anything?
Sorry to disagree, but I find him thick and plodding. I love the Simpsons Theme, but besides that, whenever I’ve seen his name in the end credits, I usually mutter “that it explains it” under my breath. His style seems forced and heavy handed. Also, he’s never had a “Thin Red Line” moment- I usually dislike Zimmer as well, but that movie seemed to have brought the best in Zimmer.
What do you think of the original “Apes” soundtrack by Goldsmith?
I like the Goldsmith score as well, it has some iconic cues.
I think that Elfman is too tied with the superhero movies and that’s what people associate him to, and Burton of course, but even in those scores, he does reveal a softer side that people can forget in his bombast.
I’ll always love his Nina Rota inspired score for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, but I agree with the quote. Very repetitive and some of his scores seem like left overs from the film before it.
You are probably right that his association with superhero movies creates misconceptions. Perhaps I’ll find something of his I like besides Simpsons (and Futurama)
Did you follow his being hired, fired, then rehired on “Wolf Man”? did I get that right? good hollywood story.
do films really need emotional underscoring to the extent provided by a traditional composer.ozu left such music for his pillow shots.bergman from sawdust and tinsel onwards mixed classical music with extra diegetic sound-effects
do films really need emotional underscoring to the extent provided by a traditional composer.ozu left such music for his pillow shots.bergman from sawdust and tinsel onwards mixed classical music with extra diegetic sound-effects
On the “repeating old themes” business. It’s a peril of the industry. Producers really do not give composers enough time to write huge amounts of music. It’s inevitable the composer resorts to using his old bag of tricks… I can’t think of a single composer who’s style doesn’t become a little too familiar over the years- even Bernard Herman and other legends.
I love Morricone, but you can hear similar themes in Mission, Untouchables, Once Upon A Time in America, and Once Upon A Time in the West. Trevor Jones raped his score for Last of the Mohicans with pieces in Cliffhanger (of all the crap films…).
Not my A, Number 1 score, but Mychael Danna’s work on the Ice Storm was a brilliant in underscoring the emotion, and sometimes even telling the audience what the characters were afraid to say.
I think Elfman’s score on Sommersby was vastly different than his other work and his work with Van Sant is also good and in contrast to his work with Burton.
i hated Elfman’s score in Planet Of THe Apes. it just sounded like a generic films core, rather than a generic Elfman score.
i liked elfman in the 80’s and 90’s, but not so much in the last decade.
I love some of his older stuff, but I think in later years he’s become ridiculously predictable. When I watched Apice in Wonderland (not my choice I’ll have you know) I literally started singing along with the choir at the beginning and got almost every note right. I had never heard the song before, and yet i knew it very well. If that’s not a sign of repitition, I don’t know what is.
Also, his songs in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were complete shit.
I agree about the Chocolate factory songs, but the whole film was poor.
And we also need to look at it as has Elfman been typecast? Is he only offered certain kinds of films because that’s what people expect?
Composers, writers, DP, directors, thet can all be pigeonholed by an industry that covets more of the same to keep the dollars flowing.
I think when well Elfman has branched out he has succeeded well, but those scores weren’t for these big, grand films, they were for smaller films and his scores were composed accordingly.
He does have a definite “signature” to his themes…. and they always involve the Lydian mode.
The Lydian mode has to be one of the worst musical cliche’s in the movies of the last 20 years.
Now every other filmscorer uses the Lydian mode in their themes.
Those of you who are musically trained know exactly what I’m referring to. Everyone else would recognize it were it pointed out to you…
…
Whoa. Deep bump.
I agree that he seems to have really lost inspiration…I just had a very meaningful week last week watching BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS and longing for the days when Elfman could compose a score that I could at least remember/hum a single theme from. Sure wasn’t the case with ALICE IN WONDERLAND (wait, was there even music in that movie? Probably). Granted, maybe it’s not even be that new a problem: I seem to remember being disappointed by the DICK TRACY score when I bought it in the early 90s, already finding it to be a weak pastiche of his own work.
Sorry, but this is absolute shit, shallow argument and stab at Danny Elfman. He is a great wildcard in the industry.
Everyone talks about his superhero scores and Tim Burton collaborations. Forgetting all the other smaller scale and numerous other countless scores he’s written over the years.
Wildcard? Howso?
“…and stab at Danny Elfman.” Precisely. But let’s hear more recommendations for his good scores.
Oh. DARKMAN rules, in spite of not being as iconic as either of his BATMAN scores.
I liked a lot of his score for Van Sant’s Milk:
In answer to my wildcard comment.
He is considered an outsider in the field, though sort after often, a renegade personality. In terms of his actual scores, he has constantly written scores in unique unexpected ways for the better part of two decades. I heard John Debney, quite accomplished himself state this once.
“I’m still learning how to score films. I don’t think there’s any right way to score a film because just when I think there’s a right way to do a certain scene, somebody like Danny Elfman comes along and does something that’s different.” — 1998
He is a composer to expect the unexpected with, not many that can be said with.
Some of my favourites;
Beetlejuice
Batman
Edward Scissorhands
Sommersby
Black Beauty
The Family Man
Spider-Man
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
SMOKEY: i can’t even remember his score for Hellboy 2 and i’ve seen that movie 3 times. I think he speaked in the early 80’s/early 90’s personally and has been downhill ever since. even thoughi liked his score for Sleepy hollow and at least respected what he was trying to do iwth Charlie and the chocolate factory.
MATT: that sounds like muzak to me ;-)
haven’t even seen the film Joks. Probably never will. I enjoy the score itself though.
Edit/ Yeah Sleepy Hollow is another of mine.
Absolutely agree with:
Beetlejuice
Batman
Edward Scissorhands
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS score probably plays a big part in the consistency with which I cry whenever I watch the movie. And BEETLEJUICE a big part in the absolute and utter madness of the movie.
Look forward to checking out the others, Smokey, and the MILK material, Matt.
…
Danny Elfman is the Takashi Miike of composers. He is destined to get lucky from time to time.
Uli³Cain
Cinematical’s Alison Nastasi wrote the following in her story about Danny Elfman dropping out of scoring The Green Hornet:
“Truthfully, as Playlist points out, this is probably a good thing. There are two things that seem to be true in Hollywood — you can “fail upwards” and you can make an entire career out of a few good pieces of work. Elfman has done the latter — living off the reputation he earned for work from over a decade ago."
I disagree with this, I think Elfman is a fine composer who has done some great over the past 25 years (and I’m counting Oingo Boingo even though they remain one of my favorite bands).
I find him to be no more repetitive in themes as Bernstein or Morricone and I think is more willing to try something different. He can do big and dark, he can do whimsy, he can do serious. My perference would be for him to leave comic book scores altogether and concentrate on moody drama.
I feel Elfman’s percussion heavy scores on Nightbreed and Planet of the Apes (the ONLY good thing about the remake) are great scores that few others would have even attempted.
I’m not saying that Elfman is my favorite composer, but he is better than someone living for his past glory.
Any opinions?