Star Wars is the most influential, important and successful movie franchise in the history of cinema. The original instalment A New Hope changed the face of cinema forever, smashing all box office records and changing the way film (in particular science fiction) was made. And its sequels (and prequels, despite their reputation by some people) further cemented its success. Many of the films (particularly the prequels) are regarded as the greatest films of all time. A huge part of this success was from their scores, with all 6 films scored by John Williams. To say they were influential would be a massive understatement. They brought back the orchestral film score to the forefront and introduced the idea of the leitmotif (themes for characters etc) to popular cinema. The music itself told the story and its themes were instantly recognisable. I’m not just talking about the main theme either; The Force theme, the Imperial march, the Leia/Han theme just to name a few! And from the sheer fact that the writing was that good they are arguably the greatest film scores in the history of cinema and are themselves an identity of Star Wars.
So with the recent purchase of LucasArts by Disney and the announcement of a brand new trilogy, a huge question of interest is the music. Will John Williams return? If possible, it is borderline essential that he does. There is no composer who can write music on that level as well as John Williams. So if he doesn’t return, it’s almost guaranteed the music won’t be as good. Furthermore, the music is such a big part of the identity that if it has a stylised change it will have a massive impact on the film in a negative way.
Having said this, the likelihood that Williams does return is not great. He is 80 years old and almost works exclusively for Spielberg. By the time the third instalment is released, if he is still with us (one hopes he will be!) he’ll be approaching 90. Therefore as much as I wish and hope that he does take on the assignment, if he unfortunately does not here are some composers who I would like to see compose the new films. I said that no-one will be able to compare with what Williams wrote for Star Wars, but I think these composers will be able to write suitable and great scores for the franchise.
Michael Giacchino
Regarded by many as John Williams heir, Giacchino is certainly one composer who most resembles Williams in both terms of style and career path. His already established career with Disney also makes him a likely candidate, and after his scores for Star Trek, Super 8 and John Carter etc he would be a very suitable composer for the job.
Alexandre Desplat
The last couple of years have really seen Alexandre Desplat shine. His work for Harry Potter showed he can write fantasy, adventure and action with the best of them and there were real hints of Williams’ style in that writing. His recent work for Rise of the Guardians is also fantastic. It’s easy to see him doing a fantastic job for Star Wars.
James Horner
His self repetition makes James Horner a questionable choice (that 4 note danger motif needs to never, ever be heard in a Star Wars score!) but if he refrained from those tendencies as we all know he can do (The Amazing Spiderman this year showed that) he would be an ideal choice. Experienced, versatile and when he’s at the top of his game the only composer to rival him is John Williams himself.
David Arnold
It’s hard to see David Arnold the call. The only high profile work he’s composed in the past 10 years has been for the James Bond franchise with the only exception being the latest Narnia instalment. But his score for Stargate and Independence Day indicate he might even be the most ideal candidate for the job! When he writes fantasy and science fiction, he writes it just about better than almost anyone.
Howard Shore
Composer of the only franchise to to rival Star Wars in terms of musical scope and achievement. Again, very unlikely but one can’t help but wonder what Shore would do for Star Wars…
I love Nintendo, who doesn’t? If you play video games of any sort at some point or another you’ve probably played a super Mario game. Everyones favourite podgy moustached plumber has the best selling game in video game history and I don’t think that’ll be changing anytime soon. The guy has been in a near constant state of innovation, branching off into different genres, tweaking fine points in others and becoming one of the best loved video game characters of all time if not ‘THE’.
However over the last couple of years, I’ve had the feeling video games as a general are going through the motions, sequels after sequels, standard sports franchises adding on years for what it is essentially a roster update. E3 shows just don’t have the surprise and wow factor of previous years, we know all about the games that are going to be shown before hand. The three different consoles were very different when compared several years ago, now they are very much the same though offering motion control gaming of and recent presentations like the Xbox smartglass left a lot of people unimpressed or just plain confused.
This isn’t to say great games aren’t coming out, I’m a big RPG and platformers fan myself and i’ve been spoilt for choice when it comes to both lately, particularly with the wii RPG wise, but none have reached a popularity anywhere near close to suggest a lasting franchise could be built. The surprise hits have come from indie developers, gaining critical acclaim, offering cheaper great games and the respect of the video game industry and fans alike (No easy feat at all!)
