7 Times Composer Hans Zimmer Went HARD + Movie Review: A Haunting in Venice + Trailer Park: The Kill Room

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike, and today I want to share with you seven times that composer Hans Zimmer went way too hard on a movie score. I'm gonna let you know why he is my favorite movie composer of all time. In the movie review, we'll be talking about a haunting in Venice. Was it scary? Was it entertaining? Was it worth my time to go see this movie in theaters because I was on the fence about it? And in the trailer park we have a new movie with Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, who have reunited for the first time since the nineties since they did pulp fiction together. We'll talk about the kill Room. Thank you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed and listening every single week. Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.

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Speaker 2: In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast, A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like a walking IMTB with glasses.

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Speaker 1: From Nashville Podcast Network. This is Movie Mike movie podcast. I often think that movie scores get overlooked on how important they are to all of our favorite films. A great movie score can take an eight film and make it a ten. And it is the foundation of setting the scene, setting the tone, evoking emotion, and it's always just there. It's the glue that holds all these scenes together. And sometimes when it's so good, we just take it for granted. It is there, it is existing. But sometimes you don't take time to think about how impactful the movie score can be on one scene or making an entire movie, and Hans Zimmer is one of the best to do it. He recently celebrated his sixty sixth birthday and I have been so obsessed with movie scores lately. I decided to dive into the life of Hans Zimmer and realize how impactful his work has been over the years. So on this episode, we're going to take a look at his career and the seven times I think he went way too hard on a movie score. So looking into the life of Hans Zimmer. He was born on September twelfth, nineteen fifty seven, in Frankfurt, Germany. He started playing music as a kid learned how to play the piano, and his breakthrough intil the film industry came in the nineteen eighties when he did the score for rain Man. That's when he developed a relationship with director Brian Leavenson and started to get known in Hollywood as being able to create some memorable film scores. One of his most iconic breakthrough works came in nineteen ninety four with none other than Disney's The Lion King, which earned him the Oscar for Best Original Score. I think one of the most impressive things about Hans Zimmer is his versatility and his range when it comes to creating film scores, because not only did he do animated movies like The Lion King, he also went on to do movies like Gladiator, The Dark Knight Trilogy and create these really iconic moments through his music and through compositions. And I think what really sets his work apart from other composers is I feel like, at his core, he is just a great musician and knows how to blend a lot of different types of instruments. Sometimes when you think about movie scores, you maybe think more of somebody like a John Williams who creates these very epic sounding, but more of what you would hear like from an orchestra, which hans Zimmer also uses those same orchestral elements, but he also blends things like electronic instruments and really has a unique sound that you can tell what it is a Hans Zimmer composition. And I think that's why so many directors go to him, because they know, you're really gonna step up my film with your work, and I think that is what he does. It's like getting the Beatles to do the score for your movie. You know it's gonna be a hit if Hans Zimmer is a part of it. And in addition to his work in film, he has also collaborated with a lot of artists like Elton John, Pharrell Williams, so he has done music outside of the film industry, which is another thing that I feel set to him. Apart and just by the numbers alone, he has one hundred and fifty film scores to his name, countless countless awards so as two Academy Awards for Best Original Score came in nineteen ninety four with The Lion King, which I mentioned earlier, and then again in twenty twenty one with Dune. So now that we know a little bit about Hans Zimmer, let's get into the list. I have seven different compositions from his movies that I picked not because they are only from some of my favorite movies, but also because I feel that they show his range and because hearing these compositions, even on their own, make me want to lose my mind. So at number seven from nineteen ninety three's True Romance, the track is called You're So Cool. I feel like this one is a little bit of a non traditional pick, and going hard doesn't mean it has to come right out of the gate and punch you in the face. I just think the sound of this one is so unique. Listen to it, and the part I love where I feel like, okay, it really goes to another level and goes way too hard is once the percussion kicks in. And this one is going to be much different than the rest on this list, but I wanted to show you his range, and in a movie that I wouldn't even classify as one of my favorites from the nineties. I remember this song and it's so distinct and so memorable and uses so many different types of instruments that I feel like in that one his creativity just went too hard. So at number seven, I have You're So Cool from True Romance. At number six from twenty seventeen, the movie is Dunkirk and the tree track is called super Marine. I love this movie. We're looking now at the work of Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan, a match made in heaven. They are peanut, butter and jelly. They will make more appearances on this list. But what I loved about Dunkirk and the score and this track specifically, is it really elevates all the action because that movie is not only visually stunning, but it requires a score like this to really bring home that emotion and to show you the tenacity of everything on the line in that movie and show you war from an entirely different perspective. And in that movie, it's very bright and colorful, but also very dark and gritty at the same time, a lot of emphasis on the blues in the green. But it just has like this dirty filter to put you into the perspective of these soldiers. And underneath that, the glue that holds it all together is Hans Zimmer's score to really bring home that emotion and I think he went way too hard on this track. Specifically, I love his build ups, like this, building that tension, letting you know that something not good is about to happen. But my favorite thing in the work of Hans Zimmer are the drops, and this one is so delicious. Oh I could feel it. Listen to all those different types of instruments and the percussion. It sounds like madness. And I want to know what is going on in his brain while composing something like this, And then you pair that with this movie. Oh, it is beautiful. So at number six we have Dunkirk. Moving on to number five is a movie from twenty ten. It's called Inception, and this track specifically is called Dream Is Collapsing. There are so many great scenes and Inception that are made just that much better with the work of Hans Zimmer, and I think the music in this movie was so influential to the twenty tens. I feel like after this movie, everybody wanted the style of Inception when it came to the visuals, but also when it came to the sound, specifically the drone sound, which I feel ran rampant in the twenty tens, and it was all because of Inception. It's that horn drone effect that ended up being in every single movie trailer in the twenty tens. This one r here that was in every single trailer, and it was all because of Inception. But along with those sound effects, it was the score from Inception. And this one just went way too hard that charging.

