Batman '89 The Danny Elfman Appreciation Thread

Danny Elfman to Compose Additional Music for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’

avengers-age-of-ultron1.jpg


Film Music Reporter said:
The latest poster for Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Age of Ultron reveals that Danny Elfman is composing additional music for the film written and directed by Joss Whedon and starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, James Spader, Hayley Atwell, Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L. Jackson. As previously reported, Brian Tyler is the principal composer on the project. The movie follows Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye as they battle to save the planet from destruction at the hands of the villainous Ultron. Kevin Feige is producing the project. Avengers: Age of Ultron is set to be released nationwide on May 1, 2015. For updates on the film, visit the official movie website.
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http://filmmusicreporter.com/2015/0...al-music-for-avengers-age-of-ultron/#comments


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Just got my tix for the Elfman concert in Lincoln Center this July. Go me! :woot:
 
Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Soundtrack Details
Film Music Reporter said:
age-of-ultron.jpg


The details of the soundtrack album for Marvel Studios’ Avengers; Age of Ultron have been announced. The album features the film’s original music composed by Brian Tyler (Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Furious 7, Now You See Me) and Danny Elfman (Spider-Man, Batman, Alice in Wonderland, Men in Black). The soundtrack will be released digitally on April 28, 2015 by Hollywood Records. A CD version will be coming out on May 19 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Avengers: Age of Ultron is written and directed by Joss Whedon and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany and Cobie Smulders. The movie will be released nationwide on May 1. For updates on the film, visit the official movie website.
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To see the track list, which might contain spoilers, click the link below.
http://filmmusicreporter.com/2015/04/15/avengers-age-of-ultron-soundtrack-details/#comments

Would’ve preferred if both scores were presented on two discs (78 min of Tyler’s 2 hour score on one disc and Elfman’s nearly 60 min of score on the other) instead of only a single disc. It’s probably 35-40 min of score from both composers to fit the 78 min of disc space. Oh well it’s better than nothing.
 
Den Of Geek's 25 underrated 1990s movie soundtracks
Den Of Geek said:
16. Dead Presidents - Danny Elfman
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Danny Elfman defined the 1990s as much as he defined Tim Burton’s work (hello, Edward Scissorhands). Along the recognisable way, several underappreciated albums slipped under the radar, including Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow, but their less seen and even lesser heard cousin is Dead Presidents, which sees Elfman shirk the familiar trappings for which he is known for unstable electric guitars and synths. It’s experimental, it’s intriguing and it’s unique.
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http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/soundtracks/35187/25-underrated-1990s-movie-soundtracks

I agree with it being one of Elfman's most underrated scores. Hopefully Dead Presidents will get a proper score release some day.
 
Elfman is composing the score to "Goosebumps".

Film Music Reporter said:
Director Rob Letterman confirmed in a recent interview with Collider that Danny Elfman is currently scoring the upcoming Goosebumps. The film directed by Letterman (Monsters vs. Aliens, Gulliver’s Travels) stars Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Jillian Bell, Ryan Lee and Ken Marino. The movie is based on the book series of the same title and follows a teenager who moves to a small town and meets the beautiful girl next door whose mysterious dad is revealed to be R. L. Stine, the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. Darren Lemke (Jack the Giant Slayer, Turbo) and Mike White (School of Rock) wrote the screenplay based on a story by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, Big Eyes) and Lemke. Neal H. Moritz (Fast & Furious series, 21 Jump Street, I Am Legend) and Deborah Forte (The Golden Compass) are producing the project. Goosebumps is set to be released on October 16, 2015 by Sony Pictures.

Elfman’s latest project Avengers: Age of Ultron is opening nationwide this weekend. The composer has also scored the indie drama The End of the Tour directed by James Ponsoldt and starring Jesse Eisenberg & Jason Segel, which will be released on July 31 by A24 Films and Mike Flanagan’s thriller Before I Wake, which is set for a release on September 25 by Relativity Media. His other upcoming projects include Justin Chadwick’s Tulip Fever starring and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass.
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http://filmmusicreporter.com/2015/04/30/danny-elfman-scoring-goosebumps/
 
