[Closed] Now Playing XLIV

Goodness!
It's seems a while since I posted anything interesting enough for anyone to comment on.

I really like them - though one of the rock/metal ones does tend to go off on a tangent towards the end of their track. Tiersen's theme is so strong that I think that it stands up to these different versions.

Islands in the Stream - Jerry Goldsmith

Not terribly familiar with this score but man, that Marlin megacue is a beast. It's shaped just like a concert piece, with a true beginning, middle and end. I can't imagine how it works as a film score but if anyone could pull it off, it's Goldsmith.

From the composer of the beautiful Desert Flower, Martin Todsharow, comes another odd indie film, Kokowääh2, co-composed with Dirk Reichardt. With lovely piano melodies and beautiful modern ambiance with pop elements. If you like this style then be sure to check this out and also his more middle-eastern score for Desert Flower.

NP: NIGHTBREED (Danny Elfman)

Dark, occasionally noisy, brooding -- but always tongue-in-cheek, the perfect 'burlesque'. It's a score that divides people, but I like it when I'm in the mood.

Yeah, Jackman said he wrote a full theme and the director was like "ew no get that stupid melody out of there, I just want the beginning part".

NP: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Danny Elfman)

Second only to JURASSIC PARK as the soundtrack I've played the most over the years. Probably.

Yeah there was a nice video about it (interview) but can't find it anymore.

The remade Dredd film is exceptional. Imaginative visual style, superb special effects, mind-blowing sound design, simple story and amazing action! The film could have benefited from a Goldsmith Total Recallesque score instead it got an all out electronic score, which actually added a lot of much need tension. Unfortunately, it's in the action material that left much to be desired. Generic , overly simple music with zero sense of drama just laid over the scene without matching any of the visuals.

Anyway, I hope there is a sequel! Lots can be done with this character!

-Erik-

Yes I remember that video ( probably because Jackman said his ditched theme had a cool Barryesque sound to it )

i also remember a bit of conversation between a few of us at the time that suggested jackman was...*ahem* a bit "high" during that interview.

"Event Horizon" by Michael Kamen and Orbital.
With the mail today arrived a used copy in mint condition. Although I was never a techno kid I must say that the blend of orchestral and synth layers works amazingly well here.

Cheers!
Volker

^ Just finished listening to that one as well. IMO, it's a brilliant score and one of the most grossly under appreciated scores out there! I recently revisited the film as well. It's unfortunate that the film's final act was so terrible because the build up was exceptional, the ideas being floated around in the screenplay were inspired and visuals were superb.

-Erik-

Hear hear on EVENT HORIZON, it's my favourite score of his.

NP : CLOUD ATLAS - Tom Tykwer - Johnny Klimek - Reinhold Heil



Lloyd says it best....

I wonder if the character of Rambo in the first movie has ever been analyzed in context of something that was slowly recognized at the time (actually it was recognized based on research performed on Vietnam veterans in the US), which was a relatively new psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I did a bit of research on the condition, because of reasons I don't want to discuss on a public forum and I watched the movie some time afterwards... Rambo's behavior fits in the pattern, that is particularly to be seen in the scene where Rambo escapes from the police station:

I assume that most of people on this board saw the film, so I won't use the spoiler tags. When he is being mistreated during the whole ordeal on the station he has a flashback of the time he spent in a POW camp. The flashback is short, but very well pronounced (and it's underscored by a dominantly non-thematic cue, the only cue not to use the main rhythmic motif used for the action, a very motoric 5/8-7/8 pattern, even if when he breaks out, Goldsmith quotes the Homecoming theme in a heroic fashion; it gives the scene a sense of a somewhat detached brutality and confusion, both of which realized by the character's actions on screen) and leads to his training to kick in in a somewhat very instinctive matter. During the whole situation, Rambo is hypervigilant, he observes the situation very carefully, constantly assessing potential threat (having read forums for PTSD-diagnosed soldiers, they often speak that when they are in a convenience store they tend to stay in a point where they have all potential exits covered, that's combining the sense of assessing constant threats and tactical thinking that is due to their militrary training; one veteran spoke of a double hypervigilance - coming from his diagnosed condition AND from his training). Then his instinct takes over and he breaks out.

Two major PTSD symptoms appear in the scene and I wonder how much aware they were of what they doing when they were writing and filming the scene: The hypervigilance of the observation (though that one isn't as prevalent visually) and the flashback induced by something (even if vaguely) reminiscent to the original traumatic event. Of course, it was a device to let the viewer know where is Rambo's behavior coming from, but it's also a psychological device. A very good one at that.

I haven't read any articles with that particular ailment in mind, Pawel, but I wouldn't be surprised if one has been written.