John Powell's score was good, and actually got a very good mix in the film...there was a great cue as they drove into the militay camp (think Chicken Run meets the Imperial March!) and the action music was well done. Is Varese's CD out yet?

Score comes out this week.

hehe

quote:

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Originally posted by BobaMike:
"There's ALWAYS time for lubricant!!"

hehe

BobaMike

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LOL! DAMN right!

quote:

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Originally posted by PeterK:
It's available now for purchase.

http://www.moviemusic.com/title.asp?id=evolution

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--Brian
NP: "Will Grows Up" from "My Dog Skip" by William Ross

The score was average. I neither liked or disliked it. It was chock full of "Go Get 'Em" action music. In moments it fit, but in others, I would have opted for some over-the-top frantic horror writing. I couldn't tell if there was more than one hero-action theme or not. There was at least one, but it wasn't very memorable, so I couldn't recognize it if it popped up again.

I'm confused...

MOMMY!!!!!!!

Tim

Just want to say for now that the actual art on the compact disc is Varese's coolest.

I mean, hey---just trying to get you to stop wasting your money (unless you're going to buy Tombstone).

on another note...does anyone else get a warm feeling deep inside when they see a thread they started get the "on fire" icon?

hehe

The movie was disappointing. It wasn't very funny. It was entertaining, yes, but I really hate how it was essentially one big fart/slapstick movie. And I can't stand the "black guy" jokes by Orlando Jones, that type of humor is so played out and lame.

quote:

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Originally posted by Shaun Rutherford:
All right, I know that I might be a total jackass, but TimT, why did you buy it if the score was just "typical". Not to sound to like Ford or Dan, but don't you think that you could save money by not purchasing scores that you don't even like? I mean, it would cut down on your constantly updated For Sale list.

I mean, hey---just trying to get you to stop wasting your money (unless you're going to buy Tombstone).

Shaun

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Well sometimes, a score sounds different by itself. Sometimes I'm not even paying attention to the music while watching the movie so I miss parts. There can be alot of things that are inaudible in the movie that really shine on the CD. And I hope for that same situation each time I buy a score I'm not sure of. After I walked out of Evolution and went to think back on the music all I remembered was the music in the opening scene and a Chicken Run like anthem. It didn't impress me too much.

I remember a few years ago I saw this TV movie with Sam Niel called Merlin. And as much as I tried to pay attention to the music I couldn't, because it was mixed in too low, and for some reason I totally missed the themes and didn't catch the scale of the action music. But I bought that CD as soon as it was released anyway, and I remember I was blown away by just from the first few seconds of the opening suite. Merlin is now one of my favorite scores. If I hadn't taken a chance on it, I wouldn't have known about it, since it certainly did nothing for me in the movie.

As for my For Sale list, well. The majority of CDs I have and buy, I've never seen the movies to, or I've never heard of the score at all. I buy them for silly reasons like, just because a certain composer scored it, or it has a really cool title and art work. But of coarse the music may not be what I expected. But you never know, because some I've gotten like Pavilion of Women, which I had no clue what it was like before I bought it other than it had a choir, and it turns out I love the score.
And then there are those CDs that aren't bad at all, but its been so long since I've gone without listening, sometimes I feel like I don't need it anymore. Jurassic Park for example, that was one of the first, if not the first CD I ever bought. It was my very first full exposure to a film score, I must have played it at least a couple hundred times in the first 5 months. And I became to know the music through and through. So much to a point that it started to get boring gradually because I knew it too well. And I soon got into other scores and I began to put JP aside, only listening to it every now and then. But each break would be longer and longer. And now I think its been a good 2 or 3 years since I've listned to that CD! That is the same case with alot of the CDs I was trying to sell and trade off.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dylan:
Does anybody who bought the score today have any comments about it?
Was it breathtaking as Varese described it? Was the guitar stuff on the album?
Is it an over-all enjoyable listen?
What is your favorite track and why?
How many stars does it deserve?
Just a few things I'm wondering about this score that maybe some of you who bought it today can answer. See you later.

