So why don't FSM's Kaplan Brothers throw Marco the Musical some love?

A brief history of backhanded complements

From the brief period where their FSM podcast was a transcript:

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DA: Birth, I think, is another excellent score that has a completely different sound. It's very much like minimalism crossed with Johan Strauss. Very rich waltzes and Glassy minimalism. Wonderful transmutations of material. Great development is sort of a theme this year, no pun intended. Desplat is a guy to watch. He's been around for a while, but he's working more and more stateside now.
Al Kaplan: Did you hear Girl with the Pearl Earring?
DA: Yes.
AK: Jerry liked it.
DA: Well, I'm not surprised, if it's anything like this…
JK: …But he liked Marco Beltrami.
DA / AK: [Laughing]

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Meaning Jerry Goldsmith's taste is not always to be trusted, because he liked Marco Beltrami.

And from the editorial of the latest FSM Online:

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"The two scores least likely (most likely?) to triumph next weekend are James Newton Howard's Michael Clayton and Marco Beltrami's 3:10 to Yuma, works similar in how utterly scaled down they are. JNH probably became the first composer in history to cry out "No!" when he found out about his nomination.Clayton might be even less interesting than The Kite Runner, but it would actually be funny to see JNH win for one of his most intentionally bland efforts to date. Hopefully this nomination is just a sign of admiration toward the composer, following up on his deserved nod for The Village, and not any indication that he's going to win. But the Clayton Oscar push is in full gear, and the plethora of ads (especially on the radio) could certainly have an effect. Marco Beltrami was likely the second composer to cry out "No!" after hearing of his nomination for 3:10 to Yuma, which is much more out of the blue. Perhaps the nomination should have been shared by director James Mangold, who by stripping away virtually all of the instrumentation, with the exception of the ever-sacred guitar stem, had more of a hand in the way the score turned out than did Beltrami."

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That said, I think the comment said about Goldsmith's tastes was fairly humorous; and, again, on that "intellect" level, as being pretentious. It being a word I don't particularly care for, I'd be willing to shed my hatred in this instance. It would have been memorable if Jerry himself did a podcast to follow up theirs' and remarked on their own tastes. And I still can't fathom how people can't put their minds around the fact that Beltrami studied under Goldsmith, so its not the fact of whether Jerry liked him or not, it's the fact that they shared a mutual trust of each other. Beltrami is very influcened by Jerry, and he shows a very good understanding of Jerry's ideas on how to score a film (i.e. Hellboy, The Omen, Three Burials). They seem to be judging his score for Yuma based on the fact that it has limited orchestral outbursts; like 'scoring a film with an eclectic ensemble' is a bad thing*. I'm sure that both Kaplan's have a standard appreciation of Ennio Morricone (as I think every film score fan thinks he/she should have), but they didn't quite get who Beltrami was quoting on that one. This makes me foam at the mouth to hear their opinions on Three Buriels and, perhaps, I Am Dina; though Dina is a much larger and traditional score, there are moments when conservative film score enthusiasts might wince. Hey, even Stravinsky was chastized for his use of the bassoon in The Rite of Spring by Saint-Saens. Sometimes this music just isn't for everyone. And I highly doubt that director James Mangold had a huge hand in how the picture was scored. The man seems like a fairly boring and uninvolved individual, and enough people have recognized Yuma as being an extension of what Beltrami gave to Tommy Lee Jones for Three Burials.

And about Michael Clayton being an "intentionally bland effort" on JNH's part: I watched the film yesterday, and absolutely loved it. Personally, I think the film should've used no score at all, but I often think that of films scored by James Newton Howard.

* Noted translation by noted scholar Michael McLennan.

Incidentally, if you've not listened to many of their podcasts, take time out for their Halloween 2007 podcast on the 'Dies Irae'. Good stuff. For more on the nonsense side of things, their 'Mi3' podcast (complete with live performance of Alan Silvestri's rejected Mi score) is time well spent.

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Originally posted by nuts_score:
... like scoring a film in a minimalistic style is bad thing.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Originally posted by nuts_score:
... like scoring a film in a minimalistic style is bad thing.

Ah, you have irked me. Malappropriation of 'minimalism' is one of the things that irks me more than anything else among film score fans. Just to be outrageously picky, instead try:
- 'scoring a film with a non-symphonic sound'
- 'scoring a film with an eclectic ensemble'

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You got me there. I knew what I was talking about, but couldn't get the words out of my fingers and onto this damned keyboard. I wasn't meaning "minimalist" like as in Steve Reich, but you nailed exactly what I was shooting for. I've edited the OP to suit your Australian needs.

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* Noted translation by noted scholar Michael McLennan.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:

Thumbs up.

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Originally posted by sean:
Michael, the Halloween '07 podcast doesn't have the Kaplans, it's only Doug Adams and David Cosina if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, enough about them.

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It's Doug Adams and John Takis I think. I was just recommending it as one of the better FSM podcasts, not as a beacon of Kaplamania.