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"Skyfall" theme song...

The Ü™

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The new theme for the upcoming James Bond movie is a bit like Diamonds are Forever or Goldfinger. And Thomas Newman's orchestra seems to capture more of John Barry's spirit, particularly the brasses. And once again, the title of the movie is a part of the song. I think it sounds neat:


Now that the song is not atrocious garbage like the last one by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Now the final question remains: Will the gun barrel sequence be placed at the beginning once again? Or will they find some ridiculous excuse to put it at the end again?

PS: Oh and Happy James Bond Day, everybody! (I had no idea this day existed. But wouldn't it make more sense to have it on October 7th? 10/07)
 

Totenkindly

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The new theme for the upcoming James Bond movie is a bit like Diamonds are Forever or Goldfinger. And Thomas Newman's orchestra seems to capture more of John Barry's spirit, particularly the brasses. And once again, the title of the movie is a part of the song. I think it sounds neat:

I like how the series tends to have a particular sound to their theme songs -- "All Time High" by Rita Coolidge and "Nobody does it better" by Carly Simon kind of broke that streak, but I just watched Casino Royale the other night again (I love the "parkour" style chase that opens the movie) and I thought the opening song sounded pretty decent and fit the motif, while also being accompanied by a pretty creative animated sequence.

Now that the song is not atrocious garbage like the last one by Jack White and Alicia Keys.

I don't remember how that goes, I'll have to YouTube it later.

Looking forward to Skyfall. Daniel Craig's actually my favorite Bond; he seems the least cliche to me. He's also been allowed to be somewhat unlikeable, as opposed to the other Bonds who would present a particular overly slick/debonair social face. This actually (from what I recall) parallels Fleming's Bond better.
 
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Nicodemus

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The Ü™

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I like how the series tends to have a particular sound to their theme songs -- "All Time High" by Carly Simon kind of broke that streak, but I just watched Casino Royale the other night again (I love the "parkour" style chase that opens the movie) and I thought the opening song sounded pretty decent and fit the motif, while also being accompanied by a pretty creative animated sequence.

Casino Royale had the worst title sequence, though the song was good. The title sequence, however, looked like it was cooked up on Flash for an online ad. It was disappointing considering all of Danny Kleinman's title designs were some of the best since Robert Brownjohn's, who only did two title sequences in total, for From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.

My favorite Bond song, I have to say was "The Living Daylights" by a-Ha, followed closely by "The World is Not Enough" by Garbage. But the Jack White one was even worse than "Die Another Day" by Madonna.

I don't remember how that goes, I'll have to YouTube it later.

Well, anything by Jack White is ear-stabbing crap anyway.

Looking forward to Skyfall. Daniel Craig's actually my favorite Bond; he seems the least cliche to me. He's also been allowed to be somewhat unlikeable, as opposed to the other Bonds who would present a particular overly slick/debonair social face. This actually (from what I recall) parallels Fleming's Bond better.

The best thing about Skyfall is that it's gonna have something that is very rare for movies nowadays: miniatures and in-camera pyrotechnics!!!
 

Totenkindly

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I heard it on the radio this morning.
Lame-sauce. Didn't like it.

Well, that was by the numbers, wasn't it? Ick -- can't imagine a more bland, predictable, uninspired song. And the piano opening sounds like a ten-year-old could play it, it didn't sound like a professionally released song.

It doesn't help that I was freaking sick of Adele last year. But I'll admit her vocals were the best part of the song, actually, and it's too bad she didn't have a decent song to complement her.

Well, anything by Jack White is ear-stabbing crap anyway.

Just listened to it.

One thing I liked about it is that it took a chance -- it used Bond motifs but really went out there and tried to do something different. In the end, I don't think it really worked in terms of creating a theme that people want to hear more than once, but I appreciate the willingness to take a chance. That's the kind of thing you get when you get Alicia Keys and Jack White to do a song, I guess; I'd only heard Alicia Keys before (out of the two of them) and she's out there on her own doing her thing.

Which is why Skyfall is probably such predigested, repetitive, already done to death 3000x, "we've heard this before" hokum, though, and another song I have no desire to listen to again. They didn't want to take another chance and get something "out there" again.

it would be nice to have a happy medium.
 