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Hi Dylan: I think I can answer your questions for you. I seem to be the only person talking about this album...

1. I wouldn't call it exactly "breathtaking" but it is indeed a very very good score. One of John Powell's very best (not counting his work with Gregson-Williams.) Definitely one of the more thoroughly-entertaining scores I've bought this year- although that's starting to become the norm with scores like The Mummy Returns and Atlantis.

2. Yes, there's LOTS of guitar stuff on the album. I don't know if it has THE guitar stuff that you're asking for. (I haven't seen the film yet. I took a leap of faith purchasing this score- I was pretty curious too.) There's lots of fun ethnic stuff in the score- guitar mixed with saz and tabla.

3. It is an over-all enjoyable listen. Very colorful and fast-paced. There's not a single BORING cue in my opinion. 40 minutes is almost the perfect length- although it would be perfect if it were closer to 50 minutes. It has shades of that MediaVentures sound that we're all aware of, not to mention a few scores that you can tell were in the temp track. But for the most part, Powell has a lot of integrity as a composer and is full of neat ideas- whether they be melodic or in terms of his orchestrations. He handles all of his themes and motifs well- and they never outstay their welcome- although I still can't get used to the main heroic theme yet. It's just too MediaVentures-like for me.

4. I have a couple of favorite tracks. I think my very favorite is "The Amoeba Emerges." It's a very over-the-top slow march. That starts off with just a very slow drum beat and aleatoric trumpet playing- and then Powell gradually adds in more and more instruments and layers until it's really cooking at the end. Reminds me very much of early-Elfman and the manic energy found in scores like Nightbreed and Darkman. In fact, the whole score is very reminiscent of MEN IN BLACK. I think Powell and Gregson-Williams are both big Elfman fans. I also thoroughly enjoy "The Forest" and "Monitors Out." I might add that there's a LOT of Mickey-mousing in this score, but where I usually find mickey-mousing annoying, I find it enjoyable in this score. Go figure.

5. Once again, this score isn't a classic, but it's definitely passable entertainment- at least until July when all of the big releases come out. I'd probably be generous and give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Tim

I can see why some might find it funny. I laughed at a couple of places, but I have to say that this is not a very good film from a number of standpoints. Let's start with dialogue....I find it difficult to believe that trained scientists, even if they are at a community college, speak this way. The dialogue has adults speaking, and behaving, like middle school students. (Bill Murray's character in 'Ghostbusters' is somewhat similar but his character is drawn well enough for you to know that he is not just going along for the ride.)

Most of the action sequences are dull and lifeless. There are touches of urbane humor but it feels like the film is trying hard for a laugh.

I was rooting for the aliens by the second half hour if only to hope that they would be able to create something more interesting than this mediocre stuff.

I watched this with a group of teenagers (the obvious demographic market?) who mostly just shook their heads. Did they laugh? Yes, but simultaneously would say, "That is so stupid."

The only thing "funny' was the stuff with the two local farm boys (hmmm...maybe there's a film)---who must have had help writing this script. A 2-joke script (anal probes, a Head and Shoulders comercial) does not a movie make.

I wanted to like this movie. But when I stood up, it felt like I was having a serious case of mental bends.

The studio here seemed to be unsure whom to market this to (a similar problem happened with "Just Visiting" which had its share of problems). You can always tell by the trailers that are attached to a film. Here we had a trailer for "Final Fantasy" and the upcoming Woody Allen film!

1. Young Sherlock Holmes: gross $3 million
I'm unsure of the cost on this one but since it was a Speilberg production and has many complex SPFX shots I'm assuming it wasn't cheap to make.

2. Monkeybone: cost 79 million. Gross: $5.5 million

3. The Monster Squad: cost $12.5 million. Gross: 3.5 million

So, I think Evolution is doing fairly well since they are still heavily advertising it on TV (as of June 16th, 2001), it's getting very good reviews from some of the nation's top critics and there is no sign of it being pulled from theaters after 2 weeks (like all 3 films above were).

For some reason, every time I think of Harry Potter, I think of Broughton's masterful score to YSH. Hmmm.

Shaun