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
For me - it has been all downhill since CR, and I really want Craig to leave on a high note. Arnold's that is. And yes I think that the director, editor(s) and DOP are given too much creative control. Broccoli would never have allowed that awful color grade in large parts of SP, for example or the confusing blink-and-you-missed it editing from QoS.
Can't say I agree they are shoulder to shoulder to Barry. That bit of the DAD score is a direct lift from YOLT.
But there are some genuinely original themes in there and the scores generally improve the films (not hard in some cases) rather than detracting from them.
This is a fair retort. The following is all personal preference:
- I find the Paris & Bond track from TND to be a little overly mushy in the middle, almost as if it's trying too hard to be INCREDIBLY ROMANTIC with those massive sweeping strings. Compare this to the romantic cues in Octopussy, A View to a Kill or The Living Daylights - all of which I find superior and more effective.
- Love the first 30 seconds of the DAD track, though it does borrow from You Only Live Twice around 25 second mark, no? Perhaps it also just reminds me of the terrible dialog Brosnan and Berry share in that scene.
- I love Casino Royale, it's my favorite Bond film. But the provided track never did much for me when I listen to it on its lonesome. Works well in the film, though.
- Night at the Opera is indeed an excellent track, perhaps the best track in the entire QOS score. One of the best tracks Arnold has ever done for Bond.
For me, it's not a hard and fast rule that all of Arnold's action cues are gold and all of his other work is dull - far from it. It's just that I find myself listening to his more energetic cues more often than his others.
With all that being said, if Arnold had come back to score Bond 25, I'd be more happy than not.
Obviously, the real best track in Bond history :))
In all seriousness though, there are tracks off GoldenEye that I really enjoy like the overture or Whispering Statues.
For me, I would much rather listen to the TND or CR OST, than the OST from OP or AVTAK where Barry most certainly overused the Bond theme (he redeemed himself with TLD).
Arnold's last two Bond scores were IMO fantastic soundtracks, and it seemed to me he was just getting better and better before Mendes brought his own composer in. 'You Know My Name' is one of my favourite Bond songs and whenever i hear it it never fails to give me goosebumps!
Never heard of this new chap Romer and to be fair the stuff members have been posting on here isn't exactly filling me with confidence. But i'll wait until the finished product before passing judgement.
Totally agree with everything you said there, pal. SP colour was indeed awful, as was the Bourne style editing in QoS.
For what it’s worth, Serra got the gig back in ‘95 because John Barry recommended him to EON based on his synth score for LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL.
It's just a clear change of approach as soon as they got Mendes - letting bigger-name and more auteur directors lead the way and have more of their own personal stamp on the respective films, rather than being just a journeyman cog in the machine. That's how the likes of Boyle or Villeneuve were ever in conversations for this film in the first place.
And yet waiting in the wings, we have the best action director of his generation (Chris Nolan) who loves Bond, but hasn't been asked to direct a Bond film. Instead, Babs wants to entertain conversations with art-house directors, while Nolan has to go off to direct his own spy movie.
Like I said before, Babs time is done with the franchise. She needs to move on rapidly.
On the contrary, Nolan has been in talks with them as far back as SPECTRE. Word is he’s only interested when the time comes for a new actor to take the part, so he can kickstart that tenure like Martin Campbell has for Brosnan and Craig.
I really hope that is true.
Not only that, it'd also be a question of business because of Nolan and his production company's deals with Warner Bros. If he were ever to direct, WB would have to take over distribution. Creative control aside, for EON to get Nolan it may be more hassle than it's actually worth.
It’ll be interesting to see what deal is made. Maybe a similar one EON has with Universal? But I’m sure no one is going to say “no” to EON and Nolan wanting to make a Bond film. Nolan certainly has the clout to get that gig.
Then I’d finally get my Zimmer Bond score!
In this scenario I'd imagine it being like that and, to use a Nolan example, Interstellar. That was originally set up at Paramount with Steven Spielberg to direct, then to get Nolan on board WB went and took over international distribution for the film, as well as arguably called the shots on the whole marketing campaign. It would basically be a question of pissing of an existing distribution partner like Universal.
This would then really leave the creative control question - we already saw Boyle part ways with EON over the script and Barbara wanting to bring someone else on to rework what he and Hodge have done. Nolan would be similarly protective over it too.
As for Dan Romer, I'll likely just stay away from his scores until I see the film or get my hands on the soundtrack album. I don't want to form an opinion based on what he's done before.
At least we Bond fans can give him some pointers on Twitter 😂
By “memorable” do you mean something you could easily hum? I ask because I notice fans, especially Bond traditionalists, tend to think of them as being the same thing. While I can’t physically hum something like “Shanghai Drive”, I vividly remember every second of that piece as much as Barry’s “Bond Lured to Pyramid”.
Depending on execution, I can find rhythmic music as memorable as melodic music. Of course, so many scores these days are far more veered towards ambient/rhythmic types of music as that has become prevalent in our culture since the turn of the century, just as the big band sound was in the 20th century. It’s understandable those who want more of the melodic music are upset with film scores. I’m kind of upset too, because today’s generation of composers who try going for big melodic themes like Michael Giacchino leave me utterly cold. They don’t quite have the punch that past composers like Barry, Goldsmith, and Williams had.
True, but the best thing about Bond scores is that they're amazing pieces to listen on YouTube and on Vinyl.
100% this. There's no reason why film music can't be memorable and be fitting to a scene at the same time.