> Captain America: Civil War (2016) - ***
I found this a bit disappointing. To me, this is the film where the Marvel franchise's lack of shared themes really started hurting individual films. Something like this should have referenced themes left and right, but even the most fun parts of The Winter Soldier don't manifest. It's got highlights, but also a lot of Meh. Missed potential, probably for reasons outside of Jackman's control.
> The Legend of Tarzan (2016) - **
I re-listened to this and was impressed. Not at quality, mind you, at how derivative it is. It has just nothing original to say. It's the most uninspired of post-Transformers muck, and not especially the good stuff from Transformers. How this led to other action scoring opportunities (on the merits of this work) is beyond me. I still want to hear the rejected score. That said, there are some highlights of the guilty pleasure power anthem persuasion, but this score is a solid demonstration of how an overly indulgent album presentation can sink a score. There's a 3.5-star highlights reel in here somewhere, but 1.25 hours? Forget it!
> truly bizarre 2014 flop Winter’s Tale
Kinda surprised you didn't cover this one, it's a quite lovely little score -- though something I imagine Rachel Portman could have written, and possibly better.
> Hacksaw Ridge (2016) - ***
This one I wanna hear what two scores sounded like: Horner's unrealized one and Debney's tossed one. Why Debney's got tossed astounds me, given that his chameleon abilities meant he should have delivered what RGW did (and possibly better). That said, I did enjoy this one, though it also has an overlong album. You know, sometimes you look at a work and say "I get 45-minute vibes off this one" and are irked when it's an hour-plus.
> The Crown Season 1 (2016) - ***
Haven't heard this, but heard good things (and about the show, my folks are big fans).
> Planet Earth II (2016) - ***
Much has been written on Bleeding Fingers as a brand move (it replacing Alf Clausen on The Simpsons especially stung, though I'm not sure if one should blame Zimmer or the showrunners more for that), and the absence of the elegant classical music of Fenton is sore, but I gotta admit the albums are enjoyable. (I was surprised that the pivot away from Fenton wasn't exactly a rejection as much a behind-the-scenes guard change.) Overall a fun album and not an embarrassment, but the quality doesn't really justify the change, I guess. That's a lot of words for "meh" lol.
Also, heh, love that unattributed quote. Hey, if it supports the experience!
> Jason Bourne (2016) - *½
Strongly(ish?) disagree on this one (though I suspected this rating was coming, given your prior comments). This is another case of me having a fondness for this sound, like HGW's thriller style. I can't put my finger on it, but Powell's involvement makes this better than the other Bourne backwash (call me a hopeless fan). At the same time, I was surprised to read that Powell's involvement may have been pretty marginal. To my ears, it still sounds a lot like Powell, so I guess Buckley & co. did an excellent job imitating him. I still wonder whether Powell was attached first and Buckley came on or vice versa (I tried to find what you wrote before but couldn't remember what score you provided commentary on). I know his wife, Melinda Lerner, was in poor health around this time (and died later that year), so that had to have an impact.
That is a LOT of words for a score that I would still only rate 3 stars objectively (and I personally still really enjoy it). I have nothing to really point to, other than I was just entertained for 45 minutes. Maybe it's that it *feels* special, given how rare an album with Powell's name on it is these days (even if his involvement level is debatable).
Incidentally, I hope you're going to cover Powell's oratorio!
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Love, love, love this series! Each installment is such a treat!