Last Movie You Watched

[Madiel]

The trailer for Wes Anderson's next movie is scored with The Firebird, Petrushka, and Pictures at an Exhibition.

That looks weird even by the standards of Wes Anderson.

[Number Six]

The trailer for Wes Anderson's next movie is scored with The Firebird, Petrushka, and Pictures at an Exhibition.

Time to watch ASTEROID CITY again, for the 8th or 10th time.

[ritter]

Two oldies, with some historical importance in terms of their soundtracks...



This Sporting Life, a British film from 1963, boasts music by Roberto Gerhard, no less. I found the story (set in Northern England) of the doomed relationship between an up-and-coming rugby player (Richard Harris) and his landlady, a recently widowed mother of two (Rachel Roberts), uninteresting and utterly depressing (it's one of those stories where the characters seem to go out of their way to be as unhappy as possible, and succeed). Both leads were nominated for Academy Awards. Gerhard's score is interesting in the opening credits, but then becomes unobtrusive (to the extent that one doesn't even notice there is any music). Forgettable.


Le Voyageur de la Toussaint ("Strange Inheritance" or "The Traveller on All Saints' Day"), made in occupied France in 1943, sets a (non-Maigret) Georges Simenon novel about a drifting youngster who receives a huge, unexpected inheritance when arriving in a Northern French town (La Rochelle, in the novel) and must deal with the scheming of the town notables. The screenplay was written by another prestigious author, Marcel Aymé. The story is contrived, but cute. The music is by legendary conductor Roger Désormière This score is obtrusive, particularly in the first scenes, where an irritating violin solo is constantly present. OK, but nothing special...

[Cato]

Recently, we revisited Interstellar or  I N T E R S T E L L A R  as one of the posters proclaimed!

 

It was praised as being "scientifically accurate" (at least, with what was being theorized 10 years ago).

The score is mostly by Arvo Paert (Spiegel im Spiegel) and Gustav Mahler (Fifth Movement of his Symphony #10), with help from Phillip Glass (Glassworks) and Jean Sibelius (The Wood Nymph).

Oh wait!   

The credits say a certain Hans Zimmer "composed" the score!   

[T. D.]

Recently, we revisited Interstellar or  I N T E R S T E L L A R  as one of the posters proclaimed!

 

It was praised as being "scientifically accurate" (at least, with what was being theorized 10 years ago).

The score is mostly by Arvo Paert (Spiegel im Spiegel) and Gustav Mahler (Fifth Movement of his Symphony #10), with help from Phillip Glass (Glassworks) and Jean Sibelius (The Wood Nymph).

Oh wait! 

The credits say a certain Hans Zimmer "composed" the score! 

Apparently Hans Zimmer is a film composer of some note.

I know almost nothing about him, but he was one of the most prominent talking heads in the documentary Ennio,



where I found his comments fatuous, annoying and mostly superfluous.

[Cato]

Apparently Hans Zimmer is a film composer of some note.

I know almost nothing about him, but he was one of the most prominent talking heads in the documentary Ennio,



where I found his comments fatuous, annoying and mostly superfluous.

Seemingly, that should be expected: at the present, Zimmer employs a number of lackeys to compose - or to vary a work by a true composer - scores for movies. 

[T. D.]

Seemingly, that should be expected: at the present, Zimmer employs a number of lackeys to compose - or to vary a work by a true composer - scores for movies. 

Excuse the off-topic digression, but that's far from unknown in popular culture.
For one prominent example, mega-best-selling author James Patterson employs a stable of "collaborators"* to crank out his seemingly endless string of blockbuster hits.    And he makes oodles of dosh, just "rolling in the stuff" as Wodehouse characters say.

*I hesitate to use the term "ghostwriter", which is often applied in the Pattersonian context, because it's not clear. The following articles have claims for and against:  Ghostwriters vs. Collaborators

Sometimes writers in the JP stable, e.g. Andrew Gross, are rewarded with their own authorial opportunities. 

I'm proud to say (being a curmudgeonly contrarian) that I've never read a James Patterson novel. But it's almost spooky: In every public library I visit, vast expanses of shelving groan under the weight of his oeuvre. 

[SimonNZ]

The score is mostly by Arvo Paert (Spiegel im Spiegel) and Gustav Mahler (Fifth Movement of his Symphony #10), with help from Phillip Glass (Glassworks) and Jean Sibelius (The Wood Nymph).

Oh wait!   

The credits say a certain Hans Zimmer "composed" the score!   

Heh. The first time I encountered the name Hans Zimmer was him taking credit for a piece by Carl Orff ("Gassenhauer").

