James Newton Howard

Okay, so I saw I Am Legend in theaters back in December. I mostly just went because hey, it's got Will Smith in it and because a bunch of my Schola friends were going to it. I wasn't expecting to come away thinking it was great, per say.

It had probably one of *the* most tense scenes I've ever seen, with no music whatsoever, only the sound of Will Smith's frightened breathing as he creeps through the dark building looking for his dog. It was pretty horrible, and I really wanted to grip the armrest of my chair, but the people on either side of me had already beat me to it. I clutched my scarf instead.

I Am Legend used the score to really work the audience several times, but it also used silence to work the dramatic parts, and that struck me. Most movies really depend on its music to help bring out a lot of things in the movie. Whether they want the audience to feel fear, surprise, love, or just want you to laugh out loud, the music can really help bring that out(if the composer does his job well, that is).

Well, James Newton Howard does his job very well. I came away from the movie wondering why I had liked it so much while most of my friends didn't. I should have realised before that it was Newton Howard who had done the score. As it is, however, I didn't know until about half an hour ago.

I've been a fan of James Newton Howard ever since he composed the score to Peter Pan in 2003. The whole score has such a music box sound to it that I found myself entranced every time I listened to it. I came up with entire stories to go with the music. Sometimes it was the story of a princess who had been captured and was held prisoner on an island in the Atlantic. That was my favorite story to imagine while I listened to the Peter Pan score. I played the whole story in my head, imaging everything, and adding more to the story every time.

James Newton Howard is the only composer who has ever done that to me. Inspired me with his music to create completely new worlds and ages simply by listening to him. In my opinion, he has the most magical sound to his music, more so than any other composers. And I realize that magical sounds aren't what everyone looks for in a composer's music, but it's what I look for. It's what I love. James Newton Howard is my favorite composer. (And hey, he's got three names to his title! Take that, John Williams, hehe.)

I'm still trying to figure out how he worked the score for The Happening and The Dark Knight at the same time. Maybe it's not that hard to do more than one score at once, but... I still think it's really cool.

Among his greatest compositions are his scores for M. Night Shyamalan's movies. The Village and Signs especially. Signs is one of my top five favorite movies, so that says a lot about Newton Howard's compositions.

James Newton Howard is amazing. The end. No questions asked, just accept it.