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…even though I understand the controversy regarding the fact that a couple of the cues were taken from previous Santaolalla albums.
What?!
Wow. If only the academy could gather a group of people that have skill or knowledge in a particular field — musical expertise, if you will — who could have caught that.
…Good Will Hunting was the focus of the evening since the movie itself got other Oscar nominations and even won some awards.
Well, Goodwill Hunting only won one more oscar than Men in Black. And on top of that, Elfman doesn’t even care about the oscars.
And his scores from then till Spider-Man in 2002 reflected more the style of his Good Will Hunting score than Men in Black.
Those scores were quieter because the movies dictated them to be. Once Danny got to Hollow, Apes, and Spidey, the scores got bigger because the movies themselves were bigger.
The Best Score Musical or Comedy was only around for about 2 years prior and only lasted for a year after that.
I miss that category. It brought a lot more diversity to the oscars.
I love stuff like MILK, SOP, TAKING WOODSTOCK, even THE KINGDOM.
I think the reason you find those scores so appealing has more to do with how different they are from other Elfman scores, rather than how calm it is. It’s great that he’s playing around with his voice.
And I love SOP. Though I don’t consider it that restrained. It’s actually pretty whimsical.
“Meet the Robinsons” was forgettable, which, if I recall correctly, we all agreed on back in 2007.
I don’t recall people saying Meet the Robinson was bad. In that, the score was so inept that it actually works against the imagery. That’s what a bad film score is, right?
As for the `90s, Elfman’s “Good Will Hunting” Oscar nomination messed with his head…
Ha. Yeah, Elfman is really influenced by the academy. Men in Black was also nominated. That certainly wasn’t a snooze fest.
I don’t get what’s so special with Giacchino myself, but I HAVE noticed he’s a huge fan favourite.
I think a lot of it is fan service. Anyway, despite good scores like The Incredibles and Star Trek, I think he’s tremendously overrated.
Elfman isn’t gonna win. To begin with, Milk wasn’t even that good of a score.
Well, there you go: only the best scores of the year win awards.
At any event, the reason Milk was nominated has nothing to do with the music. It’s all politics. Now, Hellboy 2… that is a score! It has everything. But sadly, everything must have a restrained, super serious “Atonement” sound to win anything these days.it was okay. some good scores. some bad ones.
Some bad ones?
Now obviously Elfman doesn’t score a masterpiece every time he does something, but saying that he’s written bad music is a little harsh.
I know right.. I also got CAPRICA, TRICK ‘r TREAT, and BATMAN MASK OF THE PHANTASM.. all Free
My, it must be nice not having to pay for CD’s.
I have Coraline on my iPod but haven’t listened to it yet.. is it good?
You have a score that you’ve never heard on your ipod?
I don’t mean to come off as grumpy, but if people don’t support more obscure film scores, it makes it harder for lesser-known albums to get releases.
That main title is totally different from the one in Music for a Darkened Theater 2. It must’ve been a Shirley Walker rerecording, or something.
Well, after reviewing my liner notes, I see for Corpse Bride, John August got additional lyrics credit with Danny Elfman, except for The Wedding Song, which Danny got a solo credit for. Oddly, According to Plan, was labeled “lyrics by John August and Danny Elfman,” and not the other way around.
(FYI: August also wrote the Siamese Twin’s Song from Big Fish with Danny).
Now why August is credited so specifically in the liner notes is obviously unclear, it seems to me that Danny was giving credit where credit was due.
For Chicago, Danny got an “original score music by” credit, and for Psycho, a “produced and adapted by” credit with Steve Bartek… who I will see play Boingo music this Thursday!
Well, Elfman DOES have an “associate producer” credit in addition to his composer and singing credit, let’s not forget that.
Ha, ha. I JUST mentioned that, Thor.
Ryan’s thoughts are pretty much my own. But I don’t think that Burton was reluctant to give Elfman a story credit; I think the studio thought it was unnecessary, and Burton just didn’t stand up for Danny, being the social wallflower that he was. In the end, the studio gave Elfman an associate producer credit, which pretty much means anything. But there’s no question that Elfman developed important chunks of story through his songs.
Yeah, in four years, that was probably Elfman’s biggest drought in scores recorded.
Spy Kids is better than A Simple Plan? Elfman only wrote a fraction of score for that soundtrack
I think it’s a great score and the one he rebounded with after 98-01 which consisted of mostly un-memorable scores.
To be fair, Elfman didn’t score that many movies during that time. That said, I’d consider A Simple Plan, Sleepy Hollow, and Planet of the Apes Elfman masterpieces. Family Man is also very good.
very subjective topic. question won’t really be able to be answered objectively until Elfman’s career has ended, no?
Indeed. That’s just what I thought when I first read this thread title.
TenderLumpling, yes, `85-94 was his best era. To begin with, don’t insult Back to School, Wisdom, Big Top Pee-Wee, and Hot to Trot. Those were great scores…even if the movies themselves weren’t so good. Summer School and Article 99 you can insult if you want.
Well, I don’t think I was insulting anything. I did say “those scores are all well and fine,” maybe that came off negatively, I don’t know. As an Elfman fan, I find that stuff to be great. Though, very quaint compared to his standards today.
But, as I said before, aside from some great gems, I find Elfman’s recent stuff far more consistent.
100 years from now those are the scores people are gonna remember.
People are gonna remember Midnight Run a hundred years from now?
“you cannot argue that he is ‘passed his prime’ because he no longer writes catchy tunes.”
I think you can. Spider-Man is no where as good as Batman. Corpse Bride is no where as good as Nightmare Before Christmas.
Well, I don’t see how Nightmare being better than Corpse Bride makes the Corpse Bride score unmelodic, and, by extension, not catchy.
Is ’85 to ’94 really Elfman’s best era?
Aside from a few Burton classics, he still did Back to School, Wisdom, Summer School, Big Top Pee-wee, Hot to Trot, and Article 99.
And those scores are all well and fine, but I find his recent scores far more consistent. (See: below).
As for the “Elfman doesn’t write memorable themes anymore” argument, well, that’s just silly. Themes from Wanted, Corpse Bride, Terminator, Serenada, Red Dragon, SOP, Nacho Libre, Big Fish, Fable, and Hulk are fantastic. So, is Elfman past his prime due to his theme writing? Obviously not.
Obviously nostalgia for those older Burton movies certainly falls into play here. I mean, Hellboy 2 was a HUGE Elfman throwback score. The fact that it didn’t make a bigger splash among some listeners proves my point that nostalgia plays a huge factor.
That’s what I was thinking. Might as well keep your own music in your soundtrack. Though it was fun hearing Danny’s instrumentation on the old Terminator theme.
I’ve listened to the samples on amazon, and I’m very much looking forward to getting the score album in the mail! It’s a side of Elfman that we don’t really get much of, and I’m very happy to hear more of it.
…if you like Elfman, you’ll be more than happy with this cd! I already loooove it !
Well, she uses Danny’s theme’s, right?
Ha, ha. Why, yes it was! For some reason I was thinking that Woodstock was ’70, or ’71. Apparently, I need to see the movie.
