YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

I'm going to introduce a new feature on my blog showcasing one of my great loves and personal hobbies:

FILM MUSIC.

I am a passionate fan of film music and my collection of film music is vast but I want to combine that with a visual aspect (which film music should be aligned too) so I'm going to use You Tube to accomplish this goal.

I will search through You Tube and find videos that feature film music and embed those videos on this blog.

So,

without further ado, here is the

YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY



So I just put up my Top Scores of the 1960s in my Film Music Musings and one of those great scores is Elmer Bernstein's The Great Escape, one of the best movies and scores of all time.



FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

A good friend of mine (yep, Frank, this is for you) asked me about the Top Scores of the 1960s, so here are my picks for both the 1960s and 1950s.

Now these scores are in no particular order so consider them a group and I only have a Top 10 list for the 50s but there are 20 scores for the 60s.

Top Scores of the Decade: 1960s

No Particular Order

Spartacus - 1960 Alex North

Goldfinger - 1964 John Barry

The Magnificent Seven - 1960 Elmer Bernstein

Lawrence of Arabia - 1962 Maurice Jarre

To Kill a Mockingbird - 1962 Elmer Bernstein

Romeo and Juliet - 1968 Nino Rota

Planet of the Apes - 1968 Jerry Goldsmith

Psycho - 1960 Bernard Herrmann

Cool Hand Luke - 1967 Elmer Bernstein

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - 1967 Ennio Morricone

The Lion in Winter – 1968 John Barry

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 1969 John Barry

The Agony and the Ecstacy - 1965 Alex North

How the West Was Won - 1962 Alfred Newman

Fall of the Roman Empire - 1964 Dimitri Tiomkin

Becket - 1964 Laurence Rosenthal

The Alamo - 1960 Dimitri Tiomkin

Doctor Zhivago 1965 - Maurice Jarre

The Great Escape -1963 Elmer Bernstein

Mutiny on the Bounty – 1962 Bronislau Kaper

Top Scores of the Decade: 1950s

No Particular Order

Ben-Hur - 1959 Miklos Rozsa

A Streetcar Named Desire - 1951 Alex North

On the Waterfront - 1954 Leonard Bernstein

Sunset Boulevard - 1950 Franz Waxman

Quo Vadis - 1951Miklos Rozsa

High Noon - 1952 Dimitri Tiomkin

The Ten Commandments - 1956 Elmer Bernstein

Vertigo - 1958 Bernard Herrmann

The Big Country - 1958 Jerome Moross

North by Northwest - 1955 Bernard Herrmann





TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

 

HEAVEN CALLING

 

 

MY LATEST PRO WRESTLING BELT

Something kinda exciting happened this week.

To me, at least.

I got my seventh pro wrestling belt.

That's right.

I have seven (7) pro wrestling belts.

AND THEY ARE AWESOME!!!

The latest belt I got is the Intercontinental Championship Belt with the white strap.



Pretty Awesome, huh?

I've wanted this belt for some time but its always been a bit too expensive but recently, the price was right and I seized the moment.

AWESOME!!!

And just for giggles, here is a pic of me with another one of my belts.

Ok, so that's not a pic of me, but I do have the belt.  That counts for something, don't it?



YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

I'm going to introduce a new feature on my blog showcasing one of my great loves and personal hobbies:

FILM MUSIC.

I am a passionate fan of film music and my collection of film music is vast but I want to combine that with a visual aspect (which film music should be aligned too) so I'm going to use You Tube to accomplish this goal.

I will search through You Tube and find videos that feature film music and embed those videos on this blog.

So,

without further ado, here is the

YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

In my Film Music Musings, I just presented the best year of the 90s, namely 1993.  So, in connection with that, here is the main title from Trevor Jones' great score to Cliffhanger.



TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

NOW THIS IS A HOT TUB

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  ALL FAT MEN LOVE HOT TUBS!!!

FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

So now that the best of the 90s have been posted, its time to highlight the best individual year of the 90s:  1993.



The Best Year of the Decade - 1993

1993 was indeed a great year for film music. No question about it. 1993 was the year that saw a great score with each new movie regardless of how bad the movie was. But the music was definitely there to stand out ahead of the movie. And in some cases, the music has outlived the movie itself.

In this year, James Horner scored no less than 10 movies ranging from live action to animation with the films:

Once Upon A Forest, The Pelican Brief, House of Cards, Jack the Bear, Searching for Bobby Fischer, My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, Bopha, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, and A Far Off Place.

Jerry Godsmith, fresh off an Oscar nomination for Basic Instinct the previous year, was plenty busy himself scoring films like: Dennis the Menace, 6 Degrees of Separation, The Vanishing, Malice, and Rudy (unfortunately snubbed by the Academy).

And John Williams played with the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and scored the ironic true tale of Schindler's List (the Oscar winner and some say the the best score of the decade).

It also saw the emergence and return of a few Hollywood standouts.

