I think we share the same sentiments. Have a look at my review at Zinfo 2.0.
I was listening to The Dark Knight Rises the other day and realised I didn't like it until I watched the movie.
Yumbo, Same here. Ive enjoyed the new BATMAN series but Ive yet to delve into the scores. Its a modern revisionist setting for a superhero and it matches and adds a realistic depth to the series. This is not a cartoon or a comic book hero. Its a superhero/viglante concept intwined with todays modern day realism that succesfuly blends an element of consicous cinematic 'sentient' into its depth. Thats what prompts a very non -traditional -non hollywoodesque score. It applies the same to MoS -which I find refreshing. John Williams original score if set in the current MoS version would have totaly derailed it as a hollywood film and would have turned it into a sequel of SUPERMAN RETURNS. Time to kill the fanboy inside us and accept this new MAN OF STEEL.
With that Im quite eager to accept and understand Zimmer's version and vision of SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL. But first I need to see the film and be swept away by it.
Amer,
I agree with everything you've written. Yes, you need to see film music in the context of film music to appreciate it's effectives.
But there's a but. Let me illustrate that by sharing a more personal journey.
When I started out listening and later on collecting film music, I started with films I knew. I recognized every note in Star Wars. Star Trek II blew me away. And with every score I added to my collection, I had a connection with the film first. I made sure I did. I saw movies I otherwise wouldn't have. I saw Natty Gann and American Tail for the Horner-score, nothing else (that's not to say I didn't enjoy them!).
Two scores, though, changed how I listed to scores. In '89 I got Field of Dreams. I imported the score from the US (in those stunning longboxes the US had in those days!) and the movie did not come out for another six months. Being enchanted with Horner's music before, I still listened to the album. And again. And again.
It wasn't the first time I heard a score without seeing te movie first, but something was different. The music started to tell me a story. Not in literary details, but I *knew* there was one. I felt it. Listening to Field of Dreams, I felt the emotional canvas of a story I didn't knew! A second score later that year did the same. I heard Born on the Forth of July a couple of weeks before I saw the film. The score had a emotional impact I did not see coming. Williams' score touched me. When I saw the film I suddenly realized what Williams added to an otherwise sloppy told story and carelessly made film.
Film music started to tell its own story to me. I began to see film music adds stuff. Sometimes stuff that wasn't even there in the first place. Like how JNH focussed on the main character in the opening of The Fugitive. The ambivalence of emotions in Desplat's Birth. Or how the director of Logan's Run (?) realized after the spotting session he made a love story (the most romantic film ever, according to Ross Geller ).
Nowadays, I find it harder and harder to see what film music adds without seeing it in the context of the film. First I think film music adds less. It adds pace, rhythm but emotion or development, not so much. And film music is... less independent than it used to be. A score like Man of Steel (true, I haven't heard it yet) and Zimmer's Batman-scores need the film way more than Williams' Superman or Elfman's Batman to stand their own ground.
Something has changed. Yes, as always, you can judge film music on being music without ever seeing the film for sure -- what most people do even here. On the other hand you need the merits of moviemaking to say words on film music being film music and it's ability to enhance a film. But with the later something has changed over the last few years. We've seen less independent scores. Film music that is not able to tell their own story. Even with with years of listing film music under the belt I need the context of a film to *get* a score. And I think that's a step back for the art form.
With people [particualry film music fans] getting immediately into the frenzy of the score dont realise that watching the film is as essential to understand how effective the score is and how well it works with the film. Infact we have all forgotten how we all fell in love with film music in the first place. It was the movie/film and how it had impacted us in the first place. Then we noticed the score and began to appreciate it with each viewings and ofcourse the first thing we bought is the soundtrack album. Nowaday folks will just pick up and album and gauge its merits on basis of a first listen and even assess the quality via 30 seond clips online without referencing the film or even watching it. Thats reckless. Granted that the film score may be a hit or a miss but give the film a chance first.
The subject of MAN OF STEEL is at best has been as fast as travel in hyperspace. The hype has complimented the franchise movie making machinery and fueled it. Fans of the Superman mythos will be forever haunted by the magnificense of Willams iconic music. [ Its the single most recognised film music theme in my country- just humm the fanfare and you will find even the hairy taliban like guy break into an excited smile-LOL]
The point is as much as Iam the fan of the legendary iconic Donner saga and the music-Iam still willing to allow the rebirth of SUPERMAN without some nostalgic reference to the previous entries. Its time to let go and absorb and breath the new SUPERMAN of today. Iam looking forward to a new revisonist SUPERMAN score that examins the films in today's well articulated modern sound stream. With that Im quite eager to accept and understand Zimmer's version and vision of SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL. But first I need to see the film and be swept away by it.
Hi Amer,
I think we share the same sentiments. Have a look at my review at Zinfo 2.0.
