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I get how he feels, but I'd try to be like "What would John Williams do?" I'm sure it's hard, but stay classy.
Good one. 
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Shades of James Mangold engaging in a sneering Twitter war with some dude who posted negative feelings about INDIANA JONES 5.
Amazing. Pointless.
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And then there was Zimmer, personally seeking out bloggers that he did not care for and trying to end their career.
I don't think Hans Zimmer tried to "end their career". Hey, if one criticizes an artist, the artist is perfectly within his rights to strike back and criticize the reviewer.
I've read people say much worse things about composers here on this forum than anything said blogger or Zimmer said to each other.
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Zimmer's comments were nasty. James has a real job in the finance industry. He writes reviews as a hobby and because of his love of film music. However, Zimmer made a sneering comment about how he'd never seen James at any of his London press events. At that point my respect for Zimmer was diminished.
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I think all of this is tactless on the part of Giacchino (and Zimmer) and any other artist who takes the position of privilege (the artist with the spotlight) to separate themselves from other people. In separating themselves from their critics, they are inadvertently doing the same for the fans as well:
"I don't like your music"
"Surprisingly I don't care" (ie. you're just a nobody who doesn't matter)
"I love your music"
"Surprisingly I don't care" (ie. you're just a nobody who doesn't matter)
It's not enough to say people are just human - this is a job and the promotion of a film is an extension of that job. A boss or a manager can't just insult their employees and then be let off the hook because "they're human". That's why companies have HR departments and employee handbooks and rules of conduct not just to protect people from abusive behavior but to have a framework of equality and equity.
Giacchino doesn't need to be putting himself in this position. He is also trolling like the people he is excoriating, especially when he's replying to comments about the film itself, which he didn't make.
There is often pushback on these forums to critiques as well, which I only understand for the critiques that are simplistic and controversial: "this is stupid" "the composer f***ing sucks". But that's like .5% of the comments. The majority of critiques here go into detail which I think is appropriate but also important. For my own self, a lot of my critiques are about pushing artists or the industry to do better for the sake of the artform and other artists coming down the line.
How about:
"This score really sucks!!!"
"Sounds like it may not be your kind of music."
"The music should be EPIC, not some lame BS."
"A lot of music is 'EPIC' these days and the approach we tried was something more psychological and form-fitted to the film. We hope people will like it."
He could also just not respond at all.
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And then there was Zimmer, personally seeking out bloggers that he did not care for and trying to end their career.
I don't think Hans Zimmer tried to "end their career". Hey, if one criticizes an artist, the artist is perfectly within his rights to strike back and criticize the reviewer.
I've read people say much worse things about composers here on this forum than anything said blogger or Zimmer said to each other.
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Zimmer's comments were nasty. James has a real job in the finance industry. He writes reviews as a hobby and because of his love of film music. However, Zimmer made a sneering comment about how he'd never seen James at any of his London press events. At that point my respect for Zimmer was diminished.
I like James and I like his reviews, but as I said, it's perfectly OK for an artist to snap back at a critic. And I've read many worse things here in this forum than whatever James and Zimmer wrote to each other. Zimmer himself has admitted that he gets touchy sometimes.
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I think all of this is tactless on the part of Giacchino (and Zimmer) and any other artist who takes the position of privilege (the artist with the spotlight) to separate themselves from other people. In separating themselves from their critics, they are inadvertently doing the same for the fans as well:
"I don't like your music"
"Surprisingly I don't care" (ie. you're just a nobody who doesn't matter)
"I love your music"
"Surprisingly I don't care" (ie. you're just a nobody who doesn't matter)
It goes both ways, anyone who publicly criticizes someone or something is subject to being criticised as well.
Especially if someone says "I don't like your music". So f**king what? There must be thousands of musicians whose music I don't like, but if I bother to seek them out to tell them that, damn straight do they have the right to tell me to get lost. 
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I like James and I like his reviews, but as I said, it's perfectly OK for an artist to snap back at a critic. And I've read many worse things here in this forum than whatever James and Zimmer wrote to each other. Zimmer himself has admitted that he gets touchy sometimes.
Disagree entirely. Especially for someone like Zimmer who is framed as being a genius, has entire music concerts about him, and chooses to plaster his name/brand over all sorts of music resources. It's petty and small and completely disproportionate to the amount of power and prestige he enjoys.
The words of a critic don't affect his music whatsoever. At the scale Zimmer works it poses ZERO threat unless he is a total fraud in which case yeah, any pulling back of the curtain on him is a threat.
What people share on these boards is mostly anonymous, insulated from the composers, and in no way affects the livelihood of anyone on the boards.
Zimmer produces music, Woods is a critic. Stick to their jobs and sue for libel if a critic is actually doing something insidious and predatory.
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I like James and I like his reviews, but as I said, it's perfectly OK for an artist to snap back at a critic. And I've read many worse things here in this forum than whatever James and Zimmer wrote to each other. Zimmer himself has admitted that he gets touchy sometimes.
Disagree entirely.