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Remixes Soundtrack Announced

fifty-shades-remixed.jpg


Film Music Reporter said:
Republic Records will release a new soundtrack album for the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. The album features remixes of the songs from the best-selling soundtrack by The Weeknd, Ellie Goulding, Sia, Laura Welsh, Jessie Ware, AWOLNATION, Skylar Grey, Vaults by artists including Kaskade, CANVAS, Praia, SOHN, Gazzo, Marian Hill & more. Also included is a remix of Danny Elfman’s score track Ana and Christian by Heavy Mellow. Fifty Shades of Grey Remixed will be released on May 4, 2015 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The label has previously released a soundtrack album featuring the film’s songs, as well as Elfman’s score. Fifty Shades of Grey directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Jennifer Ehle, Marcia Gay Harden, Luke Grimes, Max Martini, Dylan Neal, Eloise Mumford, Rita Ora and Victor Rasuk will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 8. Visit the official movie website for more information.

Here’s the album track list:

1. Undiscovered (Praia Remix) – Laura Welsh
2. Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey) (Marian Hill Remix) – The Weeknd
3. Meet Me In The Middle (CANVAS Remix) – Jessie Ware
4. Love Me Like You Do (Gazzo Remix) – Ellie Goulding
5. Salted Wound (Oliver Kraus and Brian West Remix) – Sia
6. I’m On Fire (Robotaki Remix) – AWOLNATION
7. One Last Night (Hippie Sabotage Remix) – Vaults
8. Where You Belong (SOHN Remix) – The Weeknd
9. I Know You (Kaskade Remix) – Skylar Grey
10. Ana and Christian (Heavy Mellow Remix) – Danny Elfman
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Seriously?

‘Fifty Shades of Greed" would be a more fitting title for this cash grab .
 
Saw A:AOU Sunday afternoon and despite some problems I had with it I enjoyed it. Even though on first viewings of movies I pay little attention to the score. It still didn't have any impact on the film or me as a viewer. Especially during the crucial moments in the film that would normally call for it. However what did stood out was the tracked in Silvestri cues from it's predecessor, which was at times distracting and almost took me out of certain moments in this film because of how blatant it was. What was the point of hiring an A-list veteran composer like Elfman at the 11th hour if the score in the movie is basically nonexistent and poorly utilized throughout the film with Silvestri cues being tracked in and re-recorded? Should've called Debney if they wanted something like that. Just a waste of Elfman's talents and time. Hopefully the soundtrack will better represent his music.
 
So much of Elfman's music in AoU was unused. 'It Begins' is meant to score the opening fight but they tracked in Silvestri instead, same with the last scene of the movie.

Elfman was actually better served than Tyler though. 'Avengers Unite', 'Can You Stop This Thing?' the end credits and when Scarlet Witch becomes an Avenger are at least somewhat audible. Elfman's work is really good here, it's a shame how it was treated.
 
Came across this video while lurking on another forum.

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Pleasantly surprised how high Elfman ranked on their list (@ 11:02 mark).

If you'd rather skip the 15 min video ...


WatchMojo's Top 10 Movie Score Composers

01. John Williams
02. Danny Elfman
03. Bernard Herrmann
04. Hans Zimmer
05. Alan Silvestri
06. Howard Shore
07. James Horner
08. James Newton Howard
09. Jerry Goldsmith
10. Ennio Morricone

Honorable Mentions: Thomas Newman, Rachel Portman, Clint Mansell, Elmer Bernstein, Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino.
 
What Culture (or Christian Bone) ranked "the 10 Greatest Superhero Movie Themes Of All Time!"

What Culture said:
02. Batman (1989)

Before Christopher Nolan’s gritty interpretation, there was Tim Burton’s Batman. Back in 1989, the film kickstarted the reinvention of the character (for non-comic book readers, at least) from Adam West’s caped crusader to brooding Dark Knight.

As such, Danny Elfman’s theme is miles away from ‘Nah nah nah Batman!’ but is instead an orchestral gothic piece.

The sort of track you can imagine Batman listening to when doing the rounds in the Batmobile (alongside the Lego Movie Batman’s ‘darkness’ song, of course), Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s work on the Dark Knight trilogy is superb but Elfman’s theme manages to completely nail the character of Batman more than any other piece of music.

Yes, even ‘nah nah nah Batman.’
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What Culture said:
03. Spider-Man

Composers James Horner and Hans Zimmer might have given it their best shot in The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel but they did not manage to beat the theme for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films.

Much like his work on Batman (more on that soon), Elfman’s theme understands Spider-Man better than the films themselves sometimes do. It’s a grand, sweeping piece that well matches a hero who spends his time swinging through the urban jungle of New York. Although it also has more sombre and chilling moments, reflecting the drama Peter Parker has with his love life and meddling supervillains.

