-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
No Danny Elfman for Spider-man 3
- Thread starter Error
- Start date
- Status
I agree with this. His work on both movies was utterly unremarkeable. The best piece from Spidey 2 wasn't even by him....Solo said:
I nearly pissed myself laughing when I heard the main theme from Fable that Elfman did. It was as if he handpicked every single thing hes worked on for the past 15 years, put em in a grinder and churned out that abomination. I could almost handpick every single score that I heard in that theme :lol
Kabuki Waq
Member
yea he only does good work for Burton.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Good composer, but all his shit sounds nearly identical, and as people have already mentioned, the Spiderman 2 score was forgettable.
ToyMachine228
Member
Spider-Man 3 is so far off anyway...May 2007 isn't it?
ScientificNinja
Member
Jesus Titty-Fucking Christ! What's with all the Danny Elfman hate?? The man has his own signature style, no different from John Williams, Howard Shore, Elliot Goldenthal and everyone else. Listen to enough of their work, and unsurprisingly you'll be able to pick all of their telltale nuances, rhythms, cadences, chords and instrument choices. If you think Danny Elfman is a hack, listen to the scores for ET, then Hook, then all the Harry Potter movies and tell me John Williams isn't as bad.
...of course that's not to say I dislike John Williams.
...of course that's not to say I dislike John Williams.
AlphaSnake
...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Harry Gregson Williams for Spidey-3!
Simply because other composers are just as predictable and redundant doesn't mean we can't complain about Danny Elfman.ScientificNinja said:
I'd rather see Elfman's music stick with this shitty franchise rather than potentially mar a project with some actual potential.
My gawd what are you people on? Spidy theme was fantastic, i downloaded that shit and stuck it on my ipod. Fuck sake, you people are fucking hard to please.
The guy is a genius, if you wanna talk about hacks, look at Hanz Zimmer. Batman Begins soundtrack was crap, not one good piece of music thats memorable. DE theme > Zimmer theme
The guy is a genius, if you wanna talk about hacks, look at Hanz Zimmer. Batman Begins soundtrack was crap, not one good piece of music thats memorable. DE theme > Zimmer theme
Error Macro
Member
Danny Elfman is a musical genius. Between Oingo Boingo and his movie soundtracks, the man can do no wrong.
Escape Goat
Member
Batman Begins had a soundtrack? I dont even remember it having music of any kind.
Still a good movie though.
Still a good movie though.
ScientificNinja
Member
Teh Hamburglar said:
Yeah it did. Kind of came across like an old horror film. Sort of Bram Stoker's Dracula with bits of Aliens.
Elfman improved the Spidey music in part two. The original was good for its day, but there is a little extra part added (in SM2) in the main Spidey theme that I think makes it much better.
Re: Batman Begins soundtrack. Mostly it is just slowly building incidental music, but track 3, 8 and 10 have GREAT GREAT stuff! Some of it sounds a bit Arabian.
Re: Batman Begins soundtrack. Mostly it is just slowly building incidental music, but track 3, 8 and 10 have GREAT GREAT stuff! Some of it sounds a bit Arabian.
ManDudeChild
Member
Alcibiades
Member
I thought the Spidey 1 soundtrack was derivative and completely forgettable...
unlike the Batman/Batman Returns theme which I can actually hum...
unlike the Batman/Batman Returns theme which I can actually hum...
FortNinety
Member
There used to be a point where I could hum every one of Elfman's themes. Hasn't been the case in about ten years. His last truly great work was the Nightmare Before Christmas. And that's about it.
Solo said:
I never heard that, nor did I ever read about it. Even if its true, I find SM2 soundtrack >>> SM1.
The original Batman soundtrack is really good, I especially like the main theme and the 2nd track and also descent into mystery (which I swear was named "Flight of the Batmobile" when I owned it on cassette back in '89...did they rename it?) .
Batman returns has an acoustic guitar in some parts -- rare to hear that mixed in. IT sounds cool, it is in the scene where Batman is driving in the snow thru Gotham and Oswald is inside the Gotham hall of records/library.
