[Closed] Now Playing XLVII

So...is it over? Can I crawl out of my fridge yet?

I'm not sure why you're reacting the way you do. This is all about the basics of communication, as Martijn alluded to. When you introduce a term such as 'ostinato-based music', and I say that I need some more specification in order to have a meaningful conversation about it, I would normally expect such a specification from you (like my feeble attempt at describring the "Bourne riff" a couple of pages ago). But instead, you seem to take it personally that I do not understand what you're talking about. I'm sorry to say that I'm not a mindreader. Not over long distances, anyway.

Greengrass pretty much follows the template the Liman set up, IMO. But of course, Greengrass has the most distinct voice of the two, in terms of their subsequent filmographies.

Interstellar Hans Zimmer

I'm tempted to say this is my favourite Zimmer score, edging just beyond Inception. Perhaps too much fuel is wasted worrying about such things...I just know it's brilliant and I love it.

I miss the old days when we used to discuss ostinati and stuff.

There's a difference, but not dramatic. The important thing from a historical point of view is the difference between action films before IDENTITY and then after.

I'm sure the cinematographers involved would be fascinated to learn of the differences from a practically-minded outside observer.

Which they would no feel for, of course. Thank God for the university that has seen the truth -- that you know better.

Well, you know...I doubt cinematographers are very much into anything that isn't just the practical side of whatever it is they're working on in that moment. Let them do the work and us socalled fans and researchers do the contexts!

Possibly. It's debatable. What's NOT debatable, however, is that he established the Bourne template that would become so influential. The Zürich sequence, in particular, but Paris too. The whole thing, really. Just as Zimmer took the Bourne riff and ran with it in the years that followed, so did Greengrass build on Liman's basic recipe.

It all comes back to IDENTITY, a tentpole film and score in the action genre in the last 15 years. I'm sticking stubbornly to that reading of film (music) history, but anyone is free to disagree.

I do however agree that in terms of the ostinato-based action music the Bourne trilogy is the tent-pole, just so you know. The Batman influence was about something quite else, I'd say more about the relationship between orchestra and electronics than the ostinato itself.

NP: THE BLUE PLANET (George Fenton)

Just to be clear, I can keep the Bourne/Zimmer debate going forever, as I'm very passionate about film music history (both old and new), but I felt it was time for an NP. Hopefully, I'll be able to interview Fenton later this week, so I need to freshen up on my George.

zimmer's music style for action films changed alot in the last 12-13 years. it started with Black Hawk Down. no power anthems anymore, only very simple motifs and textures and sound design for the action. King Arthur, Lone Ranger and the Pirates movies are really an exception, because those are bruckheimer movies. BHD is alo by bruckheimer, but because of ridley scott as another force behind the music decisions, its a bit different. but the Batman movies, Man Of Steel, Spider-Man 2, Rush and also Inception are very heavy on motifs, atmosphere and the use of electronics in the action parts. electronics combined with string and percussions rhythms were the new zimmer style in his action scores. i dont know if powell's bourne scores were the influence, but if yes, zimmer did it most of the time in a bad way.

NP: Home - Lorne Balfe

another powell influenced score, but lorne did a very good job on this score for an animation movie. he composed a very catchy main theme with alot versions throughout the score. also the theme and motifs for the emotional moments are fantastic. the music is a combination of big orchestra, electronics and guitars. a very good music, without sounding cheap. the style, especially in the action moments, sounds alot like john powell, but without sounding to bombastic. the 40 min digital album is alot fun to listen. a very nice surprise by lorne.

This is the lost post.



I could agree that the way of thinking (as in "oh, you can do THAT") could have been influenced by Powell's thinking, though I'd take the risk and wonder if there wasn't some back and forth between the two of them in that regard. And the specifics where I would disagree with scores you mentioned are as such:

1. Frost/Nixon is a drama, not much of a thriller (bits of psychological thriller? a bit too much to consider it thus), but that's a minor nitpick. That score is though, I believe, more in vein of the classical minimalist tradition (with some tracks having a bit of a Philip Glass element to them) and outside of that the ostinati harken back at The Ring (the main Watergate theme) with its more syncopated and more violent solo cello approach. There is a Bourne-like development in Research Montage cue (though in a less overtly techno and more "modern pop" percussive environment).

2. Da Vinci Code is too much in the late Romantic/classical tradition (Górecki shows up as well!) for me to consider it an example of the post-Bourne action thriller sound. In fact I'd argue more that the action motif (I'm talking about Beneath Alrischa) is more Herrmannesque, however surprised Hans was when I pointed it out to him, than Bourne. And of course that ostinato leads directly to Chevaliers de Sangreal which I definitely count as an extension of what was being set up in King Arthur.

3. Inception, yet again, my claim is that this is where the only ostinato-based track in The Thin Red Line was much more important than the Bourne influence. And I told you the proof - and actually from what I know the quote Hans now attributes to Nolan (music as river) was actually said to him by Malick. Stone in My Heart was an attempt to use that approach in a single cue. So while I do agree that the Thin Red Line influence was something else than the "modern ostinato scoring", in this particular case.

There is a motif in TASM 2 which I would agree could have a Bourne influence. Also an argument for you is a little ostinato that actually begins the second Sherlock Holmes score. Now that I remember the bits that I do (sadly, that motif is left off the album completely), it is somewhat John Powell-like.