Look, I don't want to see any of the shit from this thread. I don't want to see any shit like Juno or Transformers unless it has Matt Messina or Steve Jablonsky's name next to it.

We're talking composers. REAL musicians. For the purposes of this thread we'll consider Hans Zimmer a real musician too*.

* I don't really hate Zimmer. Just watch this right here.

Mentioned in the previous thread:
Star Wars - John Williams
Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly)
A Clockwork Orange - Wendy Carlos
The Rock - Nick Glennie-Smith, Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams
The Godfather - Nino Rota
Donnie Darko - Michael Andrews
Pan's Labyrinth - Javier Navarrete
Braveheart - James Horner
Spiderman - Danny Elfman
The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
Willow - James Horner
The Dark Knight - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
Evil Dead 2 - Joseph LoDuca
Jacob's Ladder - Maurice Jarre
Stay - Asche & Spencer
The Last Temptation of Christ - Peter Gabriel

Today's spotlight is on "Miami Vice" from John Murphy. Although "Miami Vice" got raped by its schizo soundtrack, John Murphy delivered a pretty good, moody score that was in tone with the original show without being dated. It shows the evolution of synthesizers from their early days to the more refined state they're in now. However, not everything is electronic as Murphy integrates real instruments into his cues.

However, his promo CD is marred by the lack of involvement by his other co-composer Klaus Badelt. Like all the films worked on by composers from the Zimmer School, "Miami Vice" was a collaborative piece. Although it's good that John Murphy can finally be recognized for his work on the film instead of people guessing what cues he did and what was done by others.

MouthForWar wrote:

The Lost Highway or The Crow. Trent did both I believe.

Actually Graeme Revell did "The Crow". "Lost Highway" I kinda like, but that CD is all over the place (as it should be). BTW, to me, Angelo Badalamenti is the mastermind behind that film's score.

scamrock wrote:

I'm a big fan of First Blood. I also liked the way it was updated for Rambo.

R.I.P. Jerry Goldsmith

scamrock wrote:

Tebor wrote: scamrock wrote: I'm a big fan of First Blood. I also liked the way it was updated for Rambo. R.I.P. Jerry Goldsmith I can't remember the guy's name who did the score for Rambo, but in the special features, he made it sound like he used to work with Jerry Goldsmith.

That'd be Brian Tyler. I'm not sure if and when he worked with Goldsmith though.

Today's spotlight is on Addams Family Values from Marc Shaiman.



"Values" is yet another sequel which is superior to the original, not just in quality and laughs, but also music. The music is fun, bouncy, but never loses that Addams touch. What makes the score that much better is the Camp Chippewa material. Not just the themes Shaiman has added to the franchise, but a couple of satirical songs: "Camp Chippewa Song" and "Eat Us". Let us not forget those action cues either that remind us that Vic Mizzy's theme was made for excitement. This is also a release where all the good cues were included.

01. It's An Addams!
02. Sibling Rivalry
03. Love On A Tombstone
04. Debbie Meets The Family
05. Camp Chippewa
06. Fester's In Love
07. The Big Date
08. The Tango
09. Fester And Debbie's Courtship
10. Wednesday And Joel's Courtship
11. The Honeymoon Is Over
12. Escape From Debbie
13. "Eat Us"
14. Wednesday's Revolt
15. Debbie's Big Scene
16. Some Time Later

Williams and Elfman have made some of the best scores ever... but both have fallen past their prime. Williams does maybe one score a year and lately it's been very derivative (granted a lot of those films are sequels to films he's already scored). Elfman doesn't have an excuse. "Hellboy 2" was probably the most underwhelming score I've heard all year. I was very disappointed.

And, yes, go Hans Zimmer's Lion King.

Cam-win wrote:

Dancer In The Dark. Bjork starred in the movie AND wrote the soundtrack.

... If only they released the score on top Selmasongs. Though the Overture fits those needs I guess. Props to Vincent Mendoza and Mark Bell on the score as well.

Cam-win wrote:

The disappointing thing from Selmasongs is that the entire Dancer In The Dark soundtrack wasn't included on it - which wouldn't be such of a bad thing if the movie wasn't a musical. I don't see how the problem of spoiling plot points couldn'tve been avoided if the soundtrack wasn't released at the same time/after the movie came out.

Yeah, a second edition could've come out AFTER. Or a Volume 2 release like Moulin Rouge or Transpotting... fascists (although there's nothing to imply they are).

I've already grown weary of the spotlight of the day... but screw it. Today is "Face/Off" by John Powell. Like most Zimmer scores there's only 8 tracks on the CD... or rather suites. Except for maybe 3 tracks, each track contains the music for multiple scenes and sequences of the movie. Good luck finding which piece corresponds to what scene!

Ghandi wrote:

I've always loved the music of Pirates of the Caribbean, but can't recall who did it. John Williams?

I was saving that for tomorrow's spotlight of the day, but you had to go and peek at your Christmas presents early, didn't you!?

Klaus Badelt is credited for the first one, but apparently Hans Zimmer stepped in and took all the credit. Zimmer took over for Badelt on the sequels. Of course, the Zimmer team worked on them with Hans getting the main credit. If you loved the scores you should check out that video I linked to above. And these others:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Making of a Score
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Man Behind the Pirates Music
Pirates of the Caribbean: Hans Zimmer Live
Courtesy of Le Blog De Chief Dundee

Ah, today's spotlight will be... *looks over* Bernard Herrmann's Psycho. Often overlooked by the younger generation, Psycho is a score everyone knows simply for the shower scene cue. It is used again and again for parody effect by people. However, the rest of the score holds up and is easily one of Herrmann's best scores.