I was listening to The Dark Knight Rises the other day and realised I didn't like it until I watched the movie.
This is not my preferred Man of Steel thread, but it was the best one I could find in the search results that referred to the film score in general without addressing specifics. I couldn't find the "main" Man of Steel thread, the one with the most comments that was kind of a general thread for the score.
I love the score to Man of Steel. I think it's a terrific work.
I just wanted to point out the track "Tornado" and the moments between 1:30-2:05. Incredible stuff, and I feel like it's as emotional and powerful a moment as anything Zimmer has ever written.
This is not my preferred Man of Steel thread, but it was the best one I could find in the search results that referred to the film score in general without addressing specifics. I couldn't find the "main" Man of Steel thread, the one with the most comments that was kind of a general thread for the score.
I love the score to Man of Steel. I think it's a terrific work.
I just wanted to point out the track "Tornado" and the moments between 1:30-2:05. Incredible stuff, and I feel like it's as emotional and powerful a moment as anything Zimmer has ever written.
Man of steel is a terrific work? Yeeeeah suuuuure.
Man of steel is a terrific work? Yeeeeah suuuuure.
Well, it's certainly not Williams or Goldsmith with traditional themes and melodies.
But for the intense wall of sound that it is, and for those that can appreciate this sort of thing, it really is pretty stunning. It certainly stands head and shoulders above most of the modern percussive "soundscape" music.
Man of steel is a terrific work? Yeeeeah suuuuure.
Well, it's certainly not Williams or Goldsmith with traditional themes and melodies.
But for the intense wall of sound that it is, and for those that can appreciate this sort of thing, it really is pretty stunning. It certainly stands head and shoulders above most of the modern percussive "soundscape" music.
Agreed. For me it works best as an album on its own, completely removed from the movie. Since the movie itself was so awful ( for me, anyway ) it isn't hard to just ignore the film connection, and appreciate the album as is. It is a very aggressive and intense work and a very good listen.
This is not my preferred Man of Steel thread, but it was the best one I could find in the search results that referred to the film score in general without addressing specifics. I couldn't find the "main" Man of Steel thread, the one with the most comments that was kind of a general thread for the score.
This is not my preferred Man of Steel thread, but it was the best one I could find in the search results that referred to the film score in general without addressing specifics. I couldn't find the "main" Man of Steel thread, the one with the most comments that was kind of a general thread for the score.
That's it! Thanks. So weird, I searched the fsm site itself and also did a yahoo & google search and couldn't find it. Might as well post my thing there too, since I originally wanted to post it in that thread...
I tried googling "zimmer man of steel site:filmscoremonthly.com" and it didn't come up, so then i just googled "man of steel site:filmscoremonthly.com" and it did.
I tried googling "zimmer man of steel site:filmscoremonthly.com" and it didn't come up, so then i just googled "man of steel site:filmscoremonthly.com" and it did.
You'd be better off googling "fsm board zimmer man of steel", rather than typing in the long site name.
I just tried, and it works, but your original one doesn't as you discovered yourself (because you omitted the "www").
Try these, and you'll get a flavour of what works and what doesn't: -- zimmer man of steel site:www.filmscoremonthly.com -- zimmer man of steel site:filmscoremonthly.com -- fsm board zimmer man of steel
Ok, I haven't really listened to Disc 2 very much. (At all?)
I've just fallen in love with the track Earth.
To me Man of Steel is the sweet spot between his more melody based works like Pirates and his navel-gazing soundscapes of Dunkirk and Interstellar.
It's been five years (TRUE!) and I'm still loving this score!
Actually, I think I prefer disc 2. Man of Steel is wonderful, I never got the negative response it got. 2013 was a fantastic year for Zimmer, I love all of his output from that year (Man of Steel being the best, followed by The Lone Ranger, Rush and The Bible)
This score blew me away when I first heard it. Sure some people hate it, but for me it just pushed all the right buttons. I can't count the amount of times I've played "Flight" "If You Love These People" and "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving The World?" being my top three tracks. The film was a mixed bag unfortunately, but it had some great moments and wasn't a complete misfire like the following films were which featured Cavill's Superman.
I would say overall Man of Steel is about on par with the original Donner film IMHO and I think Zimmer's music fit the film like a glove. I don't think a more melodic and orchestral approach necessarily would have even worked, certainly not cut from the same cloth as Williams' score. I love everything about Zimmer's music, from the style, to the writing, to the sound. I would love Zimmer to get another crack at Superman.... and no.... I do not mean with Tom Holkenborg.
With it looking like Cavill has hung up the cape for good, who know's what's going to happen. I wouldn't want to be Warner Bros. right now, because outside of Wonder Woman, they have officially smashed the DC Universe and Superman along with it right into the ground.
). 
