If you think that Mark only immitates Zimmer, and only in a bad way, I must disagree with you. First of all, ofcourse his music is INSPIRED by the techniques Zimmer uses, Mark was teached the craft by Hans. This doesn't mean, however, that he has no ideas of his own. Just listen to any piece from "Twister", you'll hear it's not only the synth-technique courtesy of Zimmer, but it is more a great use of full orchestra and choir in a way I've never heard Zimmer use them. Okay, maybe his first few scores sounded a little like Zimmer's stuff, but Mark has developed his music writing skills enormously and now has developed his own distinctive style.
About the "effectiveness", sure his music is effective, it's suppost to be, coz it's FILMmusic for crying out loud. If you want something solely artisticly, go look for a concert piece. But I have to say I completely disagree with you on Mark not having written music that is art. If you listen to his music closely, you can hear how much time and effort he put into it, to make it all sound so balanced and beautiful as it does. You cannot deny his craftmanship and his capability to create beautiful cues. If you're not at all convinced, I suggest you listen to "Moll Flanders" and then talk to me again about art.

It's okay to criticise someone's music, but you will have to give good reasons for it, coz as far as I am concerned you may have some personal problem with his name or something, coz your judgment is clearly not based on repeated listening. It's just flamebait remarks, so here you have it. If you want to, Alexander, please e-mail me and we can continue this discussion. In the meantime I suggest you check out my homepage to get to know more about Mark.
Thanks for listening.

Speed wasn't Mark's first solo score; Sniper was, with help from Hans, and it wasn't that remarkable, nor was the movie.
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