The Ü™

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I heard it on the radio this morning.
Lame-sauce. Didn't like it.

Well, that was by the numbers, wasn't it? Ick -- can't imagine a more bland, predictable, uninspired song. And the piano opening sounds like a ten-year-old could play it, it didn't sound like a professionally released song.

It doesn't help that I was freaking sick of Adele last year. But I'll admit her vocals were the best part of the song, actually, and it's too bad she didn't have a decent song to complement her.

That's the beauty of it. It's a throwback to the old songs, and it sounds like a James Bond song.

More interesting is what Thomas Newman's actual music score is going to be like, as I don't recall him ever scoring action films. And I hope Sam Mendes, who also has never been an action director, isn't as abysmal as Marc Forster.

Anyway, I rank all the composers involved in a James Bond movie as follows, aside from Monty Norman:
  1. Michael Kamen
  2. David Arnold
  3. John Barry
  4. George Martin
  5. Eric Serra
  6. Marvin Hamlisch
  7. Bill Conti
 

Totenkindly

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That's the beauty of it. It's a throwback to the old songs, and it sounds like a James Bond song.

My point is that it's a Bond song that sounds like it was written by a piss-poor uncreative musician who can only crib music... and not even nearly as good as other Bond songs have riffed on the themes. Meh. If it had been written for a college assignment where you were SUPPOSED to crib a film style, I still would have only given it a C+ .

More interesting is what Thomas Newman's actual music score is going to be like, as I don't recall him ever scoring action films. And I hope Sam Mendes, who also has never been an action director, isn't as abysmal as Marc Forster.

Mendes is a fave director of mine. I hope he pulls off something decent in this genre. I was really disappointed last year when Brad Bird did his first live-action film (Mission Impossible IV) and I thought it sucked sucked sucked.
 

The Ü™

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The best Bond score:


Too bad Michael Kamen didn't fill in for Eric Serra and his cheap-ass synthesizers in Goldeneye.

To me, this interpretation is the only one to make Bond actually seem dangerous. Timothy Dalton was, in many ways, the scariest Bond, in part because of this score.
 

Totenkindly

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I thought Dalton was better than Lazenby or Brosnan.

Kamen's interesting. I remember him from way back with Highlander. Here, he does a lot of melancholy textured stuff, then out of the blue comes out with loud shrill/percusive sounds and even breaks time signature and adds in unexpected instrumentation. So I understand where you're going with this -- it can be kind of unsettling to listen to, putting the viewers on edge.
 

The Ü™

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I thought Dalton was better than Lazenby or Brosnan.

How would you rank Moore, may I ask?

I'm still on the fence on whether Lazenby would've made a good Bond if he had just made more movies. But I thought On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the most boring Bond movie of them all.

Kamen's interesting. I remember him from way back with Highlander. Here, he does a lot of melancholy textured stuff, then out of the blue comes out with loud shrill/percusive sounds and even breaks time signature and adds in unexpected instrumentation. So I understand where you're going with this -- it can be kind of unsettling to listen to, putting the viewers on edge.

He's something of an emo Alan Silvestri, IOW.
 

Totenkindly

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How would you rank Moore, may I ask?

I'm not sure. When I was a teenager and only had Connery, Lazenby, and Moore to choose from, I liked Moore the best.

But then I got older and my tastes changed. I prefer Connery now to Moore. The Moore movies tended to be campier, which I don't like as much now.

I never liked the polished/produced/untouched Bond as much. I read the books when I was a teen, before I saw the movies; and Fleming's Bond was quieter, low-key, kind of thuggish. Not nearly as polished and slick as the movie presentations. It's why I like Craig better -- he dresses up nicely but at core, he's still kind of a brute and will kill you if it's convenient, break the rules (and not in a cute/whimsical fashion) if he has a goal to accomplish. In some ways he reminds me of a wolf.

I'm still on the fence on whether Lazenby would've made a good Bond if he had just made more movies. But I thought On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the most boring Bond movie of them all.

it's really a shame. It could have been better... and it ends so tragically, which could wring out a lot of pathos if the rest of the movie had built it up properly.
 

Poindexter Arachnid

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That's the beauty of it. It's a throwback to the old songs, and it sounds like a James Bond song.

