Godzilla (2014)

[major_clanger]

Meh.

This film really didn't grab me. Pacific Rim didn't take itself at all seriously, and had a huge sense of fun despite what was actually a very dark scenario. Godzilla is ponderously serious - or rather it tries to have a air of ponderous seriousness, without actually getting any gravitas or serious emotional investment out of its cast,

Comments

[pauldormer]

Not planning on seeing this, but interesting to see a mention of - I assume you typoed - Ligeti and the music used in 2001. I assume, with your association with intellectual property law, you know the story of the use of Ligeti's music in that film. Short version: the first he knew about it was when he saw the film. Lawyers got involved.

[major_clanger]

Ta - typo fixed!

The scene in question is substantially reproduced in the early trailer for the film (unusually for a trailer, the same music as in the actual film is used.)

Yes, I saw the comment on Ligeti's Wikipedia page about unauthorised use of his work in 2001. I found several versions of the story online, varying in how Ligeti found out and what happened, but this one is credible. It may well be that Kubrick took the cynical decision that an emigre composer living in Austria would not be in the position to pursue a lawsuit for copyright infringement, but it does seem clear that Ligeti did eventually receive royalties, and the fact that Kubrick used his music in further films suggests that some sort of deal was reached.

I looked to see if I could find any record of a court case involving Ligeti. I couldn't, but I did find the recent case of Rosenzweig v NMC Recordings, which mentions his name but is interesting as being a case on the extent to which someone disappointed that a charity has declined to support and promote

[pauldormer]

Yeah, that's more or less the version that appears in Gyorgy Ligeti: Music of the Imagination by Richard Steinitz. (I know Steinitz to speak to, he used to run the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.)

Apparently, Karajan was paid for his recording of Also sprach Zarathustra, the Darmstadt Chamber Music Players were paid. Even Alex North was paid for the score Kubrick rejected. Only Ligeti didn't get paid. MGM's reply to Ligeti's lawyers' letter ended, "The process will continue to Los Angeles. There, too, you'll win. But we think it will take twenty years. Would you prefer $1,000 now?" In 1973, he settled for $3,500.

25 years later, Ligeti was staying in California and happened to meet a member of MGM's legal staff. He asked him if he knew the story about his dispute with MGM. "Yes," replied the lawyer. "Everybody knows it, and everybody thinks you were stupid to engage a German instead of a Hollywood attorney."

Incidentally, Ligeti attended the German première of Eyes Wide Shut with Kubrick's widow.