[SimonNZ]

Seemingly, that should be expected: at the present, Zimmer employs a number of lackeys to compose - or to vary a work by a true composer - scores for movies. 

I was hugely dispirited to see in a documentary on Philip Glass a bit where he turns up at his office, listens to his staff play him what they've been working on for about ten seconds, and he tells them to change it from a quartet to septet and  put a flute in, and then leaves.

Its not the staff or "collaborators" aspect that bothered me so much as it being so uninvolved, disinterested and "phoned in". It seemed...cynical. I can only hope or assume that someone like Godfrey Reggio insists on a more engaged and hands on involvement in their projects.

[SonicMan46]

As Good as It Gets (1997) - short summary below - Hunt and Nicolson Oscar winners (7 Oscar nominations - lost the 'Best Picture' & Kinnear for Best Supporting Actor, probably both a close call?).  Highly recommended - Ebert Review 3*/4* - I would add another 1/2* at least.  Dave

As Good as It Gets is an American romantic comedy film directed by James L. Brooks from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mark Andrus. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, bigoted and obsessive–compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with a chronically ill son, and Greg Kinnear as a gay artist. (Source)

 

[JBS]

Excuse the off-topic digression, but that's far from unknown in popular culture.
For one prominent example, mega-best-selling author James Patterson employs a stable of "collaborators"* to crank out his seemingly endless string of blockbuster hits.    And he makes oodles of dosh, just "rolling in the stuff" as Wodehouse characters say.

*I hesitate to use the term "ghostwriter", which is often applied in the Pattersonian context, because it's not clear. The following articles have claims for and against:  Ghostwriters vs. Collaborators

Sometimes writers in the JP stable, e.g. Andrew Gross, are rewarded with their own authorial opportunities. 

I'm proud to say (being a curmudgeonly contrarian) that I've never read a James Patterson novel. But it's almost spooky: In every public library I visit, vast expanses of shelving groan under the weight of his oeuvre. 

Going through the Amazon listings for Patterson books published or set to be published this year--of which there are more than a few--all but one show a co-author listed on the cover, some of them in typeface almost as large as him. So it's certainly not a practice Patterson hides.
And in one case, set to be released in June, Patterson gets only second billing (so to speak)

[T. D.]

Going through the Amazon listings for Patterson books published or set to be published this year--of which there are more than a few--all but one show a co-author listed on the cover, some of them in typeface almost as large as him. So it's certainly not a practice Patterson hides.
And in one case, set to be released in June, Patterson gets only second billing (so to speak)

I haven't kept up with the latest.
Over the years, the vast majority of Patterson novels I've seen on library shelves listed him as sole author on the cover.
See for instance the thumbnails on his Goodreads page https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3780.James_Patterson

Perhaps the collaborators have received more credit over the years. It is of course likely that Patterson himself wrote all of the early novels, and only began to employ collaborators after establishing his franchise.

Some collaborations, e.g. Mike Lupica and Bill Clinton, were surely planned from the get-go.

[71 dB]

Recently, we revisited Interstellar or  I N T E R S T E L L A R  as one of the posters proclaimed!

 

It was praised as being "scientifically accurate" (at least, with what was being theorized 10 years ago).

The score is mostly by Arvo Paert (Spiegel im Spiegel) and Gustav Mahler (Fifth Movement of his Symphony #10), with help from Phillip Glass (Glassworks) and Jean Sibelius (The Wood Nymph).

Oh wait! 

The credits say a certain Hans Zimmer "composed" the score! 

I am not a Hans Zimmer fan and I think he is overrated, but I defense him and other movie composers by  saying that movie music is not about being as original as possible. It is about providing emotional background for the scenes in the movie wanted by the film makers, often the director in collaboration with the composer. If re-cycling Mahler provides the wanted emotional response in the audience, that is the correct thing to do!

Movie music would suffer from serious restrictions if "borrowing" from great composers of the past wasn't allowed, because almost all music with direct emotional effect on the listener has been composed in the past.

TD:

I watched Don't Look Now (Nicholas Roeg, 1973) on Blu-ray. I have seen this movie on TV maybe two time before, but possibly not from start to end. The start of the movie (before they move to Venice) wasn't familiar to me. This was the first time I watched this movie with utmost concentration from start to finish and in great picture quality of the Studiocanal Blu-ray. This is a great movie. Donald Sutherland is of course brilliant, but so is Julie Christie! In fact everyone is good in this. The atmosphere is sinister and Roeg's directing is great. Pino Donaggio's music is great. Just an all-around superb movie. 