James Newton Howard scored as many films as Goldsmith, scoring the hit films Falling Down, Dave, and Alive, a small but somewhat memorable drama in The Saint of Fort Washington and of course, the megahit, The Fugitive, garnering his first Oscar nomination.

Then there's the legendary Elmer Bernstein, who was practically type-cast in the late 80s and early 90s scoring comedies such as Oscar but he was approached by Martin Scorsese to adapt the music of Bernard Herrmann for the remake of Cape Fear and then tapped to provide the score for Scorsese's critically acclaimed Age of Innocence during this year, which contained some of his most memorable music in the 90s and an Oscar nomination.

After making a splash with his 1989 score to Henry V, along with 1991's Dead Again, Patrick Doyle came to the forefront with some great music of his own with Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, Brian DePalma's gangster opus Carlito's Way and the truly creepy music for Needful Things, which proved that he could not only write memorable melodic themes, but great climatic action music as well.

For the star-studded Tombstone, director George Cosmatos was in desperate need of a composer who had or came close to the chops of a Jerry Goldsmith, after he had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts. After a high recomendation by Goldsmith, the scoring duties went to the much underrated Bruce Broughton. And with the power of the Sinfonia of London on the forefront, Broughton went onto provide the film with the score it needed and even more than that.

Dave Grusin provided another quality score for the overblown and really overlong Tom Cruise thriller, The Firm. A strange one because it was all performed on a single piano and another strange occurance, it garnered an Oscar nomination.

1993 also produced little scores that hardly anyone talks about like:

Trevor Jones' wonderful and rousing score for Cliffhanger

Elliot Goldenthal's Demolition Man which would later evolve into his Batman scores

Marc Shaiman's wonderful integration of Hugo Friedhofer's score from An Affair to Remember for the Tom Hanks-Meg Rayn romance Sleepless in Seattle

Michael Kamen's swashbuckling follow-up to Robin Hood with Disney's The Three Muskateers which proved to be a hit without being overly violent

Zbigniew Preisner's score to The Secret Garden flying in the face of the musical version

Graeme Revell had an interesting year scoring two controversial films in Boxing Helena and Body of Evidence producing mock Goldsmith textures to both films.

And then there are other scores like Alan Silvestri's Judgement Night, Ennio Morricone's In the Line of Fire, Basil Poledouris' Hot Shots! Part Deux, David Newman's The Sandlot, Howard Shore's M. Butterfly, and Thomas Newman's Scent of a Woman.

Other composers had landmark years such as Randy Edelman, who wrote two really memorable scores to the Turner produced Gettysberg and the now-trailer music staple, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.

Danny Elfman also composed two scores: Sommersby and The Nightmare Before X-Mas, the former a wonderful break of style with beautiful, sweeping melodies, and the second a definitive Elfman score.

I should also mention the Oscar-nominated score for The Piano by Michael Nyman, a case of the Academy being fooled by a musical subject and feeling obligated to give it a nomination (much like The Red Violin).

Truly an amazing year for film music. The best of the decade.

FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

So now here comes the best scores of the 90s.  A difficult decade but with standout scores nonetheless.

Best of the 1990s

10. Mission to Mars - 2000 This might be a bit of a cheat in that this score came out in 2000 but I had to include it as Ennio Morricone brings the essence of wonder and triumph to this science fiction movie. From beginning to end, the craftsmanship of this music shines through as does it undeniable uniqueness (an organ in space?). This score culminates in some of the greatest finale music in a movie since Star Wars or ET. The maestro brings the stars and planets and majesty to us in this score and does it all so well that it cannot be ignored.

9. Bram Stoker's Dracula - 1992 Wow!!! Who is this composer? What's his name and more importantly, how do you pronounce it? No matter, Wojeich Kilar hit the film-score world with a creepy, rumbling bass-line with riff-upon-riff piled onto it that absolutely fit this off-kilter adaption of the Dracula story. From horror to the sublime, this is another score that is actually better than the movie. Meticulous and religioso-mysterious, this score assaults and exalts the listener throughout. A perfect complement to Francis Ford Coppola's most exotic film. This one is a keeper. Now if only I could pronounce the composer's name.

8. Titanic - 1997 THE MOVIE EVENT of the decade yielded up one of James Horner's finest efforts of the decade. After establishing the "Rose" motive, you can listen to this score and in a true Wagnerian way tell when Rose is on the screen and what kind of trouble or mood she is in. The opening title is one of the great mounful tunes (perhaps along with the entire score to Schindler's List) of the decade revealing to the audience that what is coming is going to be emotionally wrenching and for the next three hours he proceeds to do just that. Superbly constructed and executed, this film and score is a true highlight of the decade.

