> Dune (2021) - ***

This is a stellar write-up, one of your best.

That said, I have this nagging sense that a score like Dune doesn't really deserve to be treated to such a detailed analysis any more than many, many other scores that have as much thought put into them. Zimmer has made himself such a lightning rod and built such an effective hype machine that we can't help but agonize over his scores and whether they're masterpieces or transforming film music as we know it (and whether that's good or bad), when the reality is often that they're far less innovative or distinct or varied in quality than they seem at first.

Setting aside my "rating" of Dune (I think it's fine/solid, like you), there's not really anything all THAT truly remarkable about it (in terms of things worth dissecting in a deep dive analysis), at least in comparison to lots of other scores that try to tailor techniques to their film's narrative/world and have interesting stories behind their creation. And yet, it's Dune, Dunkirk, Blade Runner, Interstellar, Inception, etc. that have gotten a far greater amount and depth of analysis than any other scores from the past decade+ - from people who like and dislike them, and everyone in between. It "makes sense" - he's the most important composer of the last 30 years, he's got a huge public profile, he's scoring each year's biggest films, he's bridged the gap between film and pop music, there's more available/relevant information out there about him and his scores to build upon, etc. - but I would love to see more (from you or anyone) of this level and quality of analysis for non-Zimmer scores.

If it isn't clear this isn't any knock against you. This is an absurd undertaking and the result has been so impressive, including this bit on Dune. But all of this is why your Solo write-up was so enjoyable: that truly was a unique moment in time, for Powell, for Williams, for the biggest film score(s) of all time, and the result stands alone - not just in terms of quality, but in terms of the characteristics of the end result, especially in comparison to past Star Wars-extension scores, and as part of the new trend it signaled, extending the sound of the universe - so insight into how it came to fruition is fascinating. (Although, part of me feels similarly about how much discursive oxygen Star Wars eats up.) And that sort of writing on scores doing as many if not more interesting things than Zimmer's would be awesome - some recent ones that come to mind are Black Panther, The Green Knight, The Last Duel, and Arrival.

It's not a zero-sum game, of course, and it's funny to raise this now, after you just spent months spending an inordinate amount of time analyzing scores that were never given the time of day (or at least not recently), countering the whole point of this post. But it's something I've thought more and more when I see debates about Zimmer's scores, so I thought, why not share it now!