[Cato]

I am not a Hans Zimmer fan and I think he is overrated, but I defense him and other movie composers by  saying that movie music is not about being as original as possible. It is about providing emotional background for the scenes in the movie wanted by the film makers, often the director in collaboration with the composer. If re-cycling Mahler provides the wanted emotional response in the audience, that is the correct thing to do!

Movie music would suffer from serious restrictions if "borrowing" from great composers of the past wasn't allowed, because almost all music with direct emotional effect on the listener has been composed in the past.

TD:

I watched Don't Look Now (Nicholas Roeg, 1973) on Blu-ray. I have seen this movie on TV maybe two time before, but possibly not from start to end. The start of the movie (before they move to Venice) wasn't familiar to me. This was the first time I watched this movie with utmost concentration from start to finish and in great picture quality of the Studiocanal Blu-ray. This is a great movie. Donald Sutherland is of course brilliant, but so is Julie Christie! In fact everyone is good in this. The atmosphere is sinister and Roeg's directing is great. Pino Donaggio's music is great. Just an all-around superb movie. 

Yes indeed!  Highly recommended!

Something of a coincidence: yesterday local classical radio out of Dayton played the music by Richard Rodney Bennett for Far From the Madding Crowd which starred Julie Christie.

Pino Donaggio worked on some Brian De Palma thrillers, Carrie being the most famous.

I found this: A Brian De Palma Suite by Donaggio.

[Cato]

Speaking of Brian De Palma movies with great scores, this one's composer was by John Williams!

The Fury !

Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Amy Irving, Charles Durning and a host of others deal with spies and paranormal powers!

Excuse the off-topic digression, but that's far from unknown in popular culture.
For one prominent example, mega-best-selling author James Patterson employs a stable of "collaborators"* to crank out his seemingly endless string of blockbuster hits.    And he makes oodles of dosh, just "rolling in the stuff" as Wodehouse characters say.


I'm proud to say (being a curmudgeonly contrarian) that I've never read a James Patterson novel. But it's almost spooky: In every public library I visit, vast expanses of shelving groan under the weight of his oeuvre. 

I quickly skimmed through a few to see what all the fuss was about: unimpressive, potboiler prose, similar to other potboiler authors, for whom the invention of word-processing programs turned out to be a dangerous weapon! 

[Cato]

Speaking of Brian De Palma movies with great scores, this one's composer was by John Williams!

The Fury !

Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Amy Irving, Charles Durning and a host of others deal with spies and paranormal powers!


I quickly skimmed through a few to see what all the fuss was about: unimpressive, potboiler prose, similar to other potboiler authors, for whom the invention of word-processing programs turned out to be a dangerous weapon! 

I just saw an article that Carrie will be remade a fifth time!

Why?  Because Hollywood is creatively in negative numbers, maybe?

Brian De Palma's original proves the rule from Alfred Hitchcock that mediocre or even poor books can be turned into great movies! 

[T. D.]

I just saw an article that Carrie will be remade a fifth time!

Why?  Because Hollywood is creatively in negative numbers, maybe?

Brian De Palma's original proves the rule from Alfred Hitchcock that mediocre or even poor books can be turned into great movies! 

Which raises the fascinating ( ) question: how many James Patterson novels have gotten cinematic treatment? I have no idea, but will research (if it's not too difficult)...

Including TV series, 10, source https://www.wrightbookassociates.co.uk/blog/how-many-james-pattersons-books-have-become-movies/

Two of them (Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider) starred Morgan Freeman, though only the former sounds familiar and I never saw either.

[JBS]

I just saw an article that Carrie will be remade a fifth time!

Why?  Because Hollywood is creatively in negative numbers, maybe?

Brian De Palma's original proves the rule from Alfred Hitchcock that mediocre or even poor books can be turned into great movies! 

I must be completely out of the loop, because I never knew Carrie had been redone even once.

[Kalevala]

I must be completely out of the loop, because I never knew Carrie had been redone even once.

I didn't know that either!

K

[AnotherSpin]

Seven Veils by Atom Egoyan is an attempt to reinterpret the myth of Salome through the lens of female trauma: the dance as a cry for help, the heroine as a victim rather than a seductress. Themes of violence, infidelity, dementia, and pressure are introduced, but none are fully developed — everything is piled together. Structurally, the film is intriguing, but emotionally detached. States come and go, and we — and, it seems, the director himself — remain on the sidelines.

The question of the connection between art and pain is raised, but left unresolved. Is this a search or a kind of lostness? Something important is said, but in a muddled way.

On the positive side — it did make me want to revisit Richard Strauss's opera, though in a more compelling performance than the one used on the soundtrack.