I never liked James Horner's score for "Titanic" which I thought was too nasally (thanks to the synthesizers) and could never understand why it won an Oscar. The same applies to Hans Zimmer's "Dune", synthesizer tedium that goes nowhere.
Although inspiration was drawn from Enya, I always felt that the nasal/synth aspects of the vocals (for example at the start of "Southampton" or "Leaving Port" ) was deliberately done to mimic the sound of a steam whistle. Steam whistles produce rather long flat tones, I know, while Horner uses short notes in the vocals... but to me the vocals felt like an alternate approach to industrial sounds. What would it sound like if machines/engines make music?
"Take her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch" is another great example how Horner contributes to the idea of music mimicking a machine. At 0:33 you really feel the engine gaining speed.
Another genius aspect of this whole idea can be found in "Hard To Starboard [extended Version]". At 1:30 the drum roll seems to mimic an emergency signal (morsecode, like SOS or CQD). Of course also not quite the same, I know. But those are the feelings/images that the music give to me. Maybe I'm "reading" these melodic decisions wrong.
John Williams wrote the Best Movie Score in these Years
1969 The Reiver’s 1972 Images 1975 Jaws 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1978 Superman 1979 Dracula 1980 The Empire Strikes Back 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1982 E.T. 1987 Empire of the Sun 1989 Born on the Fourth of July 1993 Schindler’s List 2001 A.I. 2005 Memoirs of a Geisha 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
If I were stranded on an island by myself and could only listen to one composer's music, it would probably be Angelo Francesco Lavagnino's. Besides fitting in perfectly with the island, it would probably keep me happier and more optimistic than any other composer's music.
The days of good original film scores are mostly behind us and likely to never return again.
Our time now is of abstract ambient droning ranging from listenable to non-listenable. It’s nothing that can’t be achieved without basic template sounds in a DAW.
Elfman's Edward Scissorhands is overrated and Somersby is a lot better.
I like the Mummy Trilogy scores AND Goldsmith's King Solomon's Mine score more than Williams' Indiana Jones scores.
I do not understand the love for Debney's Cutthroat Island and thinks Korngold's The Sea Hawk and Zimmer's Pirates scores are a lot better.
I think Monos by Mica Levi is a fascinating score.
Jerry Goldsmith probably executed his concepts as good as any composer in history but emotionally his scores rarely has the weight of his peers with similar talent.
Williams' Saving Private Ryan is highly underrated and I think the best materials are as good or better than any of his Star Wars scores.
Crimson Tide is not a masterpiece or close to being my favorite Zimmer score. In fact, only 2 Zimmer scores or so from the 90s are in my top 10.
Face/Off is one of the best scores Powell has ever done.
Do not understand the love for Giacchino's Jupiter Ascending and Tomorrowland and thinks War for the Planet of the Apes is a lot better.
Marco Beltrami is a below average composer and maybe one of the worst of the mainstream composers with 3-5 mainstream movies a year.