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Speaker 3: See.

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Speaker 1: I love the fact that it has that big orchestra sound, but then you also get that charging, almost electronic sound, and I feel like you could almost put anything on the screen and this be epic. I could just put this song on my Instagram story and it would be epic. It could just be me eating a piece of like I don't know, raw tofu, and it's still epic. But also I love the scene wherever it is showing the relationship between Leonardo DiCaprio and his wife, and it's so soft and emotional, and I feel like this is going hard in a different way because it's not so much on the big, epic sound of Hans Zimmer, but it's that sweet, delicate sound and knowing that sometimes less is more, and I think that is also a very important quality to creating a memorable score, stripping away all the things and just focusing on the emotion because there's no dialogue.

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Speaker 3: In this scene.

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Speaker 1: It's all held together through the performances of the actors in this song. So essentially the music is a character in itself. So he went too hard on this entire soundtrack. A number five it is Inception and number four is an animated movie from nineteen ninety four that we mentioned earlier, the one he won the Academy Award for Best Score. It is The Lion King. The song is to Die for slash What have You Done? It's the scene in the movie after mufasadize and then Scar comes up to Simba and tells him what have you done? You killed your father? And then he tells him to run before he gets chased by the hyaenas a really memorable scene that comes after a depressing moment because it's right after the sad moment of him losing his dad and now having to run for his life. And then Hans Zimmert just went way too hard on the composition for the scene, like like, how insane that is? This track sounds so expensive, Like listen to all those instruments and the vocals on this, Like Disney was probably just like, hey, we just needed some music to show that Simba is being chased. Hans Zimmer, He's all right, hold this, I got you. It is epic, it is memorable. It is at number four Hans Zimmer's work on The Lion King moving on to number three from twenty twenty one. It is Dune and it's the theme song. And I am a big fan of all the cinematic qualities of Doune. I didn't entirely love the movie. I'm more anticipated for the sequel because that is what I'm being told and reading that that's where all the action is. I thought Dune looked great and sounded great, but the overall story and character development in that movie wasn't really for me. But it does feel very epic and looks amazing on green. But what I can't deny is the theme song to Dune and how unnecessarily hard it goes, starting out from the very opening of the track, Like the instrumentation there, the building of the tension, oh, and the vocal comes in like that is memorable right there, Maybe channeling a little bit of The Lion King from his work earlier, but that is something unique, and that is something that is really gonna set your film apart. That is why you paid millions of dollars to do the score. But then, of course it also has the patented Hans Zimmer drop takes it to an entirely different level. This one makes me want to run through a wall. I'm gonna run through a wall right now, and that is why it is at number three. The soundtrack to Dune at number two is from twenty fourteen. The film is Interstellar, and it's another theme song. This one is a little bit more delicate, but like I was saying earlier, sometimes less is more. And this score is so intricate and so memorable and so gentle and beautiful that he went unnecessarily hard to make us all cry with the score to Inception because paired with Matthew McConaughey's performance and the emotional ferocity of this movie, Oh my gosh, he gets me emotional just thinking about it. But listen to the score, Like that first note, just that first note makes me want to ball my eyes out like Matthew McConaughey in that one scene. We all know. There's some other great moments in this soundtrack as well. Again, just so delicate, so beautiful. It's like he's creating these memorable scores that don't even need the movie to exist. They're just great music on their own. Like this is one soundtrack that if I just needed to mellow out and listen to some music to have on in the background, this is what I would put on. And of course you get the Hans Zimmer drop the building. I think on this performance specifically, he's playing guitar, just going on those notes, and I think that at the core of it, he is a musician who just loves performing too, and this score just really shows that. Don't do it to his Hans Like, I feel like at his core he just wants to rock out. Maybe he wanted to be a rock star. You really hear it there. But maybe, like me, he is too much of a nerd to be a rock star, so I'll just create these epic scores to films instead. But at number two we have Inception. Before we get to number one, I do have some honorable mentions. The Last Samurai is also some of his best work. This is a way of Life from the Last Samurai. You also have now we are Free from