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I don’t think that’s totally true Decent! The trailer has proved to sometimes be nothing like the film.. If you go back and watch trailers for many films you’ve seen, they’re sometimes totally different. Lets have some hope…
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There is an article about Green Hornet on HitFix. I thought this quote was particularly cool:
[When I asked about the score, Gondry told us that Danny Elfman is still in the very early stages of working on it, and Seth laughed. “Watching him and Michel weird out together is pretty rad.”]
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/an-evening-with-the-green-hornet
Lucius
I sure hope the movie is better than this trailer. I was excited for this one but the trailer made Seth Rogan’s schtick look really tired and unoriginal and the Kato characters acting looked truly awful! Please tell me it is better than that.
It’s funny, the plot of the movie is a lot like the Green Hornet comic series that Kevin Smith is writing. I always kinda assumed that his comic is an adaptation of his unproduced Green Hornet script, this trailer may confirm my suspicions.
Danny Elfman is apparently not scoring THE GREEN HORNET. Word is that James Newton Howard is stepping in due to scheduling conflicts (Elfman has Van Sant’s RESTLESS and Paul Haggis’ THE NEXT THREE DAYS to score).
I can live with that. Here’s hoping for a more interesting Elfman/Gondry collaboration in the future.
Sad times, I was really looking forward to this one. And I’m not a big Paul Haggis fan. Well, JNH is great, so he’ll probably deliver well.
I rather have some more intimate Elfman scores, there’s been too much bombast of late. Although I just found out that Paul Haggis wrote 196 episodes of Walker: Texas Ranger… why would you take credit for that – it was one of the most unintentionally funny shows ever – Loved the Conan lever!
Yeah, what Natrebo just said. More calm, soothing, ambient stuff a la SOP, MILK, KINGDOM, TAKING WOODSTOCK….less of the bombast a la HELLBOY, WANTED, 9 and so on. I’m not too bothered by Elfman exiting this. I’m FAR more looking forward to his Haggis & Berg work.
I know people get mad when I say this, but Elfman is better at bombast than ambient scores. His best quiet/small scores are for quirker and more romantized movies like Edward Scissorhands and Black Beauty. Drama just isn’t his area. Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, etc is when Elfman is at his best. He’s a genre composer not an indie drama guy.
Descent Into Mystery Wrote:
> I know people get mad when I say this, but Elfman
> is better at bombast than ambient scores. His best
> quiet/small scores are for quirker and more
> romantized movies like Edward Scissorhands and
> Black Beauty. Drama just isn’t his area. Action,
> Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, etc is when Elfman is at
> his best. He’s a genre composer not an indie drama
> guy.I don’t get “mad” (you’re free to your opinion!), but I couldn’t disagree more with you. In fact, I would claim the exact opposite. Over the years, I’ve grown more and more weary of his more bombastic scores – from past and present. There’s FAR more quality listening in the subdued and/or ambient stuff.
There’s FAR more quality listening in the subdued and/or ambient stuff
I find them boring. Plus, there’s other composers who are better at it. Compare Carter Burwell’s “Fargo” to Elfman’s “Simple Plan” for example. Elfman seems out of his element in smaller and more dramatic movies. In genre films he’s one of the best and does his most memorable work. Keep in mind that I’m not just talking about action movies. I mean in general. Most people consider “Edward Scissorhands” to be his best score and that was a quirky fantasy film. Even “Black Beauty” wasn’t exactly a grounded picture. It was a children’s movie about a horse. “Sommersby” and “Dead Presidents” were thrillers. So, again, genre films is where he belongs. “Good Will Hunting,” “A Civil Action,” “A Simple Plan.” and “Milk” weren’t right for Elfman. There’s dozens of other composers who could have done a better job.
Not right? If you think so, but not me, I still find myself listening to the “Anywhere But Here” suite and wish that someday we can here what he intended for that film. I find the subtler scores take more time and listens to sink in, like all good music should. The fact that Elfman can also do this with his more ear-grabbing scores is just a testament to his greatness. I loved having “S.O.P.” to play after “Wanted”, “Taking Woodstock” after “Terminator Salvation”, or “Kingdom” to play after listening to “Spider-man 2”. I think it allows him to stay fresh when he mixes in something like “Milk” in between scores like “Hellboy 2” and “Wolfman” – it’s the fact that he did Milk that makes the louder scores around them so much better. And I absolutely LOVE “A Simple Plan” and wish that he got more chances to play with scores to films like these where you hear him use interesting sounds. It’s as if the more subdued scores are his personal sonic playgrounds where he gets to think more vertical like with “Dolores Claiborne” and that’s what infuses the more horizontal score of “Mission Impossible”. Of course when I speak of vertical and horizontal musically, I’m speaking of harmony as opposed to rhythm.
