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Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars [EDITED]

Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars [EDITED]
Olivia D.
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (4:27 p.m.) 
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So having just read the review for The Karate Kid Part II, I can say I'm a little disappointed because that score is easily the best of the whole series and of Conti's career for me, its beautiful, heartbreaking and it doesn't have the dated parts of the first one, he complains about too many love themes when Peter Cetera's one doesn't even count, there are only two of them, he complains about too much restraint, but the restrained nature is what makes the score so effective in the film, 'The Funeral' can break your heart in context. All I can say is if this what the second film gets from him, I'm afraid of what he's going to give the other two.

Okay, rant over.

Edit, I'm sorry if this offended you, Mr. Clemmensen, I've changed it to be more respectful

(Message edited on Monday, December 26, 2022, at 10:33 a.m.)


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
JBlough
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (4:31 p.m.) 

> So having just read the review for The Karate Kid Part II, I can say I'm a little disappointed because that score is easily the best of the whole series and of Conti's career for me, its beautiful, heartbreaking and it doesn't have the dated parts of the first one, he complains about too many love themes when Peter Cetera's one doesn't even count, there are only two of them, he complains about too much restraint, sorry the music isn't pumped up enough for your Star Wars loving brain CC, but the restrained nature is what makes the score so effective in the film, 'The Funeral' can break your heart in context. All I can say is if this what the second film gets from him, I'm afraid of what he's going to give the other two.

For what it's worth, I don't think Christian tends to be overly enamored with most of Conti's work, at least going off of the other reviews on the site.



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Olivia D.
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (4:36 p.m.) 



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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
JB11sos
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (5:06 p.m.) 

> Yes, I've noticed a distinct Conti bias on everything but Rocky.

I don't think "bias" is what you mean. He's not a fan of Conti's style, but he's not indicated any prejudice.


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
Olivia D.
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (6:05 p.m.) 

> I don't think 'bias' is what you mean. He's not a fan of Conti's style,
> but he's not indicated any prejudice.

Yes, that's what I meant, he sometimes lets his dislike of Conti's style influence his reviews.


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
JBlough
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (6:14 p.m.) 

> Yes, that's what I meant, he sometimes lets his dislike of Conti's style influence his reviews.

As opposed to...giving 5-star reviews to things you don't tend to enjoy?



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Olivia D.
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (6:40 p.m.) 

> As opposed to...giving 5-star reviews to things you don't tend to enjoy?

Well, I actually agree with most of his five star reviews and most of his reviews in general, even if I'm not a big fan of it, I usually get where he's coming from, I just thought he if there was a Karate Kid score he would like I thought it would be this one, but like Enterprise I was wrong again and I'm really regretting my rant, sorry.


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
Jack Lindon
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (7:00 p.m.) 

> Well, I actually agree with most of his five star reviews and most of his
> reviews in general, even if I'm not a big fan of it, I usually get where
> he's coming from, I just thought he if there was a Karate Kid score he
> would like I thought it would be this one, but like Enterprise I was wrong
> again and I'm really regretting my rant, sorry.

One must never regret a rant; certainly not if one still believe in what one said! I should think Christian always appreciates engagements with his reviews, especially when it's less expected.

I'm not a huge fan of Conti (aside from the nostalgic favourite of Napoleon which we discussed before!) so I've not scoured through the reviews of his work, but I will say I recall Clemmensen noting that 'For Your Eyes Only' was one of the best Bond songs - which is not such a common view, and it doesn't seem consistent with an anti-Conti predisposition. Then again, I think he said what stopped it being series-topping was Conti's trademark arrangement, so maybe you're on to something...

Not sure why I'm not just checking the review, but there we are - never let fact-checking get in the way of a rambly musing, eh?


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
Olivia D.
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (7:13 p.m.) 

> One must never regret a rant; certainly not if one still believe in what
> one said! I should think Christian always appreciates engagements with his
> reviews, especially when it's less expected.

Thank you, although I think I did do something wrong, because I'm not getting those red New things beside the new posts since I did it.

> I'm not a huge fan of Conti (aside from the nostalgic favourite of
> Napoleon which we discussed before!) so I've not scoured through the
> reviews of his work, but I will say I recall Clemmensen noting that 'For
> Your Eyes Only' was one of the best Bond songs - which is not such a
> common view, and it doesn't seem consistent with an anti-Conti
> predisposition. Then again, I think he said what stopped it being
> series-topping was Conti's trademark arrangement, so maybe you're on to
> something...

> Not sure why I'm not just checking the review, but there we are - never
> let fact-checking get in the way of a rambly musing, eh?