7. Jurassic Park - 1993 1993 was perhaps the best year for film music of the decade. Besides Edelman's Gettysburg, Patrick Doyle gave us Much Ado About Nothing and James Horner contributed The Pelican Brief but the year really belonged to John Williams who composed his Academy Award-winning score for Schindler's List and the thrilling adventure score for Jurassic Park. Revisiting the style of Jaws with its suspense-driven themes, Jurassic Park ventures further into grandeur and awe as the dinosaurs are first seen onscreen. And only Williams can write for a helicopter ride (he did it in The Towering Inferno and does it differently and better here). Strangely, this score (like the also-brilliant Phantom Menace) was not nominated for an Academy Award, but Williams still won that year, just for the wrong score.

6. Bicentennial Man - 1999 A guilty pleasure of mine. I JUST LOVE THIS MOVIE! Horner is in top form here, but this is not the action of Apollo 13 or the more bombastic parts of Titanic, this is the more contemplative, beautiful (one could say Romantic) Horner. Reminiscent of Braveheart in some of its more soaring moments but even more rich and with a slight humorous edge, this score touches every emotion and represents a sort of middle ground between Apollo 13 and Titanic in Horner's output for the decade.

5. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - 1991 This one is just plain FUN. I loved this movie. From the first notes of the overture I knew it was going to be something special. All the adventure and romance is right in this Michael Kamen score. OK, OK, so there were a ton of orchestrators, who cares, the music turned out great. Before Titanic broke all the records for a theme-song related film score, there was Everything I Do (I Do It For You). Robin Hood lives (even without a British accent). Korngold would be proud.

4. Apollo 13 - 1995 1995 was Horner's year. He put out three really great scores in Braveheart, Casper, and Apollo 13 and two other good, but mediocre scores, Balto and Jade. But this score takes the prize. One only needs to watch the 10 minute Launch cue and this score's greatness becomes apparent. Besides Titanic in 1997 and Bicentennial Man in 1999, this is Horner's supreme effort of the 90's and a culmination of his style that he had been building up to this point.

3. Gettysburg - 1993 A powerful score for a powerful movie that wouldn't be half as powerful if not for the powerful score. Whew!!! There are moments in this film that consist of nothing but gun-shots, cannon blasts, and the music of Randy Edelman. Likewise, the profound (almost Shakespearean) speeches are perfectly complemented by Edelman's music. From Chamberlain's speech about freedom, to Armistead's speech about the South, Edelman's music is there in support, never overwhelming but always exactly portraying the emotion of the moment. The best epic movie of the decade that I was fortunate to see on the big screen, this one may also be the best movie of the decade.

2. Shakespeare in Love - 1998 One of the best scores of the decade for THE BEST movie of the decade. John Madden's take on a writers-blocked Shakespeare is brilliant in every way, including this score. From the opening chords, one is transported to an idealized Elizabethan time of acting and poetry. Stephen Warbeck (after scoring the earlier Mrs. Brown for Madden) simply exploded on the film-score scene. From sparse simplistic motives, Warbeck builds a score with crescendo and instrumentation that is a delight to the ears. He even gets a chance to throw some Baroque-sounding dance music into the score. You just can't beat that.

1. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - 1999 John Williams reopens the Star Wars book and creates a score that is so much better than the movie that Lucas gave us. This movie is so bad but this music is so good that it makes you believe Williams is the greatest film composer of all time (and one could make an argument for that). A wall-to-wall score, this one never lets up. From the opening credits to The Flag Parade to Anakin's Theme to Duel of the Fates, this one has everything and what would you expect from Williams and Star Wars but the best score of the decade for, quite possibly, the worst movie of the decade.

 

Very near misses - The Mask of Zorro by James Horner

                                  Nixon by John Williams

                                  Forrest Gump by Alan Silvestri

                                  Much Ado About Nothing by Patrick Doyle

                                  Star Trek: First Contact by Jerry Goldsmith

 

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

A MOTHER'S LOVE





YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

I'm going to introduce a new feature on my blog showcasing one of my great loves and personal hobbies:

FILM MUSIC.

I am a passionate fan of film music and my collection of film music is vast but I want to combine that with a visual aspect (which film music should be aligned too) so I'm going to use You Tube to accomplish this goal.

I will search through You Tube and find videos that feature film music and embed those videos on this blog.

So,

without further ado, here is the

YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

Ennio Morricone's score for Mission to Mars is one of the great scores of the 90s and a personal favorite of mine.  This is the final cue of the score and the climax of the movie and you have to listen the whole way to get the incredible payoff by one of the greatest film composers of all time.



TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

 

GREEN NEBULA

 

 

AVENGERS ASSEM... ASSUME THE WORST



2015 is a long way away.

But I'm already a little bit worried.

I heard some news the other day about The Avengers 2 that made me stop and consider. 

It also scared the living hell outta me.

Now first off, I gotta say that I'm an Avengers fan.  A serious Avengers fan.

My Avengers comic collection goes all the way back to around Avengers 160 (that's late 70s for anyone that's counting) and I've been following their adventures every since.

They are my team.  I know them like I know my family.

The movie-version from 2012 was really good and faithful to the comic book roots.  I especially loved how they made Loki the springboard to the origin of the group like it was in the comics.

