M. Night Fans » James Newton Howard http://www.mnightfans.com M. Night Shyamalan Movie News Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:37:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Music in the movies: James Newton Howard http://www.mnightfans.com/music-in-the-movies-james-newton-howard/ http://www.mnightfans.com/music-in-the-movies-james-newton-howard/#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2010 01:57:38 +0000 Rohan http://www.mnightfans.com/?p=2162

A movie’s music is one of its most important aspects; a characteristic that is often taken for granted.  A film can reveal so much within its music.  Beyond the creepy background music of thrillers that tells you the killer is around the corner, music has the ability to expose characters’ feelings, actions, and a film’s tensions. Thanks to Den of Geek for the article and in their latest music in the movies column, Den of Geek salutes the work of  James Newton Howard, the purveyor of themes for many M.Night Shyamalan films.

An accomplished musician at a young age, James Newton Howard studied at the USC School of music, and after he graduated, began a career as a session musician, working with some of the biggest names in the business before embarking on a career as a composer for film and TV. He composed the iconic score for the TV show ER, as well as scoring a wealth of memorable scores for movies over the years.

With the imminent release of The Last Airbender on Blu-ray and DVD, I thought now would be the ideal time to look at his work with the director M. Night Shyamalan, as well as two of my other favourites in his back catalogue…

Wyatt Earp

If I were to pick a genre where the highest number of my favourite scores came from, it would be the western. It seems that the vast majority have amazing scores, and James Newton Howard’s score for the much-maligned Kevin Costner-starring biopic can certainly be ranked alongside some of the best.

The score is as epic as the film itself, with Newton Howard acknowledging scores that came before, but opting for a more reined in approach for much of his work here, but unleashing grand themes when called upon, particularly in the gunfight during the film’s finale.

The Sixth Sense

The first of many collaborations with director M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense isarguably their finest work together. I was lucky enough to be in America when this film opened, so managed to go in knowing very little about it, which made what unfolded all the more effective.

Despite the gradual dip in quality of the director’s later work, this remains an excellent film that benefits from an eerie scene-setting score that plays on the audience’s emotions, eliciting high levels of sadness as well as being chilling at the same time. A great score for an excellent film.

Unbreakable

For the pair’s second collaboration, Shyamalan sought Newton Howard’s involvement immediately after completing The Sixth Sense. Shyamalan wanted a score that sounded distinct and simple, so Newton Howard limited himself to just strings, trumpets and piano, setting out to record a classic piece of work.

There’s an air of tension and a reoccurring leitmotif that carries much of the piece, and the recording sounds incredible, with large parts of it being recorded in a converted church. Definitely one that comes highly recommended.

Signs

Newton Howard pitches this as though he’s scoring a classic thriller, which helps to elevate the material on screen and portray the required levels of suspense effectively. It’s an incredibly bass-heavy score, which makes for quite an unsettling viewing experience.

Sure, there are flaws in the film, and this isn’t the most adventurous of the composer’s work, but it suits the film perfectly, even if it isn’t the greatest standalone listen due to its relentless nature.

The Village

For his fourth collaboration with Shyamalan, Newton Howard enlisted the help of the Hollywood Studio Symphony and violinist Hilary Hahn to bring his compositions to life. The results are quite fantastic, with Hahn’s work being the highlight.

Like Signs, I think there’s a good idea for a film here. I just feel that it failed to deliver on its early promise. It’s by no means a terrible film, just a mildly disappointing one. So, it’s a shame that Newton Howard’s score is often overlooked, as it’s attached to a maligned film.

The score does exactly what it needs to by creating a sense of an insular community with a mix of curiosity, of fear, and wonder of the outside world, resulting in an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score.

Lady In The Water

Grass dogs and evil tree monkeys are but two of the delights that Shyamalan treats audiences to in what, until recently, was regarded as his worst movie. It’s not without reason, as I struggle to think of a more blatant example of a filmmaker slamming film critics and praising his own genius in a film. It’s a masturbatory mess of a movie that has very few redeeming features other than its score.

