I don't remember it being like you say...anyway, the soundtrack was completely brilliant, but for some reason, it's not available for purchase.

What was "brilliant" about it? There's elevator music playing under the playground scene where Dawson's character meets Norton's character that then continues under the following scene in the bar. There's a really annoying, loud, and obtrusive piece playing over the scene in the hotel overlooking the 9/11 memorial that just drags on and on and basically punches a viewer in the face. There are moments of very odd and out of place notes from wind instruments that just make NO sense.

@MongoLloyd said:

What was "brilliant" about it?

I think you may be referring to the score, while I am referring to the soundtrack. As for the soundtrack...uh, Cymande? "White Lines"?

Yeah, I'm talking about the score.

Other than Barry Pepper's performance, I thought the score was the finest thing about the film. I can see why it might be considered intrusive, but I found it somehow melancholy and powerful.

My two favourite movie scores are both Spike Lee movies She's Gotta Have It and Mo' Better Blues.

I have not seen 25th Hour (yet). Perhaps he screwed this one up. He's human, he'll make mistakes.

But, generally, I love his scores and, shy of being able to say I've seen all his movies, I'm willing to bet that he hits more than misses.

I was a huge Lee fan in the Do The Right Thing era, but he got worse and worse as a filmmaker and started using his father to score his movies. The last good movie of his that I've seen was Inside Man.

@MongoLloyd said:

and started using his father to score his movies.

Not sure what this means. His father is a musician (and a great one, at that). If Spike gets his father Bill some work, and Bill does a good job, why not "use him"?

Otherwise, are you saying that Spike's "using" his father is part of your no longer enjoying his movies?

@CelluloidFan said:

I don't remember it being like you say...anyway, the soundtrack was completely brilliant, but for some reason, it's not available for purchase.

Soundtrack:

https://www.amazon.com/25th-Hour-Terence-Blanchard/dp/B006B7ZOS4

Here is a list of the 'other' music, some/all are available on YouTube:

https://www.what-song.com/Movies/Soundtrack/387/25th-Hour

@bratface said:

@CelluloidFan said:

I don't remember it being like you say...anyway, the soundtrack was completely brilliant, but for some reason, it's not available for purchase.

Soundtrack: https://www.amazon.com/25th-Hour-Terence-Blanchard/dp/B006B7ZOS4

Here is a list of the 'other' music, some/all are available on YouTube:

https://www.what-song.com/Movies/Soundtrack/387/25th-Hour

I didn't know about this back when I created that post. Thanks again.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@MongoLloyd said:

and started using his father to score his movies.

Not sure what this means. His father is a musician (and a great one, at that). If Spike gets his father Bill some work, and Bill does a good job, why not "use him"?

Besides that, it seems that his chronology is out of wack. I thought that Bill Lee scored She's Gotta Have It?

@CelluloidFan said:

@bratface said:

@CelluloidFan said:

I don't remember it being like you say...anyway, the soundtrack was completely brilliant, but for some reason, it's not available for purchase.

Soundtrack: https://www.amazon.com/25th-Hour-Terence-Blanchard/dp/B006B7ZOS4

Here is a list of the 'other' music, some/all are available on YouTube:

https://www.what-song.com/Movies/Soundtrack/387/25th-Hour

I didn't know about this back when I created that post. Thanks again.

You are welcome. I found the links when I was trying to see what/why Mongo hated about the music.

I couldn't care less if Lee's father is an amazing, world renowned musician. His scores are WAY too obtrusive.

@MongoLloyd said:

I couldn't care less if Lee's father is an amazing, world renowned musician. His scores are WAY too obtrusive.

Okay, I hear you. Your opinion is that his scores are "WAY too obtrusive." That's fine.

Do you mind framing your reference for us? There are many movies that had iconic scores. Would they be remembered the same way without their scores? Would Jaws be the same? What about the Raiders of the Lost Ark? ET? Star Wars? For most people, at the mention of these movies, it's the music that jumps to mind, even before any particularly memorable quote. Are they intrusive?

I mentioned all these because John Williams is one of my favourite movie music makers. He is (primarily) an orchestral composer. It's all symphony, "classical" music, if you will. . Another favourite movie score of mine is from Other People's Money, David Newman. I have no problem with orchestral scores

My two favourite scores of all time (as I've previously mentioned), are still Bill Lee's, from Spike's She's Gotta Have It, and Mo' Better Blues. Lee was a jazz composer.

It's not difficult, nor a stretch, to extrapolate that people of European background generally "hear" classical more readily, while people like myself, of the western African diaspora, are generally more attuned to "hear" jazz more readily.

Is it possible that you, like most human beings, simply have a bias that makes it more difficult to hear jazz? I know I have biases, because I'm just a human being, too - if a movie had a punk rock soundtrack, given I don't love punk rock, I would expect to find it intrusive (unless it reflect the movie's tone/themes effectively. It would be impossible to tell the story of Sid and Nancy without punk rock. And, to be clear, I absolutely respect punk rock as art, as well as the Sex Pistols as artists Yep, I do!)

To the best of your awareness, your opinion may not be overtly influenced by any bias, and that's fine, too.

Thanks, at least, for the conversation, and for considering the question.

@CelluloidFan said:

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@MongoLloyd said:

and started using his father to score his movies.

Not sure what this means. His father is a musician (and a great one, at that). If Spike gets his father Bill some work, and Bill does a good job, why not "use him"?

Besides that, it seems that his chronology is out of wack. I thought that Bill Lee scored She's Gotta Have It?

Yep. That was Spike's first movie, and it's one of my all-time favourite film scores. So yeah, I'm not sure about "started using his father" as if that was later, when he "used' his father from jump.