So why am I picking on Nintendo? Well I guess its because Playstation and Xbox have a large amount of video game icon protagonists regardless of exclusivity for either side. Nintendo? They’ll always have Mario, but Mario needs a hand. The Playstation and Xbox both have a huge couple of months big name games coming out and Xbox alone has Halo4 (Can’t Wait!!!)
The formula for Mario I doubt will ever change, he’ll always collect coins and stars, jump on goomba’s, rescue Princess Peach, and the Kart, Party and sports games will continue to be released too. Time will tell but its highly unlikely he’ll be recast as a badass Italian cop seeking redemption and revenge via an FPS genre, will we ever get tired of the same sort of Mario games? I don’t know.
I’m not forgetting of course the Zelda and Pokemon franchises, and of course Kid Icarus which made a spectacular comeback after over 20 years since his last release. But its the time in-between these kind of games getting released that NIntendo needs the most help, new franchises, new ideas and new idols. Nintendo is probably in the best position of the 3 companies with the wii being seen as the most family friendly console, the wiiu coming out very soon and the gaming industry is a media that is finally being taken seriously, and deservedly so.
So as my 3DS gathers a little dust on the shelf (another great console, despite the shocking battery life) A final question, how many wii and 3DS games have you bought this year?
Animated films nearly always bring out the very best in composers. Looking back over the last 30 years or so, some of the absolute highlights in several film score composers careers have been animated films. James Horner created a masterpiece when he scored The Land Before Time (and his scores to An American Tail amongst others are also remarkable). Arguably the greatest score in Hans Zimmers career is The Lion King and Alan Menkens animated disney scores such as Beauty and the Beast are classics etched in peoples memories, regardless of whether they are film music fans or not.
Even recently, composers have written career highlights or even bests when they have scored animated films. Michael Giacchino burst onto the film score scene with his eccentric jazz score for Pixar superhero film The Incredibles before winning the Academy Award for Up. Thomas Newman, again for Pixar scored two of the greatest scores in his career for Finding Nemo and Wall-E. And in 2010 John Powell wrote the greatest score of his career and arguably the greatest score of the entire year (it won the IFMCA award for both animated score of the year and score of the year) for How To Train Your Dragon.
This year we have another case of animated films bringing out the best in composers. Alexandre Desplats score for Rise of the Guardians is nothing short of sensational! From its robust and magical main theme, to the exquisite orchestrations and to the harrowing dark themes and action it is again an absolute career highlight (and considering the magnitude of his output this year one wonders how he does it!)
The question therefore remains, what is it about animated films that brings out this inspiration from composers? In a day where technology is at such a high standard that practically anything is possible in live action films (and indeed, massive productions are almost continuously being released) you would really expect these films to be the main source of inspiration for composers. Yet a vast quantity of these film scores seem to be scrutinised for being generic and at times seem half-assed; even reduced to nothing more than formulae, whereas scores for animated films really shine through. Perhaps it is this focus on technology by live action films, in combination with their darker film tones and “realism” that is the reason behind this.
Animated films are after all kids films. Whether or not adults can enjoy them their stories are aimed at kids. Their plots are focussed on stories of hope, magic and feature fictional characters that are totally fictional (i.e. their humour and actions are not something you would see from anyone in a live action film or in real life). Therefore this gives composers absolute freedom. They can be as whimsical as they want, and they don’t need to worry about their music coming across as cheesy (hell if the music wasn’t bold and light hearted in some places it would probably be inappropriate!). The plots also feature events that really allow for some absolutely breathtaking music; flying, being thrown into an ocean current, standing on top of a rock gazing at a kingdom as Mufasa utters the words “remember”…
And in some certain cases composers haven’t just written beautiful music; they have written truly inspired music. Thomas Newmans Define Dancing is a stroke of genius, and John Powells “Test Drive” is one of the most enthralling yet well crafted pieces of music you will ever likely hear. Again, it comes down to the plots: fantasy, adventure, love (in its absolute purest and fictional form).
Therefore whenever a composer is attached to an upcoming animated film it really is something to be excited about. I’ll finish this blog with some clips of some truly fantastic cues from past animated films and a suite of Alexandre Desplats new score for Rise of the Guardians.
Thanks for reading!
Hans Zimmers score for The Lion King is not just arguably the greatest animated score of all time. It’s in many peoples opinions the greatest score of his career and one of the greatest scores of all time. Beautiful doesn’t do it justice…
Thomas Newman had already shown how animated films could inspire him when he scored Pixar film Finding Nemo. But I don’t think even Pixar could have predicted he would write something like this when they hired him for Wall-E.
