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Newman for me offers even less than Arnold. I'm not sure he's ever written a memorable melody. Perhaps American Beauty? That seems a major issue for a Bond composer and leaves me with little expectation that his SP score will be any better than his work on SF, particularly if he continues to resist collaborating with the composer of the title track.
To each their own, but...
1. The "Mother" theme is one that ties the film together.
2. Newman didn't just get a Oscar nomination, he also won a Grammy for the SF score.
3. There was no snub with Arnold. Two reasons: 1. Newman is Mendes's guy, period; 2. Arnold was too busy anyway doing the Olympics.
With Purvis and Wade I think there may have been a bit more tension, as they probably felt they'd not received the credit they felt was due for SF and then Mendes and EON had to ask them to come back.
By snubbed I meant he didn't get to do it. Not he was meant to and didn't.
Just because a director works with a composer all the time doesn't mean that it was the right choice for Bond.
I sure Arnold would've accomadated anything Mendes wanted.
Bold statement at this moment ;-)
More of an opinion really. I feel the same way. It's a bit tedious to end every post with "in my opinion."
http://www.latino-review.com/news/spielbergs-latest-gains-a-title-loses-john-williams
Not a good thing. I have no appreciation for Newman's music as I thought his score was very bland in SF. Bond films should have a strong score and I just don't think they got it from Newman. Mendes is about as good a judge of composers as he is of screen writers (Logan). As for the awards, SF's huge success (and Adele's big hit theme) carried Newman to his Grammy win and Oscar nom (along with his family connections as old Oscar voters just love their own).
Now he will be writing music for two spy films with the exact same time line opening days within each other. If he can't write great music for one spy film, I just wonder how he will write great music for 2 at the same time.
This part does concern me. I hope he knows where his priority should be (SP of course!).
I actually think the other way around. Now Thomas Newman has the opportunity to create two "spy-sounds" that are vastly different from each other. "Bridge Of Spies" now could prove to be more spy-drama, whereas "SPECTRE" will be more spy-action. It could focus the creativeness of Thomas Newman, channeling more distinct Bond sounds, as compared to "Bridge Of Spies".
I strongly disagree with your notion that he can't write spy music. Again, that's a matter of opinion. What I am worried about is the timeframe Thomas Newman now has. It'll be very very busy for Mr Newman now. Given the fact that John Williams bowed out pretty late, I assume the music for "Bridge Of Spies" could suffer from that....
And please, don't forget "APPRECIATION TOPIC" ;-).
Crazy to think that Cubby turned down Spielberg for Bond. We could have had a J Williams Bond score.
It wasn't that the score is bad, it's just a bit generic, even 3 years on with repeated listenings.
When I listen to "Dawn Raid on Fort Knox", "Cable Car and Snake Fight", "Kung Fu Fight", "He's Dangerous", it just screams James Bond, much like the Union jack parachute jump, or the tank chase, or Moonraker free fall.
Then comes Skyfall. On first hearing the score, I liked most of it. But it's replay value is not very good. The more I listen to it, the more I like it less. It's just not very memorable and doesn't have that classic Bond music punch to it. It's just an oddity that is lacking Bond theme and sweeping memorable melodies. I know we'll never get another John Barry score but Bond music shouldn't lesser than it's been for decades. Perhaps Barry set the bar too high, or perhaps themeless, more simplistic musical compositions are the new IT thing. Which is a shame. Because Bond music was a character in the films themselves. I just hope Newman tries a lot harder for SPECTRE because a Skyfall grade soundtrack won't cut it this time.
Nice to read different opinions :-). Perhaps in the future they can hire the composer from "Kingsman"?
Yes indeed, Barry did set the bar way too high....... Like Ken Adam, Maurice Binder, and even Terence Young, he created something that likely can never be equaled.
I personally cannot listen to any non-Barry score without watching the accompanying film except for Martin's LALD. Having said that, I did like Arnold's QoS score the best out of the bunch he did, because it was a little more melodic than he had done before, and because of the excellent Night at the Opera (which is extremely evocative of Barry with its building cues).
I did not mind SF's score, while listened to in conjuction with the film. As mentioned, since Barry I've not been able to listen to any score on its own, so the SF score was just par for the course.
I'm sure Newman has it in him to deliver something special for SP. The movie looks to be much 'louder' and 'busier' than SF from the trailers, so the score will have to be 'amped up' as well. I don't think we'll have accusations of elevator music this time around.
I'm disappointed that EON has still not found a suitable successor to Barry after all these years (Newman is just a stand-in due to Mendes).........someone who can create a new sound which still evokes Barry. I think Giacchino could do it certainly.
Likely after DC's run is over, there will be a shakeup and we'll see a new series composer.
@bondjames, Yes I'd also love Giacchino to score many Bond films.
I think the last 2 sentences in @Murdock's post nail the problems I have with TN's Bond score. Williams has written scores for many Spielberg films like Jurasic and Star Wars that were indeed "characters" in those films. Some truly memorable stuff that intensely captured the essence of those films and contributed to their success. I don't think TN's score contributed to SF's success, if anything, for me it weakened the film. TN writes music for dramas where the music is not supposed to intrude. For a film like SP, the score needs to help carry the action. I had some issues with Kingsman, but the music was exactly the kind of strong score that helped carry that film.