Greatest motion picture composer of all time.

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Name your favorites, folks.

 

[The Ü™]

• Alan Silvestri
• Jerry Goldsmith
• Elmer Bernstein
• Danny Elfman
• John Williams
• Michael Giacchino
• Thomas Newman
• Michael Kamen
• John Barry
• Wendy Carlos
• Alex North

 

[Qlip]

Morricone
Mancini
Tangerine Dream

 

[WALMART]

^^^ too many favorites


i think i'll go with... stanley kubrick.

the thin red line, the shining... 2001 will forever have touched me.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

...Stanley Kubrick was a director, dude.
Haha!

 

[The Ü™]

And The Thin Red Line was not Kubrick.

Anyway, here's what has to be John Williams best score, I think:

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

The Thin Red Line was Zimmer; not the biggest fan, but when he is on, he is on.
As for John Williams, his last "great" score was A.I. in my opinion.

He's become to generic for my liking. Minority Report was one of his better ones, though.

 

[WALMART]

dafuqs the difference?

i'm very, very uncultured.


oh, composer. okay. i never think about music in film, i barely listen to various artists as it is. oops =/

 

[The Ü™]

The Thin Red Line was Zimmer; not the biggest fan, but when he is on, he is on.

I normally HATE Hans Zimmer. I hated his score for Gladiator, though as a general rule, I hate that entire movie, and the visual effects were atrocious. I also didn't get what was so special about the Nolan Batman scores, or the Pirates of the Caribbean scores. (Alan Silvestri was originally gonna compose Pirates; his credit is even on the earlier teaser posters before Bruckheimer canned him, and I think he would've been better).

On the other hand, Zimmer's score for Inception and Sherlock Holmes were amazing and creative.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

I normally HATE Hans Zimmer. I hated his score for Gladiator, though as a general rule, I hate that entire movie, and the visual effects were atrocious. I also didn't get what was so special about the Nolan Batman scores, or the Pirates of the Caribbean scores. (Alan Silvestri was originally gonna compose Pirates; his credit is even on the earlier teaser posters before Bruckheimer canned him, and I think he would've been better).

On the other hand, Zimmer's score for Inception and Sherlock Holmes were amazing and creative.

Yep. Most of his scores cannibalize earlier works and are blatantly imitated by others.
However, the previous statement still holds true to me: When he is on, he is on.

The Last Samurai, Gladiator, Inception, The Thin Red Line and The Lion King (which won him an Oscar) are among the greatest compositions in history.
The ones you mentioned I am not a fan of, however the Batman scores have grown on me.

Can't believe he is doing the Man of Steel soundtrack. No. Just no.

 

[The Ü™]

Can't believe he is doing the Man of Steel soundtrack. No. Just no.

I hope to God that John Williams' theme song is in the new movie. If not, I will be very pissed. Even more pissed than the fact Zack Snyder is directing (though I did like Watchmen).

And I liked both Danny Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal's Batman scores better than Zimmer's. Zimmer's is just too...repetitive. Elfman and Goldenthal scores have a distinct energy to them.

 

[Sniffles]

Miklós Rózsa. Did soundtracks for many classic Hollywood epics.
[youtube="PabhBbNQOd0"]King of Kings[/youtube]
[youtube="wcZg8nt3J-4"]Ben Hur[/youtube]

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

I hope to God that John Williams' theme song is in the new movie. If not, I will be very pissed. Even more pissed than the fact Zack Snyder is directing (though I did like Watchmen).

And I liked both Danny Elfman and Elliot Goldenthal's Batman scores better than Zimmer's.

Nope. John William's score is not going to be featured.
I pretty much abandoned all hope for Superman once they announced Snyder as the director.
The lack of the iconic theme killed all interest on the spot.

And yes. Every other live-action Batman score wipes the floor with Zimmer's minimalist droning.

 

[Totenkindly]

I pretty much abandoned all hope for Superman once they announced Snyder as the director.

Same here. It's pretty sad that my favorite of his movies is Sucker Punch...

I thought Don Davis' Matrix stuff was actually some of the best parts of the trilogy (especially in 2 & 3, considering the movie quality was dropping). He basically created a patterned musical tapestry that the orchestra had to memorize, because it would sure be a bitch to count out and play. But it gave the movie its own audial thumbprint. And the symphonic stuff was pretty good; I also enjoyed hearing him rip off Tristan and Isolde when the Deus ex Machina arrives.