They respected the source material.

All comic book movies should follow the Avengers lead.

RESPECT THE SOURCE MATERIAL.

Comic book movies get into trouble when they don't respect the source material.  Name any bad comic book movie (or any good comic book movie) and the judgement on whether its good or bad can be condensed down to whether it was faithful to the source material.

Case in point - Iron Man.  Very close to the source material.  Very good movie.

Iron Man 3.  Far from the source material.  Very bad movie. (The Mandarin was an actor?  WTF??)

So, how does this relate to The Avengers 2?

Well, I just found out that the second Avengers movie is gonna be called - The Avengers:  Age of Ultron.

Ok, no problem there.  Ultron is one of the Avengers key villians and I even heard a rumor that Vin Diesel might be cast as The Vision (which seems perfect to me, Diesel's monotone delivery and robotic acting are just right for the monotone and robotic Vision).

However, and here is the fly in the buttermilk, Ultron is not going to be created by Hank Pym.  Instead Tony Stark is going to create Ultron or Stark's butler computer system Jarvis is gonna go crazy and become Ultron.

Uh... NO!

That won't work.

It may seem like a small change but its those small changes that force other changes down the line and then pile up until pretty soon you are stuck with X-Men First Class (a really bad comic book movie that has almost no faithfulness to the source material due to all the changes from previous X-Men movies and then more arbitrary changes made for no apparent reason).

So, all of a sudden I'm worried and my natural pessimism is kicking in big time.

Now, we still have a few movies between now and then such as Thor 2 and Captain America 2 but if these films go too far away from the source material (I'm looking right at you Thor 2) then this franchise is dead before arrival.



FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

To continue in the same vein as my last Film Music Musings where I talked about 1989 being the best year of the 80s for film music, I thought I would post my Top Five Scores for 1989 with my original commentary for perusal and perspective.

Now, you may be asking, why 1989?  What was so special about that year?  Well, for me 1989 was a seminal year in my life.  It was the year I graduated from high school and went off to college.  I was 18 and in the prime of my life.  For me, it was my greatest year.

But, let's talk about the Film Music of that incredible year.



1989

Born on the Fourth of July - John Williams

Field of Dreams - James Horner

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - John Williams

*Batman - Danny Elfman

*Henry V - Patrick Doyle

Glory - James Horner

The Little Mermaid - Alan Menken

Italics = Nominated for Academy Award

Bold Italic = Winner of Academy Award

* = One of my Top Scores of the 1980s

Unquestionably, the best year for film scores in the last three decades (only 1993 or 1982 comes close),

1989 boasts two scores that are among the best of the decade and it is almost impossible to narrow the list down to five. John Williams completes the Indiana Jones trilogy with a score of religious overtones and Indiana Jones-action. Perhaps even better than its predecessor this score is exhilirating. Two newcomers, Patrick Doyle and Danny Elfman contributed scores that defined their styles. Doyle burst onto the soundtrack scene with a blaze of fire with Kenneth Branagh's Henry V. One of the best scores of the decade, this score is majestic, tragically moving, triumphant, and somber at different times and at the same time. Elfman defines the gothic action comic book movie with a finale that gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it and a main title/theme for Batman that makes you forget the 60s campy TV theme and realize that this is a hero for all time. James Horner gave two great scores for this year in Glory and Field of Dreams. One of the best of the decade, the only drawback to Glory is that at the climax it sounds a little too Orff-like but other than that it sings with heroism and, forgive the pun, glory. In Field of Dreams, Horner draws on a softer, more melancholic synthesizer sound but with incredibly moving results. John Williams also gave one of his most thoughtful and intensely powerful scores ever for Born on the Fourth of July, his first collaboration with Oliver Stone. And last, Alan Menken enters the Disney arena and elevates the animated musical to a new level of unprecedented heights. The Little Mermaid is a masterpiece of scoring and song-writing that sings with unforgettable tunes that were good enough to win the Academy Award and begin one of the most dominating string of wins in Oscar history but this score was the first and the best.





TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

DREAM HOUSE



YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

I'm going to introduce a new feature on my blog showcasing one of my great loves and personal hobbies:

FILM MUSIC.

I am a passionate fan of film music and my collection of film music is vast but I want to combine that with a visual aspect (which film music should be aligned too) so I'm going to use You Tube to accomplish this goal.

I will search through You Tube and find videos that feature film music and embed those videos on this blog.

So,

without further ado, here is the

YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

 

James Horner's score for Bicentennial Man is a masterpiece of pathos and indicative of his style in almost every way.  Here is probably the best cue from the score - The Wedding.

FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

I just did my Top Ten Scores of the Decade for the 1980s so now I would like to expand a bit further presenting the best year of that decade.



Best Year of the Decade: 1989

1989 was such a good year for film scores that I simply can't narrow my top scores list down to only five scores. I had to pick seven. But this year featured even more great scores than the ones I picked.

