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Pirates of the Caribbean Sweeps the Boards!


elTee

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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - another summer movie, you say? Well, perhaps...

 

Although, to be fair, it does have a combined BAFTA / Oscar nominations tally of TEN. As Remi says, I do feel somewhat vindicated (not to mention relieved) at this. The nominations are as follows:

 

Oscar

Actor In A Leading Role - Johnny Depp

Makeup

Sound

Sound Editing

Visual Effects

 

BAFTA

Best Actor In A Leading Role - Johnny Depp

Best Costume Design

Best Sound

Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects

Best Makeup & Hair

 

As you can see, Mr. Depp (without doubt the greatest actor of his generation, and in my opinion ever) finally recieves his first nomination for his acting abilities. The movie has also been recognised for its makeup, costumes, sound and special effects. Some argue that makeup, costumes, sound and special effects are on a par with, if not more important than say, Best Picture or Best Director, but it's not my place to say ;)

 

Oh, and on a Thrik-related note, its a shame that Klaus Badelts' musical score didn't recieve a nomination - but still, its a fantastic soundtrack.

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Cause it sucked.

 

They shoulda gotten someone like Basil Poledouris (Conan The Barbarian) or Trevor Jones / Randy Edelman (The Last Of The Mohicans). Even though Jerry Goldsmith's compositions are a little more generic lately he would have done a lot better than that Zimmeresque crapfest.

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YES! Finally someone who feels about Media Ventures like I do:) Well, maybe except Harry-Gregson Williams and John Powell.

 

You know, Disney had originally hired Alan Silvestri to do the score, but then Bruckheimer butted in and hired MV instead... I would've loved to hear what Silvestri could have composed for this film.

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Oh dear.... it will end badly if we start talking about media ventures in here - at least, if Thrik finds out. Zimmer (and Gregson-Williams, and even Klaus Badelt) have done a good job with all the soundtracks I have heard them do.

 

As for Silvestri - he did write most of the score for the movie. He was so far into it he's still credited in early trailers and some posters. However, although his music style is very, very nice, it doesn't convey the action the newer POTC score does. He's good at lighter tunes - like Back to the Future and Forrest Gump. Still, I would like to hear the music he did. Chances are, I would have liked it - but I know I like the Klaus Badelt score. Its very, very similar to Gladiator, which was of course composed by Zimmer and is probably the best score to a movie I've ever heard.

 

I'm just glad John Williams didn't do the score, as good as he is.

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Originally posted by LucasTones

Its very, very similar to Gladiator, which was of course composed by Zimmer and is probably the best score to a movie I've ever heard.

N O !

 

I don't know what pills you took, but it's one of the worst soundtracks ever. There are few scores that do as bad (Eric Serra's music in Luc Beson's movies Léon and 5th Element for example). I find Hans Zimmer's action movie soundtracks enjoyable (Backdraft even kicked ass), but he should steer clear of historical flicks.

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One of the worst soundtracks ever??! You must just hate Zimmer or something, because it is without a doubt one of the greatest pieces of film music ever written. And don't start about Eric Serra; the man is a genius. Leon and Le Grand Bleu have superb scores, and Zimmer and Serra are two of the most highly respected musicians in the movie business. Thrik! Get in here.

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Originally posted by Lundquist

You know, Disney had originally hired Alan Silvestri to do the score, but then Bruckheimer butted in and hired MV instead... I would've loved to hear what Silvestri could have composed for this film.

 

Yeah. I'm perfectly happy with the film's soundtrack as-is, but it would be interesting to hear Silvestri's interpretation.

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I think Silvestri is great at writing grand heroic material, just listen to the brass in 'The Mummy Returns', a score like that would have been better for POTC... Or something like Debney's Cutthroat Island.

 

I think Zimmer's score for POTC is more like The Rock than Gladiator (doesn't some of the music in Gladiator sound oddly like 'Mars - the Bringer of War' from Holst's 'the Planets'?) , it doesn't really sound like a swashbuckling score to me, there's too many 'modern' instruments. And to think that there were 8 composers from MV on the project. Gregson-Williams wrote a much better seafaring score for 'Sinbad' imo.

I don't hate Badelt however, I loved the music for 'The Time Machine'.

The music in the POTC ride in Disneyland is better than the moviescore.

 

I can't really comment on Serra, the only score I can remember from him is GoldenEye and, well, that wasn't too impressive.

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Silvestri: "grand heroic material" - yes, maybe, but POTC isn't really that kind of film. There is no real heroism, as its mostly about personal profit / revenge, and the general public as a whole aren't in danger or saved. The POTC score as it is is a good piece of music, and it does the job well.

 

Badelt is the main composer, but as you say there are many others from Hans Zimmers Media Ventures. You're partly right - the POTC theme is a variation on Hans Zimmers theme for The Rock, but the style of each track almost perfectly mimics some tracks from Gladiator in cases. And yes, Zimmer did look to Holst for inspiration in the Gladiator score, which is why some tracks sound like Mars.

 

The only other Media Ventures sea-faring kind of music I have heard was also written by Zimmer, and features in The Road to El Dorado. Its a different theme to POTC, and really very good indeed.

 

Before I wax lyrical about Eric Serra, I have to say - "The music in the POTC ride in Disneyland is better than the moviescore" - what??? The styles are totally different, and I have all the music from the ride - the style is totally unsuitable for a movie, as I tried to show here (this mp3 has the Monkey Island theme in too, as its from my article on The Scumm Bar.)

 

So, onto Mr. Serra. Luc Besson and Eric Serra are a brilliant, brilliant team. His music works best in Bessons films, and I love it all. I've uploaded some mp3's below, the first from Leon and the second from Le Grand Bleu.

 

Noon

 

La Raya

 

And as for his Goldeneye score.. well, it wasn't a Besson movie, so it didn't fit as well. However, its still one of my favourite versions of the Bond theme - very creative, its in the style of Leon. The man is a genuis!

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I should clarify what I said about Serra. The music itself may be good, but the way it's used in the movies just doesn't fit what's happening on-screen. It's very noticable in what I call the sobbing scenes. Namely when Mathilda begs Léon to let her into his flat and when Leeloo crashed into the cab. Similar scenes, the music doesn't fit in both cases.

 

I guess I'll have to watch Léon again and buy the POTC DVD to further comment on the music, but I'm sure as hell not watching Gladiator again so soon!

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Hmmm... I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then, because I think his music works brilliantly throughout Leon. If you get the uncut dvd it has an isolated soundtrack option, which is amazing. Similarly, I intend to get the R1 of The Big Blue as it has an isolated score too. Perhaps the R2 2-disc special edition out at the end of february has this feature though - who knows?

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LOL, that ride in the Disneyland comment I actually just put there to see what kind of respond it would get :p

 

But I agree, I love (most of) the music MV writes for animated films, which seems to me to be entirely different then what you get in those Bruckheimer action films (Bad Boys, Armageddon, The Rock etc).

 

Listening to the mp3s I suddenly remembered 'Le Grand Bleu'. Serra's music isn't really my style but I'll admit he's good at capturing the mood of Besson's films in his music.

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Alan Silvestri incorporated parts of his score (too good for Bruckheimer's simplistic mind) in his "Tomb Raider II" score - and it was one of the few good things about the movie (just as Bad-elt's generic Casioesque Media Venture$ sampler of a cheap "score" was the worst thing about "Pirates").

 

For a good swashbuckling score, get John Debney's "Cuthroat Island", and when you have it, seek out the complete 2 CD version, too. Any random second of it is better and worth more than everything that Zimmer's clones from his company have ever written (or rather "copied").

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Originally posted by Udvarnoky

If anyone mentions LOTR here I swear I'll kill you all!

I doubt anyone would have (apart from you of course) as this thread is about POTC.

 

Anyway, I think the POTC music was pretty good, it's normally the first thing I look as as a scene setter, especially in a trailer (for which they thankfully also used Badelts' music for). And it certainly wrapped up the action in the movie completely as well as set the scene for the more lighter or emotion heavy scenes. Definately worth a mention, pity they weren't.

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