I raise my glass to James Horner, 1953-2015

Last night I sobbed uncontrollably in mourning for about an hour after hearing the news that James Horner had died. To me, he was the greatest composer of our time. He made the world a better, more beautiful place.

My first introduction into the world of film music was with the movie Braveheart. I was in middle school when I was introduced to it, but that movie moved me so, and it was its music that did it. Horner said that Mel Gibson, the director of Braveheart, gave him free reign without any specific direction. This practice is unheard of, even among frequent collaborators Steven Spielberg and John Williams or Robert Zemeckis and Alan Silvestri. The result of the unbridled collaboration was what I consider to be the greatest film score of all time. I dare you to listen to the End Credits track and not be moved.

Horner and Cameron

Then came freshmen year, 1997. This was a memorable year in cinematic history because it was the release of James Cameron's Titanic, which was unforgettably scored by Horner. This film held the record for biggest box office gross for 12 years, until Cameron's and Horner's next collaboration, Avatar. How much of Titanic's success can be attributed to its score? It's hard to say, but I know that it affected me immensely. I wore out my CD of the soundtrack from listening to it too much and I saw the movie 9 times in the theater.

Like many of his collaborators, Horner got his start working with B movie director, Roger Corman. However, his first big break was with An American Tail, which garnered him his first Oscar nomination. He also scored some other fairly high profile movies of the 80's, such as Krull, Willow, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, The Land Before Time, Cocoon, Aliens, and Field of Dreams.

In the 90's he continued his success with Fievel Goes West, Jumanji, Casper, and many others. In 1995, he garnered critical and Academy fame with Apollo 13 and Braveheart. He didn't win a statue for either (which is one of the greatest blunders in Academy history, IMO), however he did win two Oscars two years later for his work on Titanic.

Ron Howard with Horner

The 2000's saw his remarkably expressive score to Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind and many others. Most notably, in 2009 he scored Avatar. The two highest grossing films of all time are directed by James Cameron and scored by James Horner. It is very sad to me that he will not be able to score the Avatar sequels.

One gem that I encourage you to listen to that is often overlooked is 2010's The Karate Kid.  The music is deeply moving for me.  

I love music deeply, to the point that I wanted to do it for a living; I even studied music in college for a number of years; and no single person influenced that direction in my life more than James Horner. I 'feel' more because of his work. His music has helped me out of some dark places and helped me feel joy when I thought it wasn't possible. I raise my glass to him. May he rest in peace. I close with a tune from Braveheart that is played during the mourning of William Wallace's father. 

Thoughts on 'Love and Mercy'

In looking at the possible movies that I could see this weekend (I see a movie in the theater every week, almost without exception), I was pleasantly surprised that Love and Mercy, a film that I had been wanting to see, was playing at my local Harkins theater.  This was the only wide release that was in my wheelhouse (Spy and Insidous 3 are NOT my cup of herbal tea).  Also, through pure Serendipity, I was able to sit next to some good friends.  

You have probably not even heard of this movie, so I will post the synopsis and trailer here before posting my thoughts. 

Synopsis: 

In the 1960s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 1980s, he is a broken, confused man under the 24-hour watch of shady therapist Dr. Eugene Landy.

And finally, my thoughts:

• This movie SUPERBLY acted.  It's my favorite performances of both Elizabeth Banks and John Cusack.  One of the friends I saw it with (we'll call him N. Cooley...or maybe just Nate C.) thought that Cusack tried too hard, but I disagreed.  Also, Paul Dano delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as a younger Brian Wilson.  
• This film could probably be placed in the category of 'Oscar Bait.'  I doubt it's going to get a strong push by its studio, but it still feels like an Oscar play.  3/5 of the last Best Picture winners were bio-pics, had strong acting, and didn't have wide audience appeal.
• My friends and I were the youngest kids in the theater, probably by at least 10 years.  It looks like it was marketed to the right crowd.  
• About half the movie takes place in the mid-1980s, and as such the clothes worn by Elizabeth Banks were just amazing.  Her massive 80's belt deserved its own headline in the credits.
• The music scenes (i.e. the scenes where Brian and/or the Beach Boys are recording, creating, or performing) are simply magical.  They were the best part of the film.
• The movie got me really curious about the history of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson.  I had no idea that the Beach Boys were so influential.  I also didn't know that Brian Wilson was such a genius.  
• After seeing it, I came home and read up on his story because the movie left a lot of unanswered questions, IMO.  It turns out that, like most bio-pics, a lot of the plot points were based on conjecture rather than solid fact.  This practice usually doesn't bother me, but the film wasn't good enough to make me not care about its historicity.  Argo, The King's Speech, or The Social Network are all such good movies that it didn't matter to me if they took leaps.
• The movie does raise mental illness awareness, I think, which is a good thing. 
• However, it never rises to be a particular great movie, overall.  It's worth seeing for the music, the acting, and the fascinating history of Brian Wilson, but I wouldn't say rush out and see it.

Overall I gave it 3/5 Disco Balls. 

Parents Guide:

It doesn't have any nudity, but there is one scene where they run around in some bed sheets.  It has LOTS of drug use.