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I like Giacchino's Star Trek scores just fine, but for me, his two standout scores are John Carter and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. It's a shame John Carter was such a flop, because Giachhino's score seemed outright inspired (and he's quoted as saying his inspiration for the John Carter score was The Empire Strikes Back). It doesn't hurt that I still have a ridiculous amount of fun watching Ghost Protocol the movie, and in part it's because so much of that score itself is just so drat fun. This track, in particular, makes for some great music in the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHbj-lZ840I But now that I've mentioned good driving music, I have to mention one of my favorite action tracks (and scenes) from recent years, Alan Silvestri's "Flying A Tank" from The A-Team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJltfRvIsKo 
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Apr 18, 2014 13:45
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Any thoughts about the summer blockbuster scores so far? I was a bit disappointed in John Ottman's score for X-Men: Days Of Future Past. There were only three or four standout tracks for me, even though so much of his score for X2 (and Superman Returns, now that I think about it) was excellent. At least he did get to reprise his theme from X2 a couple of times, and I think there was even a brief callback to Michael Kamen's theme from the first X-Men in there at one point. I also like the one use of Magneto's theme from X-Men: First Class. It's immediately recognizable from First Class, but probably changed just enough to keep them from having to pay Henry Jackman anything for using his First Class score. There were two or three tracks from Alexandre Desplat's score for Godzilla that I thought were keepers, but the score wasn't as good overall as I hoped for. Next up is James Newton Howard's score for Maleficent, but I'll probably wait until I've seen the movie before starting to go through the soundtrack. Any other big scores to look forward to this summer?
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May 30, 2014 15:05
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Anybody else heard Michael Giacchino's score for Jupiter Ascending? It's a shame that an epic score like this will likely go mostly unnoticed if the movie is a critical and box office failure, which is exactly what happened with Giacchino's excellent score for John Carter. From what I've heard so far, this score from Jupiter Ascending is outstanding. Giacchino just knows how to do "space opera" and the type of big, bombastic, thematic movie scores that we don't seem to get enough of anymore. I've said it before, but I honestly wish Giacchino was scoring The Force Awakens. I love John Williams, but I think Giacchino could have infused something new and great to the Star Wars saga, just as we all hope JJ Abrams is doing. Giacchino is evidently bursting at the seams to deliver a grandiose space opera score worthy of Star Wars, but the poor guy needs a quality hit movie to attach it to.
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Feb 4, 2015 15:10
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bullet3 posted:Giacchino is massively over-rated and can't write a memorable sci-fi theme to save his life. John Carter certainly wasn't it. His Star Trek scores are terrible. He's been coasting since The Incredibles and Up as far as I'm concerned, definitely not the right guy for Star Wars. I'd say those are fightin' words, but different strokes... Although I remember almost nothing of the movie John Carter, I continue to enjoy the soundtrack and think it's big, bold, sci-fi/fantasy music in the tradition of Star Wars. I really like both his Star Trek scores, and his score for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is surprisingly good and a very fun listen. I've been listening to his score for Jupiter Ascending for the last couple of days, and I still think it's really good stuff. But if you didn't like his stuff from John Carter, I doubt you'd like Jupiter Ascending any more. Much of it is bombastic fun with some catchy, hummable themes throughout. I probably won't see the movie until it's out on Netflix, but I'm definitely enjoying the music in the meantime.
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Feb 6, 2015 16:18
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Ash1138 posted:I agree, though I was afraid that if John Williams didn't get the new Star Wars gig, he might literally die (of a broken heart). Given his age, it's unlikely that he'd be able to score the other two movies in the new trilogy, not to mention all the other standalone Star Wars movies coming out. Maybe Disney's intent was for him to set the tone for the new age of Star Wars movies and then literally pass the baton. Maybe Giacchino will get to score the second movie in the new trilogy, and maybe that'll be the one most like The Empire Strikes Back. 
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Feb 6, 2015 17:58
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Anybody else heard Michael Giacchino's score for Tomorrowland? It's the best thing I've heard since his score for Jupiter Ascending earlier this year. It's just a shame he keeps doing stellar work for movies that mostly fall flat at the box office. Until Jurassic World, I'm sure. But after that, somebody please get Giacchino into a Star Wars movie!
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Jun 3, 2015 16:24
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aBagorn posted:I definitely think it's his best, on first listen. He has such a reverence for Williams' work and he makes the references and "Williams-y" touches seem organic and part of his own work, not just "oh hey here's Williams out of nowhere" I've been one of the big Giacchino cheerleaders in the thread recently, but I have to admit that on my first listen, I didn't think his score for Jurassic World was that great. I'd definitely put it far behind both Tomorrowland and Jupiter Ascending, both of which were big, original, and full of great new thematic material. I wonder how much of the positive reaction to the Jurassic World score so far is just nostalgia or familiarity with the old themes from Williams?
