This was a fun and informative writeup! I know we're in for something really good when it's a one-score post. Disclaimer: have not seen the film.

> Dune (2021) - ***

This was a score where Hans' ego really hurt my opinion of the work in the abstract, even if I would still rate it highly. The thing is, what I like about it is something that Zimmer was trying to *avoid*. He wanted something completely alien, whereas I found a thread of humanity embedded in the soundscapes. It's enjoyable and interesting and inventive, but it seems like Zimmer was more interested in experiments than making a film score (and that vast list of collaborators begs the question of, in jam band approaches, who deserves top-line credit). In the end, I think I would rate the project overall solid three-and-a-half stars without Zimmer's comments (on album, where it accompanied my reading of Bart Ehrman's Jesus, Interrupted), but I understand why others are more lukewarm. The score itself, three stars. So much fun material not used or badly underplayed.

To expand: Zimmer's comments on Star Wars are kinda my problem with his self-re-invention. He can make an argument for why he wants to be different, but he completely missed why Star Wars sounds like it does. Depending on what the film is going for, the music needs to provide the familiar in contrast with a far-away plot, or accentuate the alien-ness (or a mix). Not to mention the music being a deliberate throwback to WWII airplane combat movies and Erroll Flynn swashbucklers. It's like, he needs his work to not just be cool and inventive and different, but *brilliant*. I dunno, it's hard to articulate why his attitude rubs me the wrong way.

That you didn't comment on The Art and Soul of Dune is probably for the best. Dull as dishwater, and ironically (for something intended to read to), it was so boring that I set down my Ehrman to fast-forward through the vast stretches of desolate nothing! It's rare that I look at an album and go "I will never voluntarily revisit this!" (I was also struck by how much better the concept album sounded than the score itself).

(I would also counter that no one ever had An Experience on their phone screen. I watched most of the 2019 She-Ra series on mine, and it hit hard at times!)

I am rabidly interested in the next entry based on your teaser, and I have absolutely no clue what it could be.