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Those work because the melodies were memorable.
Absolutely! I find that the Bond scores that resonate with me more have the melody dotted throughout the film where appropriate?
I'd like to suggest Antonio Pinto for a future outing
But as @bondjames said, Newman certainly has more finesse than Arnold, he just needs to be more 'loud and in your face' in SPECTRE. But if his SF soundtrack was him getting his marks, I am very excited to see what he has in store for SPECTRE.
Agreed.
I don't have the SF soundtrack and have no interest in buying it although it sounds good enough when watching the movie, and there are some fine cues, if not enough of them.
I do have some of Arnold's soundtracks for Bond, but don't listen to them much. Personally I was never all that impressed with him. Just seemed to be trying too hard and inferior to Barry imho. QoS is the one I like the most.
I remember liking bits of the Lord of War music when I saw the movie many years ago. I especially liked the track called Rahman which I have on a Cafe Del Mar CD.
Personally I love some of what Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson have come up with for Kingsman (not all of it though). Some is very Bondesque to me although there's also a lot of standard superhero stuff as well. Jackman did something similar for Winter Soldier in parts (when Jackson's character was being attacked in his car in that film the whole thing seemed very Bond like)
As @Gustav_Graves posted in the Kingsman thread, this track is my favourite:
This reminds me a lot of the start of the gypsy fight scene in FRWL
This one is really good imho, especially how it builds to about 1:26 to about 1:45
Since they're spending an alleged $300m this time, I'm sure Newman will have money to give us a suitable sophomore tribute to Barry, but only if he's forced to do so by EON and Mendes.
He's a pretty creative guy from what I know, so he can do wonders if he puts his mind to it.
I I know there are lots of people on here who don't like him but the number of times I come out of a film to look up who did the great score and I discover it's Hans Zimmer is crazy. He's way better than Newman IMO, and a keen collaborator with other artists.
I'd like to see Alan Silvestri try his hands at a Bond score.
I completely agree.
If he uses it needs to be weaved in and out of score.
Maybe if you were satisfied with Brosnan as Bond that will do but some of us require some more imagination than that.
It's serviceable. In any other popcorn film I'd say it was fine. But as a Bond score I think it's a fail.
Really? I think Zimmer's Gladiator score is a classic. And I was very impressed by his score for 12 Years a Slave - again, I had no idea it was him until the credits came up, but was enjoying it the entire way through the movie.
I don't understand the stick Zimmer gets here. Not saying he's necessarily suited to Bond, but he seems infinitely more adaptable than Newman.
Silvestri might be interesting. Heck, there are a lot of talented people out there. Why Newman? It feels a bit like the Purvis and Wade situation (although not as bad). We get stuck with these guys who clearly are not up to the standard set by the Bond greats, but keep on getting re-hired. Frustrating when you just know that things could be so much better.
Arnold never played the Bond theme over and over like you describe. He always wove it into tracks and played it where Bond did something amazing.
Exactly. Newman was forced to use it and even some of Arnold's CR Bond theme was recycled into Skyfall when the DB5 is revealed and during the End credits. I wonder why that was. :-?
I don't need Bond theme for everything James does. But it should be dominant during Action scenes.
I don't think it should be seen as automatic for an action Scene. I would like it woven in more organically with other themes and motifs.
I'm more in agreement with this. To my ears, Arnold use of the Bond theme was a step back to early Barry, before he refined his Bondian touch. As I've say before, from TB onwards Barry incorporated the Bond tune very delicately into movie specific motifs and themes, and it was a joy to hear what he came up with each time.
There was an element of refinement to my ears. It always felt like an entire new composition. That's what I want to hear more of. It takes real talent to do that. It reminds me of an artist in a concert ad libbing his signature tune. It's always new and interesting and different from the album cut.
Let's not be too hard on Newman until we hear SP. If the budget constraints for SF are true, it's likely that they chose to use Arnold's perfectly good Bond theme composition rather than re-record it. The fact that it was used in limited fashion is not a Newman only issue. It was limited in CR & QoS, so like the gunbarrel, there could be other reasons for the limited use to date in Craig's era.
You can post as many examples of Arnold era Brosnan as you like, he has nowhere the skill that Barry had in weaving the JB theme in and out of the score.
Look you are satisfied with a tribute Bond act, to me Brosnan fans just like his films because they have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, every cliche thrown at the screen in order to convince you that you are watching a Bond film and for me Arnold was a big part of that.
Yeah, I never debated that Arnold is better than Barry. I was pointing out that Arnold weaves the Bond theme into his score. Which you kept claiming he just played the same Bond theme over and over again.
And for your information, I like Brosnan's films because they introduced me to the damn Franchise. I'm not one of those Bond fans who clamor for super serious grittyness and realism. I like Brosnan's films because they entertain me and make me happy. I enjoy all the Bond films and the actors. Though I don't like all the soundtracks. I don't like the scores to Dr. No, TSWLM or Skyfall. Sorry I want someone better than Newman. I like Arnold's music better. I think he's a Better Bond composer. I'll happily take Barry Homages and pastiches over bland theme-less unmemorable tunes that put me to sleep as I try to remember what they sounded like.
I want my Bond music to have Ooompf and Class not Newman's been there done that approach.
You don't like Arnold, I don't like Newman. I'm not trying to convince you of anything. You claim that Arnold can't weave the Bond theme into his scores and I proved that he could.
This is called "taste". I wanna bet that, especially outside this topic, or this forum, the lovers for many Thomas Newman scores are boundless. The fact is: Most Bond fans want an action-packed score, without complexities, but with the John Barry-esque melody. And because Newman's portfolio so far mostly includes romantic, emotional pieces of music, many Bond fans don't like it. I try to be an open-minded Bond fan, and because I think the emotional drama and personal backgrounds of characters in the Craig-films are highlighted extensively, Thomas Newman really is the man to pull that off.
Anyway, time for some education:
"Little Children" (for the lovers of classical music):
"Wall-E" (mysterious, spy-esque):
"The Iron Lady" (actually, quite comparable to tracks from "Skyfall"):
"Revolutionary Road" (emotional theme):
"Towelhead" (oriental score):
"Cinderella Man" (John Barry & Thomas Newman: masters of romantic scores):
"Skyfall" (my favourite track from "Skyfall". And then from 4:00 min onwards. This "heartbeat" rhytmn with drums. F-ing tense!!! I counted 23 of those "heartbeats". A bloody good example where repetitiveness actually works!):
And an example of why I like Thomas Newman. I have a feeling he manages to add a John Barry-esque crispness to the strings in his score. At least rhythmically I find them better, more consistent, than the string parts from many of David Arnold's scores:
One more time: I think "personal taste" is the driving force in here when discussing Thomas Newman's wunderful portfolio.
John Barry wipes the floor with someone line Newman, who essentially inherited a job in the family firm. Barry got to the top through sheer talent, not family contacts. Do you really think someone with Newman's very average talent would have made it if it wasn't for his name?