 |
As Good As It Gets on DVD
• "spatially integrated score" • Dolby Digital 5.1 More DVD info... |
|
|
As Good As It Gets on DVD
• "spatially integrated score" • Dolby Digital 5.1 More DVD info... |
 |
|
 | |||||||||
| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
| . |
1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
 | ||||||||
|
|
|
Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek the tender, romantic side of Hans Zimmer's writing, confined here mostly to lovely string, piano, and woodwind melodies. Avoid it... if hearing Zimmer write essentially a Rachel Portman score is a twisted reality too horrific for your masculine ears to handle. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The personalities of the primary characters of the film are all well addressed by Zimmer's music. Nicholson's character is treated to a disjointed, chopping string rhythm led by cello, whipped into a self-absorbed frenzy in an almost tango-like rhythm. Hunt's character, meanwhile, is given tender piano and woodwind theme straight from the Portman playbook, an interesting choice of instrumental representation given that Nicholson is a piano performer in the film. Her theme provides most of the pure beauty in the score (while the dancing string theme is more frivolous), and matures well in "A Better Man." That cue, easily the best on the album, contains the most memorable cue from the film, a overhead travel sequence with the full ensemble in harmony over a more aggressive rhythm. Several other sub-themes and motifs are presented for the other characters in the film, as well as an overarching love story idea. In terms of expressing complexity with such a small group, Zimmer impresses with the layers of strings nearly always moving in counterpoint for Nicholson's character. Some of that discord straightens itself out by the end of the film, naturally mirroring the character. A few cues are worth mentioning because of their direct references: "Humanity" opens with a few bars seemingly lifted directly from Nine Months and "1.2.3.4.5" has a strangely curious thematic connection to the completely unrelated score for The Untouchables in the latter half of its first minute. On album, about 30 minutes of Zimmer's score (an adequate and satisfying amount) are followed by the light female-vocalized rock songs heard in the film (with the exception of one). The album concludes with a sign of Zimmer's good humor; an Art Garfunkel cover version of the Eric Idle/Monty Python song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" features backing by the Crimson Tide deep, male chorus in a hilarious juxtaposition of sounds. While the cleansed lyrics are disappointing, you still can't help but thank Zimmer for suggesting the piece to Brooks for inclusion in the film and on album. Overall, As Good As It Gets is an easy and lovable score, and while a 55-minute bootleg of Zimmer's work for the film is traded on the secondary market, the commercial album has more than enough charm for most listeners. ****
The insert contains a lengthy, funny, and informal note from director Jim Brooks (was he sober when writing that?), as well as a list of performers. For a very detailed analysis of this score, view the old archives of Yumbo's site (the original online Zimmer site from the mid-1990's). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
