[Closed] Now Playing XLII

I'm looking forward to seeing the film, I'm sure the score will work fine in the film but as stand alone "music" I really didn't like it at all...Fishy-pasta...fishy butter....whaddever

Pity people miss out on the more restrained and intelligent parts of the score, like all things Catwoman, but of course Hans Zimmer can't write intelligent music, can he?

Look what he does with two simple ostinati in Nothing Out There. In a way it's a very traditional piece of scoring (combining the Wayne/Batman four note ostinato - the string one - with a Catwoman string submotif harkening at Hannibal amongst other things).

The thing is that I am not talking about Dark Knight Rises in particular, but that little bit called Nothing Out There is some of his most intelligent writing work for years, Inception including.

Looking at things like the reviews of Zimmer at filmtracks, some posts on my forum (though Dark Knight was shockingly liked in Poland, usually the outlook is much worse on my board than it is here and with my own experience with Zimmer's working process merely from my talks to him and my attendance on the recording session (and meeting him a few days earlier in his studio while he was writing Sherlock 2) is something that some people don't have respect at all.

On my own forum I had a lot of fights, where I was very, very snarky and defensive, because people tend to mix up music and the person. The biggest perpetrator in this though is Christian Clemmensen, that little guy, who tends to make personal assessments based on the music. Yes, Hans became a celebrity, yes, I think he likes the popularity, because the popularity is the kind of thing that allows him to stay in his comfort zone (not in a musical sense, but in a life sense, that is he can still stay in his little studio and work with no paparazzi involvement). He gets his money. It's not a problem-less environment, because I do wonder how critical are people around him about his work and things like that (based on what's in Christopher Nolan's liners and the fact that they got him back for Sherlock 2, I'd say that not so critical).

I am in this situation where I am not objective about the person (I can be very critical of the music though, although Dark Knight Rises I honestly like quite a bit), because there was a lot of good things in my life, some of the best things that happened in my life, thanks to Hans Zimmer. I had the composer read a little article I wrote on his music which was to his liking. I got tours of the biggest orchestral recording studios thanks to him. I got a book about music recording techniques (from the 1960s, but still) thanks to him, I attended a Hollywood recording session thanks to him, I have my all-time favourite score autographed at my sight with a personal note. The book also came with a personal note to me in his writing. He always has something nice and inspiring to tell me which comes close to or at the very moments when I need motivation.

This little anecdote will tell you guys a lot about how he is in real life. I didn't mention it in my article, because it wasn't relevant. On the session we were out and I forgot where my lighter was (I am a smoker and so is he) and was standing there with a cigarette (outside the studio, that is). Hans was talking to someone and turned to me, he noticed me without the lighter, lit my cigarette and said sorry. So I have an idea of him as a human being and then I read the bullshit Clemmensen writes and some other members on numerous forums (I know a guy who repeatedly voices that he wishes Hans died) and it's completely separate from what I know from personal contacts, because he is one of the most genuinely nice people I ever met in my life.

I am sorry about this rant, but the whole ordeal, which is not a part of this particular forum, annoys me to bits.

Didn't get it at first, but loved it eventually. Can't wait for the movie!

What exactly makes it sooooo intelligent? It sounds rather ordinary to me.



I hate to compare the two but... ah forget it!

-Erik-

Potc4 WAS old potc-material mock-ups, but nevertheless, some fresh stuff with the mexican duo were interesting. His third potc score was the massive, great one!

Indeed! Great score!

-Erik-

Hans starts out very early on, with creating suites of material trying to find out whether it fits or not. He is very hard-working and it actually takes him a few months to properly write a score.

Yes, he's always given that benefit.

NP: Batman - Danny Elfman

Ah, true Batman music! A timeless classic!

-Erik-

All this talk about superheroes and their scores has influenced me to play...


NP : SUPERMAN - John Williams



The BEST superhero score EVER! This FACT is not arguable, nogotiable or any other 'ble'.

NP: Small Soldiers: The Video Game (Michael Giacchino)

Though I can not give this 5 stars like my brother gives this, I must say that it's refreshing to hear something completely different. Giacchino could have easily delivered an ode to Goldsmith's work, or a continuation of his The Lost World score, but this is surely refreshing. Highlights are "Canyon Village" with those catchy Indian chants and that bouncy main theme, the action of "Graveyard of War Machines", the heroic score (with choir) in "Ulhaden Fier" and the drum laden "Inner Sanctum"

I see this working really well in the game, must be a fun experience to hear it in context.

How many lines of text does a post need to have before you don't even begin reading it?

Well, for those that like and enjoy the Zimmer Batman scores I say live and let live. To me they are 'nothing' scores, I don't enjoy them as a stand alone listen and within the films I barely noticed any of the music, it was just a wash of noise.

SUPERMAN rules, Zimmer's BATMAN scores rule! For different reasons.

This is a really funny short post in the middle of this conversation. Are you referring to Pawel's posts?

If it's longer than a couple paragraphs I don't read it, which is maybe a bad idea, since those are the posts that people put their heart and soul into. Maybe I should change that. Alright then, I will. I'll start by going back and reading Pawel's posts...