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ScoreKeeper Unmasks Danny Elfman's NACHO LIBRE Score!!

Nacho Libre's score by seppukudkurosawa	Jun 10th, 2006 06:46:14 PM
Hate to be a hating hater or anything, but you think anyone's watching this movie for the score? Not me anyway, I'm watching it for Jack Black's fake-tanned manflesh.
I couldn't read the article... by Jonesey1111	Jun 10th, 2006 06:49:27 PM
I was too busy staring at Harry getting sodomized by Nacho.
WTF is with that animation by wingman321	Jun 10th, 2006 06:50:13 PM
seriously we get it, you're gay
When Harry Met Jack... by Giz	Jun 10th, 2006 06:54:09 PM
much love, jack. much love...
Has harry's nephew seen the new animation? by _Kayser_	Jun 10th, 2006 07:15:09 PM
I think it was his idea. This is what watching The Omen does to kids.
agreed about the animation by Bobo_Vision	Jun 10th, 2006 07:19:32 PM
Is there a reason that Jack Black is using Harry as his own personal blow-up doll in that animation...apart from the obvious?
that's disgusting by Holodigm	Jun 10th, 2006 07:28:33 PM
oh huh? an article?
You didn't like Napoleon Dynamite? by AwesomeBillFunk	Jun 10th, 2006 07:29:07 PM
I'm so gonna cut you Merrick. Personally I loved it. Here is to Hess having a long and successful directorial career - this would be as apposed to Jon Heder's post Napoleon career, as I have no faith in that man being in a good movie ever again.
Now, this is produced by NICKELODEON, isn't it? by Negative Man	Jun 10th, 2006 07:29:53 PM
Which means it's just going to be kid level fart joke, gag reflex, people getting slimed and that type stuff? I'll save my money and buy some actual nachos when I go see Lucha Vavoom in a few short weeks.
Elfman's love for Dia De los Muertos should suit this.. by butnugget	Jun 10th, 2006 08:38:41 PM
Well. Eventually he will get the Oscar he has so righteously been snubbed on previously. I seriously doubt this one will be it though but...Let's Take the Whole Day Off....
REJOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by casinoskunk	Jun 10th, 2006 11:24:07 PM
i love elfman!
Chiming In by ironburl	Jun 11th, 2006 12:23:09 AM
I saw the movie last night Thanks Harry and I had no IDEA that Elfman did the score. Really good! It doesn't have his "signature" sound, but instead uses a lot of groovy 60's and 70's mexican lucha libre film pastiche. What he achieved in matching the visuals of the film is pretty astonishing.I smell mexican Oscar
Boingo? by casinoskunk	Jun 11th, 2006 01:14:21 AM
does it sound like some of the old boingo stuff?
Blah...."Hulk Syndrome" by Freakemovie	Jun 11th, 2006 03:11:20 AM
I originally saw the preview and found it very lame. And yet now that I've seen it about a billion times I almost want to see it out of sheer familiarity and spirit-breaking of the subconscious. The same thing happened with The Hulk, but I was able to ward it off and not see it. Hopefully this will have a happy ending as well.
I prefer his older, funny scores by readingwriter	Jun 11th, 2006 03:52:22 AM
I've rarely gotten through an entire Elfman orchestral score. Edward Scissorhands is pretty but it gets to be too much (I never cared for this "Poor artist who can't communicate and only want to be loved" fairytale, anyway), Batman is repetitious. The one exception is a score no one ever talks about--The Family Man. The movie is a variation on It's A Wonderful Life and is OK for a single viewing, but that score is amazing, very touching. Mission:Impossible is a cool take on action scoring but it's one of those scores I "get" more than I enjoy, which leaves Mars Attacks! as his most enjoyable fullscale orchestral score. But his score for Pee Wee's Big Adventure is bright and funny--and music that's funny is damned hard to write.
Dolores Claiborne by blackwood	Jun 11th, 2006 03:53:08 PM
doesn't seem to get a lot of mention, but I think it's one of his best. Equal parts menace and melancholy. Good stuff. Get "Music for a Darkened Theatre" if you want a great sampling of his earlier stuff. Dead Presidents was also surprisingly great.