Like Newman, John Powell was hardly new to writing animated scores (his collaborative efforts for Chicken Run, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda just to name a few!) but just like Thomas Newman, nobody could have predicted what he would come up with for How To Train Your Dragon.
Alexandre Desplat is the latest composer to score a career highlight for an animated film!
How many of us have a really bad memory of science at school?
Copying textbooks, lighting little light bulbs that would class as a practical?
Of all my subjects at school, science is one of those subjects I remember least fondly with music coming first. I almost stopped doing music in high school because of the way it was taught, how you weren’t treated as an individual, again the copying from textbooks, but also because lets face it, 1st year of high school, what kid wants to listen to Mozart/Beethoven for a whole lesson? but no disrespect to either composer as both of their music changed the world and remains as relevant today as it ever has done and will continue to do so.
From an Education perspective, both are similar in a way if you think about it, if you teach someone in a certain way their motivation towards it drastically changes. Its all finding out a core interest, if a kid wants to write a pop song just like his or her favourite artist or band, teachers of the world need to teach this. I left school about 8 years ago so I don’t know if this the case now, but if not, it needs to change.
And so brings me onto science. Being one of the key three along with English and Maths it holds an upper hand on music, but like music, there has never been a better time to get kids interested with the wealth of popular culture. We can look at two huge blockbusters that came out this year in the shape of Spiderman and the Avengers and all of the science references in these and other past big blockbusters. I could also include the Big Bang Theory in this, but a lot of the science dialog is fired off a lightning fast pace and is highly advanced stuff a lot of the time as well.
One headline also dominated the news a few weeks ago. The news of Felix Baumgartner falling from over 120,000 feet, falling faster than the speed of sound, breaking the sound barrier, breaking records and landing safely on the ground to rapturous applause. I love news stories like this that breakaway from the usual awful pointless celebrity stories of who’s with who, who’s breaking up and who’s having a breakdown, not to mention the fear-mongering ‘broken Britain’ crap.
But Its almost all the time a headline makes the news regarding some form of breakthrough in medical science that could potentially save lives and somewhere out there in the future and I believe cures for major diseases will be found one day. But it starts with new generations and future generations and our approach to teaching what matters now, to motivate, to enthuse and inspire………
So the topic for today is this, Everyone loves you when you’re dead, il start of by saying that the intention is not to offend, only to inform and what i say in this post is solely related to the topic and does not undermine the skills of certain actors and certain music.
But.. Everyone loves you when you’re dead.
Spent most of his career ignored (not hailed enough) for his incredibly great work
Hated and disrespected, treated as a menace to society (talents less important than a personal life)
Instead of my usual article regarding a certain topic on my mind, this week I’d simply like to share my experience of a concert I attended last night: John Williams 80th Birthday celebration at the Royal Albert Hall. To commemorate John Williams 80th birthday, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by the great Robert Ziegler) played a fantastic programme featuring some of Williams’ greatest works. As you are all hopefully aware, John Williams has been scoring films for the past 50 years with scores to films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Harry Potter and many, many more. His influence and legacy are unparalleled, with Star Wars changing the face of film scores forever with the idea of symphonic film score and the leit-motif. We are truly blessed with an absolute genius, who has given us as an audience so much. I’ll leave this post with a few videos of the concert. Here’s to John Williams and hope that there’s still many years and a few fantastic scores to come! Happy Birthday John! (For February… ha!)
I’m normally known as a pretty positive person and it takes a lot to get me down, but when I rant, I’m unstoppable, so this blog I won’t be my normal optimistic self where I try to see the good in any given situation, sorry folks, I’ve been meaning to pen this down for a while now and when something bothers you as much as censorship does me, a simple facebook status is not enough.
Ok so about 3 months ago, a high school shooting occurred, it wasn’t as big news as the tragic events at The Dark Knight screening in Colorado as only a single person was injured and thankfully is now all ok. The attackers home was searched and a CD was found, of metal group Rammstein, so the initial reaction of course is to blame metal music and the bonkers lead singer who is known for sitting in a bath of fire at live shows.
This of course isn’t the first time this has happened to a band, its happened to Slipknot before and most famously to Marilyn Manson over the events of the Columbine School shooting. So once again the media had a field day and blamed the social media, just like video games, kids tv shows, wrestling, movies, etc, etc.
Really?? Are we really going to do this dance again?? Urgh………….