I’ve said my peace and that’s all I can do, I’m happy we all can find something to like in his music, some of us can just find more.
Beside, his latest “action” scores (T4 and The Wolfman) were rather uninteresting. Solid within the films but quickly boring on their own. Meanwhile, SOP and Milk never left my mp3 player…
Wow, if you’re going to pick a score to criticize, never pick A SIMPLE PLAN. Simply (ah!) one of his best scores, period. Dramatically rock solid. Inventive and harrowing.
his latest “action” scores
I wasn’t talking about action scores. I was talking about his genre scores, which aside from action, include comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc. He’s better at that then indie drama scores. At the end of the day, Edward Scissorhands will be more remembered and celebrated than Dolores Claiborne.
WOLFMAN is awesome! I don’t really like T4 much apart from a few cues (the main title, “Broadcast” and “The Reveal.”)
Descent Into Mystery Wrote:
> his latest “action” scores
>
> I wasn’t talking about action scores. I was
> talking about his genre scores, which aside from
> action, include comedy, fantasy, sci-fi, horror,
> etc. He’s better at that then indie drama scores.
> At the end of the day, Edward Scissorhands will be
> more remembered and celebrated than Dolores
> Claiborne.I think you’re generalizing awfully much here. What’s “indie drama scores” anyway? And who’s to say what he is “better” (sic) at than other things? I don’t think that’s the right term to use.
I think Elfman is adept at almost every type of film and every type of musical expression while still maintaining his identity. He’s proven that over the years.
If you don’t like A SIMPLE PLAN, SOP, MILK, KINGDOM, TAKING WOODSTOCK, BIG FISH, FAMILY MAN, ANYWHERE BUT HERE, GOOD WILL HUNTING, SOMMERSBY and so on, that’s your right. However, over the years I’ve found myself returning MORE to those than the superhero scores and more fantasy-oriented stuff.
KINGDOM
The Kingdom is essentially an action movie.
TAKING WOODSTOCK
That’s a borderline comedy and he did hippie-inspired rock music. For Elfman, who has a background in rock, scoring “Taking Woodstock” was no different than scoring “Midnight Run” in 1988.
BIG FISH
That’s a fantasy film.
FAMILY MAN
Christmas music? That’s one of the things that Elfman is best-known for.
SOMMERSBY
That’s a thriller.
The only dramas that Elfman has scored are Article 99, Dolores Claiborne, Good Will Hunting, A Simple Plan, A Civil Action, Anywhere But Here, and Milk. Standard Operating Procedure is a documentary, so that’s up for debate. But, anyway, those 7 (or
films don’t exactly feature iconic Elfman scores. They’re not in the same league as his genre films like Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Batman.Uhm….thanks for the rundown of the films there, DTM, but I’m well aware of what they are. We were talking specifically about a SOUND here, something more subdued and less reliant on bombast, and all of those contain it. That sound goes across genres. That said, the definition of drama extends well beyond those you mention. Most of the ones I mentioned in my post above qualify as dramas too, even though they have other elements as well (FAMILY MAN, for example, isn’t any less of a drama just because it contains Christmas elements!). So do the ones YOU mention.
> They’re not in the same league as his genre films
> like Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before
> Christmas, and Batman.Maybe not, but so what? EDWARD, NIGHTMARE and BATMAN are his three major works. Nothing has yet come close to those. That’s beside the point, anyway. The point is that Elfman is able to compose in many different genres with equal vigour. I think it’s silly to claim that he’s “better” in some than others. If you have your preferences, that’s fine, but that’s also where it ends.
Three things:
• Let’s stop using the word “bombast.” It doesn’t mean anything. In the same way the word “haunting” doesn’t.
• A Simple Plan is one of Elfman’s best scores, and is a masterpiece: Scientific fact! (
)• Will any of Elfman’s material make it into the Green Hornet? Or are they starting completely from scratch?
Here’s the second trailer for Green Hornet
http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/hot-trailer-the-green-hornet/
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