Newton Howard makes the most of a large scale orchestra to make this a dramatic and stirring score that is much, much, better than the film deserves. Similarities have been drawn to Morricone’s score for Days Of Heaven, and these comparisons aren’t inaccurate.

There are also some awful Bob Dylan covers in the film that go some way to show how easy it is to ruin great songs.

The Happening

The score here bears similarity to his work on Signs and The Village, in that there’s a reliance on recurring themes and an ominous build of tension. Newton Howard’s work here is fine enough, it’s just a shame that the pay-off on screen doesn’t match the quality of his composition.

However, there’s not enough originality or inventiveness here to recommend the score to even fans of the composer’s. It’s very much a by-the-numbers piece of work.

Blood Diamond

Perhaps the score of Newton Howard’s I listen to most in isolation from its film, this is an incredible score that is one of the finest works of his career. Without exception, all of the pieces here are incredibly well thought out and performed to near perfection. And best of all, it shows off an experimental side that seemed to be lacking from some of his other scores leading up to the film’s release.

The Last Airbender

Okay, the film is obviously rubbish, and will, no doubt, be a prominent feature of the worst film of the year list for many people, but the score is probably one of the best efforts of the year.

Newton Howard has composed a score that far exceeds the quality of the film (not hard, I know), and in my opinion has composed his second best score for a Shyamalan film to date.

Whilst it perhaps lacks the inventiveness of much of his earlier work, he more than makes up for it with a sense of drama by using a huge orchestra to its full potential.

There’s a decent mix of moods, from the ominous and slow build in its opening passages, through to its dramatic finale. There’s little hope in the piece, which is generally quite dark. Comparisons could be made to the scores of John Williams, but it’s much more downbeat than much of that master’s work

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/music-in-the-movies-james-newton-howard/feed/ 6 The Last Airbender Soundtrack Score by James Newton Howard: June 29 http://www.mnightfans.com/the-last-airbender-soundtrack-score-by-james-newton-howard-june-29/ http://www.mnightfans.com/the-last-airbender-soundtrack-score-by-james-newton-howard-june-29/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 23:58:01 +0000 Specter http://www.mnightfans.com/?p=1518 James Newton Howard’s score for The Last Airbender will be in stores on June 29th.  I have not listened to the clips from the score yet, that are available online, because I’d rather wait for the movie to hear the music.  I have all of JNH’s Shyamalan movie soundtracks and love each one of them (except for The Happening).  I’m definitely looking forward to hearing the music in this film.

Order The Last Airbender Soundtrack on Amazon

If you would like to listen to 30 second clips from the score, visit the MySpace

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/the-last-airbender-soundtrack-score-by-james-newton-howard-june-29/feed/ 3 Composer James Newton Howard All Access Interview http://www.mnightfans.com/composer-james-newton-howard-all-access-interview/ http://www.mnightfans.com/composer-james-newton-howard-all-access-interview/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:24:33 +0000 Specter http://www.mnightfans.com/?p=1314 He’s been the primary composer on all of M. Night’s films starting with The Sixth Sense.   Currently writing the music for The Last Airbender, composer James Newton Howard invites you into his studio for front row access of his Yamaha photo shoot. Learn what inspires him when scoring such blockbusters as The Sixth Sense, and his process for scoring films like Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water and more, while working with Night.

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/composer-james-newton-howard-all-access-interview/feed/ 3 Howard wins IFMCA Award for his score to The Happening http://www.mnightfans.com/howard-wins-ifmca-award-for-his-score-to-the-happening/ http://www.mnightfans.com/howard-wins-ifmca-award-for-his-score-to-the-happening/#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:06:09 +0000 Dr Malcolm Crowe On February 19th composer James Newton Howard won the IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film for his score to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. Congrats James!

See the full list of winners @ FilmMusicCritics.org

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/howard-wins-ifmca-award-for-his-score-to-the-happening/feed/ 0 Score to ‘The Happening’ Nominated for 2 IFMCA Awards http://www.mnightfans.com/score-to-the-happening-nominated-for-2-ifmca-awards/ http://www.mnightfans.com/score-to-the-happening-nominated-for-2-ifmca-awards/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:40:34 +0000 Dr Malcolm Crowe James Newton Howard’s score to The Happening has been nominated for 2 IFMCA awards, including Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film and Film Music Composition of the Year. James was nominated for 4 more IFMCA awards this year for his scores to The Dark Knight and Defiance, as well as a nomination for Film Composer of the Year.  James won 3 IFMCA awards in 2006 for Lady in the Water.