Mr. Diversity by bmsatter	Jun 11th, 2006 08:40:34 PM
A lot of people like to peg Elfman as a composer who has this one distinct sound. But in truth, nobody in the modern film music industry is as diverse and as flexible as Elfman. His scores for "Dolores Claiborne", "Dead Presidents", "A Simple Plan", "Flubber", "Men In Black", "Family Man", "Mission Impossible", "Sommersby", "To Die For", "Big Fish", "Chicago", "Amazing Stories: Family Dog", etc. are all so vastly different from each other. There just aren't many composers left able to diversify themselves as much as Elfman.
Here's the video by Orionsangels	Jun 11th, 2006 09:37:56 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =20U1lx39GYo&search=oingo%20bo ingo
Diversity by readingwriter	Jun 12th, 2006 10:01:31 AM
I agree that Dead Presidents was a terrific score, too. I think when Elfman stays away from orchestral scores he comes up with something interesting almost every time. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Elfman isn't diversity, though. His orchestral scores often lack distinctiveness from each other. My yardstick for diversity in a film composer is Jerry Goldsmith, and Elfman isn't in his league.
Goldsmith definitely by bmsatter	Jun 12th, 2006 10:17:00 AM
But I also mentioned that "nobody in the modern film music industry.." is more diverse than Elfman. Goldsmith is gone. And since he started in the late 50's can't hardly be qualified as modern (i.e. present day) anymore. I believe if Elfman scores 200 films over 50 years like Goldsmith his body of work overall will reflect the type of diverstiy that Goldsmith acheived. I can't even name another working composer that I can say that about. Most of Elfman's stuff is unique from each other (minus the first 10 or so films he did). All the films I listed above (and I could've listed more) you dont' confuse them with each other. I hear 2 bars of "Flubber" or "Dead Presidents" and it's obvious what those scores are. And I don't listen to either of them very much.
OK by readingwriter	Jun 12th, 2006 01:05:14 PM
...but I wasn't claiming Goldsmith was alive, though he certainly could be claimed as being "modern" right up to the point where he stopped composing--his long life in his chosen field isn't a mark against him. I was pointing out that he is my yardstick for diversity. Flubber and DP are different from each other, but so are the comedy and urban crime scores of most any composer--that's really not a fair comparison. All three of Goldsmith's Omen scores are very different from each other--can one say the same about Elfman's two Spiderman scores? (Again, I'm using Goldsmith merely as a comparison, I'm not saying Goldsmith is alive and still composing.) James Horner isn't what I'd call a very diverse composer, but I'd never mistake his score for The Forgotten with Troy--that doesn't mean he's diverse. Elfman's Dead Presidents is an example of where I like Elfman to go, using the orchestra in surprising ways--when the strings arrive in the main title it's really striking, in the middle of that 70's funk organ. This isn't a debate, it's merely a comparison of likes and dislikes, and while I admire Elfman's skill, I can't get through many of his scores on disc, and find they don't contribute much in the final film. I found Christopher Young's material in Spiderman 2 to be far more evocative, and am glad he's doing the third one. (If you like some of Elfman's experimental stuff, check out Young's; his score for The Vagrant is quirky as all get-out, and his sinfonetta for toy instruments is wacked.)
agree with all that by bmsatter	Jun 12th, 2006 02:23:48 PM
Horner is a great example of one who is not very diverse (although I like him at times too). But I'm not necessarily even talking about mistaking certain cues as much as the overall approach. I would never mistake The Forgotten with Troy but within all Horner's music he approaches action pretty much the same in every film. He climaxes every movie the same, his main titles are very formulaic. His prhases always long, his voicings among the orchestra always the same, the role of the brass, strings and percussion sections, very much the same in every film, his chordal progressions, modulations the same....I could go on. I just don't find that with Elfman. In each film all these things are different. I agree this is not a debate, just a talking amongst likes/dislikes....The only thing I would say that is starting to "stagnate" his overall approach is his use of electronics. That's getting to be pretty cookie-cutter these days.
