[karajorma]

You can also tell that the same guy wrote the score for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of Black Pearl, and Babylon 5 to lesser extent 'cause of scifi tones, but just listen to Season 5 theme and ending music and compare it with The Medallion Calls or the theme from The Rock.

*Picks up Christopher Franke and beats HT to death with him*


Only way some people learn

[Herra Tohtori]

 

MY baad. Thanks for correction. 

[Nuclear1]

Also, movie soundtrack composers tend to use same kind of methods in almost every soundtrack they make. Take John Williams, Hans Zimmermann and Danny Elfman for example. Bruckheimer movies use a lot of Zimmermann stuff, and you can tell it. You can also tell that the same guy wrote the score for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of Black Pearl, and Babylon 5 to lesser extent 'cause of scifi tones, but just listen to Season 5 theme and ending music and compare it with The Medallion Calls or the theme from The Rock.

Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and James Horner are absolutely notorious for reusing old pieces in new movies.  I don't know how many times I've heard the escape music from Aliens played in music trailers.  Compare the heavy orchestral part at the beginning of Anakin vs. Obi-Wan to Tavington's Trap from The Patriot and you'll see what I mean with John Williams.

I've only really noticed Hans Zimmer's repeats between The Rock and POTC though.  I can definitely hear similarities between the chase sequence in The Rock and the heroic theme in Pirates. 

[IPAndrews]

Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and James Horner

James Horner is the absolute worst for it. His soundtrack for Battle Beyond the Stars (as catchy as it is) was used in about four or five movies. Including the entertainingly bad "Wizards of the Lost Kingdom". Oh and the Aliens and Wrath of Kahn soundtracks were seperated at birth. Hans Zimmer is capable of producing all kinds of amazing and very different sounds. Check out his work on Thelma and Louise.

[Nuclear1]

Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and James Horner

James Horner is the absolute worst for it. His soundtrack for Battle Beyond the Stars (as catchy as it is) was used in about four or five movies.

The Titanic and Troy soundtracks were almost identical in some places as well.

Not to say they were bad, but they were almost the same thing at times.

[IceFire]

Yeah. Same with Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Grieg's [In the Hall of a Mountain King[/i], Wagner's Ride of the Valkyrie and various other classical, flamboyant compositions used in way, way too many places.

Also, movie soundtrack composers tend to use same kind of methods in almost every soundtrack they make. Take John Williams, Hans Zimmermann and Danny Elfman for example. Bruckheimer movies use a lot of Zimmermann stuff, and you can tell it. You can also tell that the same guy wrote the score for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of Black Pearl, and Babylon 5 to lesser extent 'cause of scifi tones, but just listen to Season 5 theme and ending music and compare it with The Medallion Calls or the theme from The Rock.

Same thing with Batman and Spiderman compositions of Elfman. Fledermausmarch and Spiderman themes, very similar in many ways. And obviously, John Williams' exellent music is very recognizable... Take any Star Wars score and compare with many pieces from Harry Potter or Indian Jones soundtracks.

It's mostly generic stuff in movie sountracks - it's just some themes are way overused and those become the ones that everyone becomes fed up with.

I would agree with most of that except that Babylon 5 was scored by Christopher Franke and his music sounds very little like any of those guys.  Franke's musical inspirations are based on new age and electronica which tends to be radically different than any of the generic movie scores. The only thing that you may hear that is similar is mostly just some more classical chords and some of the sound samples that Franke was using (not having access to a huge orchestra).

You do have to give most of these composers credit. They have a few short weeks to come up with musical soundtracks for movies   where often the music is just something that needs to be there rather than be important.  Hans Zimmer (no man at the end BTW) and Jerry Goldsmith are/were notorious for re-using soundtracks.  The sequel to US Marshals (can't remember the name right now) and Star Trek Insurrection have the same score.  Pirates of the Caribbean re-uses parts of Gladiator (although I think they only had a couple of weeks maximum to put the score together - it was really last minute).  But if you go back a long way...Mozart, Beethoven, and the other great classical, baroque, and modern composers all have borrowed/stolen music from other sources or their own work.  The originals tended to usually come from folk melodies.

Its the way of things...its not necessarily bad either.  Sure Hans Zimmer re-uses many of his tracks and then he turns out some really different stuff like Blackhawk Down and Tears of the Sun.

[Ulala]

I think the sequel to U.S. Marshals was Double Jeopardy, and its prequel being The Fugitive if I remember correctly.

I don't mind hearing similar or even the same scores from time to time or even movie to movie on occasion.. but having heard requiem more times than I'd care to count, and the Dragonheart theme song about 6 or 7 times (sometimes in Disney movies like Angels in the Outfield or something..) just makes me give a mouthful of the sound "ughhh" toward whatever trailer or commercial I'm watching. In movies, it's not so bad as there are many other music/sound happenings around it.

[Herra Tohtori]

I just remembered completely wrong who composed the B5 music. Smite me, I deserve it.  (mad at self)

No, it's not exclusively a bad thing that soundtracks are recognizable and more often than not the music is not the most important part of a movie, but sometimes it gets a little old to hear similar or downright same (and consequently, lame) stuff pop up in movie soundtracks. Trailers and teasers is not really that bad, but it still sometimes annoys me and apparently many others too.

Anyway, talking about repetitive and recognizable music - they are two different things, obviously. Recognizable music is not a bad thing at all, practically all composers have their own styles that are recognizable after some listening. But when it gets too obvious, the music becomes generic, in which case the only thing it's good for is just the background music - and if it's intended to be that, it's all right too, but why then nobody publishes disks full of elevator/phone waiting line music?

Also, I find it funny how John Williams apparently put together about two new leitmotifs for the whole new (or old, depends of perspective) Star Wars trilobit: The Duel of the Fates (the choir stuff from Ep.I) and Across the Stars (which was the syrup theme from Attack of the Clowns) and then filled the gaps in between with endless variations of them and of older themes. Revenge of the Sith didn't have any outstanding themes into it IMHO. Well, Anakin's theme was partially new too... (from Ep.I) but the rest of it was pretty generic stuff with supposed Star Wars tune into it. The problem with that is that what made the original SW soundtracks Star Wars music was that almost every score was full of memorable tracks, not just one or two themes...


...All that said, I couldn't compose any kind of orchestra music if my life depended on it. So the criticism is not entirely justified.

[IceFire]

I know what you mean...the music can be distracting if you spend allot of time listening to soundtracks like I do.  Some music gets used over and over and over again.  As far as trailers go, the original Stargate theme was used to death before the TV series started.

[Agent_Koopa]

Jeez, they didn't even use the exciting part of the theme. If their mission changes halfway through, will it be because they realized the sun most probably will not die in fifty years?

[Ford Prefect]

That would, in all likelihood, make it the best movie ever made.

[Sandwich]

Scientific accuracy as far as main plotline is considered seems to be at the same levels with the infamous Core movie; but I'll reserve further judgement until it actually comes out.

...Core was a parody. Or did the existence of "unobtainium" not clue you in?

[Mefustae]

Scientific accuracy as far as main plotline is considered seems to be at the same levels with the infamous Core movie; but I'll reserve further judgement until it actually comes out.

...Core was a parody. Or did the existence of "unobtainium" not clue you in?

To be fair, that was a joke name the discoverer gives it, since the actual name had 37 syllables.

[Sandwich]

True. But that would not have been in the movie had it been a serious movie to begin with. Granted, it was a more subtle parody than The Fifth Element, for example, but still...