Recent Viewing Part IV

I saw it with Thomas and wouldn't rate it as high, but it was entertaining, visually interesting and constantly creative, and I had almost shed a tear during the final scenes.

About the music it was about as much as what I got out of Maleficent, which I did not think was a great score (between 3,5 and 4 stars to be honest). I had to seriously trim down the album to get some enjoyment out of that. This is about the same I think.

It's a heartwarming story about how a rapper got his groove back.

Totally agree with you that Doyle's Cinderella is a 5 star score. Love that one. I was hoping they would do something similar with the Beauty and the Beast remake and assign someone to compose a new score for it, but I guess, since it's a musical, it makes sense why they didn't.

Cool! I wanted to see that when I was in NY in '14, but it was both sold out and too expensive, so I wound up with the ROCKY musical instead (which was not particularly good).

We just bought that, too. It's super fun. A much better film that FROZEN, I think. The sons were fun, but I couldn't remember a bit of them after the first viewing. After repeated viewings they've grown on me.

Rogue One

Enjoyed this one. Didn't really feel that I cared for any of the characters other than Donnie Yen's character and his sidekick.

And I was surprised by how unconvinced I was by the appearance of a familiar Empire character. Darth Vader. I think that it was a mistake to go with James Earl Jones: his voice sounded too old. And Vader's outfit looked wrong somehow.

And I think seeing the movie reduced my appreciation of Giacchino's score.

Darth Vader was one of the BEST things about ROGUE ONE. I'm a bit torn on the movie myself. I like several parts (I actually applaud the fact that it's more "comedy free" than previous movies, but that also means a lack of charm). Some great visuals and setpieces, with at least a hint of the Edwards I'm a fan of, but then a dreadful score by Giacchino. It's a fairly even balance between the good and disappointing, placing it firmly somewhere in the middle.

As for MOANA, I loved that movie. The songs are great, the score is good (at least in the movie), and there's so much class to the direction and execution of the storyline. Musker & Clements at their best!

Moana is my favorite film of the Disney re-renaissance so far, tied perhaps with Tangled.

I thought the film was excellent. I thought the score was miserable, even in context. Half the time I couldn't tell if I was hearing score or aliens communicating. I don't think the music helped the film in the least. It was a huge missed opportunity, I thought. Intelligent films don't have to have nondescript scores. I wish more filmmakers would think of music as something more than wallpaper that interferes with their vision the moment it draws attention to itself.

I agree entirely with this, especially the not being able to determine what was diegetic and what wasn't. In a movie with aliens making weird noises, having a score simultaneously making weird noises of its own just didn't work for me. The only portion of the Arrival score that I liked on any level was the "nananananana" communication-montagey stuff.

I'm not sure I'd call it a "nondescript" score necessarily, but it's one that didn't work for me. Was astonished (and not happy) to see it win the IFMCA.

No, it's "On the Nature of Daylight" by Max Richter.

Volker

Don't want to listen to it on CD but I thought it was a first-rate film score.

Richter didn't write that music for the film. It was tracked in.

That would depend on the movie, wouldn't it? If the goal is exactly that, like -- say -- BLADE RUNNER or TERMINATOR, it is very much a good thing.

I loved the ARRIVAL score myself. Especially in the movie (the 'morse'-like elements that mirrored the communication aspect, for example), but perhaps less so on album. I'm generally more into the type of ambient textures that Johannsson weaves, though.

I'm curious -- what did you think of PRISONERS, Erik?