My BATMAN BEGINS review is now online.
http://www.cinemusic.net/

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Originally posted by zimmerito:
I always like Cinemusic.net reviews.because they are very like my point of view.

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Originally posted by zimmerito:
Great post.
I always like Cinemusic.net reviews.because they are very like my point of view.
Wel..i guess i changed my mind because I need love this album.
Its not the typical summer album.
I will be waiting for a Complete score(recording sessions,bootlegs,promos....)
I need more music like molossus,and more variations of the main themes.
Oh...Collateral score contains a cyclical string pieces in some of his cues.

NP:Lasiurus(my favourite track on the album)

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Originally posted by Jeff78:
LOL. Your confusing zimmerito. You keep changing your mind as much as Madonna changes men.

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You probably mean as much as Madonna used to change men ... or did I not read up on the celebrity gossip. ;-)

Clever? Heck no. Now I can't even tell people which one is my favorite track and when you guys go about discussing it here, I know you'll be having the cd next to you. Not only that, you have to figure out which track go with which scene.

I know I'll be using numbers when I try to remember the tracks and talk about them. Gesh!

Once you leave the theater and plunk down $17 for the soundtrack, how it works in the film is completely irrelevant.

In the movie, it's really solid. Very psychological, but like the main character finds its way to heroics and a clear message. The action material was indeed Zimmer styled, but I dug it. The main theme also develops nicely.

On album, it's a little harder to enjoy but if you've got the patience it has some very rewarding moments. The building motif around 2:25 of "Myotis" is nothing new, but oh so fun Track 10 wins for best action though. The softer material is very strong at times and anyone who enjoyed Snow Falling on Cedars will like this. My problem with the album is that it may be a tad too long and some of the really jarring, disturbing music could have been omitted.

Seeing the movie is really important to get into the music in my opinion. A lot of it is in the CD too.

See the movie though! Good stuff all around.

However, as Jeff said, the CD is missing some good stuff. Especially one big action cue that, in the movie, follow the track 10 on the CD. However, I suspect this cue written by one of the additionnal composers. But there's enough stuff to get an expanded version one day if we are lucky. There was almost music wall to wall. However, in my opinion, beside the track 5 on the CD, the rest of the music on the CD give a pretty good overview of the score in the movie.

I was reviewing the soundtrack CD, not the score as heard in the film. There's a HUGE difference.

The album producers have packaged the music as a product, which they are hoping people will buy. Therefore it should be judged as a product. How this product performs is entirely severed from how it performs in a completely different context (i.e., a soundtrack within a film) where it is used to enhance visuals. Stripped of the visuals, how does the music work when it's on it's own? That's the central idea behind each of my reviews. Is it thrilling? Or is it boring? What's here worth having seperate from the film? These are questions I ask myself when reviewing an album.

If I were reviewing how scores work within the film then I would be going to the movies and writing reviews based on what I've heard. But this does absolutely no one any good, because if you wanted to hear the score like, say anywhere other than a movie theater, you'd have to listen to it on CD. So, I review soundtrack CDs, you know, the kind of thing you can listen to in the car, the shower, or in court (if you're James Horner). What we, as score geeks, take away from films is it's music. So we need to judge this music within the context of everyday life -- outside a movie theater.

I don't care if the greatest score of all-time works wonders for the film it's written for when I am reviewing it on it's own on CD. If it's flat and dull, then it's flat and dull, and in my opinion, it's not worth plunking down cash for.

One way is how does it work within the context of the movie? Does is
enhance or detract from the visuals?

The other way is how it plays as a stand alone. I've seen movies where
I thought the music worked perfectly. Then I buy the score only to find
it is a rather dull listen separated from the movie, or the key pieces that
I really liked in the movie are absent from the CD. I bought The
Phantom Of the Opera mainly for the end credits, only to find that
the song was all there was at the end of the score. I liked the score
to The Hours because repetition was needed to dovetail narrative and
thematic threads. As a stand alone, I don't think I'd like so
much repetition....but that is only my opinion.

I will concede that sometimes seeing the movie helps appreciate the
score; on the other hand, I appreciate knowing how the CD holds
up on a stand alone basis and what music from the movie is
present as well as absent.

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Originally posted by joan hue:
I've always thought that movie scores should be critiqued in two ways.

One way is how does it work within the context of the movie? Does is
enhance or detract from the visuals?

The other way is how it plays as a stand alone. I've seen movies where
I thought the music worked perfectly. Then I buy the score only to find
it is a rather dull listen separated from the movie, or the key pieces that
I really liked in the movie are absent from the CD.

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Originally posted by zimmerito:
Anyone who has seen the movie can tell me if track 12 is played at the end of the movie???or its a zimmer expansion of one of his themes just for the cd release????
Np:batman begins end credits(amazing theme,grrrr why not in the cd????)

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Not sure honestly. I think almost all the cues on the cd are more like suites. Except for track 10 for sure. But most of track 12 appeared early on in the film.. The actual finale music for batman is not on the soundtrack as far as I can tell.

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Originally posted by zimmerito:
wich is the zanelli version????from what theme???is in the album?
track 12 is in the movie.Played like in the last track from the soundtrack?
Do you have the score hadriand?Do you like?
The boy soprano is zimmer idea.
thanks.

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In the movie, Zanelli scored the train sequence/battle with Ducard. That track isn't on the CD since it runs like 5 minute + in the movie. I'm not sure if any of it is in the last track, since I haven't been able to find a copy yet. 5 stores and not even a scent of a copy. Riddiculous.

Everything I heard that was Zimmer seemed to just be appropriately dramatic chords, but then again, JNH's contribution seemed to provide more feeling than a stong thematic base, which--contrary to a lot of comments here--I do believe could have served this film well. Just because a lot of the content is psychological doesn't mean the score needs to be thematically unobtrusive; Herrmann comes to mind.

The score seemed to do all it needed to do, and not much else. JNH's music had more of an impact to my ears, but I'm sure that's just because his emotional scoring accompanied scenes sans gunfire and explosions. That said, his music for the epilogue amongst the Manor rubble was beautiful; it did, however, remind me more of Thomas Newman than Snow Falling on Cedars.

As for the film:

The pros:
- Action scenes filmed close and really wide - none of this wire-fu.
- Costume in the dark most of the time.
- Christian Bale all the way.
- All supporting male performances. Esp. Gary Oldman and Cillian Murphy.
- Exciting railway sequence and batmobile chase.
- The best performance of a Batman villain ever from Liam Neeson.

The cons:
- The Scarecrow goes out THAT way? What a waste of an interesting character.
- Everything the good guys say that amounts to ideology sounds awkward. And the only reason what Liam Neeson says doesn't sound like outtakes from the Yoda sequences of ESB comes from the fact that it's Liam Neeson speaking it.
- The final Bruce Wayne / Rachel Dawes scene. Talk about cramming the whole romantic subplot that wasn't into three minutes.
- The film moves very quickly. And yet feels slow as well...