Gladiator and one of my favorites. Another one of his delicate tracks twenty forty nine from Blade Runner twenty forty nine, I guess what is so experimental? It almost made my number seven slot, like how epic is that? And another one that almost made the list, but it's not one of his official credits because although he did write this theme, it did have a different composer. But from two thousand and three Pirates of the Caribbean and the Curse of the Black Pearl, this one goes so hard, but it's just not one of his official credits. We have made it to number one. The best example of Hans hi Mier going way too hard is from two thousand and eight The Dark Knight. The track is why so Serious goes into like a dog chasing car. What he did with the entire Dark Knight trilogy was amazing, and I think specifically in The Dark Knight because anytime the Joker was on screen you knew it because of the music. It got a little bit more intense, it got a little bit more violent. It sounded like there was more on the line every time the Joker was on screen, So not only was it seeing Heath Ledger, but it was also hearing the music that invoked that emotion In all of us, whether you realize it or not, the music was so essential to creating that gritty tone of Gotham and really setting that movie apart from all the other Batman movies where you had, you know, epic tracks too from Danny Elfman. But it takes it up on an entirely different level when it's a little bit more sophisticated, a little bit more of an orchestra sound, but also this very driving, pounding sound. To me, it's like orchestra punk rock. I don't know if that's a genre specifically, because that is the only way I can think of describing the score in The Dark Knight. That is it. That is seven times that Hans Zimmer went way too hard. What is your favorite Hans Zimmer's score? I mean, for me is the one we just heard The Dark Knight. There's so many elements going on there, it's so memorable. I love it all. Well, come back, I'll give you my movie review of a Haunting in Venice, and then at the trailer park we'll be talking about the kill room after this. Let's get into a spoiler free movie review now. Talking about a hunting in Venice. It's part of a franchise that has had some odd success, even though really I've only liked one of the films so far. So it's a part of the franchise that include Murder on the Orient, Express, Death on the Nile, and now we have a haunting in Venice. It's supposed to be the spooky one now that we're getting into spooky season. At the movies, they wanted to cash in on what if we do the same kind of murder mystery, but now with a bit of a supernatural horror esque. It's really like diet horror. Oh not even close to that. It's like horror adjacent. Because you have Kenneth Braina who also directs and stars in these movies. He plays the detective who is the same detective throughout all of the films. This story takes place in nineteen forty seven. He is retired, he is done being a detective, but somebody pulls them back in. You have Tina Fay's character who is trying to write a new book after having three failed books. She heard this story about a woman whose daughter died from suicide and they want to go check it out and get the details. So they go to a seance where they try to communicate with the daughter who passed away, and then everything hits the fan, and then everything gets scary because they are in this building that is supposedly haunted by children who want to kill again. Now, I enjoyed Death on the Nile because I went into it with very low expectations. On the surface level of these movies, there really isn't anything spectacular, nothing to really write home about, but they are pretty entertaining. What's different about these movies, and the reason you could keep making these with the revolving cast of characters is because you don't go to this movie for the A list star. The format of this movie is the star. It's the who done it scenario, same formula as the two previous movies. He goes somebody dies, he has to figure out how that person dies, and then goes through all this investigation of asking all these people different questions finding out where they were, just like you would in the game of clue. So this is kind of reintroducing what they already did with these movies back in the day to a whole new generation, and I think it works. But I think it's really for people who are so into murder dramas and investigations. This movie is kind of like Cis because the action isn't really hardcore. The horror it really isn't scary whatsoever. There are some jump scare moments because really loud noises come out of nowhere, so that will get you. But as far as creepy visuals or any blood and death, it's very PG. Thirteen, So you wouldn't have any worry of going to see this movie and having nightmares afterwards unless you just really don't do well whatsoever with any horror elements. But I feel like an eight year old could watch this movie and have no problem falling asleep at night. I went into this movie differently than I did Death on the Nile. Death on the Nile I had really low expectations and ended up enjoying it pretty well. This one, since I like that one, I had a little bit higher expectations because I knew what the format was going to be. I just knew that it was going to