Best of 1998: The Ongoing Saga

Compiled by Lukas Kendall

Congratulations to Golden Globe winners: Burkhard Dallwitz and Philip Glass for The Truman Show (Best Score) and David Foster & Carole Bayer Sager (Italian translation by Alberto Testa and Tony Renis) for "The Prayer" from Quest for Camelot (Best Song).

Moviescore Online has announced the winners for their Film Music Critics Jury 1998 poll. Best score of 1998? Mulan, by Jerry Goldsmith. See the complete list at: http://moviescore.home.ml.org.

From now until the Oscars we will be featuring interminable columns about readers' picks for the best and worst of last year. Some of the below are responding to my cursory list of a top five, from last week. So get used to it! But hidden in there will be useful information and fantastic news, so please visit our site every day... thanks!

From: Bellouise, My3Georges@Aol.com

I'm sure it must have just slipped your mind that you forgot to put the TOP film score on your best of 98 list -- DANGEROUS BEAUTY !!!! By THE "Composer of the Year", (at least, according to Broxweb's site) GEORGE FENTON, who composed 7 scores this year!!! (DANGEROUS BEAUTY; EVER AFTER; My NAME IS JOE; LIVING OUT LOUD; YOU'VE GOT MAIL; THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION; and the WOODLANDERS (not yet released in the USA) He also found time (who knows where?!) to co-write a cue of "GYPSY CZARDAS" for the foreign film, " The Chambermaid On The Titanic." Many other sites have ranked "Dangerous Beauty" as 5 stars ... a classic ... how is it you forgot to even give it "an honorable mention"? It is absolutely gorgeous and I would know ... because I've listened to it EVERY DAY (yes!!!) for the last 322 days in a row! ... since I bought it last March and I have not gotten tired of it yet!!!

Is there ANY SCORE this year or ANY YEAR that you have consciously chosen to listen to that much?! Dangerous Beauty is undoubtedly the finest "all original" film score work that George has ever done. I could tell you how this fabulous score has dramatically changed MY whole life -- heart, body, and soul ... but not in this particular email. If you're interested in hearing about the power of a Fenton Filmscore to emotionally, spiritually, and physically impact a person's life, email me back and I'll be glad to share it with you.

Other than this obvious oversight, I simply adore Film Score Monthly and don't miss a day of it! Give my love to the staff!

From: "RomanDeppe" <roman.deppe@metronet.de>

I just found it interesting to see that you seem to have a completely different taste than most of the soundtrack fans (including me). Randy Newman? I still haven't found any music by him I liked at least just a little, though I was very curious what he wrote to AIR FORCE ONE (and wasn't surprised his score got rejected). John Barry? I can't understand how you can critize Horner for constantly repeating himself and praise Barry... his scores always sound the same, absolutely the same. You got one, you got them all.

I agree with RONIN, though apart from the movie the music isn't very listenable, but works perfectly in the movie (and that's all that counts in the end). It was definitely something different.

But anyway, here's my top ten list, not in a particular order:

1)THE AVENGERS - Joel McNeely's score is powerful, funny, doesn't take itself serious and has a great main title cue. After (or before) his horrible SOLDIER I was very delighted to hear that he can write a score without any (obvious) rip-offs. By far the most entertaining thing of the disappointing movie. I am looking forward to VIRUS, his first horrorscore.

2)MULAN - After many disappointings Goldsmith finally delivered a good score, not the best of course and not that original, but his score is by far the best score for a disney movie in a long time and just his MULAN'S METAMORPHOSIS - cue which is only included for some reasons on the German CD is a true standout effort. I don't know how many times I listened to just this track.

3)URBAN LEGEND - Christopher Young delivered one of the most frightening scores of his career. Too bad that it was wasted on one of the worst movies of the decade. Though the Milan album features most of the best tracks (mixed into 2) I am eternally thankful to Intrada for releasing the Promo-CD.

4)ROUNDERS - Christopher Young's jazzy, Las-Vegas-score is, though I usually don't like this kind of music, very entertaining and fits perfectly to the atmosphere of gamblers and lost souls in Las Vegas.

5) THE RED VIOLIN - John Corigliano shows again that he is one of the most interesting composers of today and that it is possible to write film music that can be concert -music as well.

6) RETURN TO PARADISE - gave Mancina the opportunity to show that he can write more than just a 5-note-actiontheme and throw e-guitars in your face (though I love that). Very nice, though simple score.

7) THE TRUMAN SHOW - a standout score by Dallwitz and Glass. As original as the unbelievably imaginative movie and if this score won't win an Oscar then I don't know... hope it won't be rejected by the academy, because of two composers. Absolutely one of the best scores of the last decade. The REUNION left me totally speechless in my seat.