To me, it relies too heavily on the 007 theme. Every Bond movie has done this since Casino Royale. I actually liked "You Know My Name" as it really set up the themes of Casino Royale very well (and with the fantastic title sequence and all). At first I wasn't a fan of "Another Day to Die" but it grew on me as time went by. It was also a very unconventional Bond song.

However, I will agree that it sounds similar to an old school Bond song. This is also what the filmmakers were going for with the movie, so in a way it is appropriate.

More interesting is what Thomas Newman's actual music score is going to be like, as I don't recall him ever scoring action films. And I hope Sam Mendes, who also has never been an action director, isn't as abysmal as Marc Forster.

The two have worked together several times. Road To Perdition immediately comes to mind. Both were more than competent enough to make it work. Roger Deakins is the cinematographer, so by default it will be more visually appealing than Quantum of Solace. Michael Bay had to tweak his trademark "shakycam" action style for the Transformers sequels because he shot multiple sequences in IMAX (similar to Skyfall, if I'm not mistaken).

Obviously, this is the most ambitious Bond movie in years. I only hope it remain conservative with the "homage" thing going on.
 

The Ü™

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To me, it relies too heavily on the 007 theme. Every Bond movie has done this since Casino Royale. I actually liked "You Know My Name" as it really set up the themes of Casino Royale very well (and with the fantastic title sequence and all). At first I wasn't a fan of "Another Day to Die" but it grew on me as time went by. It was also a very unconventional Bond song.

However, I will agree that it sounds similar to an old school Bond song. This is also what the filmmakers were going for with the movie, so in a way it is appropriate.

Of course, just because a song is unconventional, it doesn't mean it sounds any less like crap.

The two have worked together several times. Road To Perdition immediately comes to mind. Both were more than competent enough to make it work. Roger Deakins is the cinematographer, so by default it will be more visually appealing than Quantum of Solace. Michael Bay had to tweak his trademark "shakycam" action style for the Transformers sequels because he shot multiple sequences in IMAX (similar to Skyfall, if I'm not mistaken).

Obviously, this is the most ambitious Bond movie in years. I only hope it remain conservative with the "homage" thing going on.

I don't think shooting in IMAX for a franchise's 50th anniversary is very justified. They should've shot in 3D, that way, there would've been ample opportunity for a gun barrel sequence with more depth. Christ, the gun barrel opening was born for 3D shoots, no pun intended. IMAX is just an overpriced big screen. (I saw Mission: Impossible 4 on IMAX, and $20 was not worth it.)
 
A

Anew Leaf

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I find myself surprised by how much I like this song (her songs are so overplayed I can no longer listen). But I just love Adele's voice. If I had 1/100th of her gift I would be thrilled to the tippiest tips of my fingertips.

I will admit here and now before witnesses that I have yet to see a James Bond movie.
 
A

Anew Leaf

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I find myself surprised by how much I like this song (her songs are so overplayed I can no longer listen). But I just love Adele's voice. If I had 1/100th of her gift I would be thrilled to the tippiest tips of my fingertips.

I will admit here and now before witnesses that I have yet to see a James Bond movie.
 

Poindexter Arachnid

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Of course, just because a song is unconventional, it doesn't mean it sounds any less like crap.

It was ambitious, though. It was also surprisingly effective over the opening credit sequence.

And I just listened to the Skyfall song in full--I only heard half of it before.

Great melody, fantastic orchestra; Adele's voice retains the sultriness of Shirley Bassey.
But the lyrics absolutely kill this song. They're embarrassingly atrocious.
 

Totenkindly

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But the lyrics absolutely kill this song. They're embarrassingly atrocious.

I agree. They're pretty high school.

EDIT: Still, all this JB music talk... I'm currently streaming all the theme songs off Rhapsody, it's been awhile since I've listened to them. I used to have a lot of them on cassette, years ago. Shirley Bassey... woot!
 

The Ü™

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I agree. They're pretty high school.

EDIT: Still, all this JB music talk... I'm currently streaming all the theme songs off Rhapsody, it's been awhile since I've listened to them. I used to have a lot of them on cassette, years ago. Shirley Bassey... woot!

I love how they manage to make a love song out of a title like Moonraker without making it sound overly pornographic.


Also happened to be another of my favorite Bond movies.
 
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