Most of the major composers contributed great scores and it was a year that younger composers also provided scores that were significant. Let's start with the big ones:

- John Williams composed two scores in '89 to great acclaim, each earning an Oscar nomination. Of course, the first one is the conclusion to the Indiana Jones trilogy and the other was his first collaboration with Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July (both made my top scores list).

- Jerry Goldsmith composed four scores: The Burbs, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Leviathan, and Warlock. The latter two are examples of Goldsmith providing servicable scores to really bad films. The former two are excellent examples of Goldsmith's skill as a first-class composer. The Burbs is long out of print and has become quite a collector's item and Trek V is Jerry's return to the franchise in fine style (some say this is as good as The Motion Picture score).

- James Horner composed two scores that were among the best of the year. Glory and Field of Dreams are vastly different from each other but proved that Horner could adapt his style and still provide the highest quality of score.

The real treat of '89 came from three relative newcomers to film scoring which set the score world on its ears. Danny Elfman seemed to appear from out of nowhere and gave us Batman, Patrick Doyle did appear from nowhere and gave us Henry V, and Alan Menken came from Broadway with the score to The Little Mermaid (the Best Score winner). Each of these scores is tops for the year and of the best of the decade and each composer would continue to produce thrilling scores over the next decade.

Alan Silvestri and Michael Kamen each composed two scores for the year. Silvestri continued the Back to the Future series with Part II and provided the score for James Cameron's The Abyss (a really good score). Kamen continued the Lethal Weapon series with Part II and jumped into the James Bond arena with License to Kill (a really good Bond score).

Ennio Morricone also composed two scores in '89 that are highly regarded. Casualties of War for Brian De Palma and a sentimental favorite for Morricone fans: Cinema Paradiso.

Rounding out the year are a slew of miscellaneous scores that were highlights such as: Maurice Jarre's score for the excellent Dead Poets Society, Goerges Delerue's Steel Magnolias, Elmer Bernstein's My Left Foot, and Randy Newman's score for Parenthood.

And finally, another fairly new composer really broke out in 1989. Hans Zimmer composed two scores: Black Rain and Driving Miss Daisy (the Best Picture winner that year). One is ethnic and edgy and the other is rather quiet and catchy.

Unqestionably, 1989 was one of the best years for film music and perhaps THE best year of the last three decades.



TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

DREAM CASTLE

TOP 25 MOVIES OF ALL TIME



Recently Entertainment Weekly selected their Top 100 Films of All Time in a list that prompted much debate due to the position of many films on the list and the omission of several great films (such as STAR WARS, WTF??).

So, in that same vein, I'm now going to present my Top 25 Films of All Time.  I came up with this list several years ago and when I started to make this list I realized that I needed some organizing principle to base the list on.

So, what I came up with was to pick the best films from each decade until I got to a Top 25 that I really liked and was satisfied with.

Now, one caveat needs to be stated.  Theses films are in a group, not ranked from best to worst.  However, I would put these 25 films up against any Top 25 on any list that I've ever seen.

So,

without further ado

Here is the Top 25 Films of All Time

 

Now, if I had to pick a Top 5 of All Time in order, they would be:

1.  Gone With the Wind

2.  Star Wars

3.  The Godfather

4.  Lawrence of Arabia

5.  West Side Story

 



YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

I'm going to introduce a new feature on my blog showcasing one of my great loves and personal hobbies:

FILM MUSIC.

I am a passionate fan of film music and my collection of film music is vast but I want to combine that with a visual aspect (which film music should be aligned too) so I'm going to use You Tube to accomplish this goal.

I will search through You Tube and find videos that feature film music and embed those videos on this blog.

So,

without further ado, here is the

YOU TUBE FILM MUSIC CUE OF THE DAY

Elmer Bernstein's The Magnificent Seven is one of the great scores of all time.  Probably the most interesting thing about this score is when Bernstein actually over-scores the movie.  By that I mean that not much is happening onscreen (like the seven just riding to the village) and Bernstein scores it with rousing action music or the main title and he makes it work.  That's great film scoring from a great film composer.

FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

So in the last Film Music Musings I presented the best scores of the 70s and now we move to the 80s which is the decade that was foundational for me as I was a teenager in the 80s.

Best of the 1980s

10. The Untouchables - 1987 The maestro can be counted on for one great score just about every decade that really defines a genre sound. For this score, Ennio Morricone simply nailed the moment. We are transported to 1930s Chicago and the world of Al Capone. And the score has simply one of the best and most complex main themes ever. When you listen to it you think that several orchestras are playing; we are talking about superior counterpoint here. Capone gets a theme, Malone gets one, and the Ness family theme is also present. Gangster darkness overcome by justice and the American honesty of a good man is what this score is all about sounded out musically just as it is presented on the screen.

9. Henry V - 1989 Two talents burst onto the cinema world in this movie: Kenneth Branagh and Patrick Doyle. A visceral movie with a score that inspires. Every key speech is scored to perfection but none moreso than the St. Crispin's day speech. The first time I heard it, I nearly stood to my feet and cheered. Doyle would go on to be a force in film music, composing one great score after another, but this one was something special and contributed to the best year of film music in decades.

