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Liked it but don't you think it's more like a monothematic variation throughout ? kinda like theme on nostalgia and variations is the movie any good btw?

The thing with Jablonsky though is that, believe it or not, at the end of the day he is one of the most consistently thematic composers we have right now. The first Transformers score is one of the biggest guilty pleasures I've ever had and I was floored by how he conjures up a decent to good theme for crap like Your Highness or the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

"Transformers" is probably my favourite MV/RC style score.

Volker

THE 13TH WARRIOR - Jerry Goldsmith

Goldsmith wrote a killer main theme for this (although extremely derivative of his The Mummy material), and he sustains your interest by finding new ways to present it, but other than that there’s not a lot of meat on these bones. In between statements of thát theme, it’s rather devoid of character or interesting other ideas. It baffles me Clemensen called this effort the superior one over The Mummy, which he in turn called colorless, since to me it’s obvious that The Mummy contained so much more thematic depth, character and ideas.

I agree The Mummy is better, but I like them both. (He wrote and recorded 13th Warrior first by the way, though the film wasn't released till later.)

who composed this ? jablonsky? thanks

Harry Gregson-Williams - Breath

Turns out it's a 2017 film, unrelated to Andy Serkis' directorial debut. The score was released this year. A very laid back work, very pleasant, ambient with a couple of rock twists. The kind of thing that suits the composer best - a more small-scale dramatic work.

Paradoxically, not really, if you look at his career. His style is far more subtle. At a meeting (a masterclass, as they dubbed it and one of the best events like this ever on the festival) in Kraków he said how Sinbad gave him a chance to sound like "the other Williams", which was a sort of recurring joke of the whole thing. Because he claims that his own themes aren't as complex as the classics.

Gregson-Williams' voice is actually quite subtle. He can do the big stuff very well, he's well-versed in the classical tradition, too. There was a large argument about, I think, Prometheus between Scott Glasgow and Stephen Barton (a long-term assistant of Gregson-Williams) about how the theme sounds like one of John Williams' with Glasgow constantly pushing his theory how Harry ripped it off and Barton explaining for the umpteenth time that it nowhere in temp-track and in director's notes and he knows for a fact that Harry never heard of the Williams "original" before, so there.

But when it comes to his voice, if you look at Sinbad and Kingdom of Heaven... and actually his Tony Scott work, you will see that quite often he likes to start in a very low-key place (Sinbad doesn't allow that often) and seamlessly (via performance alone) go into intense drama and go back to that place. In Tony's cinema it interweaves the harsh electronica in very precise moments. I wish more people could hear stuff like The Magic of Marciano, which is an almost European score in sound, with little to no electronica, but the way he uses the orchestra and his theme are just impeccable.

THE HORSE WHISPERER - THOMAS NEWMAN

I think I'm gonna spend the rest of the week revisiting some old gems which used to get many a spin but have now most undeservedly fell somewhat to the wayside.

I've always loved this one. A last-minute replacement score, I understand, but a cracking one at that. Unmistakably Newman but the closest he's ever come to scoring a Western. I'd love to hear his pop at one proper but this will do for now. It has that silky 'neo-Americana' sound that he has teased in many of his scores, such as Shawshank. Love it.

Next on the 'forgotten gems' list...

DEEP IMPACT - JAMES HORNER

Often considered to be one of his 'lesser' scores but I've always found a great deal to love in this work of his. It's certainly a bloated album but there are some absolutely lovely highlights. The almost-15 min finale cue is an overload of Horner emotion. There are echoes of Apollo 13 (appropriately, I guess) but it's so deliciously schmalzy, yet seriously affecting, in a way that only Horner could manage. It features almost every Horner-trick in the book but there is some fantastic writing for solo trumpet.

I struggle to imagine 90's cinema without Horner.

Next up:

AMISTAD - JOHN WILLIAMS

I only ever re-visit this for the solemn Americana cues; the sort that Williams could write before breakfast. Still, gorgeous stuff.

An aside but I watched the actual film a couple of weeks ago for the first time in ages. Not one of Spielberg's best but I had forgotten just how brilliant Anthony Hopkins is in it. He steals every scene he's in. He's just fabulous.

As many have commented, both the film and score make excellent companion pieces to Lincoln.

Interestingly, my main attraction is the "African" stuff on that album, not the solemn Americana -- which is great, no doubt, but which Williams does far too often -- especially in recent years (even friggin' THE BFG gets it, and it's such a quintessential British fantasy film). I agree, however, that the film is underrated.

American Dream Thomas Bergersen

Those who bemoan the Current State of Film Music™ will probably appreciate this. Think Joel McNeely in the 90s scoring a western/Americano* film.

*americana not americano