Every Frame a Painting Presents: Marvel Symphonic Universe

[Hiromi]

I honestly don't see how you could get that impression, none of the Marvel stuff has been John Williamsish at all and the Cap theme and March are both a long way from the Superman theme(even the march portion doesn't sound anything like them, nevermind the fanfare or love song parts)

[Cyke]

Very interesting. I agree the marvel movies haven't had great scores. But I don't agree they need something unexpected. Star Wars and Raiders didn't have unexpected scores, in fact they evoke older music and films. They just happen to be written by one of the great modern composers.

Star Wars and Raiders have movies with over-the-top action sequences, so they get over-the-top music pieces. The Christopher Reeve Superman had fairly melodramatic scenes, but that also meant that it got melodramatic music where appropriate. In all those cases, the music enhances or amplifies the scene, but always in a complimentary way.

On a side note, this is one of the reasons why I prefer the reboot Star Trek movies over much of the 90s TV material. In the 90s, Trek saw music largely as a necessary evil, more of wallpaper rather than a genuine part of the scene. Compare that to Giachinno's approach for three films straight, or the scores for the Undiscovered Country, Wrath of Khan (James Horner), and perhaps best of all, Jerry Goldsmith with the Motion Picture. Just big bombast with a consistent theme.

[Cthulhudrew]

Very interesting video, and I hadn't realized the issue with temp music was quite as pervasive in movies as it is (to his credit, the videographer makes a point of indicating that this is systemic and not just isolated to Marvel).

That said, even if they aren't quite as iconic to me as some of the other soundtracks (original trilogy Star Wars, Bond films) which I've grown up with and listened to in isolation even from their original movies to the point I can hum/sing/whistle them, there are some definitely cool Marvel themes out there. The Winter Soldier's theme in particular is as memorable as it is haunting. The Captain America movies seem to have done better than most other films in this regards as did Ant-Man of all films.

(I do think that Winter Soldier scene plays out better without the narrative, as does the Thor scene with the earlier music playing as counterpoint to his friend's support.)

[Cyke]

Very interesting video, and I hadn't realized the issue with temp music was quite as pervasive in movies as it is (to his credit, the videographer makes a point of indicating that this is systemic and not just isolated to Marvel).

I feel like modern TV suffers more from it. Agents of SHIELD and Gotham in particular have very monotonous music (if it even exists), even though the former is by the prolific Bear McCreary. 24 was pretty humdrum, too. It even extends to cartoons -- Young Justice and Netflix Voltron are fantastic shows, but with really generic music (a far, far cry from their predecessors' scores).

[Midvillian1322]

Now that i think about it the only music i remember from the marvel movies is licensed music like in GOTG and Ironman blasting ACDC when hes going to confront Loki. Think they play ironman in ironman but cant remember if its in the movie or just the credits. Cant think of one original score from any of the movies off the top of my head. But untill i watched that I never noticed, so guess its not that big of a deal to me.

[simbob4000]

Now that i think about it the only music i remember from the marvel movies is licensed music like in GOTG and Ironman blasting ACDC when hes going to confront Loki. Think they play ironman in ironman but cant remember if its in the movie or just the credits. Cant think of one original score from any of the movies off the top of my head. But untill i watched that I never noticed, so guess its not that big of a deal to me.

I don't even really remember the GotG uses of it all that much. Mostly just remember how the first Iron Man did it, and that's really more the trailer than the actual movie. I have to actually be looking at the track listing for GotG to remember the songs in it, and how some were used.

I do really remember hating it when they played whatever when Iron Man showed up to fight Loki, like it was just a really bad use of whatever song it was. Like it was super on the nose, and it sounded like a weird mix, I don't remember the song, but I remember thinking with The Avengers that maybe they pushed this whole Iron Man listening to rock songs past the point of being a fun thing that works.

[simbob4000]

I feel like modern TV suffers more from it. Agents of SHIELD and Gotham in particular have very monotonous music (if it even exists), even though the former is by the prolific Bear McCreary. 24 was pretty humdrum, too. It even extends to cartoons -- Young Justice and Netflix Voltron are fantastic shows, but with really generic music (a far, far cry from their predecessors' scores).

Tv has been suffering from a lot of shit for decades now. You don't really have people like Quincy Jones doing tv music anymore. You'll get some good stuff from time to time, but it's mostly pretty uninteresting. Not related to music, but you also don't get movie actors cutting their teeth on tv shows anymore.