Here’s hoping that when Spidey joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the next few years, they reinstate this piece as his theme music.
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What Culture said:
What Culture's 10 Greatest Superhero Movie Themes Of All Time
01. Superman (1978)
02. Batman (1989)
03. Spider-Man
04. The Avengers
05. The Dark Knight Trilogy
06. Captain America: The First Avenger
07. X-Men 2/Days Of Future Past
08. The Incredibles
09. The Rocketeer
10. Hellboy
Click to expand...
http://whatculture.com/film/10-greatest-superhero-movie-themes-of-all-time.php
 
Well his themes are normally horror and angst films. Fifty shades fits right into horror. I heard the soundtrack it wasn't bad actually.
 
Came across this rare Dick Tracy (1990) trailer, which the movie itself turns 25 years old tomorrow. The thrilling trailer music sounds like it was composed by Elfman. It definitely made the trailer seem more exciting than it actually was.

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Personally, I feel Elfman a bit over-rated. I think because we all grew up on him with Batman. Don't get me wrong that score is great, but I think it got over-played but I love Descent into Mystery, Childhood Remembered and Charge of The Batmobile. Batman Returns felt like a retread and some of the pieces felt kind of cheesy and cartoony but I guess he felt that was needed due to the circus gang.

Overall, I feel like most of his Tim Burton scores feel the same, I guess because Burton more or less make the same weird, outcast, anti-social, dark films of angst. But whenever I watch non-Burton films someone has to tell me Elfman did the score, like Avengers. When I saw him in the credits after the film I was like "Holy ****!" But even then his non-Burton stuff doesn't do anything for me either. Like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, does nothing for me. Nothing memorable.
 
I've always struggled in choosing between Elfman and Zimmer. To me what what they did with their Batman scores is equally great, albeit in different ways.

Because of what Elfman did with Batman, I do sometimes think his work with Raimi's Spider-Man is often underrated.
 
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I recently got around to listening to the A:AOU ost. The score in the movie failed to leave any impression on me on first viewing so I didn’t think much of it. But my first impression of the score on album wasn’t anything special either. It lacks cohesion and a narrative structure that would help it flow smoothly, which the actual movie/story suffered from as well. Even though I’ve seen the film once I could tell the cues were out of chronological order on the album. Some of the cues (particularly Tyler’s) was difficult to follow out of context and is probably better in context. Though in context the score still suffers with it being poorly mixed and buried under plenty of sound effects. Assembling the tracks out of order really hurt the pacing and made the 78 minute album feel clunky and more bloated.

Tyler’s cues weren’t anything special and were average at best. I even think it’s a step down from his IM3 score, which I thought was a decent score overall. The cues that he wrote lacked that ‘Star Wars‘, ‘Superman’, and ‘Raiders’ approach that he claimed was his inspiration for A:AOU. I think Tyler bit off more than he could chew making that statement. The score was far from Williams-esque especially of that era in his filmography.

Going off of the album I felt his material was mostly trying to keep up with the action scenes, special effects, and whatever’s happening on screen. It doesn’t add much to the narrative, imo. If it was mixed better in the movie it probably would be more effective in context. And a lot of his percussive bombastic action cues felt repetitive without any nuance. I feel that Tyler, who has scored two MCU movies prior to A:AOU, missed a big opportunity to improve on some of the things I found lacking in the previous score by Silvestri, which I thought was good but nothing particularly special either.

Other than Tyler's Iron Man theme, which didn’t amount to much in this score other than being quoted for continuity‘s sake, the only theme of his I noticed was his menacing Ultron theme/motif, which reminded me a lot of something from Zimmer’s TDK/MOS scores. After IM3, T:TDW, TMNT’14’, I feel that based on his score to A:AOU that he’s getting a case of superhero fatigue at the moment.

Speaking of a composer who should be feeling superhero fatigue at this point with the amount of scores he’s written for the genre. Elfman wrote the more appealing material between the two easily, imo. Not saying that b/c I’m a bigger Elfman fan but, Tyler’s music pales in comparison. This album would’ve been a bore without Elfman’s contribution.