be naturally engaging because you're trying to figure it out, just like the detective is in this movie, and there's some fun element to that. It becomes a game to try and figure it out and put all the pieces together. But I have to say in this one really lack creativity, really lacked a lot of imagination. It was so focused on making it scary and never really got there that it took away from the plot developing and making you question different things going on in the movie, and at times it just felt really boring. That I'm always invested in a movie like this because I want to figure out who did it and I want to be right that is it. I watched these movies and I want to have it right within the first twenty minutes because that is just how I am. I feel like this was the most predictable out of all these movies because they were so focused on making it scary, they've left out making it engaging and making it entertaining. So I really struggled just to want to pay attention and want to see the results of this movie because it was just lackluster. And the other problem with the format of the movie being the star is it's really hard for any of the actors to shine because I feel like they are so restricted that nobody really gets a chack chants to shine and show off what greade of an actor they are because you have Michelle Yao in this who is probably the most standout performance. But then you have Tina Fey, who I was excited to see, and her performance really wasn't great whatsoever, But I think it was because she was trying to play this character in nineteen forty seven, but the entire time period fell off, so her entire character I felt was a little bit wasted. And then you have Kenneth Brano who is starring in this movie and also directing it, and I have to say it really shows in this movie because there's not a whole lot of great direction with all the cast, and there's also not a really great performance for him him, which he is so good in all the other movies. And I couldn't help but compare it to Knives Out and Knives Out Glass Onion, because Daniel Craig does a great job at playing such a great lead in that that I feel like the star of that movie is him, and it's not just the format of that, because I would just watch it for his character, the way he talks, the way he figures things out, and the way his mind works. In this movie, Kenneth brand really didn't do that whatsoever, So I would say, after the first twenty maybe twenty five minutes of this movie, it really started to go downhill. It did start out with a little bit of promise with Michelle Yao's character organizing the seance and some of the things that happened early on in the film, but everything throughout never really got back there. The entire movie just had a really weird tone and even a lack of music, because there were scenes that were trying to let breathe and let you live in that creepiness of the house, but it was just silent to the point where it was boring. I needed a score there, I needed some music. I needed some more things happening in this movie to make me want to get to the finale. Surprisingly, this movie is doing pretty well given that it had a sixty million dollar budget. We went to see this on a Friday night and it was surprisingly packed, primarily an older audience, which again it goes back to me thinking that people who love NCIS also love movies like this, and I don't want to hate anybody for enjoying this movie. I think the format of it is fine. This one just didn't really win me over, but I could see them definitely making a fourth movie, and they've even said if Kenneth Branna is down to do another one, if there's another story to be told, there will be a fourth installment inside of this franchise. I hope they get away completely from making anything creepy and go back to something like Death on the Nile where there's more that goes on in the location, because I think that's really what ended up hurting this movie in the end, because Death on the Nile they're on the boat, but they also had several stops along the way for more things to happen. This one just felt so boring. It felt like a bottle episode from TV where they didn't want to spend a whole lot on a lot of different locations. They just stay in this place the entire time, and it just feels kind of boring and empty and shallow. So at the moment of recording this, the movie has made seventy one million dollars worldwide. It may continue to rise going into October and people wanting to watch something somewhat scary or creepy at least. So I would say go to see this movie if you just love murder Who Done It? Movies, or if you have somebody in your life who doesn't like scary movies whatsoever, and you just kind of want to waigh them into those waters of maybe possibly getting to take them to see The Exorcist later on. I don't really think there's anything worth it in this movie to have to see it in theaters. Definitely wait for it to come on to streaming services because I think it's worthy of a stream especially if you haven't seen all the other movies inside of the franchise. Maybe just knock them out in a weekend. Otherwise you can definitely wait for this one. So for a Hunting in Venice, I wanted to give it like a three. My expectations were not met whatsoever, so I am gonna give it two out of five seances.