Ok, every argument has two sides, I’m willing to hear both. So lets hear censorships side, if Rammstein, The Dark Knight Rises and Marilyn Manson never existed, would the aforementioned events linked to those people have happened? Begrudgingly I have to say yes, its possible.
But hey when I go downstairs in a minute to go get some biscuits and a drink, its possible I’ll fall downstairs and break my neck, its possible a burglar will break down my door and try to kill me, anything is possible. But when you say that, is it actually gonna happen? No, I have my biscuits and drink and all of me is still here and still intact, Its possible BUT, not likely.
We can talk possibilities until the cows come home, there is no possible way to predict the next time or the next piece of artistic expression that will link to the next tragic event we never want to happen, lets look at a few more while we’re here.
Anders Behring Brevik claimed he likened Call Of Duty Modern Warfare as a ‘training simulator’. You could have inserted a thousand different online shooters or any game with a gun here before this and that would be the case.
Shows like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers and the game Mortal Kombat got stick for making kids want to fight. I hate to break this to you parents, KIDS LIKE TO FIGHT! its not something a teenager in a brightly coloured jumpsuit, mutated pizza chugging reptiles or two lowly rendered undistinguishable figherts in disco suits can take the blame for!!
Oh and a word on wrestling, think about it, two large sweaty men, in spandex, play fighting, over a spangly belt. Yeah……… not buying it………..
And as I mentioned Marilyn Manson, lets mention the other Manson, Charles, he claimed to be inspired by a Beatles song (Helter Skelter) So do you seriously think when the guys were recording The White Album Paul McCartney raised the concern, ‘ummmm guys, do you worry this song could inspire a man to start a cult for an impending apocalyptic race war?’
It all comes down to extreme minority verses the majority, it wouldn’t be fair to take away the certain forms of media we love because of a select few, thats just wrong. I’m sure many people reading this make music or movies, its our own legacy, something that will last forever and we will forever be remembered for, imagine being told you couldn’t do that anymore.
But a final note, two to three weeks after this happened, the Mars Rover landed on Mars, it was a wonderful event celebrated the world over. We can do extraordinary things as species by moving forward, so why when something like this happens do we insist on regression?
Pondering this post during a casual drive to wherever the hell my friend likes to take us at 1 in the morning on the eve of a work night, allows for good thought process as i was running low on things that had officially pissed me off this week, until my good buddy Chris informed me of a 100% rating for sky fall from critics, Now I’m sure the film itself will be good, and i will be going to watch it, however 100% ? in my opinion not one film in the 2010 plus eras have produced anything worthy of such perfection. Which brings me to my post, Why don’t critics fuck off and jump off a nearby bridge?
I Dont like to read reviews on films, however my good old friend chris will constantly refresh me every now and then which will prompt an apt discussion of which we will not agree and then talk for hours about how shit modern films are and how much my poor friend is sucked in by new age bullshit and easy to please mindset, in fact i don’t remember a time that we have been to the cinema in our 5 year friendship that he has not came out and branded the film “Amazing” I cant help but think he is heavily influenced by Critics, and worshipping websites like rotten tomatoes, the very same website that at one point had the dark knight as the best film EVER, (don’t get me started on that joke)
It starts to worry me how much influence someones opinion is on a film or even music before the world has even had a chance to feast their eyes or ears on something. For a perfect example, A popular critic for music (Filmtracks) slammed the work of Hans Zimmer on his soundtracks for Pirates of the carribean, however, as far as film music goes, the average film go-er will remember the music from this film, in fact film music buffs and graduates of music aside, you would be hard pushed NOT to find a film viewer who would not put that soundtrack in their top 5 memorable scores, so in that sense, love or hate, doesnt that show that it works?
A little while ago i listened to this…
First though? absolutely stunning/beautiful piece of music by someone i could only dream of having 10% of the ability and inspiration he carries round in a humble persona. However, when i watched the film, me and my friend that saw the film together, were both unanimous that the music in a fair few scenes did not seem to work. now that shows to me a critics influence in something i call “Music snobbery” Now if you ask me which one is a better piece of music, i will tell you Pirates every time, and the answer is 3 fold, it worked, it worked and … people remember it.
You would be hard pushed to find something as memorable as this is modern film, and the fact every soundtrack gives you something exciting and different whilst retaining the feel of all the films, is an extraordinary feat.
Sadly unless its black and white, pretentious, or you are john williams, it is going to be a long road to be known as something great, you could argue Hans Zimmer could be the best composer in our current generation, his scores for the lion king and gladiator were incredible pieces of work.
