movie-wave.net

Very disappointed by the ommision of the Blankety Blank theme

Still, this is the must have release of the year and I'd hope my copy will come signed.

I knew this would be epic before clicking on it. When Movie Wave Records releases an album, you know you're in for something truly unique.

Peter

Oh boy... Lets see where this one goes.

-Erik-

I got that feeling as well.

-Erik-

(though reading it back it does come across more nastily than I had intended... oops...)

The "taking a shit" part is pretty harsh, although it still made me laugh.

(And it's true.)

I'm no big Zimmer fan but I found it a tad harsh.

I devoted a tweet to this release.
Yes, I did.
It's the kind of guy I am.

Aha! I think I know what that's in reference to...Although it begs the question, what's worse: telling him to shut his yap, or comparing his music to literal shit, twice?

After those comments I don't know how you have the nerve to show your faeces around here.

Well, to be completely honest, I am one of the biggest Hans Zimmer defenders on this forum, which mostly stems from my personal experience with the man himself (there aren't many people in my life who have given me as much as Hans did and I am very, very serious about it). I can say how downright nice he is.

I also understand James' bitterness, which comes not just from his dislike of some (I don't want to even say majority, there are simply Hans Zimmer scores, James dislikes, but his reviews prove to be much warmer to his music than what you may think based on certain statements even here on this forum, I quite strongly disagree with statements that Hans dumbs film music down to the lowest common denominator, I personally think that his innate instinct of what may serve the film the best, though, admittedly, that has waned down recently and I do have a theory about it), but also the experience with Hans himself and some of rather unstable fanboys (or rather a fangirl) under his Dark Knight Rises review.

I can't speak much about the situation (and I definitely try to cut Krisztina off as much as I can, to be honest, she's just a tad too irrational for my tastes, that's putting it delicately), what I can say though is that I was put (not to my own will) in the middle of the situation and I got firsthand knowledge of what really annoyed Hans in it. I am not sure if he read the revised text though and I am grateful that while it didn't change his opinion - why would it - James took my advice to include a missing theme in this review. I can imagine that that particular situation shook quite hard...

I can understand where James comes from, but I think Clemmensen's vitriol is completely uncalled for and not just against Hans - when he dislikes a score, be it Horner, Zimmer or whoever, he tends to get quite personal. He's just biased.

But in general, I dislike the bias of something having to be wrong, just because it doesn't sound the way you want it to. I think Hans' Batman scores suffered a lot of unwarranted criticism just because he didn't take the Elfman path. There is no one right way to score a film. There are many right - and wrong - ones. I personally don't agree with all the choices Hans made in these projects (the music and some of the writing singlehandedly ruined the ending of the second Batman movie for me, I do blame it on Nolan though). What has to be remembered and is often forgotten is that it's the same intellect and the same person who did (sadly) Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and on the other hand - The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down and Inception.

I think what personally, if I may finish this slightly incoherent essay with that, makes me stay with being a fan of Hans' music, except The Thin Red Line which makes me eternally loyal to his scores, is the fact that Hans is trying to expand the palette sometimes and that he thinks of how to serve the movie in a not always very orthodox way... I prefer to stick to a composer who tries something new at times and his choices may end up being eventually wrong than a composer who keeps to the same methods and is always right, but you can't discuss his choices at all. The intellectualism makes me also a huge, huge fan of Alexandre Desplat, for example. Desplat has obviously a much bigger palette of musical tools, stemming from his technical proficiency and education, which Hans doesn't have, but I would only like to point out the fact, that in my opinion... Hans, from all the self-taught composers, came the longest way - coming from Bird on a Wire to The Thin Red Line doesn't exactly happen in every career...

I always distinguish between the artist and his work. The fact that I don't like too much of Zimmer's recent work (while loving his early scores) does not mean I hold anything against the man personally.

Volker

You needn't explain anything to me or most people here James.

Sound like an expedited passing by St. Peter, and a high five from the Allmighty.

The lack of any critical outlook on ANYTHING Zimmer (God, even Sherlock 2 was adored by many people, some of the biggest crap he wrote!) out in the Internet, he ends up being the Justin Bieber of film music.

And yeah - the people who unanimously praise the Zimmer music to Man of Steel (which BTW, I cautiously like), also tend to say that the John Williams theme is, quoting literally, "ridiculous".