8. Conan the Barbarian - 1982 Big, no HUGE orhcestral score from Basil Poledouris. 24 Horns in the opening!!!! The music is the movie. There is very little dialog so the music had to carry the movie. It was risky but Poledouris pulled it off. But not all is bombast, there are quieter moments that soar with emotion (the emotion that the actors were almost unable to portray themselves). An iconic movie for Swcharzenegger and a career-making assignment for Poledouris. 24 Horns in the opening!!!

7. The Witches of Eastwick - 1987 John Williams continues with the great scores. For this strange movie, Williams produced a striking score of witty evilness. The Devil's Dance is pure magic but the Flying Scene is a masterpiece. Easily one of the great cues of the decade (it also bears comparison with Cadillac of the Skies from Empire of the Sun the previous year). This score also sports some very atonal writing that Williams does not often delve into but he does here to great effect. A personal favorite but still a great score.

6. Back to the Future - 1985 Ok, Huey Lewis and the News were one of my favorite bands in the 80s and penned a great song for this movie (Power of Love) but even that song has to take a back seat to Alan Silvestri's rousing adventure score. Silvestri assimilates the adventure sound of Horner and Williams and imbues it with his own style to produce this great score. To describe this score I keep coming back to the word: rousing. It is such an inspiring score that makes the audience sit on the edge of their seat to see if Doc Brown can get the cable connected before the lightning bolt hits and Marty and the Delorian hit the cable to go Back to the Future. Great stuff!!

5. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - 1982 When a filmmaker re-edits his movie to accomadate the music provided by the composer, you know that that score is something to look at very closely. Well, that's what happened for the finale of this movie. Spielberg bowed to the superior skill of John Williams and one of the greatest and most moving finales in movie history was produced. But, not to be ignored is the remainder of this score which is spotted beautifully. When I saw this movie for the first time, I marvelled at the synchronicity of the score with the movie. It all just fits so well and elevates both. Williams was truly at the top of his game at this time.

4. The Empire Strikes Back - 1980 The continuation of the Star Wars saga exploded onto the soundtrack world in 1980 with an inspired new theme called The Imperial March (only the Raiders March is more recognizable). But, there is more here than just Darth Vader, there's Yoda also. The Force theme is now given to Yoda as his signature tune. Oh, and there's also this great battle in the snow with these giant walkers accompanied by some signature Williams action music.

(Note: Return of the Jedi almost made the top scores list and has some great themes concluding the saga in fine form)

3. Batman - 1989 The darkest score of the decade and one of the best. Danny Elfman didn’t begin his career with Batman but this was his career-making score. Dark and haunting with pounding action cues and grotesquerie that can only be the Joker. The darkness, however, yields light as the triumphant hero stands at the finale of the film to one of the great cues of the decade. Batman is born on the screen and we are taken to fair Gotham by a fair-haired composer who knows exactly how to mix the gothic with the sublime.

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - 1982

Talk about explosions, James Horner dropped a nuclear bomb on the score world with this film. Not an easy thing to do because he was taking over from a legend and a legendary score (Jerry Goldsmith and his score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture), but Horner did it! And what a score he produced. Naval-sounding music combined with pounding action cues to produce a score that was different than Trek I but still worked amazingly well. For me, this is James Horner's signature score that he really didn't surpass until the late 90s.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark - 1981

And the best score of the decade belongs to one of the great adventure pictures of all time. Every theme of this score is amazing. The Raiders March is pure gold, but along with this glorious tour de force is the amazing love theme for Marion and the action/adventure music for Indie's action/adventures. This music is different than what others were doing. Goldsmith's action music is more frenetic and less coherent. With Williams there is always structure and melody. This sets him apart from all the others and elevates his film music to a higher level. He achieves this in Raiders which occurred right in the middle of his run of unparalleled scores in the late 70s and early 80s and this one is perhaps the pinnacle of his talents and his best score since Star Wars.

 

A POST-MODERN SUPERMAN



So I just got back from seeing the new Superman movie and I must say that I was not overly thrilled with this new rendition of the superhero.

Now, one thing I have to say first is that I think Richard Donner's Superman of 1978 is probably the best superhero/comic book movie of all time and is the greatest representation of the Silver Age Superman (the Silver Age not the Modern Age.  The Modern Age began in 1986 when John Byrne reinterpreted Superman in his landmark Man of Steel work following Crisis on Infinite Earths.  Ironic, isn't it that both Byrne's stuff and this movie are both called Man of Steel?).

That being said, we come now to the new reboot of Supes with this year's Man of Steel and I found it to be a little strange on a couple of levels that are emblematic of the times we live in and the movies that are now being made (especially summer blockbusters).

