My wife is a therapist, so there was no way we weren't watching this.
Jimmy is a therapist too, grieving his wife, who decides to throw out his training and starts being brutally honest with his clients.
I liked him immediately: vulnerable, likeable, a bit of a mess. Fairly relatable if I'm honest…:)
But it’s Harrison Ford’s performance that completely surprised me: the comedic timing, the blunt put-downs…I hadn't seen that side of him before…loved it!
What struck me most was how real it felt. No smoothing things over, no tidy resolutions, just the messy, complicated sides of real life, grief, family and mental health…which is exactly how it should be.
Oh and a fantastic theme tune. The line "I want to hear myself think again" perfectly underscores the whole vibe of the series….great stuff!
Join us for our FREE Taster Week!
Don’t miss this special guests webinar with the incredible Ivor Novello Award–winning composer @joris.de.man
Discover, learn, and get inspired — all completely free.
👉 Sign up now via the link in our bio ℹ️
What I
I like how this series put you on the wrong foot from the start. You think you know what you're getting: Steve Carell, university campus, fish out of water; but it doesn’t quite go the way you’d expect.
What got me was the students - a generation with more freedoms than we ever had, but somehow they feel more restricted than ever by their own political correctness.
That tension runs through the whole thing quietly, and it's more interesting to me than most of the obvious comedy.
Carell is just brilliant. Effortlessly funny, very human, and very relatable. And look, Greg is a white guy of a certain age navigating a world that's moved on without him. I felt that:)
From the same team that gave us Ted Lasso and Shrinking, it’s got tons of heart…exactly what we need right now.
I liked the tension on this one…and I like how it twists on the genre.
The idea of a hijack is fairly straightforward, but the story doesn't go quite the way you're expecting. The protagonist is almost going along with the bad guys, which makes it totally unpredictable.
Idris Elba is just really likeable and very watchable - he makes it very human. He's got his own vulnerabilities and motivations, and it was refreshing to not see him play your typical action star role.
Which honestly makes him a little more like me…in my dreams of saving the world:)
Anne Nikitin's score has a lovely propulsive quality, with some really nice string writing. It doesn't draw attention to itself, but hits the emotions exactly when it needs to.
And the opening titles are just solid - that vintage-styled "Kiss the Sky" track had me wondering if I was listening to something from the 70s. Lovely stuff!
I loved the vibe of this show. It's slow, but deliberately so, and it just pulls you in.
Sitting somewhere between Invasion of the Bodysnatchers and The Stepford Wives, but quieter and stranger than either, it's from the warped mind of Vince Gilligan, who gave us Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, so I trusted it even when I wasn't sure where it was going.
What stayed with me was how unbothered most people seem about the alien takeover; that felt rather real. Like current events, some people are more comfortable to go along with the chaos rather than wondering WTF is going on…
Rhea Seehorn is brilliant. And Dave Porter, normally the king of musical sound design, delivers a surprisingly epic and melodic score here, which was a pleasant surprise. I can't wait for season two!
Killzone 2 - "Sons and Daughters of Helghan..."
After Killzone 1 was released and well received, work began on the sequel.
The (in)famous Killzone 2 E3 trailer back in 2005 generated so much excitement that a PS2 sequel was scrapped in favour of a PS3 one.
This was a great shift for all involved - the new blazingly fast hardware meant much higher graphic fidelity and gameplay possibilities, and musically it meant we could have interactive in-game music alongside the cutscenes.
I spent most of the year on this interactive music before composing cutscenes as animatics came in. I'd expected to return to Prague for recording, but a better budget meant we could go to Abbey Road with London session players….I felt like I'd won the lottery!
Unfortunately three weeks out, and already on 12-14 hour days and a steady drip of Red Bull, I fractured my ankle in three places.
The last scenes were finished with me in a cast with my leg raised, alternating between a few hours sleep and 10-hour shifts. Our conductor Jonathan had broken his collarbone playing rugby but quietly pushed through anyway and got brilliant performances out of the orchestra and choir.
The sessions were everything I'd imagined; the players burned through frighteningly difficult passages like it was nothing after barely any rehearsal, and you could tell they were loving it.
The sound in the hall of an orchestra going at it hard was incredibly emotional, and the choir singing at full pelt gave me chills.
Killzone 2 was well received and the soundtrack found a real following. I was lucky enough to receive the inaugural Ivor Novello for Best Video Game Score.