You've got Horner down pat by readingwriter	Jun 12th, 2006 02:51:22 PM
That's a great description of his stylistic quirks. Oddly, I find I've been buying more of his stuff on CD lately because it makes great background music for writing or reading. (The exception being the really beautiful Bobby Jones score.) Horner used to claim his longline themes were what made him different from other contemporary composers, and I have to agree, but all of his scores seem to me to be barely MUSIC. They're kind of the musical equivalent of an air conditioner hum--imagine a foley guy looking at a scene and something seems not quite right, and then he realizes there should be the hum of air conditioning going on, and then it all seems right. I don't mean to jump on the Horner bash wagon, but, well, he brings this on himself. And it's thus not surprising that his stuff makes great background music while I'm doing something else. I agree electronics in scores is starting to sound lame all around, probably because it's being used as an effect, whereas an orchestra, when used properly, is the conduit to a musical IDEA; when used improperly, of course, it's that air conditioner hum again, it's just there because it would seem like something was off if music wasn't playing in the background of a scene.
even more perfect description of Horner by bmsatter	Jun 12th, 2006 05:41:32 PM
"air-conditioner hum" that's perfect! I totally agree with that. I too buy a lot of Horner but I mostly listen to him when I'm also doing something else.
Shocked that the score I like most these days is by Zim by readingwriter	Jun 12th, 2006 08:44:07 PM
DaVinci Code is a good listen. Doesn't sound like a "hit the beats" movie score, but Zimmer's attempt at something with more heft to it. I seem to like one of every ten of his, and this one's a keeper. For Horner, all kidding aside, I seem to really enjoy one of every twenty scores.
bmsatter & readingwriter by moviebrat	Jun 13th, 2006 04:51:08 PM
Don
moviebrat by readingwriter	Jun 13th, 2006 05:58:14 PM
Horner was really something back then because he made up for his plaigarism--self and otherwise--with enormous energy. Willow, for example, may not be the most original thing ever but the pure momentum of it makes it WORK. That Horner would be great for POTC2. Actually, the score that really hurt Horner was Aliens, because it was a huge rush job and a difficult working environment, and it seems to me he just said "Screw it, I'll rip off whoever just to get this done." He really stripped down his sound, ripped off a lot of people...and it's one of his most popular scores. Instead of Titanic I count Aliens as the one where he started to change. (Sure, Willow and others came after, but you can detect the change in his style beginning there.) I don't mean to come off as busting on him, because I think he was just dealing with the realities of the business--the sound mix, the shortened time frame. I mean, Goldsmith had four months, I think, to do Poltergeist, and two WEEKS to do Air Force One--the complexity just isn't there in the later score (though I still think it's got kickass action stuff in it, this IS still Goldsmith).+++++BTW, this is a convenient spot to discuss film scores, so we'll probably keep popping up here till the thread is pulled.
Horner and Goldsmith by moviebrat	Jun 13th, 2006 06:29:37 PM
I think you
Explorers by readingwriter	Jun 13th, 2006 08:57:16 PM
It's great to meet someone who appreciates that score. It's not an action or heavy SF score--it's a score about childhood, specifically the childhoods of some SF-loving kids who watched movies together and built forts or robots (or spaceships). I love that Goldsmith scored for the CHARACTERS and the smalltown atmosphere. (I love Matinee's score for the same reason.) Goldsmith engaged in some of the same streamlining as Horner did, but not to the same extent; even "Goldsmith lite" was still Goldsmith. His The 13th Warrior score is terrific, especially with the complete tracks not on the CD. Cassandra Crossing and The Challenge have some of the wildest, most hysterical (in a good way) action music of the time. I agree, too, that Apollo 13 has a really marvelous theme--the music during the launch is beautiful. I really enjoyed your post.
Matinee by moviebrat	Jun 14th, 2006 04:58:09 AM
Absolutely agree. This is what the Goldsmith / Dante combo always did so well. That childlike view of all things, both light and dark, that is so timeless. The scene in Matinee when that boy comes out of his bedroom after having had the bad dream of the atomic bomb to find his mother weeping while watching super 8 film of her husband who
First Fucknutters by dundundles	May 6th, 2007 11:54:42 AM
...and almost a year later... hmmmmm.

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ScoreKeeper Unmasks Danny Elfman's NACHO LIBRE Score!!

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