The International Film Music Critics will announce the 2008 winners on February 18, 2009.

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/score-to-the-happening-nominated-for-2-ifmca-awards/feed/ 0 James Newton Howard to Compose for The Last Airbender http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-to-compose-for-the-last-airbender/ http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-to-compose-for-the-last-airbender/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:41:15 +0000 Specter The Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency has added The Last Airbender to James Newton Howard’s filmography. This is M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, which is expected to premiere in the summer of 2010.

It is the seventh feature film collaboration between Howard and Shyamalan, previous projects include The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable and this year’s The Happening.

-via Upcoming Film Scores

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-to-compose-for-the-last-airbender/feed/ 3 James Newton Howard Film Composer of the Year 2008 http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-film-composer-of-the-year-2008/ http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-film-composer-of-the-year-2008/#comments Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:58:37 +0000 Specter Tonight the World Soundtrack Academy announced the winners of the World Soundtrack Awards 2008, the closing event of the 35th Ghent International Film Festival. The 8th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards was once again a highlight for film music professionals and fans. James Newton Howard was chosen as Film Composer of the Year 2008, Dario Marianelli took home the award for Best Orginal Score of the Year (Atonement). Marc Streitenfeld was the Academy’s new discovery with his score for American Gangster and Angelo Badalamenti was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award given by Marianne Faithfull.

Both the ceremony and the concert were attented by world famous composers such as James Newton Howard, Dario Marianelli, Angelo Badalamenti, David Arnold, Clint Mansell, Trevor Jones, and Shigeru Umebayashi. After the World Soundtrack Awards ceremony the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Bross – performed film music by Angelo Badalamenti, Dario Marianelli, Andres Goldstein & Daniel Tarrab and local talent Tuur Florizoone. Special guests of the evening were Siouxsie Sioux and Beth Rowley, both singing music of The Edge of Love.

The results:

FILM COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
presented in respect of the body of work in the year 2008

JAMES NEWTON HOWARD: CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, MICHAEL CLAYTON, I AM LEGEND

More info and photos: www.worldsoundtrackacademy.com

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-film-composer-of-the-year-2008/feed/ 1 The Happening Original Motion Picture Soundtrack News http://www.mnightfans.com/the-happening-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-news/ http://www.mnightfans.com/the-happening-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-news/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:40:56 +0000 Dr Malcolm Crowe Varese Sarabande announced that they will be releasing the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for The Happening on June 3, 2008.

Returning to the collaboration that spawned his acclaimed scores for such films as The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village (Academy Award® nominee) and Lady In The Water, composer James Newton Howard reaches another career milestone with this major new opus.

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/the-happening-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-news/feed/ 2 James Newton Howard records The Happening score http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-records-the-happening-score/ http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-records-the-happening-score/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:49:40 +0000 Dr Malcolm Crowe Oscar-nominated composer James Newton Howard was recently at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, CA to record his score to the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan thriller The Happening. This marks the sixth time the two creative talents have collaborated.

[View pictures and more @ ScoringSessions.com]

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]]> http://www.mnightfans.com/james-newton-howard-records-the-happening-score/feed/ 6 The Happening Score Recording Soon http://www.mnightfans.com/the-happening-score-recording-soon/ http://www.mnightfans.com/the-happening-score-recording-soon/#comments Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:37:42 +0000 Dr Malcolm Crowe In a recent interview, Donald Foster mentioned that recording for James Newton Howard’s score to Shyamalan’s triller The Happening will start in the next two weeks. Who is this Donald Foster you say? Well, Foster is a professional clarinet player who has performed on scores like: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, I Am Legend and Indiana Jones and the Kindgom of the Crystal Skull. Recording should start sometime during the 3rd week of March, with recording sessions lasting anywhere from 5 to 10 days. Stay tuned for updates.

[Read the interview @ The Press-Enterprise]

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