So this is my message to your Rotten Tomatoes, filmtracks and all the rest of you slamming work without giving the films a fair chance, whilst praising pretentious films before seeing them, You are killing a generation, you are also brainwashing people to like whatever shit you spoon feed them.
The James Bond franchise is a film franchise like no other. Approaching its 23rd instalment, it is the longest running film franchise in history and one that has always stayed in the public conscious. Every time a new film is released it is an event. Every time a new “Bond” is revealed it is “history”. And where so many film franchise’s have come and gone, the Bond franchise has always endured.
What has made this franchise so successful has been it’s stubbornness to not conform to current trends. The films have a formulae; and while they may adapt to keep themselves current and fresh, deep down in the core of them there are certain aspects that will never change. There are always the gadgets. There is always the “Bond Girl”. There is always the suaveness- that straightening of the tie after an action packed situation. And there has always been the music. Since day one when Monty Norman scored “Dr. No” and then John Barry defined the bond sound over a remarkable 25 years (scoring 11 films, with a couple of composers in between) James Bond has been known for a certain sound. And I don’t just mean that iconic main theme. It is hard to explain in words, but you know it when you hear it. Those lush strings, those suave brass lines. Even if the music adapted with the times so as not to get left behind, again at the heart was that bond sound. And with a few exceptions (Éric Serra I’m looking at you), the music has always remained that way.
When John Barry retired from the Bond franchise and David Arnold joined the mix for Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997, it looked like a new era of Bond really had begun (John Barry himself declared David Arnold as his successor). Indeed, up until Quantum of Solace, Arnold has composed every single Bond movie. And while he has introduced his blend of electronics into the mix (although not so much in Casino Royale and QOS), at the core was always that bond sound. The love themes have always been beautifully present, the action scenes always retaining that excitement, and that “Bondness”. In an interview with David Arnold, he remarked that he could have gone for something else but “what’s the point?” The audience goes to the Bond movie expecting to hear something, and if it’s not there they really miss it and it becomes a disappointing experience. And he has always stuck true to those words; every bond score delivering exactly what we wish to hear, even as it has adapted through the films.
When Sam Mendes was announced as the director of the new instalment “Skyfall” it didn’t come as much a surprise that Thomas Newman was announced as the composer. Newman has composed 4 of his previous films including the acclaimed “American Beauty” and “Road to Perdition”. Indeed, Newman is a very prolific composer with multiple academy award nominations to his name, as well as being a film score fan-favourite.
But how will he fit into the Bond franchise? That is a question film score and Bond fans alike have been asking ever since his announcement (many with scepticism and worry). Like the Bond franchise, Newman himself has a sound- almost all of his scores being instantly recognisable. From his eclectic instrument choices, repeated patterns, synths and string sounds (albeit beautiful) Newman scores have been unique and fantastic, but could not be further from the Bond sound. However, we are talking about a veteran composer. Someone who knows movies, and knows what they need. So to brush off his score before it’s even released would be a foolish thing to do.
In the past week snippets of his score have been released, as well as 3 whole tracks and a clip of an action scene that features Newman’s score. So while not making any full conclusions of the score, I can make some comments regarding what we have heard so far.
I’ll start with what we heard first- music in the train sequence clip. This really is different for Newman, and is very Bond sounding. The brass is present, dominating the melody over repetitive string lines before that classic Bond theme is heard on the trumpets. If the rest of the score was in this vein, it really would be a near-perfect Bond score.
However, the clips that have been released since, certainly don’t indicate this to be the case. The album release is going to feature 30 different tracks, which despite the films 2 and a half hour run time (the longest Bond film ever) ought to give a decent presentation of the music in the film. Out of the 3 tracks released in their entirety only one sounds like it would come from a Bond film. The three in question are “New Digs”, “Severine” and “The Moors”.
The first track “New Digs” is very Newman, with receptive clean guitar notes along with other eclectic instruments. The orchestra is present but in the foreground. As a “Bond” track, there are hints of Bondness in the strings as well as the theme being very subtly included. The problem is the track is very Newman sounding. In any other film (say, Bourne) it would be great, but in the case of a Bond film it’ll depend of the scene it is for. If it’s simply an incidental cue then it’ll be fine.
The second track, titled “Severine” is absolutely fantastic. It starts with a flute, before absolutely lush strings break out. Without knowing the story, one would believe this is a love theme and it is very reminiscent of some of the Barry love themes in the past. Incidentally, it is also reminiscent of some of Newman’s past work. Love interest theme’s are very important to Bond films, and Newman has got this bang on.
