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Originally posted by sean:
T Rex can also swear.

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And Tom Waits, as well . . . but mostly never. I'm not much of a fan of Thomas Newman's work and will probably wait to hear what this has to offer in the film; like how I felt with Road to Perdition, which I like.

NP> John Barry's Dances with Wolves (****/****)

Clayton

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Originally posted by scoreguy16:
I just think this might be an interesting score because it's not really a typical Newman type of movie.

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You're right about it not being a typical film for Newman to tackle, but it is a typical Newman score, filled with his strange assortment of instruments and band-like approach. His score works well in the context of the film and is far better than his mediocre work for American Beauty and Cinderella Man, there are no annoying "floating piano" themes to hamper the emotion, and the songs that are used work very well and are carefully placed.

The film is incredible, easily the best war film since The Thin Red Line in it's anti-war scope ... far better than the more pornographic movies like Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down. (Chris Hedges is right that they are "war-porn," no matter how you want to look at them.) If you've got a hard-on for action and think that's what you'll get from Jarhead, than stay away. The film puts David Russell's Gulf War adventure, Three Kings, to shame, so far as trying to convince an audience of its pitiful humanitarian message at the end. Jarhead has none of that and stays within realistic boundaries and attitudes. A very good film and a very good follow up to the awesome book. Highly recommended!

Jarhead - Music By Thomas Newman

Universal Pictures presents Jarhead, based on the bracing memoir of Marine Anthony Swofford’s disorienting firsthand experience of the Gulf War, starring Jake Gyllenhaal (The Day After Tomorrow), Jamie Foxx (Ray, Collateral) and Peter Sarsgaard (Kinsey, Boys Don’t Cry). The film was directed by Academy Award®-winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) with Red Wagon Entertainment partners — Oscar®-winner Doug Wick (Gladiator) and Lucy Fisher (upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha) on as producers. Academy Award®-nominee Thomas Newman (Cinderella Man, Road To Perdition) provides the bracing original score to the soundtrack which also includes the hits “Don’t Worry Be Happy” performed by Bobby McFerrin, “O.P.P” performed by Naughty By Nature, “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy, “Bang A Gong (Get It On)” performed by T-Rex and “Soldier’s Things” performed by Tom Waits.

Thomas Newman was born in Los Angeles and graduated with a Master’s in Music from Yale University. Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) was Newman's breakthrough film score, getting him noticed by Hollywood directors and producers. He later went on to score music for hit films such as Scent of a Woman (1992), Little Women (1994) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which earned Newman two Academy Award®-nominations in the same year; another nomination (for Unstrung Heroes) followed a year later. In 1999 American Beauty earned him much critical acclaim along with his first Grammy® Award and Oscar® nomination. He has additionally composed the themes for acclaimed TV shows such as Boston Public and the HBO television series Six Feet Under, for which he won an Emmy in the Outstanding Main Theme Music category in 2003. More recently, he earned his sixth Oscar®-nomination for his score of Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2004) and received rave reviews for his score of Cinderella Man (2005). Throughout his career, Thomas Newman has also received two Grammy® Award-nominations, five BMI Music Awards and one Golden Globe® Award-nomination for American Beauty.

The music in Jarhead really shapes the film. Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is ironically heard when the troops are heading to the grueling hell of basic training and “O.P.P.” from Naughty by Nature sets the mood of partying and letting off steam from the boredom and stress that accompany the men daily. “Bang A Gong” (Get It On)” seems to be a war anthem that has been seen in many movies so it is appropriately placed. The opening track, “Welcome to the Suck” and “Desert Storm” have Middle Eastern musical arrangements that really put the listener in the mindset of the soldiers — you can feel the blistering heat and see the endless desert. “Full Chemical Gear” seems to use traditional Iraqi and Middle Eastern instruments but is updated with the modern beats and sounds of electric guitar and drums. This really brings home the fact that the Gulf War involved the use of technological warfare more so than in the wars past.

Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows “Swoff” (Gyllenhaal), a third-generation enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper’s rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through the Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don’t understand against an enemy they can’t see for a cause they don’t full fathom. Foxx portrays Sergeant Sykes, a Marine lifer who heads up Swofford’s scout/sniper platoon, while Sarsgaard is Swoff’s friend and mentor, Troy — a die-hard member of STA — their elite Marine Unit.

The Universal Pictures film was released November 4, 2005 in theaters nationwide.