Are you disappointed by Horner's post-Titanic output?

[Sandor 797]

Personally; I feel James Horner's career truly sky-rocketed until 1998. In the '80's he wrote modern-classics like Star Trek II, Willow, Glory and during the '90's Braveheart, Legends of the Fall and in 1997 Titanic. The Academy Award he received for the latter score cemented his position as one of the top composers of his time.

Almost then. What happened to Horner after Titanic? He wrote some good scores afterwards: The Mask Of Zorro and The Missing in particular, but he is no longer a foreground, frontline composer and to be honest I find many of his post-Titanic scores incredibly uninspired. Recently heard Windtalkers and Beyond Borders; those scores are just a fraction of where he once was.

I hope his score for The New World will somewhat bring him back to his glory days, but I'm thinking right now that Titanic may have been the iceberg in Horner's career.

What do you think? Let's try to keep this thread free of extreme Horner-bashing. Thanks.

[MAG-SI 10]

Are you disappointed by Horner's post-Titanic output?  

Hmmmmm.... yes. He has become a first class disaster, sadly....

I haven't bought his soundratck for about 7, 8 years now. Just hearing it on screen is painfull enought.

[batmanand 0]

Horner has only ever written two scores: "the Irish-Celtic one" and the "big budget action one". Neither are very good.

[Romão 2,274]

He ran out of possibel combinations for the same motifs.

[Justin 2]

YES.

His last good score was The Mask of Zorro. After that he's produced a total of maybe five good cues in his collected works 1999-2005.

Justin - Who thought Achille's Theme from Troy wasn't bad.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Too bad he ripped off Yared's theme there

I've never been crazy about James Horner, and I wouldn't call Titanic his best anyhow.

[publicist 4,643]

From where you do get the idea that Horner's output till the mid-90ies was god's ambrosia?

There were enough duds then (Unlawful Entry, Pelican Brief, Volunteers etcetc.) as now.

He simply scores less kiddie stuff...that's the big secret. It's not for nothing that people always cite "Zorro", the most juvenile-like score as his best. I expect the sequel to be fun as well. "The New World", on the other hand, will be loooooooooooooooooong and drawwwwwwn-out, like "Windtalkers" et al. Malick or not.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Almost then. What happened to Horner after Titanic? He wrote some good scores afterwards: The Mask Of Zorro and The Missing in particular,

I dunno about Zorro, I like the theme, and I like the Spanish flavor very much, but for some reason Horner uses both the Shaka-something flute and the 4 note danger motif a lot, so every time i'm enjoying part of a cue I get a rude wake up call when the score goes into Willow-land.

but he is no longer a foreground, frontline composer and to be honest I find many of his post-Titanic scores incredibly uninspired. Recently heard Windtalkers and Beyond Borders; those scores are just a fraction of where he once was.

I agree, I really most of his latest work rather dull.

His score to Battle Beyond The Stars may steal from 2 or 3 Goldsmith scores, and have some terrible playing, but at least it's fun.

I hope his score for The New World will somewhat bring him back to his glory days, but I'm thinking right now that Titanic may have been the iceberg in Horner's career.

I'm not Hornerbashing, but since this will deal with Indians there will certainly be some flute music again.

I have not heard Windtalkers, is it similar to Horner's outstanding "Native-American" type score for Thunderheart?

[Hitch 57]

A BEAUTIFUL MIND wasn't all bad.

[publicist 4,643]

A BEAUTIFUL MIND wasn't all bad.

Neither were 'Perfect Storm' or 'Enemy at the Gates' or 'Four Feathers'. But they were most certainly not great. There's always the one cue or even 2 which remind you of Horner's mastery of the orchestra.

But in between you get the main theme repeated a zillion times, or worse, the 'i have to fill 10 minutes with nothing but atmospheric tinkling' stuff.

[GoodMusician 56]

I tend not to buy any more James Horner. I love his old school, 80's stuff... like... An American Tale, or The Land Before Time... and Willow... I'm sure there are other good scores but I've not seen the movies so I didn't ge tthem. As far as the 90's go... I have very few scores of his. I have Titanic which I love to death, but I didn't get anything else because I, too, feel his music has become so uninspired and rehashed that I just can't understand why people use his music.

