I love movie soundtracks. If you want more information on that, go ahead and click through those links. Because I've already said a bunch of times why I love movie soundtracks, and I'm not doing it again. So there.
Anywho, there are a lot of great soundtracks out there. Almost every good movie is accompanied by a good soundtrack, that matches and supports the themes and tones of the film. Sometimes a soundtrack will fall short, actually detracting from the movie itself. These instances, while unfortunate *cough*theWinterSoldier*cough*, are out there.
On the other hand, an excellent soundtrack will sometimes be paired with a movie so utterly abysmal you have to wonder whether the composer actually watched the film before they wrote the music. Here are my five favorite instances of a crap movie that did nothing to earn the quality soundtrack it wound up with.
I've mentioned X-Men Origins: Wolverine before, but to sum up, everything after about the first seven minutes of this movie is a massive waste of time. Everything, that is, aside from the music.
The soundtrack, penned by the talented-but-weirdly-forgettable Harry Gregson-Williams, isn't his finest work. But ultimately it is quality music, well written, well performed, and emotional. It stays interesting without resorting to the classic movie music trope of just holding a chord for a minute while people talk, and that's welcome in a decade that's becoming dominated by composers who studied under Hans Zimmer.
Overall it's pretty good stuff, and outshines virtually everything else associated with this production.
Trevor Jones has been scoring films for decades now. He worked on the score for Labyrinth, and he also wrote most of the critically acclaimed soundtrack for The Last of the Mohicans though he shares credit with Randy Edelman. According to the editor's notes for the album on iTunes, Jones died midway through post-production, resulting in Randy Edelman being brought in to finish off the score.
Jones also wrote the score for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, about a decade after scoring Last of the Mohicans. No mean feat from beyond the grave.
The man is absolutely alive. In his late sixties. iTunes be crazy.
Anywho, the soundtrack for this movie, in spite of the massive dumpster-fire of a plot it was paired with, was pretty solid. Weighty and full orchestrations, interesting themes and motifs, an excellent and emotional performance. It wouldn't be out of place being performed on stage by a renowned philharmonic, which maybe isn't surprising since the soundtrack was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. It even brings in some nice African sounds when appropriate, which lends some distinctness to the whole affair.
It's nice to listen to, well written, excellently performed, and did not deserve to be saddled onto the already dead horse that was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
I've already basically gone over this, so let me just sum up: There is one reason I enjoy watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and that reason is Jerry Goldsmith's excellently symphonic soundtrack.
On the strength of its soundtrack and the themes it introduced to the Star Trek universe alone, this movie is justified in the Star Trek canon. It's a lovingly rendered and conducted symphony of the sort that only Jerry Goldsmith could produce for such a yawning pile of boredom as this movie. Without it, it's entirely possible we would all remember The Next Generation show and movies completely differently. I don't think I can overstate how excellent this soundtrack really is.
Or how utterly obnoxious the rest of the movie would be without it. Thank heavens for Jerry Goldsmith.
Here's a movie you've probably never heard of. This is a remarkably terrible 80's sci-fi movie that is basically trying to retell The Seven Samurai in space. It's uh... yeah, it's bad. Campy 80's sci-fi at its worst and least interesting. I watched about forty minutes of it on Netflix a few years back for one reason only. Netflix listed the composer in the description, and that composer was James Horner.
James Horner was young, just getting his career started, when he wrote this score. So he was enthusiastic about giving it his best effort, and if you've ever watched a movie he scored (you have, I promise), you'll know that his best efforts are pretty dang good. Battle Beyond the Stars is graced with an opening credits sequence that sounds so epic and exciting, it's a genuine disappointment when the movie actually starts and you realize it's a turd.
Don't even try watching the movie, it's not worth it. But do give the soundtrack a listen, because it absolutely is worth it.
I still get sad whenever I think about this movie and the enormous potential it squandered. It's not the worst movie ever, but coming off of X-2 and its hints toward the Dark Phoenix saga, this felt a bit like a kick in the face. A big, anti-climactic kick in the face. It has exactly two redeeming qualities. Kelsey Grammar as Beast, and a John Powell soundtrack it didn't earn.
Because the themes introduced for this movie are excellent. The main theme is a worthy successor to John Ottman's excellent theme from X-2, orchestral, driving, moving, massively thematic. Magneto gets a theme fitting the conflicted and characteristically interesting villain he was (in the comics), and there's a theme for the Phoenix that really suits everything the Phoenix should have been. Heck, even Angel, who is in the movie for like 10 total minutes, gets his own theme! There's as many distinct themes in here as your average Star Wars movie, and they're all just as good as your average Star Wars movie.