I don't think he has a review for For Your Eyes Only, but that is my favourite Bond song along with "We Have All the Time in the World" and Conti's score is pretty good, although I will admit its not everyone's cup of tea.


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Edmund Meinerts
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (11:04 p.m.) 

> Yes, that's what I meant, he sometimes lets his dislike of Conti's style
> influence his reviews.

...you mean his reviews reflect his honest opinion of the music? The horror!


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
trstnvnk
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (1:58 a.m.) 

> ...you mean his reviews reflect his honest opinion of the music? The
> horror!

Do they though? I mean, it does seem CC has a tendency to write extra negative reviews just to garner some clicks


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
Edmund Meinerts
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (2:27 a.m.) 

> Do they though? I mean, it does seem CC has a tendency to write extra
> negative reviews just to garner some clicks

He's not entirely innocent of that, no, but I doubt this is such a case. (If he wanted to clickbait then I think there are more effective ways to do it than writing a mildly negative review of an almost 40-year-old Bill Conti score big grin )


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
Zack
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Thursday, December 22, 2022 (8:36 p.m.) 

> So having just read the review for The Karate Kid Part II, I can say I'm a
> little disappointed because that score is easily the best of the whole
> series and of Conti's career for me, its beautiful, heartbreaking and it
> doesn't have the dated parts of the first one, he complains about too many
> love themes when Peter Cetera's one doesn't even count, there are only two
> of them, he complains about too much restraint, sorry the music isn't
> pumped up enough for your Star Wars loving brain CC, but the restrained
> nature is what makes the score so effective in the film, 'The Funeral' can
> break your heart in context. All I can say is if this what the second film
> gets from him, I'm afraid of what he's going to give the other two.

If I had to guess based on Clemmensen's past reviews, I think he will rate #3 higher than #2 and #4 higher than #3. In other words, he'd rate #2 the lowest because of the fake pan flute and he'd love the flowing romance stuff in #4.



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Olivia D.
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (9:03 a.m.) 
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> If I had to guess based on Clemmensen's past reviews, I think he will rate
> #3 higher than #2 and #4 higher than #3. In other words, he'd rate #2 the
> lowest because of the fake pan flute and he'd love the flowing romance
> stuff in #4.

I hope, although I don't think he'll love Conti's original action music in 4 because its pretty abrasive, but he might like the William Ross replacement tracks and he'll probably wonder why Conti chose that film to bring back the main theme from the first film, although its usage is great and you are right about the romance music, I'm hoping 4 will get a better review.


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Re: Karate Kid Part II Deserves At Least Four Stars
Jonesy
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (8:35 a.m.) 

Discourse below aside, your expressed love for this score has intrigued me; I wanna check it out! I've not heard anything from Conti outside of Rocky (of course) and I, The Jury. Karate Kid is a blind spot for me, music franchises-wise.



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Olivia D.
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (8:53 a.m.) 
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> Discourse below aside, your expressed love for this score has intrigued
> me; I wanna check it out! I've not heard anything from Conti outside of
> Rocky (of course) and I, The Jury. Karate Kid is a blind spot for me,
> music franchises-wise.

Well, for me, the two I would recommend is the second and fourth ones, because they are the most beautiful, although Conti's original music for several action scenes in the fourth entry are quite abrasive and were replaced with more orchestral reworkings by Bill Ross which are only available on the La-La Land release, which is on Youtube. Horner's score for the remake is also very good and the third has some great highlights with the Terry Silver theme and the track for the final fight 'Sudden Death' is such a epic finale, the first one is good outside of the dated 80s rock portions, but the best tracks are the main titles, the finale and the track 'Training Hard.'

Hope this helps.



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Jonesy
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (10:28 a.m.) 

> Well, for me, the two I would recommend is the second and fourth ones,
> because they are the most beautiful, although Conti's original music for
> several action scenes in the fourth entry are quite abrasive and were
> replaced with more orchestral reworkings by Bill Ross which are only
> available on the La-La Land release, which is on Youtube. Horner's score
> for the remake is also very good and the third has some great highlights
> with the Terry Silver theme and the track for the final fight 'Sudden
> Death' is such a epic finale, the first one is good outside of the dated
> 80s rock portions, but the best tracks are the main titles, the finale and
> the track 'Training Hard.'

> Hope this helps.

Thanks for the recommendations! big grin


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Olivia D.
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Friday, December 23, 2022 (11:02 a.m.) 

> Thanks for the recommendations! big grin

You're very welcome. smile



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