Has the music in a film ever put you off?

TheIrishGrover

I went to the live playing of Return of The King music in the point over the weekend. Fantastic. Loved it.(Much less repetitive than The Fellowship music)

But it got me thinking about the importance of the original score (As opposed to songs: We all know how important songs are to Scorsese and Tarantino for example).

I remember rewatching one of my childhood favourites for the first time in about 25 years: Ladyhawke. A fun, light adventure with Mathew Broderick, Rutget Hauer and a young Michelle Pheiffer (Who never looked better). But the synth score? Oh jesus it dated badly. Well, even at the time I remember thinking it never suited the movie.

The other film that I found the music distracting is "The untouchables". Now this gets me into troule as it's generally regarded as a classic score but at times I found it overbearing and almost bordering on the silly, it was that OTT sometimes.

So, my question (Finally) is: What film music (Score as opposed to songs) did you ever find distracting or that just didn't suit the tone of the movie? And why?

mike65

The only scores I don;t like are the ones that hammer home every action or emotion on the screen - BE EXCITED/SCARED AT THIS EXACT MOMENT!, THIS IS A SAD PART! etc.

Going back to scores of the 70s esp they were pretty sparse for the most part when compared to the ear-worm ones used now.

dark crystal

In Wes Craven's 'The Last House on the Left', the soundtrack is completely at odds with the tone of the film. Jaunty, happy banjo music constantly mars scenes where it should be either silent or menacing. Very strange.

Ellian

Punch Drunk Love and Eyes Wide Shut - both really jarring scores that kept dragging me out of the story.

shreddedloops

Although it wasn't going to be much of a movie anyway, the music at the start of Taken 2 was ridiculously distracting. One of the few times I was put off by music.

Duggy747

Commando and that quasi Caribbean music that repeats throughout.

dodderangler

Thought the music in Django was just totally weird
It's western music and then there's jay z and Kanye west in it. Don't make sense

DazMarz

While I do like it for a good, action movie score, Eric Serra's score for GoldenEye is NOT a James Bond score. It'd be fine for an action flick in general, but it does not suit a Bond film, at all. Way too electronic and a ham-fisted attempt to bring Bond into the 90's with the score.

gugleguy

At the close of the movie 'A Prophet'.
Everthing else about the end is just grand.
But the cheesy, grating "Pearly whites" song.playing as the guy is leaving the jail for the last time..... AAAAAAAARRRGGGGGGG .spoils anotherwise great ending:pac:

old hippy

I remember watching a film with Dustin Hoffman inspired by Agatha Christie's temporary disappearance. Interesting premise but the jazz soundtrack, for me, at the time did nothing for the film. Since then, I've fallen in love with jazz so I reckon I have to see it again, just to see if it still jars...

IvaBigWun

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

The other film that I found the music distracting is "The untouchables". Now this gets me into troule as it's generally regarded as a classic score but at times I found it overbearing and almost bordering on the silly, it was that OTT sometimes.

Blasphemy!

catallus

I was always trying to figure out why Gerard Butler reminded me of someone! It's Graham Chapman!

The soundtrack in a film is as important as the dialogue, I think. Can't really think of any examples that put me off a film, I'm sure there are a few. Sometimes there can be an over-reliance on scores, such as any of Paul Thomas Anderson's flicks.

poundapunnet

Argh I have the Fellowship music stuck in my head now. Can't really think of any instance where I've been put off, but just as a fun aside, apparently when John Williams brought the score of Jaws to Spielberg he was very disappointed, didn't think it'd work at all. Can't imagine that film without that score

ClashCityRocker

Juno - decent movie but annoying quirky indie pop songs (i don't know how you'd describe it really) all over the place

Tony EH

dark crystal wrote: »

In Wes Craven's 'The Last House on the Left', the soundtrack is completely at odds with the tone of the film. Jaunty, happy banjo music constantly mars scenes where it should be either silent or menacing. Very strange.

I cut a version of this film with the stupid music and "comedy" scenes cut out.

