as a 'character' itself than anything on screen.

 

John Williams is imo, the greatest composer or close to the greatest. Nothing to be a shame of if you can't score that scene as well as Williams. 

 

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4 minutes ago, Mephariel said:

 

It is simple. All it takes is someone who watched both movies and think the music in Joker works better than the music in E.T. 

 

Joker won every award that year. Someone probably think that already. 

 

Joker is not better than E.T. no matter how many awards its won.

 

Joker might have decent music that works on film, but it's so utterly forgettable outside it.  I think the greatest score of all time should atleast have a theme people can whistle and remember, no? :whistle:

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Just now, Bellosh said:

 

Joker is not better than E.T. no matter how many awards its won.

 

Joker might have decent music that works on film, but it's so utterly forgettable outside it.  I think the greatest score of all time should atleast have a theme people can whistle and remember, no? :whistle:

 

I agree Joker is not better than E.T. 

 

But let say you do a poll on YouTube or Reddit where majority of the posters are millennials or zoomers, and you ask this question and got 100,000 responses. You don't think at least 20,000 will vote for Joker? I wouldn't be surprised if Joker beat E.T. to be honest. 

 

I think you hang out too much in film music communities. I bet there are snobby film critics that think music should be transparent support and pick Joker over E.T. as well.  

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5 minutes ago, Mephariel said:

 

I agree Joker is not better than E.T. 

 

But let say you do a poll on YouTube or Reddit where majority of the posters are millennials or zoomers, and you ask this question and got 100,000 responses. You don't think at least 20,000 will vote for Joker? I wouldn't be surprised if Joker beat E.T. to be honest. 

 

I don't care what they think. They'd all be wrong. 

 

But if there was to be an official certified group of people to choose the greatest score of all time,  E.T. AT WORST, would be discussed.  Joker wouldn't even be mentioned or thought of.

 

Quote

I bet there are snobby film critics that think music should be transparent support and pick Joker over E.T. as well.

 

Sure, but it doesn't mean they're right.

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3 minutes ago, The Big Man said:

Isn't Joker just the latest in Hollyweird's trendy ephemeral picks like Brokeback Mountain, The Social Network, Gravity, Chariots of Fire and Midnight Express?

 

Nobody will be talking about Joker or that score in 40 years.

 

People will still be talking about E.T. though like we are now.

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27 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

 

I don't care what they think. They'd all be wrong. 

 

But if there was to be an official certified group of people to choose the greatest score of all time,  E.T. AT WORST, would be discussed.  Joker wouldn't even be mentioned or thought of.

 

 

Sure, but it doesn't mean they're right.

 

Yeah but the point is, standards are different. People have different opinions and nostalgia than you.

 

Who will be the members of this "official certified group?"  

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4 minutes ago, Mephariel said:

Who will be the members of this "official certified group?"  

 

People who don't think Joker is worthy of being the greatest score of all time.

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4 hours ago, Mephariel said:

Neither Göransson or Djawadi is anywhere close to the worst. Like what the heck is wrong with people here? The guy that wrote Creed 1 & II and Black Panther is the worst composer today?

I know there is far worse composers (like me who isn't able to compose a thing for instance ;)). I just think that among the well established composers today Göransson is the worst but that just my opinion. I don't fancy much his two Creed but I absolutely love his Black Panther and Community. Now you wonder why in the hell I don't like him then, well it's because of his infamous job on Venom, Tenet and the Mandalorian (second time in my life that I stop a show in the middle of a season, the last one was after the pilot of Legends of Tomorrow...)

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I'll say this about Djawadi. I've listened to and liked the scores of Transformers 1, 2, and 5 (by Jablonsky). They're not masterpieces, they're flawed as hell, and have a lot of generic o's modern Hollywood musical clichés in them, but to me it's like the film score equivalent of rock and roll, or metal. Just fun, simple, and energizing music. Same with The Dark Knight Trilogy, and the first 2 movies actually have a lot of substance thanks mostly to James Newton Howard. 

 

I've tried again and again to get into Djawadi. I really have. I've listened to many of his tracks from Clash of the Titans, Game of Thrones, and Pacific Rim. I've watched video essays analyzing the music in Game of Thrones. I am bored to tears every time I listen to his stuff. It's like milk-toast versions of Hans Zimmer's 2000s work, and Howard Shore's LOTR. His leitmotifs are simple to the point of frustration.

 

I remember being excited to listen to the dragon leitmotif, but my immediate reaction to hearing it was... that was it? 2 notes at a time as if I was listening to any post The Dark Knight Zimmer score. Compare that to the Dragonborn theme from Skyrim, Smaug's theme, or HTTYD's menacing dragon theme, and it looks even more pathetic in comparison. This example carries over to most of Djawadi's themes for me, completely underwhelming, derivative, and passionless. 

 

I don't think Djawadi is the worst composer out there today, but ultimately as forgettable as composers like Göransson, or Balfe. 

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6 minutes ago, superultramegaa said:

I'll say this about Djawadi. I've listened to and liked the scores of Transformers 1, 2, and 5. They're not masterpieces, they're flawed as hell, and have a lot of generic o's modern Hollywood musical clichés in them, but to me it's like the film score equivalent of rock and roll, or metal. Just fun, simple, and energizing music.

 

Those were by Steve Jablonsky, not Ramin Djawadi

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11 hours ago, Bellosh said:

Nobody will be talking about Joker or that score in 40 years.

 

People will still be talking about E.T. though like we are now.

