Looks like Excalibur has a new director...

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/2010/03/05/g ... excalibur/

Guy Ritchie to direct Excalibur?
Published on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 21:54

Guy Ritchie has enough Sherlock Holmes things to keep him busy for a while, but Pajiba says he's getting another big project at Warner Bros. After WB reassigned him to the hurried-up Holmes sequel, Ritchie has now landed in the court of Camelot. A second Excalibur tale will soon be upon us, joining the remake of the 1981 film currently in development with director Bryan Singer. Both films are being produced at Warner Bros.

Comics scribe Warren Ellis is adapting the script; said to be a 'Star Wars-like version'. 'It differs from the prior 751 King Arthur movies in many ways, but perhaps most obviously in that it is very specifically about the gathering of the Knights,' said Ellis.

A King Arthur movie about the gathering of the knights? Say...didn't we see this movie six years ago?

I'm not a Ritchie fan. His London "gangsta films" are a genre thing for an acquired taste (which I've yet to acquire), but if he does to EXCALIBUR what he did to SHERLOCK HOLMES, this will be another picture aimed at 15 year olds with King Arthur beating up foes barechested in slow-motion.

But obviously the commercial success of HOLMES has opened the doors to more "mainstream studio films" for him, so there you go...

AndyDursin wrote:I'm not a Ritchie fan. His London "gangsta films" are a genre thing for an acquired taste (which I've yet to acquire), but if he does to EXCALIBUR what he did to SHERLOCK HOLMES, this will be another picture aimed at 15 year olds with King Arthur beating up foes barechested in slow-motion.

But obviously the commercial success of HOLMES has opened the doors to more "mainstream studio films" for him, so there you go...

Agreed with you 100 percent.

AndyDursin wrote:I'm not a Ritchie fan. His London "gangsta films" are a genre thing for an acquired taste (which I've yet to acquire), but if he does to EXCALIBUR what he did to SHERLOCK HOLMES, this will be another picture aimed at 15 year olds with King Arthur beating up foes barechested in slow-motion.

But obviously the commercial success of HOLMES has opened the doors to more "mainstream studio films" for him, so there you go...

This could be fun. I enjoyed Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and RocknRolla alot.

So I guess Hans Zimmer will help ruin this King Arthur movie too.

Cool

John Johnson wrote:Cool

What? The possibility of Hans Zimmer scoring Excalibur? Zimmer ruined Gladiator, Pirates Of The Caribbean, King Arthur, etc. He's not good at those types of films. His music is overblown and simplistic and he lacks the classical culture (not to mention training) -- the kind of cultural enrichment that made Miklos Rozsa so adept at such films.

Zimmer's actually good at comedy and light entertainment, but he should he kept well away from epics and/or weighty subject matter.

John Johnson wrote:Cool

Really? I'll pass.

He's already scored it once already!

Coriolanus Quince wrote:

John Johnson wrote:Cool

What? The possibility of Hans Zimmer scoring Excalibur? Zimmer ruined Gladiator, Pirates Of The Caribbean, King Arthur, etc. He's not good at those types of films. His music is overblown and simplistic and he lacks the classical culture (not to mention training) -- the kind of cultural enrichment that made Miklos Rozsa so adept at such films.

Zimmer's actually good at comedy and light entertainment, but he should he kept well away from epics and/or weighty subject matter.

What's wrong with Gladiator? I personally think it's a great score. One of Zimmer's best.

John Johnson wrote:What's wrong with Gladiator? I personally think it's a great score. One of Zimmer's best.

Granted it has one or two fairly decent themes (something Zimmer no longer traffics in) but it is way to synthesized for a Roman epic, and I find it overblown, unsubtle and rather trite.

Coriolanus Quince wrote:

John Johnson wrote:What's wrong with Gladiator? I personally think it's a great score. One of Zimmer's best.

I find it overblown, unsubtle and rather trite.

That's funny. I always think that way about Fall of the Roman Empire. LOL

Double Post.

John Johnson wrote:

Coriolanus Quince wrote:

John Johnson wrote:What's wrong with Gladiator? I personally think it's a great score. One of Zimmer's best.

I find it overblown, unsubtle and rather trite.

That's funny. I always think that way about Fall of the Roman Empire. LOL

Well that score is arguably over-the-top, but I personally consider Dimitri Tiomkin a far-better composer and dramatist than Hans Zimmer.

I personally don't mind the synths and "world music" approach (I think Vangelis' Alexander was one of the best scores of the past ten years for example). I even liked a couple of Zimmer's early scores.

But his gutsy, rock-inspired "power chords" add a layer of schlockiness when applied to epics or pirate adventures. And he tends to score movies as if they are trailers, exaggerating everything with catchy gimmickry.

I'm also just plain tired of hearing this in every major "tent pole" release, and tired of all the scores by other Remote Control composers which are in the the Hans Zimmer style.