The whole score is full, excellently orchestrated, symphonically interesting. There's a lot to like, which couldn't make it more dissimilar to the movie it was written for.
I wanted to give a shout out to another Jerry Goldsmith score, but I didn't want to rank this one because while I have listened to the music, I haven't actually seen Supergirl. But I have it on pretty good authority that the movie isn't great, whereas the soundtrack could have nearly replaced John Williams' Superman score without making me upset.
It's really good, and just goes to show how committed Goldsmith was to creating an excellent score even when the movie he was scoring was a pile. Seriously go look at his IMDB page sometime. For every great movie he scored, there's a stinker right next to it. But the quality of his music never suffers. It's seriously odd.
Anywho, there are a lot of great soundtracks out there. Almost every good movie is accompanied by a good soundtrack, that matches and supports the themes and tones of the film. Sometimes a soundtrack will fall short, actually detracting from the movie itself. These instances, while unfortunate *cough*theWinterSoldier*cough*, are out there.
On the other hand, an excellent soundtrack will sometimes be paired with a movie so utterly abysmal you have to wonder whether the composer actually watched the film before they wrote the music. Here are my five favorite instances of a crap movie that did nothing to earn the quality soundtrack it wound up with.
1) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
The soundtrack, penned by the talented-but-weirdly-forgettable Harry Gregson-Williams, isn't his finest work. But ultimately it is quality music, well written, well performed, and emotional. It stays interesting without resorting to the classic movie music trope of just holding a chord for a minute while people talk, and that's welcome in a decade that's becoming dominated by composers who studied under Hans Zimmer.
Overall it's pretty good stuff, and outshines virtually everything else associated with this production.
2) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Jones also wrote the score for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, about a decade after scoring Last of the Mohicans. No mean feat from beyond the grave.
The man is absolutely alive. In his late sixties. iTunes be crazy.
Anywho, the soundtrack for this movie, in spite of the massive dumpster-fire of a plot it was paired with, was pretty solid. Weighty and full orchestrations, interesting themes and motifs, an excellent and emotional performance. It wouldn't be out of place being performed on stage by a renowned philharmonic, which maybe isn't surprising since the soundtrack was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. It even brings in some nice African sounds when appropriate, which lends some distinctness to the whole affair.
It's nice to listen to, well written, excellently performed, and did not deserve to be saddled onto the already dead horse that was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
3) Star Trek: The Motion Picture
On the strength of its soundtrack and the themes it introduced to the Star Trek universe alone, this movie is justified in the Star Trek canon. It's a lovingly rendered and conducted symphony of the sort that only Jerry Goldsmith could produce for such a yawning pile of boredom as this movie. Without it, it's entirely possible we would all remember The Next Generation show and movies completely differently. I don't think I can overstate how excellent this soundtrack really is.
Or how utterly obnoxious the rest of the movie would be without it. Thank heavens for Jerry Goldsmith.
4) Battle Beyond the Stars
James Horner was young, just getting his career started, when he wrote this score. So he was enthusiastic about giving it his best effort, and if you've ever watched a movie he scored (you have, I promise), you'll know that his best efforts are pretty dang good. Battle Beyond the Stars is graced with an opening credits sequence that sounds so epic and exciting, it's a genuine disappointment when the movie actually starts and you realize it's a turd.
Don't even try watching the movie, it's not worth it. But do give the soundtrack a listen, because it absolutely is worth it.
5) X-Men: The Last Stand
Because the themes introduced for this movie are excellent. The main theme is a worthy successor to John Ottman's excellent theme from X-2, orchestral, driving, moving, massively thematic. Magneto gets a theme fitting the conflicted and characteristically interesting villain he was (in the comics), and there's a theme for the Phoenix that really suits everything the Phoenix should have been. Heck, even Angel, who is in the movie for like 10 total minutes, gets his own theme! There's as many distinct themes in here as your average Star Wars movie, and they're all just as good as your average Star Wars movie.
The whole score is full, excellently orchestrated, symphonically interesting. There's a lot to like, which couldn't make it more dissimilar to the movie it was written for.
Honorable Mention: Supergirl
It's really good, and just goes to show how committed Goldsmith was to creating an excellent score even when the movie he was scoring was a pile. Seriously go look at his IMDB page sometime. For every great movie he scored, there's a stinker right next to it. But the quality of his music never suffers. It's seriously odd.
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