Random Output
Movie Music...
What do these two movies, "The Passion of the Christ" and "Fahrenheit 911" have in common?
A musical soundtrack that will make you nuts.
Mel Gibson's movie is visually stunning, the acting superb. Actors learned Latin and Hebrew and worked to pull off lines in smooth way that looked natural, it's like these people actually spoke the language all of their lives.
I say looked because the music (which was well done) stepped on the lines. In a drama as you watch the actor or actress, listen to the dialog watching the facial expressions and listening to the tone of voice. Das Boot works even though it's in German because you can do this. If they had only turned the musical volume down about 15% this would have been a much better film.
Michael Moore's movie also has it's music stepping on dialog too loud, to often. In fact you would think it was musically scored by a couple of 60's leftover stoned hippies. The music seems to cut in and out, up and down in volume without warning. While there are no actors (documentary) you can often not clearly hear the people speaking due to the music track.
I can only guess that people who saw either film in the theaters walked away slightly deafened. As I rented both on DVD at least I had the luxury of adjusting the volume down when the score overpowered the film.
Here's a suggestion for the next generation of DVD's. Give us a way to better control the music, some of us are more interested in the dialog. Until then, directors and producers, ease off the musical volume.