So we do. I see any critic as fair game. If a critic can't stand the heat of a little backslap, maybe he shouldn't put himself out there.
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I like James and I like his reviews, but as I said, it's perfectly OK for an artist to snap back at a critic. And I've read many worse things here in this forum than whatever James and Zimmer wrote to each other. Zimmer himself has admitted that he gets touchy sometimes.
Disagree entirely. Especially for someone like Zimmer who is framed as being a genius, has entire music concerts about him, and chooses to plaster his name/brand over all sorts of music resources. It's petty and small and completely disproportionate to the amount of power and prestige he enjoys.
The words of a critic don't affect his music whatsoever. At the scale Zimmer works it poses ZERO threat unless he is a total fraud in which case yeah, any pulling back of the curtain on him is a threat.
What people share on these boards is mostly anonymous, insulated from the composers, and in no way affects the livelihood of anyone on the boards.
Zimmer produces music, Woods is a critic. Stick to their jobs and sue for libel if a critic is actually doing something insidious and predatory.
This particular case was a very benign comment from James about JXL Justice League on FB, not even levelled at Zimmer. Yet he chose to invalidate James in a very mean-spirited manner... It was uncalled for IMO but hey, free speech and all that... whatever reservations I'd had about some of HZ's music in the past were separate from my admiration for his personality, which I liked. His comments to Southall caused me to re-assess whether he is this cool guy you'd like to talk shop over a pint, or whether it's a PR contrived persona only... who knows? I hope not. Maybe he was just having a bad day...
As for as Giacchino is concerned, his remarks IMO were fine. Civil, a little clever but not out of line. I think he's right to defend his work. I wonder whether composers brush off really intellectually vacuous comments like "this score sucks" easier than if someone went into detail about where they found any shortcomings? My guess is yes but it also depends on the composer's personality. One Hollywood composer I know says he never reads reviews, he gets his wife to and if there's a particularly nice one, he has a look. this is really sound advice. You can't please everyone all of the time. It's asking for trouble.
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I think we should be careful deciphering between whether big name composers pay attention to criticism and whether they SHOULD pay attention to criticism. The idea that fans or message board comments don’t affect big time personalities has been proven false many times. In a tangentially related topic, when NBA MVP Kevin Durant changed teams to go to the Brooklyn Nets there was much criticism about it. Turned out that Kevin Durant had no fewer than 5 Twitter burner accounts that he would use to defend “Kevin Durant” anonymously. Sometimes the biggest, most outspoken and successful people are the most the most insecure for whatever reason.
“Should” Zimmer and Giacchino care and take it personally. Of course not. But everyone’s personality is different. Some are inclined to argue and some are not. If you put it out in the universe, someone might critique it and vice versa.
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One Hollywood composer I know says he never reads reviews, he gets his wife to and if there's a particularly nice one, he has a look. this is really sound advice. You can't please everyone all of the time. It's asking for trouble.
This is exactly what I think is appropriate for the person creating the work and a really safe and healthy approach when you're a creative. The question isn't about whether critiques make a creative person feel bad - they likely do and clearly are because the creatives are responding. But it's of paramount importance to build the fortitude and discipline to focus on your work as much as you can. Even the wiliest of critics can be defused by genuinely nice creatives. There's nothing wrong with feeling bad about criticism, but what you do from there is essential.
"Punching up" is the general rule and "punching down" is rightfully frowned upon.
I agree that critics are and should be open to responses/backslap and I think that's appropriate coming from regular audiences punching up or other critics who are on the same level. Coming from the person who did the creative work, I think it's inappropriate if the message is one of humiliation or condescension. If it's a thoughtful response asserting the value of the artwork itself, then fine. If it's a mutual exchange of high-level sparring or witty barbs, then fine - everyone's playing that game. But hunting down someone and singling them out to excoriate their person is inappropriate.
Giacchino's comments, while not the same as Zimmer's, were still "punching down" and not about asserting the merits of the work but about the critic as a person and their alleged valuelessness in society/life. And as I pointed out, the reasoning Giacchino uses to diminish the value of an anonymous twitter critic ends up being the same reasoning for why a fan is equally irrelevant and valueless. That's why it's never a good idea to "punch down".
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It's also a question of when it becomes "personal".
For me, it would be:
"The music in the movie was annoying and took away rather than enhancing the story."
That's an opinion, as valid as any. Nothing personal.
"Composer XYZ is a hack. I usually hate his music and I disliked it in this movie. Ruined the movie for me."
Also an opinion, and it gets personal. Judgement call.
"I don't like your music."
Personal. (If you don't like my music, just don't listen to it. No need to bother me with it.)
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It's also a question of when it becomes "personal".
For me, it would be:
"The music in the movie was annoying and took away rather than enhancing the story."
That's an opinion, as valid as any. Nothing personal.
"Composer XYZ is a hack. I usually hate his music and I disliked it in this movie. Ruined the movie for me."
Also an opinion, and it gets personal. Judgement call.
"I don't like your music."
Personal. (If you don't like my music, just don't listen to it. No need to bother me with it.)
Agreed.
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