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Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie Mike Trey Lar Paul.

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Speaker 1: Two of my favorite actors are teaming up for the first time in thirty years. Talking about Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, who both starred in the movie from nineteen ninety four, Pulp Fiction. They are back in a movie called The Kill Room, which is a dark comedy slash crime thriller movie and one that's kind of going under the Radar right now. It's already coming out in theaters this Friday, depending on when you're listening to this episode September twenty ninth. And it just reminds me that so many things are out of whack right now with the writer's strike and people not being able to promote their projects. We have to get that thing figured out, and we have to get those people paid. We were on such a great trajectory of movies doing so well after the pandemic that this is really starting to halt things. So get our writers paid, get our actors paid, Get everybody who is out of work right now because of the strike paid. Because I want to see more movies like this succeed. Because the premise of this movie is great. It has an awesome cast, because not only do you have two of my favorite actors back together again, but you also have Uma Thurman and her daughter Maya Hawk starring in their very film together. So mother and daughter on Streen together. This is a great moment in cinematic history. The movie is about Uma Thurman's character, who is an art gallery owner and she's struggling a little bit, and then she gets involved with this money laundering scheme with this mob to try and help her struggling business. And it looks like there's gonna be a little bit of a twist, just what I'm taking away from this trailer. But before I get into more details, here's a little bit of the kill Room trailer.

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Speaker 3: So from now on there's a contract. Though sure I suggest they buy art art.

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Speaker 1: What the frig do you know about art?

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Speaker 3: This classy art gallery run by this young lady will take a reasonable cut for herself and cut us a nice clean check. This thing that looks like a smurf wood diarrhea can sell for a million bucks and the irs Wooden bat An I.

