@PaulR said:

I do not have a facebook account. I do not have a twitter account. What I can't stand about a lot of films over time is the fucking bollocks political points the writer/director is trying to get across. Usually left wing.

We share many traits Paul...

The argument regarding films having changed since Korngold's days is both right and wrong. The Star Wars prequels, the first three Harry Potter, and Cinema Paradiso are not that old, but they feature some of the best music ever to grace film, and they form a straight line of inheritance/evolution from the Korngold era. Film music has changed; but out of aesthetic choices and sensibilities, or out of inability to follow the steps of giants? Both the so called Sound Design and the symphonic treatment in many films these days are hilarious and so below par that it must mean something.

Also, when I go to the movies I do look for great concept, great writing, great direction, great photography, great acting, great set design, etc. Of course I don't get it all at once, but as a musician why wouldn't I also be looking for great music in film?

I have a large Golden Retriever named Waldo. Every once in a while he grabs his ball, runs to the fence and snarls while shoving his ball up against the boards, causing the three hounds on the other side to start baying.  I just realized -

I am Waldo. 

@William said:

I have a large Golden Retriever named Waldo. Every once in a while he grabs his ball, runs to the fence and snarls while shoving his ball up against the boards, causing the three hounds on the other side to start baying.  I just realized -

I am Waldo. 

Yes, me too it seems. I don't deny for one moment how great the traditional films scores of the past were, but I'm hoping that my age, preferences and background don't close my eyes to the future possibilities using today's tools. Out of interest, how does Dave Grusin's score to "The Firm" rate on your radar?

Not all films are great but some have unusually great scores. For example, The Challenge and First Blood. The second of those two films is arguably puerile in the extreme, but the score is great.  Jerry Goldsmith was so talented he could lift this type of crap to a false level.

The second recent Batman film made me want to puke and I forgot it 10 minutes after I watched it

I think Grusin's score for The Firm is one of the finest scores I know.

@clamnectar said:

the problem is you.

Oh, no!  I knew it!

Waldo made me do it.

@Another User said:

PS, I work in the film industry in a creative (non-musical) capacity

And if you actually do, you ought to learn a little more about the art of film music.  Because it is an art form though people like you deny it. 

It's pointless so never mind. 

I watched Hobo with a Shotgun the other evening. Fantastic!

@PaulR said:

I watched Hobo with a Shotgun the other evening. Fantastic!

 I'm a bit confussed here Pual.  You watched a flick called "Hobo" with a shotgun in your hand?  They let you in the theater with a shotgun? 

Or you watched a flick called "Hobo with a Shotgun"[:^)]

It's called 'Hobo with  a Shotgun'. It's basically Batman on a very low budget with an excruciating score. In fact, every about it is excruciating. Fantastic stuff! Are you saying you've never seen or heard of it? [|-)]

Hi,

I don't think there is an answer to the question the OP posted here. 

Funny... I don't even think Mr. Zimmer knows what his best score would be.  

We all have different perceptions, tastes, evaluations, standards, ...etc. when it comes to music and film scores.  So, imho. no one can seriously answer this question.  I'm a big fan of Mr. Zimmer's scores, they all show his wonderful talent as a very creative, cutting-edge film composer who likes to ventures into new areas of composing for media, and does it with his unique sonic signature, and with a lot of style. 

Cheers,

Muziksculp 

You know one thing Plato neglected to mention in The Republic, was that 'the' cave also had a basement...

By the way, Beowulf is dead.

@Another User said:

Mr. Zimmer's scores, they all show his wonderful talent as a very creative, cutting-edge film composer who likes to ventures into new areas of composing for media, and does it with his unique sonic signature, and with a lot of style. 

But sadly you're mistaken.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0395mzs/BBC_Proms_2013_Season_Proms_on_Four_John_Wilsons_Hollywood_Rhapsody/

Budget for Hobo with a Shotgun? About $30. Maybe 35 at a push. Most of that probably went to Rutger Hauer though. [:'(] Great film!

There's a couple films that Mark Kermode has been on about recently I would like to catch. One is Danish film set on a hijacked ship - one is called Bernie - there's new American one out about dysfunctional families (which is basically what every American film is about if you think about it) I want to see eventually (I don't go to the cinema).

The Hollywood Rhapsody night at Friday night Proms was good. 90 minutes of the John Wilson orchestra. They can really play. They did a good programme. One I really liked was the Aria by Bernard Herrmann from Citizen Kane. The singer debuted and the whole thing worked very well. The second movement (as it were) from The Adventures of Robin Hood by Erich Korngold was sublime. Psycho was good but missed a couple of sections. The 'mutes on' or sordino quality was great. They did Ben Hur. That was great. They finished up with Scott Bradley Tom and Jerry pieces - so fast it was a blur. Encore was by Franz Waxman (forget the name) but it was great too. The whole evening was first class. If you can somehow get that you would be well rewarded musically.

Sadly, no Hans though. [:'(] [:'(] [:'(]

My biggest Gripe with Hans, is that his name is up in lights, yet it's mostly done by 16 other composers. Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, John Barry .. Did it all themselves. With perhaps an orchrestrator to flesh out parts but the composition was done by them. Hans can't claim this.

Although I did get a shock when I saw that he did the score for the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. A score which I thought (at the time without knowing Hans did it) was very good and original. So perhaps Hans (Generic) Zimmer ain't so talentless after all. Maybe he's a good composer who happens to work on boring movies with directors that insist he writes boring music. At least he did a good job on the Sherlock movie.

Funny enough, he wrote the orchestral parts of Disney's "The Lion King". I would say that probably stands as his best score.

@PaulR said:

Budget for Hobo with a Shotgun? About $30. Maybe 35 at a push. Most of that probably went to Rutger Hauer though. [:'(] Great film!

And I bet Rutger Hauer earned every penny.  I guess he's most remembered for Blade Runner but my favorite Rutger Hauer film was Nighthawk where he played the psycotic terrorist and Sylvester Stallone played the cross dressing NYPD detective with a speech impediment.  Wait a minute, Sylvester Stollone has a speech impediment in every film he's in. [:S]

@hetoreyn said:

Although I did get a shock when I saw that he did the score for the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. A score which I thought (at the time without knowing Hans did it) was very good and original. 

Yes, I enjoyed that score too and was quite surprised our buddy Hans composed it.  Or maybe it was composed by one or two, three, four... of his underlings.  We may never know.

As I said before, I think he takes on way too much but it seems to me that the culture in Hollywood is such that a big budget blockbuster just isn't a big budget blockbuster at all unless Hans Zimmer composed the score.  He's almost like the default composer that everybody goes to now and because he has his "team" working with him the next time his name is up in lights it should read: "Hans Zimmer Inc."  This might be a disturbing trend in Hollywood today but since everything else is done by committee (writing, production, direction) why shouldn't the scores be composed by committee too.

@hetoreyn said:

Although I did get a shock when I saw that he did the score for the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. A score which I thought (at the time without knowing Hans did it) was very good and original. So perhaps Hans (Generic) Zimmer ain't so talentless after all. Maybe he's a good composer who happens to work on boring movies with directors that insist he writes boring music. At least he did a good job on the Sherlock movie.

Or... maybe he's like a broken clock who gets it right at least twice a day.