Sounds for images that move

My friends know I'm quite critical about many things. Movies are no exception. In fact, there are so many aspects in a motion picture to be critical about that it is very rare for me to walk out of the theater without voicing some critique. Lately, especially with the newer releases, one thing that has disappointed me often has been the score. Commercial movies are produced on a conveyor belt and music-wise what we end up with are utterly forgettable tunes that fail to add anything to the movie and that lack depth and imagination. Well, of course one can't expect much from the mainstream...

What I just want to say is, I miss a couple of composers from the 80s and the 90s who've left me with rather high standards. One, Basil Poledouris, I've already discussed in The unifying sound of nostalgia. Another, whom I've for some reason never mentioned in this blog, is probably the biggest name there is (literally!):  Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, aka Vangelis. I hope I'll be able to come across a contemporary composer with the vision, finesse and know-how of this man in the years to come. Watch him work:

Edit 14.5.2014: The original video that I linked has been removed and cannot be found. Hence I'll replace it with some live footage from one of his breathtaking performances.

It is odd that I've omitted him, for I've always been a huge fan of Blade Runner. The score fits the film like a one-liner in a Schwarzenegger-movie. A good soundtrack is one that stays on your mind long after the credits have stopped running, one that instantly takes you back to milieu and feel of the film when you hear it and one that can be enjoyed even when separated from the main title and even by a listener who has never seen it. Among many other works by Vangelis, the music of Blade Runner falls in that category.

The unifying sound of nostalgia

It had been a while since I'd seen Starship Troopers and I had nothing better planned for my ten hour shift, so I dove once again into the horrible, horrible acting and lovely, lovely special effects of the late 90s. In the end, it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered and at one part I realized that the score was quite fantastic and sounded somewhat familiar. Not similar in the sense that I'd heard it before (as I had seen the film twice before), but in the way that I could feel the soul behind the music.

After the film I had no choice but to apply the palm of my hand gently but firmly upon my face, as the man behind the score was no-other than Basil Poledouris. Now, I'm sure most people have heard his works, but have never head his name. Those that do recognize the name might associate him with a number of flicks. For me, he will always first bring to mind Conan the Barbarian, as that is the movie I have seen more times than any other. I sure hope that the composer for the remake will at least come close to the original. I'm actually rather excited, as Jason Momoa ought to fit into the sandals of the black maned mountain lion better than Arnold. Of course, Arnold will always be the original Conan and his lines will live forever within my heart, but his character didn't really fit into the image of Conan that Robert E. Howard had created.

I also came to realize that the theme of Starship Troopers did remind me a bit of Basil's other composition, the battle theme from the 1987 RoboCop: