Incidental Music

Incidental Music: def. (noun)- music used in a film as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere, otherwise known as a score

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Beautiful Creatures and A Good Day to Die Hard

Hi everyone! Here's the first round of score reviews for February!

Beautiful Creatures by thenewno2-7/10
Did it fit the movie? Yes. The score was an intriguing mix of a romantic era orchestra with modern pop music beats and guitar or haunting vocal tracks interspersed through out. At times, it felt like the soundtrack to a high school romance, yet at other times, it was more like a dark fantasy adventure. I think that's exactly what the movie is, a blending of those two concepts.
Did it make me feel something? Yes. There were definitely moments that made me stop, sit up, and listen a little closer. Like on Breaking the Ice, when there's suddenly a banjo playing sadly, or in Dark Magic, where the cellos suddenly went crazy and got my heart racing.
Was it original? Yes, I believe it was. I loved what the composers did with blending an older sounding orchestra and modern music styles.
Did I like it? Not as much as I though I was going to, but yes, I did, a little. I really like the romantic orchestral feel to some of the tracks.. It was like the music I played in my high school symphony orchestra, the Beethoven and the Saint Saens. Music meant to accompany an opera, where every emotion is heightened to the extreme. I didn't like it as much as I wanted to because of the melody problem. I really like strong, recurring melodies, and the melodies in this score didn't feel used enough or strong enough for me. My favorite tracks were The Caster Theme, Lena's Magic/The Love Theme, and Lena's Love Rage/Macon's Adagio. Purchasing suggestion? Buy the tracks you like! In any case, I think the style mixing is great and worth listening to if you have time-Spotify is the greatest!

A Good Day to Die Hard, by Marco Beltrami-4/10
Did it fit the movie? Yes, it did. Another typical action movie score-heart pumping beats, loud and boisterous full orchestra. The perfect music to hear while John McClane is firing a machine gun and killing some Russians.
Did it make me feel something? Hahaha...nope. If you'll recall, one of my tests for this is listening to the score while focusing on something else. I can tell that the score stirs my emotions if the music pulls me out of my work. With this score, I listened to the whole thing and not once did I look up from my work.
Was it original? No, and here's where I take the most issue and take off the most points-it could have been! The first track was actually pretty original and cool. It riffed on Ode to Joy, which I thought was awesome! It was suspenseful and thrilling. It would have been so cool if Beltrami had taken that Ode to Joy melody, put some kind of twist on it, and then brought it back up through out the entire score. But he didn't.
Did I like it? Not really. I didn't expect to, because as I'll say again and again on this blog, action movie scores aren't my favorite. I usually listen to scores like this one when I need to get in a fast paced groove-during homework time, running on the treadmill etc. Purchasing suggestion? Unless you need it for good background music to your gun blazing adventures, don't buy it.

That's all I have for you today! Your score homework for this week is to read my post from earlier this week on our February composer of the Month and get ready for the Oscars by listening to all the nominated scores! :)

1 comment:

  1. Liz, I really enjoyed listening to thenewno2...I think I should change my band name...but too late! The Caster Theme held my avid interest more than the Lena's Theme but for a specific reason. The Caster Theme went in many musical directions and I couldn't help but think that what I heard at 2:07 I would've liked to have heard more. I suppose it was a preference...and they were supposed to be creating a feeling. I think it was at 1:45 and other parts that I was wishing for an upward melodic lift and they surprised me by going into a darker chord structure. But...it held my interest because if its differences...like a more richly designed color scheme. I won't even go into Die Hard...is there an action film score that you do like? What about Spy Game? Thanks for your reviews. Do you have an Oscar Party set up?

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