Elfman used guitar in a few cuts of Spider-Man, too. Surprised me again. But then I heard John Williams use it in one of the recent Star Wars prequel soundtracks too!!! It was electric guitar in this case. It worked but usually I wouldn't want the clash of a 'rock' guitar sound mixed in with orchestra.
Thought I should post this.
(at the bottom scroll down to the end of the interview)
http://suicidegirls.com/words/Danny+Elfman/
DRE: I look on the IMDB and I see six people credited with the music on Spider-Man 2. Did that contribute to your feelings?
ELFMAN: Its all about how the production went completely insane at the end. It was the worst film experience Ive had in 20 years. It was all pure insanity, it was all completely needless and in the end they went nuts trying to imitate every single note of their temp score. If I think somebodys obsessively attached to a temp score in any way Id stay away from it. But this was the worst Ive seen times ten and Ive worked with some pretty anal directors. Warren Beatty and Martin Brest are not easy people but this was taking anal retentive to a new extreme.
DRE: Its odd because Sam Raimi is a guy youve been working with for 15 years.
ELFMAN: Sam was not there.
He was there, but he was not the Sam that I knew. As you said, Ive known Sam for almost 15 years. It was my fifth movie with him and all I can say is that the person who was there at the end of Spider-Man 2 was not Sam. I dont know who it was, but it wasnt Sam. It was as close to living out Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as Ive ever experienced. Theres a lot of micro-managers out there. Tims a micro-manager musically in his own way and theres moments where hell get real obsessive over like a certain cue. But we work it out. Never in 20 years have I come across a situation where I couldnt work it out. For a director to be a micro-manager is nothing new. If anything I would say most of them are. But to get to the level where you dont need a composer, you just need a musical arranger to adapt note for note as close as possible. Theres nothing for me to do as a composer here.
DRE: Would you work with Sam again?
ELFMAN: Not if I can help it.
Its too bad because Sam was at the top of my list. He was actually even easier than Tim to work with and wed never had a disagreement. To see such a profound negative change in a human being was almost enough to make me feel like I didnt want to make films anymore. It was really disheartening and sad to see the way it ended up. The end of Spider-Man 2 was a self-induced hysteria. It got to a point where I couldnt even adapt my own music close enough because two thirds of their temp score was Spider-Man 1. If I varied from one note it was like a self-induced hysteria.
DRE: Thats bizarre.
(at the bottom scroll down to the end of the interview)
http://suicidegirls.com/words/Danny+Elfman/
DRE: I look on the IMDB and I see six people credited with the music on Spider-Man 2. Did that contribute to your feelings?
ELFMAN: Its all about how the production went completely insane at the end. It was the worst film experience Ive had in 20 years. It was all pure insanity, it was all completely needless and in the end they went nuts trying to imitate every single note of their temp score. If I think somebodys obsessively attached to a temp score in any way Id stay away from it. But this was the worst Ive seen times ten and Ive worked with some pretty anal directors. Warren Beatty and Martin Brest are not easy people but this was taking anal retentive to a new extreme.
DRE: Its odd because Sam Raimi is a guy youve been working with for 15 years.
ELFMAN: Sam was not there.
He was there, but he was not the Sam that I knew. As you said, Ive known Sam for almost 15 years. It was my fifth movie with him and all I can say is that the person who was there at the end of Spider-Man 2 was not Sam. I dont know who it was, but it wasnt Sam. It was as close to living out Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as Ive ever experienced. Theres a lot of micro-managers out there. Tims a micro-manager musically in his own way and theres moments where hell get real obsessive over like a certain cue. But we work it out. Never in 20 years have I come across a situation where I couldnt work it out. For a director to be a micro-manager is nothing new. If anything I would say most of them are. But to get to the level where you dont need a composer, you just need a musical arranger to adapt note for note as close as possible. Theres nothing for me to do as a composer here.
DRE: Would you work with Sam again?
ELFMAN: Not if I can help it.
Its too bad because Sam was at the top of my list. He was actually even easier than Tim to work with and wed never had a disagreement. To see such a profound negative change in a human being was almost enough to make me feel like I didnt want to make films anymore. It was really disheartening and sad to see the way it ended up. The end of Spider-Man 2 was a self-induced hysteria. It got to a point where I couldnt even adapt my own music close enough because two thirds of their temp score was Spider-Man 1. If I varied from one note it was like a self-induced hysteria.
