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The Michael Giacchino appreciation thread

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M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
michael-giacchino.jpg


I already did a thread like this for the obviously legendary composer John Williams. Today though, I felt like making a similar thread to, in my opinion, one of the best soundtrack composers out there in the past 20 years - Michael Giacchino. He started out as someone making music for a number of video games back in the 90s but now he's made such a really big mark on the movie and television industry. Most important of all, not only does he make great soundtracks but also has a style so distinctive from most generic blockbuster music you'd hear nowadays.

So now, I figured we'd all share with each other our favorite (pun-laden) tracks from this guy - whether from movies, TV, games - or probably rant how you totally hate this guy and not want him composing for a mainline Star Wars movie next.

Anyways, here are some of my favorite tracks of his:
Arnhem Knights - Medal of Honor: Frontline
Sturmgeist's Armored Train - Medal of Honor: Frontline
Enterprising Young Men - Star Trek
Labor of Love - Star Trek
LAX - Lost
The Incredits - The Incredibles
Married Life - Up
Letting Go - Super 8
Out for a Run - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Putting the Miss In Mission - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Level Plaguing Field - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
How Bonobo Can You Go? - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
 
U

ultra7k

Member
He pairs up with JJ Abrams a lot right?

His use of violins in tense situations is pretty recognizable in Alias, Lost and others. At least I think they are violins.
 
C

curb

Banned
Giacchino's easily one of my favorite movie/TV composers. I'm so excited that he's doing Doctor Strange.
 
C

Catalix

And on the sixth day the LORD David Bowie created man and woman in His image. And he saw that it was good. On the seventh day the LORD created videogames so that He might take the bloody day off for once.
T

Toa TAK

Banned
SEVEN (7) posts for Roar to be posted.

For shame.

Dug his new theme for JP recently. Really excited to see what he'll bring to Doctor Strange.

Inside Out's already been mentioned, but that was a good summer for Giacchino scores.
 
W

WolfeTone

Member
This dude is one of my favourite composers working today. Speaking as someone who is not very knowledgeable about music, I think he has recognizable style even to someone with layman ears such as myself. I remember watching The Family Stone and thinking, this music sounds like Lost, looked up the composer afterwards and it was obviously MG himself. I could see him being a good fit to take over for John Williams on future Star Wars movies, the soundtrack to Jurassic World being the only decent part of that movie.

That being said, I haven't been really wowed by anything he's done since 2009 with that amazing Up/Star Trek combo. Hoping that changes later this year with Doctor Strange.

My favourite tracks of his are all from Lost. Personally highlight is from the Season 4 finale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8mTmjP-TJ0
 
C

CloudyTuba

Member
Love this guy. One of the best operating today. Makes Hans Zimmer look like a kindergartener playing with a xylophone. Whenever I see his name I know to be excited for the score.

Had no idea he was working on Dr Strange. That alone has increased my hype by a good margin.
 
L

Lord Virgin

Unconfirmed Member
SillyNonsense said:
Love this guy. One of the best operating today. Makes Hans Zimmer look like a kindergartener playing with a xylophone. Whenever I see his name I know to be excited for the score.

Had no idea he was working on Dr Strange. That alone has increased my hype by a good margin.
Click to expand...

Lol, no composer today comes even close to Zimmer. Certainly not him.
 
N

Nightshade

Member
INST said:
Lol, no composer today comes even close to Zimmer. Certainly not him.
Click to expand...

Would have totally agreed a few years ago on the basis of melodies. But lately Zimmer has seemed to focus on context-less tone pieces that are composed to be added to the background of a scene without a lot of scene specific cues. Which is fine, but can leave a little to be desired on certain scores.

Lately he has seemed to be using one really good theme in several variations along with fast pace percussive sections. Where Giacchino has been killing it has been with interesting arrangements that are used once and never again. And if they are, they're used in a meaningful way. I think a standout example is Kronos Unveiled from the Incredibles. It's the track that plays when Bob is figuring out which supers the Omnidroid has killed on the computer. It's used as a crescendo and close to Act 1 very well.

John Williams used to do this as well but has recently expressed interest in more vague emotional accompaniments like Zimmer. It might be an age thing. Their work is still very good, but doesn't always feel as stand out as their older work.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
As the Jurassic World Turns is my personal favorite theme of his. Just beautiful and jubilant. Also Night on the Yorktown from Beyond would be second.

Zimmer is great but I prefer this guy easily.
 
M

mjc

Member
Enterprising Young Men is GOAT

I also really really enjoyed his work on Lost. It elevated lots and lots of scenes.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
J

jb1234

Member
This gives me the space to tell my favorite Giacchino story! Back in the early 00s, he was far more accessible to his fans than he is now (understandably, being a busy guy). After listening to and being highly impressed by the Medal of Honor game score, I sent him an email asking if he could send the sheet music for me to study. He replied, asking if I could narrow it down because it's a lot of pages so I just asked for a specific cue. A few months went by and I completely forgot about it, until a parcel arrived with that exact cue, a very nice handwritten note and a CD containing about half the score to Medal of Honor Underground, which hadn't been released yet at that time.

Super nice man and super talented. I'm glad that he made it big. It's a hard business to break into.
 
A

A Fish Aficionado

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
jb1234 said:
This gives me the space to tell my favorite Giacchino story! Back in the early 00s, he was far more accessible to his fans than he is now (understandably, being a busy guy). After listening to and being highly impressed by the Medal of Honor game score, I sent him an email asking if he could send the sheet music for me to study. He replied, asking if I could narrow it down because it's a lot of pages so I just asked for a specific cue. A few months went by and I completely forgot about it, until a parcel arrived with that exact cue, a very nice handwritten note and a CD containing about half the score to Medal of Honor Underground, which hadn't been released yet at that time.

Super nice man and super talented. I'm glad that he made it big. It's a hard business to break into.
Click to expand...

One of my favorite anecdotes. <3

The Jurassic World Soundtrack is amazeballs.
https://youtu.be/tuPj0Ecu8L0?list=PLTfX9d5uKp8gkfVmkxebIrn-lfA3MbnhS
 
M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Nightshade said:
Would have totally agreed a few years ago on the basis of melodies. But lately Zimmer has seemed to focus on context-less tone pieces that are composed to be added to the background of a scene without a lot of scene specific cues. Which is fine, but can leave a little to be desired on certain scores.

Lately he has seemed to be using one really good theme in several variations along with fast pace percussive sections. Where Giacchino has been killing it has been with interesting arrangements that are used once and never again. And if they are, they're used in a meaningful way. I think a standout example is Kronos Unveiled from the Incredibles. It's the track that plays when Bob is figuring out which supers the Omnidroid has killed on the computer. It's used as a crescendo and close to Act 1 very well.

John Williams used to do this as well but has recently expressed interest in more vague emotional accompaniments like Zimmer. It might be an age thing. Their work is still very good, but doesn't always feel as stand out as their older work.
Click to expand...
Zimmer has also been on auto-pilot with his music the past few years unless a director really prompts him to go the distance (e.g. Nolan)
 
M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Williams has already confirmed he's coming back for another round of Star Wars, but in any event, Giacchino is practically destined to follow him up at this point.
 
N

Nightshade

Member
Liamario said:
I hope they drop Williams (who's arguably the greatest there ever was) for Giacchino.
Click to expand...

I think the stand alone stories will be a good space for composers who grew up on the Star Wars scores to give it a go. It makes me quite happy that Alexandre Desplat was given Rogue One and I've no doubt Giacchino will do one in time. (Not counting his Star Tours music.)
 
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