I like David Julyan's moody and unsettling ambiance. His stuff lingers with me. I wish there was more of it.

I'm also a fan of Michael Giacchino, due to his versatility. I think he ended up scoring a lot of Abrams' stuff, which was emotionally evocative for me, but the first movie I really associated him with was the Incredibles, which has a very different score from what was coming out at the time.

John William's definitely has done some memorable stuff, although a lot of it felt too simple to me (it doesn't exactly mesh with my personality). I was kind of blown away by his score for A.I., because it didn't sound like stereotypical Williams at all. He normally has these very identifiable themes, but in that one, the musical was much more like a texture and tapestry.

I'd been a fan of Zimmer in the past, although I really haven't followed him much lately. I'm glad you mentioned Gladiator; the "battle waltz" was just brilliant. I remember watching some interviews with him and I did admire his courage, since he was discussing the fear that happens in trying to find the right way to approach something, that accentuates and individualizes the movie -- usually on such a tight time frame -- and that really resonated with me. At least at that point in time, he wasn't really rehashing much, he was doing a lot of new and interesting things.

I've even found James Newton Howard good at times; I like his soundtrack to The Sixth Sense, and remember how he had perceived the "power" as some kind of beast stalking about in the room, and that's what he wanted to bring out, he said once he got that image in his head, he could do it.

Before Alan Mencken started to rehash his ideas too much in the Disney formula, I thought he did a wonderful job of reinventing the studio's musical approach to its animated picture. It was all pretty appropriate at the time, and had a great sense of how to highlight theme and bring out the right emotions (serious, silly, solemn, aspiring, etc.) I just think he ended up doing it for too long and eventually anyone will become a cliche of themselves.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Same here. It's pretty sad that my favorite of his movies is Sucker Punch...

I liked the Dawn of the Dead remake (though it doesn't come close to the original) and 300.
He completely dropped the ball on Watchmen, though.

I never bothered to see Sucker Punch or the animated owl movie.
I doubt that will change anytime soon.

And Giacchino--in my opinion--is the best composer to emerge in the past decade.
His score for The Incredibles was legendary.

Even his work on Star Trek (which relied exclusively on an obnoxious five-note motif) managed to somehow enhance it.

 

[Fluffywolf]

Hans Zimmer, great composer.
Chemical Brothers (Loved the music in Hannah, if it wasn't for the music I doubt I would have enjoyed the movie much. Which in itself wasn't really that good. But the music makes it work.)

and not really motion picture, but my favorite composer of all time nonetheless:

Nobou Uematsu, because he is so diverse.

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh5McG4PryM"]Other world[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0G_FI61a8"]To zanarkand[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Werewolfen]

Basil Poledouris , who done the original Conan soundtrack. The music of that film added a nice touch to the drama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlDwtUKHpZQ



John Williams, another favorite who created many great movie scores.

Vangelis , also another great who done the Blade Runner score.

 

[Owlesque]

Howard Shore (I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned yet - Lord of the Rings is a masterpiece, especially the extended score)
Hans Zimmer (The Rock)
John Williams
James Newton Howard (Dinosaur)

For anime, Yoko Kanno (Wolf's Rain, Cowboy Bebop).

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Basil Poledouris , who done the original Conan soundtrack. The music of that film added a nice touch to the drama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlDwtUKHpZQ



John Williams, another favorite who created many great movie scores.

Vangelis , also another great who done the Blade Runner score.

Good choices. I forgot about Poledouris. His RoboCop theme was great, as was Conan.
And Vangelis' Blade Runner score was subversive for the time.

I must mention Clint Mansell. His work on Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain were mind-blowing.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Basil Poledouris , who done the original Conan soundtrack. The music of that film added a nice touch to the drama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlDwtUKHpZQ



John Williams, another favorite who created many great movie scores.

Vangelis , also another great who done the Blade Runner score.

Good choices. I forgot about Poledouris. His RoboCop theme was great, as was Conan.
And Vangelis' Blade Runner score was subversive for the time.

I must mention Clint Mansell. His work on Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain was mind-blowing.