DRE: Thats bizarre.
I like all his work for Raimi's projects. And he's a damn fine composer, although he has had his share of misses.
This recent report, along with Raimi's money-grubbing practices involving the Evil Dead franchise, have been most disheartening this past year. And if the rumors are true, and we got Sandman, Hobgoblin and Venom in one film... then - fuck it! - we still got another Bat sequel to go!
This recent report, along with Raimi's money-grubbing practices involving the Evil Dead franchise, have been most disheartening this past year. And if the rumors are true, and we got Sandman, Hobgoblin and Venom in one film... then - fuck it! - we still got another Bat sequel to go!
Ninja Scooter
Member
Raimi's obsolete now anyway. We have the superior model.
Error Macro
Member
Danny Elfman - awesome as always
Sam Raimi - not so awesome anymore
Sam Raimi - not so awesome anymore
Yeah, the whole Raimi and Elfman animosity over SM2 is pretty well documented. I can see how directors can fall in love with a temp score since I'm always envisioning new scenes and stuff playing over music when I'm listening to soundtracks - but to kick people to the curb and basically alter temp score music enough that you just get by with not having to pay licensing fees is pretty ridiculous.
Worst yet, some areas of SM2 don't even hide the fact that they're basically temp score material altered just slightly for SM2. For example, go watch the scene where Oc is demonstrating the machine for the first time and it goes berzerk (I think that's the scene I'm thinking about) - there's a big choral part with a melody and basic score that I was like, "OMG!!! They're totally ripping off 'Hellraiser'!!!" That bit of score is basically lifted verbatim from Hellraiser and anyone that's seen both will recognize it instantly - now, go and check the IMDB entry for Spider-Man 2, among the composers credited with music is Christopher Young, who did the original Hellraiser score - coincidence, I think not.
Worst yet, some areas of SM2 don't even hide the fact that they're basically temp score material altered just slightly for SM2. For example, go watch the scene where Oc is demonstrating the machine for the first time and it goes berzerk (I think that's the scene I'm thinking about) - there's a big choral part with a melody and basic score that I was like, "OMG!!! They're totally ripping off 'Hellraiser'!!!" That bit of score is basically lifted verbatim from Hellraiser and anyone that's seen both will recognize it instantly - now, go and check the IMDB entry for Spider-Man 2, among the composers credited with music is Christopher Young, who did the original Hellraiser score - coincidence, I think not.
Alcibiades
Member
well now that I've seen Batman Begins I can say I like the score and even downloaded the soundtrack and listen to it sometimes...
it's not appalling to me like Spidey's theme (which even though I like Elfman I didn't like that Spidey them as it wasn't very memorable)... one thing I would have liked for BB sdtk. is a bit is some segmenting of the music. It seems like the soundtrack is layed out in a great manner for a continous listen, but if I want to go back and enjoy a particular piece it's not clear which track I should go to exacly...
that said, Batman Begins sdtk. wasn't very memorable (well maybe the first 2 min. since I've listened to that track a lot) which I think is kind of unfortunate... Great film but sometimes I think it's main goal was to be the anti-Burton film rather than just a film on it's own... there are some areas of the film where I thought some cues from the Burton films would have been utterly fantastic, including the blending of the subtle dark Zimmer music with the grander Elfman-style...
it's not appalling to me like Spidey's theme (which even though I like Elfman I didn't like that Spidey them as it wasn't very memorable)... one thing I would have liked for BB sdtk. is a bit is some segmenting of the music. It seems like the soundtrack is layed out in a great manner for a continous listen, but if I want to go back and enjoy a particular piece it's not clear which track I should go to exacly...
that said, Batman Begins sdtk. wasn't very memorable (well maybe the first 2 min. since I've listened to that track a lot) which I think is kind of unfortunate... Great film but sometimes I think it's main goal was to be the anti-Burton film rather than just a film on it's own... there are some areas of the film where I thought some cues from the Burton films would have been utterly fantastic, including the blending of the subtle dark Zimmer music with the grander Elfman-style...
Christoff Yurievich
Member
don't forget The Simpsons theme, still one of the best TV theme songs.
- Status