8) Bram Stoker's SHADOWBUILDER - Eckart Seeber wrote a relatively untypical score for a neat horror-thriller. Cool choir-cues and great dealing with thematical ideas.

9) MEET JOE BLACK - The first score of Thomas Newman I like after LITTLE WOMEN. Wonderfully romantic, with a bombastic closing track, that's absolutely beautiful, though makes you probably laugh in the movie, when Brad Pitt comes back to the world or whatever happens there. Nevertheless a great effort to deal with a movie full of dialogues and not falling into "what's that in the background?"-music. Wonderful.

10) THE BUTCHER BOY - Goldenthal - weird, just weird, but very inventive and just... well, weird.

Honorable mentions: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN - Hymn to the fallen is great, but the rest is too quiet and slow to make it to the end of the disc. Nevertheless far better than the completely unnecessary movie, that sucked from the beginning to the end. Who's gonna stop Spielberg to make such movies?

PRINCE OF EGYPT - the songs are neat, the score doesn't consist of much more than just one powerful theme, which I am sure I have heard before somewhere. Nevertheless I have great respect for Zimmer for all the arrangings he had to do, he did a great job. As with SAVING... a horrible movie is this one, too. Maybe one of the most laughable and insulting animation movies ever. Who watches crap like this? If there is a hell for atheists then it is probably a cinema where only this movie is shown and they have to watch it for all time.

From: graeme wearmouth <graemew@imag.net>

One score which I was surprised did not even appear in your "honourable mentions" category was Thomas Newman's score for "The Horse Whisperer". I bought the CD before seeing the movie and enjoy it immensely as a stand alone listening experience. When I finally saw the film it was such a revelation to see how perfectly the music worked with the images. I am always impressed when I come across a scene in a film that in my opinion could not have been scored as successfully in any other way. The theme for Grace (the young girl in the film) in particular is written so intrusively for simple intervals on the piano and haunting electronic and string effects that I put it in my top five of the year based on this theme alone. Newman can write such original music in so many styles - I think this score really showcases his versatility. I hope the rejection of the score by Barry did not put you off seeing this film because it's definitely worth a look and a listen.

I didn't put this on my list simply because I didn't see the film, and consequently didn't listen to the CD very much. I'll borrow an Academy viewing tape if I can.

From: "Peter Greenhill" <greenhil@freenet.co.uk>

Mulan- Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith at his best, great action music.

Swept from the Sea- John Barry. A beautiful score for a small scale movie.

The Horse Whisperer- Thomas Newman. As a Barry fan I was disappointed when his score was rejected but this is great. Powerful, beautiful music.

The Mask of Zorro- James Horner, Apart from the El Cid sound alike bit this is an excellent score. Horner has his faults but is still very very effective.

From: Jeff Commings, Jeffswim@aol.com

Lukas, you need to give more explanation about why you didn't like Saving Private Ryan. I loved its subtlety and heroism, not to mention that it was scored by John Williams. 1998 may have been one of the dullest years in film scores, but you can always count on John Williams, and even James Horner, who made Zorro more fun than Antonio Banderas could.

Also I read the Star Wars article on the Unofficial John Williams Web Page and it is a great read, but it lacks depth. I was hoping to get insight into why certain themes were used in certain spots, and other tidbits behind the most popular scores of our time. They would have made great liner notes.

Here's looking forward to all those scores coming out hoping to be heard this year!

My reaction to Saving Private Ryan was about as spoiled as one can get... sort of like having a great meal at a French restaurant, and then going, "Yeah, but I wanted Italian." I loved the movie, and as a piece of music the "Hymn to the Fallen" is wonderful. I just found the use of music in the body of the picture problematic, and will put my finger on it later. It was such a naturalistic depiction of war that I was confused as to the point of view of "history" that the score put to it. Royal Brown wrote a very informative review for Fanfare that people should read. To make a long story short, the movie was brilliant, and the music as a hypothetical film score was brilliant, but the two together were just slightly oil and vinegar. Wow, that's useless commentary. It just has to do with the way the filmmakers split the difference between a totally cinema verite approach, and a more "typical" John Williams score (as the public would understand it, i.e. very melodic and noticeable). Williams succeeded with some amazing contrapuntal writing -- very delicate, and colored just right -- but it almost felt like no score whatsoever, or a type of self-contained, non-cuey Morricone score, would have been more philosophically direct.

Can someone explain Saving Private Ryan to me? Thanks:

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com