Losing the Remote Control

Remote Control (née Media Ventures) is widely ridiculed among film score critics, though its simply, synthy music is often acknowledged as decent "guilty pleasure" stuff and often loved by the less musically-savvy listeners. Its daddy, Hans Zimmer, is a very competent composer is his own right who, despite the frequency of his ultra-macho crap scores has also given us some surprisingly mature scores. Similarly, several of the young musicians who used to get lost in the "occasional music written by" liner notes section are beginning to come into their own, often with surprisingly good (and frequently suprisingly unMV) scores. This is the place to discuss those scores.

Probably the most prominent right now are Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell, who co-wrote the lively and fun Antz and Chicken Run and Shrek and whom are both now scoring films on their own. Notable GW scores include Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, the forthcoming Kingdom of Heaven and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Veronica Guerin; JP's credits include the Bourne movies and Paycheck.

Another one whose career I'm watching is Steve Jablonsky. He wrote the best track of "Hans Zimmer"'s Tears of the Sun, did his first solitary score with the unimpressive Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and then surprised the hell out of me with the fantastic Steamboy. His forthcoming projects include Michael Bay's The Island which I suspect will sound, unfortunately, very MV indeed, though I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Two I've pretty much given up hope for are Klaus Badelt and Trevor Rabin, neither of whom has yet written anything I've heard that I've found the least bit interesting, though if you feel differently, I'll be glad to be persuaded differently. . .

And a couple I haven't yet given up on entirely are Nick Glennie-Smith whose We Were Soldiers wasn't bad but wasn't very good, either, and I had another but I can't remember his name at the moment.

Anyway: Have any MD/exMV guys written anything you particularly care for? Which ones do you think may be keeping an eye on? What other ones are there that I've forgotten to mention?

 

Aside from Zimmer, who I usually enjoy, John Powell is my favorite graduate from the MV camp. His Bourne scores are highly entertaining and funky, especially Supremacy. And Paycheck, which I am currently listening to, is an excellent thriller/espionage score that easily surpasses the film it was written for in quality. Harry Gregson-Williams is another I highly enjoy, especially for his Sinbad score. I am looking forward to his scores for Kingdom of Heaven and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Both Powell and Gregson-Williams have demonstrated great abilities to incorporate both the synth sound of MV with traditional orchestral techniques to create music that is a great meld of both styles.

As for the others, I have not been very impressed with much of what I've heard except for The Time Machine by Klaus Badelt. It is an above average score which manages to sound like Horner and Goldsmith while not being a total imitation of their styles. Other than that, however, I remain unimpressed with the MV crew.

 

Have you heard Jablonsky's <i>Steamboy</i>? I definitely recommend giving it a listen. . .

 

Also, I seem to recall hearing good things about Klaus Badelt's K-19: The Widowmaker, though I've not seen the film nor yet heard the score.

And has Mark Mancina yet written anything good?

 

I love The Bourne Supremecy. And I just saw that Powell that will be scoring Mr. & Mrs. Smith. That could be good.