His Avengers “hybrid” theme is the highlight of the album. It’s a theme I could listen to repeatedly. It’s that good. The “hybrid” theme is definitely something I could easily associate with “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. He took a more whimsical, triumphant, and even swashbuckling approach with the Avengers main theme. Elfman makes Silvestri’s already excellent main theme his own, imho. The “hybrid” theme makes a great secondary theme but I also believe it reflects the transition and evolution of the Avengers becoming the New Avengers by the end of the movie.

Listening to his cues I think Elfman had been itching to score another superhero movie, which has been a while, so when Marvel/Whedon request his assistance he took the opportunity.

Also the pastoral and tender music (accompanied by acoustic guitars) during the “Farmhouse” cue gives the score more heart and nuance, imo. However as good as Elfman’s material is it doesn’t completely save the score. He was brought in the last minute and even though he did the best he could with the short amount of time he had working on it. I believe he should’ve been the sole composer from the beginning. I think we would’ve gotten a better and more focused score than what ended up in the final product. Plus he’d have more than a month to work on it. His effort seems like he’s just filling in/substituting for Tyler while trying to please the studio heads with the changes and reassembling of the score. That’s unusual for Elfman b/c he doesn’t normally take gigs like this. Sure he’s replaced composers/scores before (Mission: Impossible, Hulk, and Nacho Libre) but he doesn’t actually relieve Tyler as composer b/c Whedon still used some of his music. I also believe the score suffers from too many cooks. Where everyone is trying get their cake and eat it too.

I would love for Elfman to return as solo composer in another MCU project, b/c I don’t think this project got the best out of him as good as his Avengers “hybrid” theme was. I doubt he will return for the next installment since the Russo bros. will be directing it. Though it isn’t confirmed but Henry Jackman most likely will get the gig since all three are returning for next year’s CA:CW as well. It’s a pity b/c I’d love to hear more of that hybrid theme again when the New Avengers return, but hopefully this won‘t be the last we hear of Elfman in the MCU.

So the score overall was average with Elfman’s Avengers “hybrid” theme elevating it to something promising.
 
So according to the A:AOU cd liner notes/booklet Elfman’s score was mixed at Technicolor at Paramount, Hollywood, CA and Remote Control, Santa Barbara, CA. Remote Control is the name of Hans Zimmer's post-production company in case anyone didn't already know that.

:wow:That's a first for Elfman.
 
Here's a new Elfman interview with Rolling Stone Magazine that retreads pretty much the same questions about his collaborations with Burton. However, I am excited about the violin concerto he's working on.


720x405-h_14372709.jpg

Danny Elfman on Film Scores, 'Simpsons' and Working With Tim Burton
Composer's works with the director are the subject of a retrospective, premiering in New York next week


http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/...s-and-working-with-tim-burton-20150629?page=3
 
Another interview was posted by the Village Voice today.

Village Voice said:
You might think, after working with each other for three decades, that Danny Elfman would be the most well-thumbed name in Tim Burton's Rolodex, the first number on the speed dial when a new project shimmers into view. But Elfman doesn't take the work for granted. "I never assume I'm going to get hired for Tim's next film," he says, rather surprisingly. Nor does Elfman assume his work will make the grade. "One thing I know about Tim is that I never know [if] I've written something he's going to love. I don't know what's going to happen. I never think, 'Oh, I know what to do, it's a Tim Burton movie, got it.' I've never been able to have that attitude, ever. There are other directors who are more consistent — they'll like this, they won't like that. With Tim I never really know. He's really unpredictable in that way. That's probably what's kept it interesting for over 30 years."
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This quote is for his detractors that believe there's some sort of short hand between Elfman and Burton.

Village Voice said:
Does Elfman still find anything intimidating? "Everything and nothing," he declares flatly. "I'm not afraid of anything; there's nothing I feel I can't do. Yet everything feels like I'm starting from scratch. With every project I feel like I'm still lowering a bucket into the well and I don't know where or even if I'll hit water. There's that constant anxiety and insecurity: Will I find something?" Still, he's proven to himself a hundred times that the well is never dry. And he really seems to have done it all — Batman to Spider-Man, Fifty Shades of Grey to Charlotte's Web. Is there anything Danny Elfman simply will not do?

"Yes," he laughs. "A contemporary romantic comedy." Why's that? "I have no idea what to do for normal people in a normal situation. If I'm intimidated by anything, it's normal."
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I guess "Silver Linings Playbook" is the exception.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/a...n-is-still-proudly-prolifically-weird-7305537
 
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