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Speaker 1: Samuel L. Jackson plays this mob boss, and he has this assassin that he is working with, and they need to find a way to clean their money because they're taking payment for these people he is killing. But they can't use that money because the IRS can track it back to them. So they find Uma Thurman's character, who has this struggling art gallery, and the assassin starts making these really awful paintings, giving them to her to sell, and she takes a cut of the profits. But then what happens. It seems like his art starts to become popular. He creates this artist nickname that he goes by, kind of like a Banksy character, which is kind of the situation you have going on in this movie. And I feel like it's a bit of a commentary and maybe even in reflection of what actually happens in real life. And I guess I've had this suspicion. Call it a conspiracy theory, if you will, but I've always kind of thought that as much as I love art and can appreciate it, sometimes I see some artwork and I can't believe how much it sells for. So in the back of my mind, I'm always just looking at art or really any kind of business, like how do they operate? How did they stay open? I drive by a lamp store every day on my way home, and I think, who's going in there and buying lamps to keep the lights on in this facility. I feel the same way sometimes about art, of how can you sell this painting that to me looks like just a normal painting, but it's worth one to two million dollars. Now, I feel a lot of this is based on the artist and based on the story behind it. So if there is a demand for it, you can create this buzz and create this price that somebody is willing to pay that amount, because it seems like in the movie, they get a client and instead of paying them for the hit, they buy this artwork from the gallery from this assassin, and then it looks like it's a clean, done deal. But what they don't expect is his artwork to actually get popular and people who have no idea about this operation just start buying the art because there's a buzz around it. It also kind of reminds me of what happened just a couple of years ago with NFTs going on sale and everybody was buying these really expensive NFTs and trying to classify and explain to us exactly what made them so valuable and how there was a limited space in the digital world too, so these things were going to hold their value. And I just read this study that examined over seventy three thousand NFT collections and found that ninety five percent of them may now be worthless. So it's just odd timing that this movie is coming out right now. I'm just excited to see Uma Thurman and Maya Hank on screen together. I think that dynamic is interesting. Some people may issue a nepotism alert, and yes, you have two really talented and well connected parents with Uma Thurman and Ethan Hank, But I also think Maya Hank has a lot of talent. I loved her and Stranger Things. I also loved her and Netflix's Due Revenge, so I think there is a lot there that I'm not screaming NEPAI if we actually get somebody who is worth the crap right now. I also just love the fact that Samuel L. Jackson is still just cranking out movies. He has been in over one hundred and seventy films. I feel like if he is in it, it just takes it up to a different level. Minus Secret Invasion, that was not a great Marvel show. So if I had to share my excitement level after watching this trailer, let's see, on a scale of one through five, I'm about a four for this movie, mainly because prior to sitting down and watch this trailer, I didn't really hear or know much about the plot, and right after I finished it, I thought, I gotta see this movie now. Oh it just happens to be coming out on Friday, perfect timing, So I'm about a four out of five. I'm also just holding on to hope that Uma Thurman bust out some of her kill Bill moves. The movie is called The Kill Room and it comes out this Friday, September twenty ninth.

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Speaker 2: Had that was this week's edition of Movie by.

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Speaker 1: Trailer Bar, and that's gonna do it. So for another episode here of the podcast. Before I go, I got to give my listeners shout out of the week. This week, I'm going over to my TikTok, which I just had one kind of pop off out of nowhere. So if you don't follow me on TikTok, what are you doing? I'm there at Mike Distro on every social media platform as Mike Distro. This week, I am shouting out Rene Namos, who commented on my none to review and said your voice is growing, brother, keep up the great work. Thank you, Renee. Thank you for listening and watching my review. I feel like over time, I've just gotten more dialed into who I am and who I want to be, and what I want to say and how I want to do my reviews. I will honestly tell you right now, Early on, I was so concerned with what people were going to think of my opinions, and I wanted to be like a well renowned critic, and sometimes I felt like I needed to have a certain view to be seen as legitimate. And I realized, after the years of doing this podcast, I just have to say how I feel and say it the way I want to say it, even if it makes me look or sound dumb, because there's just genuine to me and genuine to my emotions. So I feel like, oddly I've backed my way into finding this newfound confidence. So thank you RENEV for realizing and shouting that out. So you shout me out, I shout you out back. Thank you for listening. Hope you're subscribed at this point. If you're not, what are you doing. If you haven't told a friend about this podcast who also loves movies, what are you doing? Get on that. Thank you to the movie crew. Until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later.