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Jun 10, 2015 13:53
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aBagorn posted:I didn't love JA all that much on first listen, and I haven't listened to Tomorrowland at all yet, but you make a very good point. I'm probably high on nostalgia After listening to Jurassic World more over the last couple of days, I still don't think it's nearly as good as some of Giacchino's other recent work. But he has done a great job not only of reusing and reworking Williams' stuff from Jurassic Park, but emulating Williams styles in the score overall. Especially on a couple of tracks that sound like they may include in-movle source music (I haven't seen JW yet, so I'm just guessing) - like "It's A Small Jurassic World" and "The Brockway Monorail" ("There's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified six-car monorail!"), I think I could have been convinced that Williams himself composed these tracks in the mid-80s. They just have that signature classic Williams sound/feel.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:32
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Seeing this thread again reminded me that I've enjoyed Christophe Beck's score from Ant-Man. The main theme is catchy, memorable, and hummable, and it's used enough throughout the score/movie that you have a chance to subconsciously get familiar with it. Every single person I saw the movie with walked out with that tune stuck in their head. For a composer, I'd think that meant "mission accomplished"... and yet it's not something that many film composers accomplish much anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_5NwVy8L5M
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Jul 23, 2015 19:34
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Maloya posted:I really dig that too, and I would add "Surface of the sun" from Sunshine as well as "Waking up" from Oblivion. Thanks for these. Just listened to each a few times and then added them to my permanent playlist. Good stuff. Not exactly in the same vein, but I was recently reminded of another great slow-build track that gradually builds in intensity to the payoff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrjs93NIaJY
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Nov 4, 2015 21:45
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effectual posted:Forgot about this thread, any scores from this year so far worth looking for? Captain America: Civil War has a few decent tracks but isn't as good overall as the two Avengers soundtracks, which themselves weren't really that great. X-Men: Apocalypse also has a few good tracks but is nothing spectacular overall. They just don't make big blockbuster film scores like they used to.  Next up, I'll be looking forward to Michael Giacchino's scores for Star Trek Beyond this summer and Doctor Strange near the end of the year. I'll also hope the score for Independence Day: Resurgence is good, but I'm bummed they didn't bring David Arnold back as composer.
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May 23, 2016 14:07
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Timby posted:Civil War missed a golden opportunity by not incorporating Bryan Tyler's Iron Man 3 theme for some of Stark's scenes. That brief quote of it when the Hulkbuster comes together in Avengers 2 is probably the best bit of that score. Agreed. Not having a cohesive set of themes throughout the MCU has been really disappointing. But in the few instances where they have used recognizable themes from one movie to the next (like part of Cap's original theme appearing a couple of times during Cap-centric moments in the first Avengers movie), it's extremely satisfying. I wish at least a brief quote of Ant-Man's theme from his movie had made it into Ant-Man's big (hurr!) moment in Civil War.
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May 24, 2016 13:56
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Skoll posted:Are we allowed to post TV scores as well, because this is amazing. Agreed, a thousand times agreed to how good this was. I've been listening to the rest of the GOT S6 soundtrack this morning, and it may be the best overall score from any season yet. Most tracks are variations of existing themes (THEMES!), but they're great spins on music we already recognize. Really good stuff.
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Jun 27, 2016 16:08
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Tomtrek posted:Looks like Star Wars: Rogue One has replaced its composer: Alexandre Desplat is out and Michael Giacchino is replacing him. Just when I thought my hype meter for Rogue One couldn't go any higher. 
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Sep 16, 2016 14:04
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Darko posted:Desplat is slightly better at building on Williams (Harry Potter) than Giacchino (Jurassic Park). It's basically a lateral move with a tiny step down. Even if Giacchino didn't use a single cue of Williams, I still think his potential for any Star Wars score is off the charts. The guy can do big, bombastic, thematic, memorable, hummable, space opera scores. You could almost take some of his work from John Carter or Jupiter Ascending and stick it straight into a Star Wars movie already. Random hope for Rogue One music: I hope the Imperial motif from A New Hope, the Empire's theme before the Imperial March took over in The Empire Strikes Back, makes a return appearance and is worked into a more full theme with variations. Sure, let the Imperial March show up once Vader is on the scene, but for the rest of the movie, the Imperial motif would make much more sense and would tie together with A New Hope really well.
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Sep 26, 2016 14:05
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Skoll posted:I feel this is appropriate. Indeed. The Rogue One score has grown on me quite a bit as I've listened to it more and learned it better. I think it fits in perfectly with the other films and scores by Williams. This track, Jyn's theme, stands right up there with Leia's theme from the link above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w42CTq5QZtI
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Jan 5, 2017 17:40
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aBagorn posted:I feel like both new SW scores work better independent of the films. Agreed. It's odd, but the score does seem to work better on its own than in the film. In the movie, the music is overpowering when it shouldn't be and lost behind other layers of audio when it should be front and center. The three suites - Jyn Erso & Hope, Guardians Of The Whills, and The Imperial Suite - aren't directly played in-movie except during the end credits, but each are excellent standalone pieces like Williams did with his full standalone themes. The Imperial Suite, including Krennic's theme, is gloriously catchy. I'm really glad Giachhino worked in the Imperial motif from ANH in a few places, but I wish it had been used more throughout the movie and given a full-blown treatment as THE Imperial theme of the film except in a couple of cases when the Imperial March should be used specifically for Vader.
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Jan 5, 2017 18:43
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Good [Star] Lord, the score for Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 is great. Much like the first one, Tyler Bates finds the perfect mix of bombastic, emotional, and thematic. It's good, fun movie music at its best.
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Apr 21, 2017 15:58
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