It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Personally I would have preferred Arnold, but I have a hard time criticizing Newman, since there were some wonderful cues in both SF and SP.
Tend to agree. Arnold is my preference because he uses the Barry model of recurring leitmotifs and was always keen to make the theme intrinsic to the score.
I was kidding of course, I'm a bit of a brat you see. ;)
I've mentioned lots of times that there is a small handful of Newman tracks I actually enjoy but Most of what he's done doesn't do it for me and the recycled music from Skyfall just adds to that disappointment.
Me neither @BondJames. Personally, I'd love to find a man, a composer, who knows how to compose and arrange unforgettable leitmotifs and melodies! Melodies that you can hum in your car. One that really can....bring atmosphere to a movie, that can do both heartfelt romance and riveting action sequences. One that actually deserves the comparison with John Barry.
So what about this:
"Gold" (2016), score by Daniel Pemberton (you'll love this @BondJames):
"Mal De Pierres" (2016), score by Daniel Pemberton:
"Steve Jobs" (2015), score by Daniel Pemberton:
"The Man From U.N.C.L.E." (2015), score by Daniel Pemberton:
I can't wait for Pemberton's score on Aaron Sorkin's upcoming film "Molly's Game" (spy, drama, biography)
Regarding Pemberton in general: he's very talented and can definitely compose memorable melodies. As I've mentioned previously though, I find he tends to overshadow the scenes with his sounds in the films which he composes for. Also, I detect an element of repetition in his compositions. If he could just tone it down a little & provide a bit more variation within a certain track to mirror how a particular film scene develops I think he could be an excellent choice. Certainly better than Arnold for me.
I watched gold in theatres- it was hands down one of the worst films I have ever seen. Scores fine though
My theory is that him phoning it in so badly was sort of a middle finger to EON. Apparently they clashed badly during SF (I think it was about his refusing to use the Adele theme in the score, they had to fight him just to include that one use at the casino) to the point that @JamesPage was dropping hints that he wouldn't be back for Bond 24 even when we knew Mendes was on board. But I guess EON were so desperate to keep Mendes happy that they put aside their differences. So I think the reuse of old tracks and general laziness of the SP score was just because of his bad experience working on SF, his heart probably wasn't in it after that.
At least Arnold's scores were made for Bond movies and not for Woolworth elevators.
I would say the fact alone that Arnold was recommended by the man himself John Barry speaks for itself.
More post-production time would help the composer too, I suppose.
I respect his loyalty and his effort but not his talent. He just doesn't have what it takes for me. It's like an amateur hitting all the right piano keys but bringing none of the magic. I can't explain it but it's just how I feel about his music on the whole (with some exceptions, most notably in CR/QoS).
month ago
I didn't hear of this before... Just goes to show that SP was one giant cluster-you-know-what... Producers letting one writer run with a script without supervision, until too late; hiring back writers who said they were done; the star of the picture battling it out with the ex-BFF director; the music-man drawing swords against the producers...
Simplified of course, and yes, these things happen on films all the time. It just seems SP was swallowed down the rabbit-hole of negativity.
It's no wonder at all DC decided to come back and finish properly...
Thomas Newman has turned in some interesting work in the quieter pieces (New Digs, Jellyfish, Old Dog, New Tricks and A Reunion are some fine pieces by him), but his scores focus a bit too much on ambiance: they often have that quality that makes them sound less like film scores and more like sound design. They lack boldness and don't go for the jugular. In this respect he isn't necessarily much worse than David Arnold, but whereas Arnold turned in plenty of solid action music, Newman's is for the most part a great disappointment. Most of the time, not only does it sound disinterested, it sounds generic, the worst sin of all in a saga with remarkable musical heritage, that basically invented the genre of spy music. Sure, Newman gave us Los muertos vivos están, but that's nothing Arnold couldn't do, and he'd do more of it. In general, Arnold kept much more of the Bond atmosphere of yesteryear than Newman, so between them, I'll take Arnold any day.
My opinion is that the Bond scores should generally maintain a strong emphasis on theme and melody. Not all films --and not all Bond films-- need to be scored that way (Kamen and Serra did well), but with 007, there's a musical history and an identity that I'd like to see honored and preserved, and apart from that, having a traditionally Bondian score today can be a way of differentiating a Bond film from its competition. The Craig era, with all its introspection, doesn't change the fact the Bond films are spectacle: they are larger than life entertainment, and as such, they should generally have scores to match, in which, to reuse a phrase, the music goes for the jugular!
As an aside, I'd like to say John Barry's action scoring hasn't been matched since he left the series. As Lukas Kendall from FSM once said, rather than following the onscreen action too closely, Barry always scored the idea of action; he actually came up with action themes. Martin, Hamlisch and Conti followed this template, in my view. Arnold and Newman didn't.
---
Pemberton's work is good, from the samples above, but I agree with @bondjames in that he can be slightly too repetitive (though that's not the worst sin, in my opinion). I need to check out what he comes up with in action scenes, though.
No. I judge it by quality. And Newman has everything that Arnold doesn't, including being one of the most sought after composers in the film industry. When you go down the line, in terms of Newman's projects compared to Arnold's, this isn't even close. You're allowed to like whomever you want, of course. AND I DO LIKE A LOT OF ARNOLD'S BOND SCORES. But if you think Arnold is in Newman's league, you're in the small minority with that opinion. He simply isn't. Other than Bond, what exactly has Arnold done over the past 12 years? Jack squat.
That's not Newman's call. It's Mendes's.