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Originally posted by Camillu:
I watched Michael Clayton, and thought the score was appropriate for the film, but not necessarily for an oscar nomination.

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Originally posted by Jeron:
No.

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You didn't get my invite to Step Up 2 the Streets?!

I guess from the sounds of it, I got lucky I wasn't able to see JUMPER on Thursday.

I did see DEFINITELY MAYBE & THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES and enjoyed them both, even though they both have their flaws.

I'm going to try to catch up on Oscar nominated stuff this week. I'm planning to see the nominated short films (animated & live action) today and hopefully can fit in THE SAVAGES too. AMERICAN GANGSTER is on its way from Netflix.

I did also see several things on TV & DVD: BECOMING JANE & TARAS BULBA (on TCM this morning and the score was the ONLY good thing about it). Also watched most of the extras on that 2 disc STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Nice little segment on the score featuring Robert Townson. (But what is up with that hair?)

- CAPRICORN ONE - Pretty good. More pulpy than the paranoia genre it capped off, but worthwhile, and not every film has to be depressing. Goldsmith's score is truly sensational.

- CHINATOWN - Good to see it again. The film still leaves me a bit cold (there's one line of dialogue missing that would have made the film work for me). But the style of the film and the acting are truly fine, and Goldsmith's score gives it a lot of its heart.

- THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL - Never seen this one before. It's pretty silly, but still good to see. An indication that Schaffner was not so sure-footed as a director when the script wasn't 'squared away'. I was surprised to see the score in context - the use of the Straussian waltz was not nearly as bitterly-funny as I expected, and this one feels like a little bit of a missed opportunity music-wise. (When the dogs go for Mengele, and the various old men are assassinated, I kept wanting to hear the waltz!)

- STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE - Goldsmith's scoring of the Vejur sequences elevate the film a lot. 'The Enterprise' scene, for all the genuine grandeur of the music, comes off as vaguely ridiculous, particularly when Kirk's shuttle swings around for yet another pass. Kirk's summary of the ideas of the film at the end is classic Shatner acting.

And one non-Goldsmith DVD:

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- THE CLAIM - Remarkably underrated western from Michael Winterbottom. Thomas Hardy meets the Old West! Who financed that? Whoever it was, we can be grateful for a film with a very special sense of time and place, and a fine cast consisting of Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polley, Nastasha Kinski and (the ever-radiant) Milla Jovovich. This is the second time I've seen it, and it confirmed my impression from the first viewing: most of Michael Nyman's score didn't make the film.[/B]

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Yeeeeah, boy!

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
One more Goldsmith film for the week...

- TOTAL RECALL - Believe it or not, I've never seen this before. Why does this film have legendary status? It's no sci-fi masterpiece, and as far as Arnie films go, not better than PREDATOR or TERMINATOR 2. Jerry Goldsmith acquits himself fairly well, but the film is just a set of chase scenes, something he doesn't really struggle to keep up with. You could do a lot with the idea of someone who doesn't know which memories are real, but I doubt this was terribly close to what Phillip K Dick had in mind.

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What's funny, is that most people don't know that PKD died a second time when Total Recall was released with acclaim. Trust me, only the primary thread of the Dick's story made it to the film. David Cronenberg was set to adapt it for some time in the mid-eighties when he and Dino DeLaurentiis were still in good terms after the success of The Dead Zone. Obviously, some creative differences occured because Cronenberg is a big PKD fan and wanted to stay fairly close to the original story while still infecting the film with his own trademark. DeLaurentiis seemed to want a point-and-shoot action film and that's what Verhoeven delivered him; I don't think the film is too bad, it's certainly watchable and there's been worse Philip K. Dick adaptations. Goldsmith's score is still very good.