Cita:
As I told on another thread, I guess this James Bond musical affair is a generational thing.
I totally endorse the idea that the film music world was better BEFORE, than it has become now....as the cinema also has become weaker of course.
Just an example of this endless fall is the James Bond musical history (let's forget the one shot by Martin, Conti, Hamlish and Serra):
1 JOHN BARRY = fantastic original ideas that established new standards
2. DAVID ARNOLD = great and clever revival tribute with some neccessary modernism but faithfull to Barry's ideas
3. THOMAS NEWMAN = uninspired and forgettable work
4. HANS ZIMMER = weak commercial job that's ruining the franchise
Don't tell me you don't hear and see the fall in progress....!?
Zimmer is not alone to ruin a franchise.
Lorne Balfe also ruined one: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE !
Brian Tyler ruined another one: RAMBO !
I realize that they are not alone responsible of the film music fall. The powers-that-be in Hollywood, producers and directors, are the main cause of this....Movie manufacturing costs so much now that they just want to break-even and don't want funding anymore audacious artistical choice, prefering most commercial targets with minimum risks.
I don't care that much of the cinema, but I am very frustrated that my favorite art, film music, has been dominated for 20 years now by people of weak talent as Hans Zimmer, Brian Tyler, Tyler Bates, Lorne Balfe and the likes with their sound design and wall to wall heavy commercial music with low creativness, poor harmonics, absence of counterpoints and bad orchestrations....even when they get big budget from the studios for the soundtrack delivery.
The worse is that it's contagious: even James Newton Howard did "Zimmerize" part of his music. There was a time when he was inspired by Jerry Goldsmith style (THE PACKAGE, THE FUGITIVE, OUTBREAK) instead of Hans Zimmer's trend (DINOSAURS, DARK KNIGHT, SNOW WHITE...) but he has still some nice output (KING KONG, JUNGLE CRUISE).
John Debney also suffered a bit of this new heavy sound trend (PREDATORS)...although he still can deliver old fashioned classic scores (THE ORVILLE).
Because of the success of the Zimmers, classically trained composers are less and less in demand (Bruce Broughton, Joel McNeely, David Newman, Bill Conti) and film music as an art form is dying slowly, beeing replaced by sampling and programing staffs...disguised as "composers".
The only classic survivor in Hollywood who still gets big credit (but how long from now) is Alan Silvestri, who delivered very nice old fashioned symphonic scores the last few years (READY PLAYER ONE, AVENGERS INFINITY WAR, AVENGERS ENDGAME, THE WITCHES...).
We also have Michael Giacchino...when he is inspired....who still works the old way with an orchestra.
I so much regret the times when Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, John Barry and James Horner, were dominating the medium. It was another class for sure.