Well the trailer for this was better than sitting through INDY 4 and it seems like a lot of folks are beginning to feel this might be good summer fun based on the early returns.
I am making the prediction this film will turn out to be at least decently entertaining, and it sounds from one test screening review at AICN the film pushes all the right buttons.
Frankly I wouldn't be surprised either -- change of location, loads of FX, Rob Cohen -- who has always been a decent director, just gets lost when he handles movies with gigantic budgets (Stealth & Dragonheart) -- directing, Edelman scoring...no Rachel Weisz but who cares? Maria Bello is easy on the eyes, plus Fraser and John Hannah are back also.
SMALLVILLE's Al Gough and Miles Millar wrote the script, which ought to help too.
I don't like Frasier's sidekick- never have in any of the movies. I don't like Rachel Weisz either- I don't think she's a good actress (so the fact that she's not in it is a plus for me). I don't know if I'll go see this- I might have to wait until I see some reviews before going. Not too thrilled about this one, as the humor (at least from what I saw in the trailer) seems a bit forced and less than funny.
mkaroly wrote:I don't like Frasier's sidekick- never have in any of the movies. I don't like Rachel Weisz either- I don't think she's a good actress (so the fact that she's not in it is a plus for me). I don't know if I'll go see this- I might have to wait until I see some reviews before going. Not too thrilled about this one, as the humor (at least from what I saw in the trailer) seems a bit forced and less than funny.
I don't mind John Hannah at all. But Kevin J. O'Connor was bad in the original (actually I pretty much dislike him in anything he's in!).
That review did say the movie played well in front of an audience and was quite funny, for what it's worth, obviously.
Rob Cohen put up scoring session pics on his blog -- sounds promising here too. Edelman and the London Symphony together? Hey he may not need synths this time!
...The scoring in London went so well. Randy spent ten days, two sessions a day, with the 105 piece London Symphony and the music is doing a great job giving the movie bravado, adventure, and thematic beauty.
AndyDursin wrote:Rob Cohen put up scoring session pics on his blog -- sounds promising here too. Edelman and the London Symphony together? Hey he may not need synths this time!
...The scoring in London went so well. Randy spent ten days, two sessions a day, with the 105 piece London Symphony and the music is doing a great job giving the movie bravado, adventure, and thematic beauty.
hi fellas... just got my copy of the score from Varese... and well... first let me say, that DRAGON is one of my all time fav scores, heck there are even parts in ANACONDA I like, Daylight is ok and Ghettysburg is fantastic, too. XXX is fun, though Im sure it is largely rescored by Media Ventures (even the editing of the movie is an ARMAGEDDON ripoff in the showdown).
Anyhow... we had the discussions about Edelman for this movie before and I doubted he would be the right one for a highspeed action movie. So, the theme is fine, though it neither has the grandeur nor the fun nor the adventure feeling of Jerry's or Alan's or even Debney's. It is ok, but Edelman wrote much better ones before.
The score truly goes into "worst score of the year territory" when it comes to the action. Plain embarrasing, it is obvious Edelman just pressed some pre-programmed buttons on his oldest synths and came up with the lamest action-motifs you can imagine (just think of J. Peter Robinson's scores for Jackie Chan vehicles). To have the LSO played lousy compositions like this is insulting, and it even sounds like cheap synth music sometimes. The occasionally sprinkled in themes dont help... sorry...
well, no surprise the producers were shocked and had much of the actionmusic (if not all of it) replaced by John Debney in a last minute call...
deservedly so...
truly horrible... im just surprised that producers again apparently have never listened to Edelman's scores before, otherwise they would have hired Debney right away...
romanD wrote:
well, no surprise the producers were shocked and had much of the actionmusic (if not all of it) replaced by John Debney in a last minute call...
deservedly so...
truly horrible... im just surprised that producers again apparently have never listened to Edelman's scores before, otherwise they would have hired Debney right away...
Do you have any stories about this I could read? I have a sick fascination with this stuff.
Too bad, although I wouldn't have seen this I might have picked up the score if it was decent. Depressing how little money I spend on new film scores these days.
so far not... studio keeps it quiet of course... but it is official nevertheless, he gets his credit of course ( i think in the end credits)...
dont think cohen mentions it on the blog, it is probably like with KING KONG where suddenly nobody seems to remember that Shore scored it... haha
it really resembles bad computer game scoring and the main theme gets really annoying after a while... the Mummy-Theme however work quite good, but what does it help when the rest around it is horrible...
romanD wrote: it is probably like with KING KONG where suddenly nobody seems to remember that Shore scored it... haha
Yikes!
It's times like this when I think of James Newton Howard's comment (paraphrasing) that action scoring is what separates the men from the boys in film music. JNH is one of the few currently working composers who consistently writes exciting action cues--your mileage may differ, of course.
It does seem to me that composers burn out on action cues and start to streamline their action writing as an indicator that they're working too much or are just not that into frantic action writing anymore.
truly horrible... im just surprised that producers again apparently have never listened to Edelman's scores before, otherwise they would have hired Debney right away...
The difference though is at least Edelman can write a theme that sounds fairly original. I've never heard anything by John Debney that didn't sound like it was being composed straight off the temp track, and that includes his "masterpiece" CUTTHROAT ISLAND.
And they knew what they would be getting. Rob Cohen likes Edelman's music. Replacing some of it is undoubtedly a studio decision, not his.
Plain embarrasing, it is obvious Edelman just pressed some pre-programmed buttons on his oldest synths and came up with the lamest action-motifs you can imagine.
I'm sorry to hear that. I thought maybe with a larger orchestra Edelman's music would be a bit different than it was back in the '90s.
Still, either way I find it impossible to believe the score is any worse than the droning garbage that was THE DARK KNIGHT.
AndyDursin wrote:I've never heard anything by John Debney that didn't sound like it was being composed straight off the temp track, and that includes his "masterpiece" CUTTHROAT ISLAND.
I enjoyed the first cue of that, but was always bemused when people over at FSM gushed about that like it's up there with Williams's adventure scores. I don't think I've ever played the damned CD past that first cue more than twice.
AndyDursin wrote:Still, either way I find it impossible to believe the score is any worse than the droning garbage that was THE DARK KNIGHT.
One of the students saw that tonight, and even he mentioned that the score was bad. I guess this is one JNH I should avoid, but I'm a completist, so I will buy it, damnit. I bet he could have done something good without Zimmer as a collaborator.
Well I have to disagree completely with Roman on this. The score isn't a classic but unlike virtually every score I've heard this year IT ACTUALLY HAS A THEME! And not only that but it's quite good on its own terms.
As far as Debney goes it doesn't seem like that much of a controversy either -- most reports have it Debney came in to finish up b/c Edelman had left. So who knows, but either way the score is pretty solid. I'll take it over THE DARK KNIGHT and basically every score I've heard this year -- for what that's worth.