My main problem with the movie is that this is the first Superman movie where he is not embraced.  In this movie he is distrusted and labeled the Other.  Maybe they are preparing the way for Lex Luthor in the next movie, whose modern interpretation hates Superman due to his alien heritage and espouses the values and accomplishments of humanity.  Luthor's argument is that we don't need Superman; it should be human beings who lead the way to a better future and that he (Lex) is the best example of this due to his superior intelligence and striving to be as physically fit as possible (Dr. Doom over in the Marvel universe is similiar as he wants to conqueor the world because he believes he is the best-suited human being to lead the world, not out of a desire for conquest like historical figures such as Attila the Hun or Ghengis Khan).

To me, this is a very post-modern view of Superman that doubts that humanity would embrace a hero who selflessly wants to protect and instead would question his motives.

Naturally, I expect that doubt from Batman because he's paranoid.  But all of humanity?  I don't buy it.

Its the same problem I have with the X-Men in the Marvel Universe when the writers just assume that everyone will be prejudiced against mutants and against them because they're different.  That may have played in 1965 but in 2013, I don't buy it.

But I digress.

Back to the movie.

One good thing about this movie is that it did make a point of highlighting that he is Clark Kent, not Superman (he's only called Superman once or twice in the whole movie).  He grows up as Clark Kent and doesn't find out who he is until half way through the movie but once he does, he doesn't put on the dopey Clark Kent persona of the Silver Age.  Superman IS Clark Kent.  Clark Kent is not his secret identity, it is who he is.  Superman is the superheroic, costumed identity of Clark Kent.  No matter if he is in costume or not, he is always Clark Kent.

This differs from Batman who is always Batman.  Bruce Wayne is the public, shallow persona he puts on when not fighting crime in Gotham.  Bruce Wayne is an act.  Essentially there is no Bruce Wayne.  He died the night his parents were murdered and Batman was born.

Interesting Sidenote:  From what I hear, Batman is gonna be in the next Superman movie and so is Lex Luthor with the rumor being that Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp are going to team up to rebuid Metropolis after the devastation of Zod and Supes' battle but Lex's motives are not pure and he hatches a plot to take over Metropolis (or something) and is stopped by Batman and Superman and Wayne Enterprises takes down LexCorp leaving Lex with nothing.

But I digress again.

Back to the movie.

As with a lot of summer blockbusters, there seemed to be a lot of massive devastation in this movie as well as a lot of CGI.  I find all the devastation very disturbing (ever since 9/11) and the CGI is usually just not done very well and definitely won't age well on-screen.

Also keeping with summer blockbusters, the music in this movie was largely just pounding drums over ominous chords lacking all nuance and orchestration.  Where is the grand score that Superman deserves ala John Williams score for the 1978 movie (which is one of the greatest scores of all time).

Now I did think Henry Cavill was ok as Clark/Supes and Amy Adams was better than I expected as Lois Lane.  But where was Jimmy Olsen?  And why is Perry White now black? If Perry is played by a black man, shouldn't he be named Perry Black to distinguish him from the comic character?

(Just kidding!!!  I guess if Nick Fury can be black, so can Perry White)

And did it bother anyone else that Superman killed Zod (rather brutally, I must say)?

And is it just me, or did Superman yell a lot in this movie?

All in all, Man of Steel was a mixed bag but in this post-modern world, I guess this is the best we can hope for.

 



TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

If you got to know me a little, you would find out that I'm one of the few regular people that is on Twitter.

One thing that I like about Twitter is that you can get sent all kinds of interesting and funny and amazing pics, so I'm going to be posting those pics that I find interesting or funny or amazing.

So

without futher ado here is the

TWITTER PIC OF THE DAY

 

"MY GOD, ITS FULL OF STARS!"

 

 

 

FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

I want to start a new feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is the First Film Music Musings

I begin with the 1970s because that's when my consciousness and my movie-going experience begins.  This decade also contains my favorite score to my favorite movie of all time (funny how those two things coincide).

Best Scores of the 1970s

10. Alien - 1979

Weird music, atonality, unusual instruments and unique sounds. Its all here in this score. Jerry Goldsmith had been building to this score since Planet of the Apes in 1968. Its Goldsmith at his most esoteric for this creepy sci-fi/horror flick (one of the first times this genre had been exploited). Its influence is undeniable.

9. Murder on the Orient Express – 1974

Perhaps a last gasp of the silver age, Richard Rodney Bennet appears here because of this wonderful score. The embarking of the Orient Express is a masterpiece of scoring. A grand waltz of huge dimensions. But, there are also eerie moments as the child Daisy is kidnapped and as Poirot gives his famous summation. There is real structure in this score. This is a complete score that completes a great film.

8. The Omen - 1976

Jerry Goldsmith's only Oscar. And thank God its one of his best scores. Ave Satani is one of the creepiest songs for a film ever and with every note announces the coming of the AntiChrist. But, there is also tenderness here, the innocence of the Thorn family and especially the Lee Remick character and her love for her new child. And there is also some atonal writing here that fits in with Goldsmith's sound at this time and horror movies of the time. Lots of death, lots of desolation, lots of a really evil nanny, and lots of Goldsmith's music.