I personally don't like his new style of writing... It reminds me Alan Silvestri--hear me out.

Alan Silvestri tends to write one theme for a movie, and then plays it over and over and over and over again in varying forms... Not to say I don't like his scores, Heck, I think I have more Alan S. scores than James H. I just don't feel as inspired by the James H.

I also lost a lot of respect when I saw Bicentennial Man for the 2nd time. The first time, I watched it in French at a party--because my friend thought it would be funny... No one watched it... But then it was on tv so I ACTUALLY watched it... and was almost HORRIFIED when the begining credits started... I was like "Isn't that music from A BeautifulMind?!" ... so I rushed to play the A Beautiful Mind soundtrack... and sure enough, it was almost EXACTLY the same thing!

Lost a lot of respect in that moment. Sure, John Williams does that too, but NEVER so blatantly obvious and in the same context. It would be like having the star wars fanfare at the begining of Memoirs of a Geisha!

I have to say that on the whole, I do not buy his scores. I am, however, sometimes pleasantly surprised by some of his new scores--The Perfect Storm being one instance. I heard it on the satilite radio in a friends car and I didn't recognize the music... so I said "It sounds James Horner but... he sucks." and we laughed and then I contined "No.. but seriously... it would be james horner if a piano started playing." No sooner than I'd said that, but the piano kicked in and we all laughed.

I said something along the lines of "Well, the harp needs to come in now," and it did...so We all decided that it had to be James Horner, and when we checked, it was...Fun game.

I went out and got that soundtrack too. I also have a few others.... But on the most part, I feel totally uninspired by the modern James Horner... but he does occasionally surprise me.

Also... Has anyone ever noticed how in almost all his scores, the percussion people sound WAY off... like... especially A Beautiful Mind... it sounds like the person back there is just tinking away not even WATCHING the conductor...

[Morn 8]

No disappointed implies expectations.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

After Titanic Mr. Horner lost his macigal touch, which he was hiding before it.

...yes,An American Tail and Willow are nice...

[Romão 2,274]

The main title of the Name of the Rose was incredibly atmospheric, but the rest of the score sounds awfull with all those synths for a movie set in the middle ages.

[Sandor 797]

Quote from www.soundtrack.net review of Horner's The Legend Of Zorro:

The big climax cue occurs in "The Train", an eleven-minute long monster of a cue. It's an exciting piece, with plenty of percussion and bombast to keep the adrenaline flowing. It ends in a very non-Hornerish sound that, if you didn't know any better, might have convinced you that you were hearing an unused John Williams cue from Revenge of the Sith.

??????

[MagicRat75 0]

The Missing and The Perfect Storm are two scores I listen to often.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm dissapointed by his post-Willow output.

K.M.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It ends in a very non-Hornerish sound that, if you didn't know any better, might have convinced you that you were hearing an unused John Williams cue from Revenge of the Sith.

Pity.

I was expecting more.

[Orson 1]

A BEAUTIFUL MIND wasn't all bad.

I agree... it's not bad at all. And neither is Flightplan for that matter. Of course we are talking about Horner, so expectations do seem to lessen a bit.

[Magnus 0]

I wasn't particulary pleased with Titanic in the first place.... I find it boring, just plain and simple boring...

I can remember only one time when I enjoyed a Horner score, that was Aliens

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I'm no big fan of horner too. i loved american tail, land b4 time, braveheart and glory immensely, but ntohing much beyond that. zorro and apollo 13 were pretty good. a number fall into good but not great hence not worth buying category and troy was quite dreadful, ok, i know he had to write it in a jiffy, but it was still dreadful.

[Orson 1]

As cheesy and synth as it is at times, I still enjoy listening to Titanic. It's one of those scores I play to more for the nostalgia, but there are still some genuinely good moments in the score. The other thing to consider is the fact that at least it got people to buy a soundtrack that didn't have something from Aerosmith on it. Granted most probably got it for My Heart Will Go On, but maybe it helped some to appreciate film composition in a new way.