Can predict the future now?

 

There’s no measurable way to define “the greatest of all time” as OP claims. Art is subjective, and the likelihood that a score remains in the public conscious probably significantly depends on how well it succeeds commercially.

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49 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

There’s no measurable way to define “the greatest of all time” as OP claims.

 

That's why I've been pondering over what exactly the OP is actually asking.

 

I suspect it's something along the lines of a score that captures the public to such an extent that it creates lifelong soundtrack fans, in the same way that SW and LotR did. But both of those had a perfect storm of elements which made them popular.

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1 hour ago, Koray Savas said:

Can predict the future now?

 

There’s no measurable way to define “the greatest of all time” as OP claims. Art is subjective, and the likelihood that a score remains in the public conscious probably significantly depends on how well it succeeds commercially.

 

Don't take all my these posts of mine too seriously.  Obviously I understand there's no way to measure it.

 

E.T. is it for me, that's all I wanted to share.

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Symphony No. 1: The Hunt

 

Movement 1: Hundred Kazoos are Better than One

Movement 2: Funeral March for All the Good Composers

Movement 3: Scherzo for too Many Notes

Movement 4: I Could have Done More

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1 hour ago, KK said:

It's certainly a lot harder. And not because of the actual quality of the music, but the way music and films are consumed today. In the age of ADHD franchise movies and meandering hours of streaming miniseries, there just aren't as many truly "cinematic" moments that land and resonate with the public consciousness in a widespread way. There aren't anymore E.T. flying bicycles, Psycho shower scenes, Arabian deserts in 70mm, flying plastic bags in 90s suburbia or giant Balrog fights.

 

It's in those moments that film music is elevated to "all-time" status. No matter how good or bad the music might be on its own, it is inherently tied to how it creates "moments" with the film it scores. And even when modern films get close to achieving these moments, they drown it with sound effects, visuals or whatever that it just doesn't register in memory. 

 

There are exceptions of course, but consumption culture has really shortened the shelf-life of contemporary art (across most mediums). That's why 100 years from now, we'll still be touting on about John Williams and Beethoven, but will likely not remember anybody working today. And again, that has less to do with the actual musicianship of these composers and more to do with the world in which they create their music.

 

I agree with this. I remember the first time I saw the Brachiosaurus in Jurassic with John William's theme. That was unreal. Today's 100th dinosaur movie, not so much.

 

When was the last time a scene AND music floored you in recent years? I have to go back to 2014 when I saw the docking scene in Interstellar in the theaters. And then maybe The Amazing Spider-Man with the Spider-Man Jump and James Horner's "Saving New York" theme. But yeah, I honestly have a hard time remember when the last time I saw a show stopping scene elevated by great music.  

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5 hours ago, Bellosh said:

Do you believe the greatest score has been written @gkgyver ?


Irrelevant.

Firstly, there has to be a best score ever up to this point purely because there’s always one best.

But secondly, whatever the best score up to this day is, the question is still can something equal or better be written today?
 

 

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4 minutes ago, gkgyver said:


Irrelevant.

Firstly, there has to be a best score ever up to this point purely because there’s always one best.

But secondly, whatever the best score up to this day is, the question is still can something equal or better be written today?
 

 

 

Better yet, what do you think the best score of all time is

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1 hour ago, Bellosh said:
Mephariel said:

When was the last time a scene AND music floored you in recent years?

THE GREAT GATSBY

" All the bright precious.things.."

HTTYD

" the offering"

 

THE DARK KNIGHT

" A Dark Knight"

 

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

" Prologue"

 

JOKER

" Becoming JOKER"

1 hour ago, Bellosh said:

 

War Horse finale scene.

I'd pick "plowing"😊

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1 hour ago, Unlucky Bastard said:

John Smith, 1882?

John Smith.

You know....

1 minute ago, Unlucky Bastard said:

I like the bit in Godzilla: King of the Monsters where Ken Watanabe farewells everyone as he prepares to kill himself to revive Godzilla with a nuke. Terrific writing by Bear McCreary.

You beat me to it!

Also the scene travelling through the underwater civilization!

GRAVITY

" Return to Earth"..

 

HATEFUL 8

" Main title"

" Lincoln Letter"

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I voted No. but this has nothing to do with current composers and their various styles. There are outstanding composers out there.

 

I voted no because the current process of film making itself inherently prevents any great score to be written (or heard). 

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4 minutes ago, toothless said:

I voted no because the current process of film making itself inherently prevents any great score to be written (or heard). 

I recently re-watched the HTTYD trilogy, and holy hell I did not realize how low in the mix the music was in those movies, especially the 2nd and 3rd ones.

 

I don't think they're the best film music ever made, but they're at least close to Star Wars caliber in many ways in terms of thematic continuity and satisfying development. It could have just been the particular movie files I had but man, was the mix bad on those. 

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Yeah, that's an aspect we haven't really gotten to touch yet. Namely how much studio interference can get in the way of the project. From dictating the way the score should sound based on the temp or recent trends, to cutting up the score to shreds for the final edit, and as mentioned burying it in the mix. And given what has been mentioned about a lot of the newer filmmakers preferring more minimal styled music for their films, it almost seems like modern movies actively go out of their way to quell even hints of old fashioned film scoring.

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I would like to see a movement of filmmakers, something like the Dogma 95 group, that makes films just using classical or modern symphonies as score without editing the music. Just edit the film fitting the orchestra movements from beginning to end.

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