7. Patton - 1970

A character study in music. This one plays out like a symphonic poem with glory and mysticism, which is who Patton was. And echo-plexed trumpets. Only Goldsmith could come up with something like that. This score should have been Goldsmith's first Academy Award, but alas the misguided Academy. A carefully spotted, well-conceived and executed score.

6. Dracula - 1979

John Williams defines an icon yet again. He did it with Superman and now he does it with the Prince of Darkness. Dracula never looked or sounded as good as he did in this movie. Not a great movie but photographed incredibly well and scored to near perfection. Evil elegance and dark seduction are the moods of this score and John Williams is there with both. The Main title is riveting. An underated score in Williams canon that is one of the best of the decade.

5. The Godfather - 1972

Nino Rota got robbed!!!! This score should have been a shoe-in for the Academy Award in '72, but instead the Academy disqualified it. Come ON!!!! It is simply one of the great ethnic scores of all time (maybe the best). The Godfather Waltz is now classic and recognized the world over. Now, of course, it helps that the movie is one of the greatest ever, but give the music its due. It exactly captures the time period and the characters. A score you can't refuse.

4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture - 1979

It is a tragic history that Goldsmith did not win the Academy Award for this score (in fact he should have won for Patton in 1970, Omen for 1976, and this one for a total of three in the 70s). The main title is incredible, the jaunty Klingon music is fitting, but what really does it for this score is The Enterprise cue. Nothing but viewing the ship and Goldsmtih's music. Amazing!!!!! There is more music such as Ilia's Theme and the V'ger music utilizing the blaster beam and it all comes together for Goldsmith in this score (just as Alien is the pinnacle of his atonal writing, this one is the pinnacle of his tonal scores such as The Wind and the Lion).

3. Superman - 1978

An icon is born onscreen and John Williams is there to provide the music. It all begins with a stirring fanfare that is instantly a classic. It proceeds to a far-away planet with more majestic music. Then to Earth with some down home Copland Americana. And then to the fortress with a reprise of the Krypton-like music and then to the big city for adventures, conflicts, love, tragedy and triumph as the hero saves the planet from evil. A truly epoch-making score (some say Williams best, I prefer #1 on my list). Can you read my mind? It's saying that this is one of the greatest scores ever.

2. Jaws - 1975

The single most effective musical motive ever in one of the greatest scores (for a long time I thought that this one had to be the greatest score ever, but I have since changed my mind). No one would swim at the beach the same way again (I know I never did). But the chase music in this score is also great as the three would-be heroes chase and are chased by the shark. There is eerie music here also, music to scare you or just generally unnerve you. Effective and perfectly placed is this score. Oh, did I mention that famous motive?

1. Star Wars - 1977

What needs to be said? The greatest score for a movie ever. My all-time favorite in my all-time favorite movie. At a time when directors and producers were turning to songs, John Williams turns the tables on the scoring universe with a score that is direct from the past and perfect for all time. The style is Korngold but the artistry is pure Williams. The Main Title is beyond words. The Force Theme is elegaic. The Tie Fighter Battle is inspired. And finally, The Throne Room Theme is a conclusion for the history books. A huge amount of music with every note perfect (not even Gone With the Wind can match that). Quite simply, John Williams made history with this score. What needs to be said? The greatest score for a movie ever.

FRANKLY MY DEAR, YOU'RE THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER

GONE WITH THE WIND

The greatest movie ever made.

Now, that saying, I have a caveat to this declaration.  I think Gone With the Wind is the finest movie ever made BUT, my personal favorite movie of all time is:  STAR WARS.

So why is GWTW the greatest movie of all time but not my personal favorite? 

Isn't there a contradiction there? 

Does that make sense?

Well, to me, it does.

Star Wars is my personal favorite movie.  It is the movie that I personally connect with on a level like no other movie.  It is the only movie that changed my life and helped mold me into the person that I am.  And it is the best example of the movies that I like best, which are: adventure movies whether they be set in space or the wild west.  I'm a sucker for an adventure film that keeps me on the edge of my seat and enthralled by the action onscreen.



So, where does GWTW fit into this scheme?

Well, I consider Gone With the Wind to be the greatest example of the film-making art and process in all its various facets.  By that, I mean, that it is at the highest level of film-making in every aspect of its production and execution.

Every category.

Directing, Acting, Cinematograhpy, Music, Script, Story, Costumes, and Sets are all at the highest level for GWTW.

No other film can approach GWTW in all these categories.  No other film puts it all together like GWTW.

A lot of films have some of these categories at the highest level but none have all of them to the level that GWTW has (the only two that come close are Star Wars, which actually has a better score than GWTW and The Godfather which is the closest to putting the complete package together like GWTW).

So, if I was making a list of the top movies of all time, I would have to put Gone With the Wind at the #1 position.

It is...

The Greatest Movie of All Time!!!