Sometimes the stars align and all you can do is hang on and ride the wave:)
Sam McCarthy, Laura Seymour and Iván Corujo put together a brilliant behind-the-scenes video of the whole process.
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/pWuGlLyx8FY
It's been a great honour to be asked to judge this year for the upcoming Buma Music In Media Awards in my home country of NL for the Film & TV categories.
Though I can’t say anything about the winners yet, I was *very* impressed with both the quality, range and variety of music from my fellow Dutch composers!
Fantastic and original scores, well produced & mixed for films and tv series of exceptional quality.
I’ve really enjoyed hearing all the wonderful music, and the rise in production values of film & tv productions since I left over 20 years ago is frankly amazing. My countrymen are on fire!!!
#ifitaintdutchitaintmuch #BUMA #BMIM #Soundtrack #Composer #FilmScore
On the Native Instruments insolvency.....because opinions ;)
I’m not an investor or financial expert…my business is writing Music as best as I can that hopefully gives you the feels and lifts whatever we collaborate on to the highest level.
Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, I’d like to highlight what I believe they got right and celebrate the talented individuals who have contributed so many fantastic synths, effects, and tools over the years.
My first experience with NI was with synths like Absynth, FM7 (later 8), Reaktor, and countless other intriguing experiments, many of which didn’t last.
They were unique, and in my opinion, Reaktor and Absynth are underrated powerhouses that have stood the test of time.
I appreciate how they expanded their offerings with amazing synths like Massive and FM8, Reaktor ensembles like the slick Razor synth, and wild processors like Guitar Rig, which have capabilities far beyond just shredding guitar tones.
And let’s not forget Kontakt, that behemoth that revolutionized sample streaming forever.
Who remembers Gigastudio anymore, and who could’ve imagined how far and deep the capabilities of a sampler could be developed?
Integrating Plugin Alliance and Izotope were, in my view, excellent decisions, expanding their range with some of the best studio-grade tools available.
These tools have been instrumental to my sonic palette and expression, and let's face it, they've brought so much fun and experimentation.
Please join me in thanking Stephan Schmidt, Volker Hinz, as well as Brian Clevinger and all the NI employees over the years for their hard work in giving us some of the best instruments and tools ever to lift and aid our compositions and sonic creations.
I sincerely hope this insolvency will be resolved in a way that doesn’t leave the NI employees nor us out to dry.
Just before Sinterklaas & Christmas, I had a lovely time working on a trailer for the Chinese company Morefun.
Having composed hard-hitting metalcore for a season of their game Arena Breakout : Infinite, which boasts nearly a million daily players, they asked me back for their anniversary trailer, highlighting the many games and franchises they’ve released since 2010.
Lovely to write more optimistic and uplifting music for a change…I often seem to get stuck in a minor key, but this was full of joy and wonder:)
Many thanks to Fabian Malabello of The Otherworld Agency for inviting me to work on this!
Just before Sinterklaas & Christmas, I had a lovely time working on a trailer for the Chinese company Morefun.
Having composed hard-hitting metalcore for a season of their game Arena Breakout : Infinite, which boasts nearly a million daily players, they asked me back for their anniversary trailer, highlighting the many games and franchises they’ve released since 2010.
Lovely to write more optimistic and uplifting music for a change…I often seem to get stuck in a minor key, but this was full of joy and wonder:)
Many thanks to Fabian Malabello of The Otherworld Agency for inviting me to work on this!
Clogs and Sabots….
I know…everyone’s got something to say about AI - but I’ll try and make it original and hopefully a little offbeat.
Today, I’m thinking about clogs, or sabots as they’re called in French. I’ve never worn them, but they’re one of the archetypes of my country, next to dykes and tulips.
Sabots were work shoes used by the working class from the 16th to the 19th century, and rumor has it the word “sabotage” is derived from workers protesting the industrial revolution by throwing their sabots into machinery.
Insta is not the place for long rants, but you can read more here if you're interested:
/posts/jorisdeman_clogs-and-sabots-i-knoweveryones-got-activity-7416848997656485888-T2ZK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAADNzTsB-857pdM_ga-BMTtb4x6UM_GhUn8
Oh..no longer just a register your interest post...now we have a booking page!
Visit Ticket Tailor...we've got 3 events listed...here's one to be going along with :)
/events/manmadeproductions/1820118
