What movies have you seen recently?

trumpetgrl · February 14, 2010, 1:50am

^I did the same thing. Except I cried too…[a lot!]…I cry soo easily…i hate that soo much

ChocolateBanana · February 14, 2010, 1:51am

^I’m not saying it’s not! I like Titanic better than Avatar. But they said each other’s names 29103820113 times. I don’t think it was NEARLY as bad as the awful Avatar script though. Like, I think Titanic’s script is fine, but nothing great…while Avatar is BAD in that category.

For some reason, I’ve seen this thing where everyone keeps dissing Titanic and talking about how bad it was. I like it and still get engaged in it when I see it on (and have the time).

lifegr · February 14, 2010, 1:54am

Dear John Sucked.

fuzzleshnops · February 14, 2010, 1:54am

Kate Winslet is a goddess. And Leo is pretty awesome himself.

And the score was amazing, as we all know.

trumpetgrl · February 14, 2010, 1:56am

did it really? i kind of wanted to see it…

ChocolateBanana · February 14, 2010, 1:56am

^Yeah, I think I’ve said this to you before, but I love Kate Winslet. She’s awesome.

Leo’s cool too! I want to see Shutter Island when it comes out.

I think the score has a more significant effect on movies than some people realize. I love the interaction between music and visuals, in film and television, and to a lesser extent, music videos.

TheyCallMeCC · February 14, 2010, 2:02am

“Titanic WAS a great movie, though. Every single time I watch it I always hope that the ship doesn’t sink… but it always does.”

GAH, titanic is my fav. movie of all time. i remember i had to beg my mom for like a year to let me see it before she did. & i’ve probably seen it about 100 times, since then. so, i am LOVING this titanic love-fest & all of my friends hate it, to this day, because i would make us watch it for every one of my birthday parties, for like 6 consecutive years. love <3

& i wanted to see dear john, too. aw, crap.

trumpetgrl · February 14, 2010, 2:04am

I was supposed to go see it tomorrow…but what do y’all think will be better… Dear John or Valentine’s Day? to see with a bf/bff [complicated]

fuzzleshnops · February 14, 2010, 2:05am

I took a seminar class on Film Music last semester. It was amazing and I owned EVERYONE in that class (I’ve grown up on film scores my whole life). Music is SO important to movies. Essentially any great movie would fail without a memorable score. I could essentially teach that class myself.

Did you guys actually expect Dear John to be good? (I never saw it, but I can tell about those things)

trumpetgrl · February 14, 2010, 2:08am

I didn’t think It would be amazing…I thought many people were getting their hopes up bc it probably wouldn’t be as good as expected…but I still had hope that It would be pretty good. Is that a no to dear john and a yes to valentine’s day? or the other way around?

TheyCallMeCC · February 14, 2010, 2:08am

^^even though i knew it has channing tatum in it, who annoys me with his permanent dumbfounded expression & obvious inability to act…where was i going with this? oh, right. i still thought it might be at least somewhat comparable to the notebook [my second favorite movie of all time ;)]. but, yeah, i hear it just sucks.

^go see v-day. i hear the ending to dear john is sad :

ChocolateBanana · February 14, 2010, 2:08am

^Wow. I don’t actually know much about Film Scores except that I love music and movies–and music IN movies–and enjoy the use of scores in films…Tell me some of what you know! Haha.

Dear John and Valentine’s Day both look AWFUL. Just saying.

trumpetgrl · February 14, 2010, 2:13am

“and music IN movies”

I luvv music in movies! I enjoy it and practically worship it when they’ve done a good job picking out the songs with each scene…

^yeah, I understand what you’re sayin’. piece of advice please…? any suggestions? what movie to watch tomorrow…?

ChocolateBanana · February 14, 2010, 2:15am

^Well, Dear John got reviews that were like “it’s okay blahblah” while Valentine’s Day got some reviews calling it “the worst movie” of the year…and stuff. So maybe Dear John? IDK.

fuzzleshnops · February 14, 2010, 2:22am

Oh god. There is so much information. And there’s essentially 3 general time periods. Music during the Golden Age of Hollywood (20s-early 40s), the experimental/pop/lack of music period of the 50s and 60s, and then the symphonic age starting in the 70s (most people agree that it was with Williams’ score to 1977’s Star Wars).

I can tell you a lot about composers. The great ones of the Golden Age were Max Steiner <3, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, and Alfred Newman. Max Steiner is the most famous. He did Gone with the Wind, King Kong, and Casablanca, to name a few. Korngold was more into swashbuckling, heroic scores like The Adventures of Robin Hood. Franz Waxman was more minimalist, but he did the score to Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein.

There were not really any huge composers during the middle period. But Bernard Herrmann was important in that he scored most of Hitchcock’s movies (he also scored Citizen Kane). He’s obviously most famous for his Psycho score.

The current period is obviously the one I know most about. John Williams is the most famous. He loves using woodwinds. Danny Elfman is known for partnering with Tim Burton on many of his movies. James Horner does most of James Cameron and Ron Howard’s films (A Beautiful Mind is probably my favorite score by him, although I love most of his stuff). Hans Zimmer does a lot of action movies, and is known as the synthesizer/electronic music king. James Newton Howard does all of M. Night Shymalan’s (sp?) films. Clint Mansell is one of my favorites, who scores all of Darren Aronofsky’s films. Alexandre Desplat and Philip Glass are popular minimalist composers. And there is one of my favorite composers, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (he did the score to Finding Neverland, which is probably one of the most unique scores I’ve ever heard). Howard Shore did the LotR films.

I could write more, but I’m getting lazy.

ChocolateBanana · February 14, 2010, 2:28am

Yeah I know John Williams and have heard of James Horner. Haha, you don’t have to–I will look up more and read more on it. Maybe in college I’ll have a chance to take a similar class :)

Just thinking of a movie I recently watched, Amelie, and I really like its score. Not over the top or huge or anything, but very elegant and moving nonetheless. I’m trying to learn some of the pieces on the piano.

fuzzleshnops · February 14, 2010, 2:31am

Yeah, Yann Tiersen did the score to that. He’s also a minimalist composer. I love minimalist music. A little goes a long way.

I know way too much about film composers, but I know nothing about music theory. hehe. But I guess when something interests you, you can’t help but want to learn a lot about it.

If I could major in Film Scores, I would so do it. But, alas, I am only majoring in Film.

ChocolateBanana · February 14, 2010, 2:35am

^Still pretty close.

Yeah I have a book of Amelie music by (obviously) Yann Tiersen. It includes six songs. It’s pretty awesome to watch them in the movie than have it click when I play them on piano (and I don’t know too much about music theory either!).

Yeah, I am definitely going to explore this topic more.

fuzzleshnops · February 14, 2010, 2:35am

Tiersen’s score to that reminds me of Erik Satie’s GENIUS stuff.

[YouTube</a> - Gymnopedie No. 1.](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xe2Rft62Kg]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xe2Rft62Kg)

That song is very famous. It appeared in the end to the film “2:37” and “Man on Wire”, and probably others.

Astethoar · February 14, 2010, 12:13pm

Erik Satie was an awesome composer. This is probably my favorite piece from him, also pretty widely used in movies:

[YouTube</a> - Erik Satie - Gnossienne No.1](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFVGwGQcB0]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFVGwGQcB0)

Some more good film music:

What movies have you seen recently?

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