Lord, has this been going a year? Woah. I'm floored by your work, and love your insight! It's also interesting how many scores you crammed into one post back then! (And for the record, I liked the 'spot the collaborator bit,' it was like a scavenger hunt!

> The Lion King (2019) - ****

'Live action,' bleh. Normally I would say people are stupid, but Disney went out of its way to market the movie like that. It's one thing for The Jungle Book, which at least had one real life person, but for this it was all CGI. Animation continues to not get the respect it deserves.

I actually think I like this a bit *less* than you. Not that I hate it, but I thought it lost a certain spark in the reimagining. Adding in some atmospheric rumbling more typical of the RC era didn't help, and while the songs were (kinda?) out of his purview, there was no real vision to what stayed the same and what changed. That Mancina wasn't asked back was annoying, for reasons you said. Much like the film, this one's a safe, entertaining and occasionally innovative work that lacks a compelling reason to exist, let alone escape the shadow of the original. Not the same nor radically different, it's just *safe*. It feels very wrong to so complain about a project! I guess for me, Zimmer & co. didn't bowl me over with a vast improvement or wow me with something out of left field, so I can't shake a heavy 'Why bother?' when listening.

That's a bloated paragraph for 'meh.' I need a re-listen sometime! (And maybe an expanded album presentation, going off your comments.)

As an interesting aside. Your Movie Sucks would highlight a bit in I Just Can't Wait To Be King where Simba's voice was pitch-corrected to the wrong note. (https://youtu.be/btNL1q-yU7E?t=4710)

Given that the next year would see a massive surge of celebrities and companies wanting to be seen as with-the-times racially, it's super neat to see Zimmer going out of his way here to use black ensembles and uttering the phrase 'Black Lives Matter!' And not many composers (or American celebrities period) can claim to have a South African rap sheet for 'anti-Apartheid activities'

> Dark Phoenix (2019) - **

I actually really like this one, and would give it a solid four stars. Then again, I haven't listened to it since it came out, soooo... BUt I liked the retro throwback tones, and given that this was shortly after Dunkirk, I was thrilled to hear something so tonal and melodic, even if it's his usual bag of tricks. The film... how does a studio take a SECOND pass at a story and arguably fuck it up even worse the second go round?

Also, one could argue that Ottman himself broke the obligation for thematic continuity. You make an excellent point about the lack of connections from other composers, but even he abandoned his theme outside of the opening titles of Days (and I don't remember what Apocalypse did with his theme).

> -----------------------

> Next time: Scores that were written and recorded before the pandemic and
> released in 2020.

A pandemic preamble! We really had no idea what was coming lol

> You might think “hey, you can see the finish line!” but that would
> overlook that there are still over 60 works left to go through.

You have the patience of a saint and the work ethic of a monk.

> If you want the perfect metaphor for how this has turned into a Sisyphean
> task, it’s probably me writing over 5,000 words about one of those scores
> for the last month-plus and not being done yet.

Is it Dune? Surely that refers to Dune!