Ahem...my version is better. :cool:

Tony EH

To be honest, even though it's hailed as a classic piece of cinema music, I've always found Anton Karas' zither score to be extremely annoying and at times very intrusive during 'The Third Man'.

fruvai

Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby

johnny_ultimate

Cloud Atlas' soundtrack annoyed me immensely. It was just so relentless it seemed to me like a two and a half hour long montage. I just wanted space to breathe and for the characters and story to have some space amidst all the incredibly over-urgent plot progression. This is partially me just being unreasonable, but it killed the film stone dead for me. Looking objectively, I think in terms of composition some of the songs are excellent when listened to on their own terms, and there are thematic justifications for having music play a pivotal role. A heavy soundtrack was also somewhat necessary to facilitate the film's unusual narrative crosscutting. Subjectively though? It was just IMO too much, an interesting experiment with a grating execution.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Can't think of any off the top of my head but as an aside... there was a really interesting series on BBC 4 recently about movie soundtracks and how they changed from orchestral scores in the early films right through to pop songs and entire scores being created by one person on a computer. Some great interviews with composers and a few directors too and some really interesting insight into the process involved in scoring some really iconic scenes/films.

FloatingVoter

Any movie where boy meets girl - boy and girl proceed to the inevitable with a full orchestra playing in the background. Boil the kettle time and check if the cat litter needs changing.

Duggy747

DazMarz wrote: »

While I do like it for a good, action movie score, Eric Serra's score for GoldenEye is NOT a James Bond score. It'd be fine for an action flick in general, but it does not suit a Bond film, at all. Way too electronic and a ham-fisted attempt to bring Bond into the 90's with the score.

Why, it's like liquid poetry to the ears

:pac:

Gmol

The soundtrack to Scarface puts me off the film.

dark crystal

Gmol wrote: »

The soundtrack to Scarface puts me off the film.

I love that Moroder score!

Tony EH

Gmol wrote: »

The soundtrack to Scarface puts me off the film.

What's there not to like????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z4StsU6D2M

dark crystal

Tony EH wrote: »

What's there not to like????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z4StsU6D2M

I always wondered who that weird guy in the fat suit was supposed to be. Lamest nightclub entertainer ever.

Lucena

Gmol wrote: »

The soundtrack to Scarface puts me off the film.

Push it to the limiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit! The limit! The limit!

AnonoBoy

Some people found the Arctic Monkey Lad's original songs for Submarine very off-putting.

razorblunt

Warhorse - decent film but the score is over the top.

old hippy

Tony EH wrote: »

To be honest, even though it's hailed as a classic piece of cinema music, I've always found Anton Karas' zither score to be extremely annoying and at times very intrusive during 'The Third Man'.

Eh, what's that you say? I can't hear you over the damn zither...

Tony EH

I SAID....I....SAID....HARRY....LISTEN....OH FORGET IT.........

Talkinpony

Lethal Weapon - Saxophone every 5 seconds

Rubber_Soul

I find the original score for Mad Max to be incredibly grating and really lowered my opinion of it.

The score for Alexander is shocking. I tried to rewatch the movie a couple of years ago to see was it really as poor as the reviews it got. I couldn't handle the score and had to turn it off. What were you thinking with that one Oliver....

Tony EH

I think Alexander's score is the least of its worries. That film was shocking.

old hippy

James Horner's output really annoys me these days. I really think his best stuff was "Wrath of Khan" and "Aliens".

krudler

old hippy wrote: »

James Horner's output really annoys me these days. I really think his best stuff was "Wrath of Khan" and "Aliens".

A lot of composers reuse their own themes but he's awful for it, that same trumpet sound from Willow appears in a bunch of other stuff. his best scores are Aliens and The Rocketeer for me, the opening theme is brilliant.

Kirby

I like everything Horner does. Think he's great.

krudler

Kirby wrote: »

I like everything Horner does. Think he's great.

He can be, but he gets lazy at times. Aliens is amazing though, one of the greatest action cues ever in that score.

grohlisagod

Horner's score completely put me off towards the end of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as it was exactly the same as A Beautiful Mind.

loveBBhate

grohlisagod wrote: »

Horner's score completely put me off towards the end of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as it was exactly the same as A Beautiful Mind.

Hence the song was renamed to 'The Beatiful Horn-er Boy in his Pyjamas'.

bnt

mike65 wrote: »

The only scores I don;t like are the ones that hammer home every action or emotion on the screen - BE EXCITED/SCARED AT THIS EXACT MOMENT!, THIS IS A SAD PART! etc.

Ditto. Nora Ephron was a particularly bad offender as a director. It even happens (to a lesser extent) in films that she wrote but didn't direct e.g. When Harry Met Sally.