Finally, the third track is “The Moors”. It is very rhythmic, combining guitars, synths and percussion with orchestra. It’s a cool action cue, but the main worrying factor is how late in the track list it is (27 out of 30). If it’s the main centrepiece action cue at the end it will be very disappointing. Again, in a Bourne movie it would suit the palette just fine, but Bond film’s require a lot more.
The 30 second clips of each track give a brief overview of what to expect in the score and it’s a mixed bag. So far there doesn’t seem to be a bad track with some great action and romance cues, but for a lot of it we’re hearing standard Newman. Especially in the incidental tracks.
Having said this there are moments of Bond music at it’s finest. “Brave New World” indicates the villain with orchestral brutality, while “Silhouette” has a great brass pattern before it become straight percussive. “Modigliani” again features the “Severine” theme, this time in a much more subtle version. “Komodo Dragon” has some of those classic orchestral moments of establishing shots of the past and “The Bloody Shot” and “She’s Mine”sound like a fantastic action cues. “Breadcrumbs” features the Bond theme build up and “Deep Water” sounds like it’s going to unleash it in the same vein as the train clip (although one wonders if this is the cue for that clip, despite it being so late in the track list where the clip in question is reported to be the opening scene of the film).
Interspersed throughout the track list seem to be some promising stuff. But with so many “Newmanisms” in play, the question is begged if Newman was the right choice. From what we’re hearing it’s going to be a decent score at worst, with potential to be a great one. And we only have a couple of clips to go on. But despite the final result when we finally hear it, we have to wonder what the score could have been if David Arnold was still onboard. For food for thought, I’ll leave links to the clips plus two great action cues from Arnold’s bond efforts of the past.
So far the Newman score does sound very promising, even with Newman’s traits in play. But will it match Arnold’s efforts for the franchise? Only time will tell….
Arnold’s score for the final scene of Tomorrow Never Dies.
Arnold’s score to the classic chase scene in Casino Royale.
Ok now I’ve got your attention, stop, stop right there, yes you, with your fingers hovering over the keyboard ready to hit caps lock and unleash the fury.
Its not a good movie lets get that clear first of all and thats something we can all agree on. Terrible script, bad acting, the tone is all over the place, lots of it doesn’t make sense and overall the decision to change from Tim Burtons dark vision of Batman to Joel Schumachers camp slapstick definitely doesn’t help (and is probably where a lot of the hate comes from).
It always seems to crop on peoples top 10 worst of all time lists alongside things like The Room, Troll 2, Bio-dome, The Animated Titanic Movie (I dunno if they’re on yours or not, comment below what yours are). But you know what? In light of Christopher Nolan’s magnificent Batman trilogy, Its time to forgive it.
Ok, so you’re still probably ready to unleash the caps lock fury (Yes Batman should not have a bat credit card or bat nipples) and Mr Freezes 200 or so ice related puns aside hear my out, is it really that bad? really? I don’t think so.
The tone maybe all over the place but at least its always trying to be entertaining and move the story forward and it never bores me or offends me on an intellectual level, so in that case its probably a little better in some aspects than other super-hero movies like Green Lantern, Fantastic Four, Steel and Catwoman.
I’m sure you’ve watched a certain film that can be described as so bad its good, Flash Gordon and Street Fighter are definitely in this category but considered cult classics. I recently watched Dungeons and Dragons for the first time and while that was slaughtered by critics and fans alike, in retrospect now, thats so bad its good (Seriously watch it again and don’t try to deny you didn’t laugh, maybe for all the wrong reasons but still). So why not Batman and Robin? Ok, maybe not a cult classic but certainly so bad its good worthy.
If nothing else we should be thankful for the impact Batman and Robin has had on popular culture particularly on the internet, it turned certain personalities and websites into overnight sensations overnight whose success still lasts to this day. Comic book movies in general could look a lot different today without it.
And going back to Christopher Nolans fantastic Batman trilogy, maybe sometimes you have to get things wrong to get things right. Thank god they let a man who knows what he’s doing take charge. So who knows, in the future, the same thing will happen again and we might even get a good Green Lantern movie…….. Ok maybe thats a step too far………….
I’m Richard, and you’re awesome for reading this.
P.s. Ironically the year after Dungeons and Dragons came out, its Studio (New Line Cinema) bought out Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring. Yeah……… 🙂
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