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Lucas is an incredibly complicated and fascinating individual. There is virtually no one else in the movie business like him; the kind of person who, arguably more than any other single person, has shaped the ways movies are made in the modern age and yet has a reputation for being a hack. I'm not sure he was ever a truly talented writer and director. His earliest films are good but the success of Star Wars was in a lot of ways due to the collaborative way in which it was made. But it was Lucas' vision and it cannot be understated how great that vision was. He's one of the best idea men the industry has ever had; the lesson in his later downfall is that even creators with the best ideas need vetting and shaping from other talented minds. There can't be the kind of ego that refuses to listen to anyone outside one's own mind, no matter how much of an auteur the creator is.

This is how the apologists see Lucas: This is how everyone else sees him:

Aesthetically, this is where his work as a director was always the strongest.

I love the handful of little solo clarinet moments sprinkled throughout this score, it's one of my favorite Williamsisms, the way he writes them. WHO IS WITH ME?!

TPM was pretty edit-free. Dodged a bullet that one.

Lame.

Yeah, how is Williams supposed to score Star Wars VIII, Ready Player One, and Ava2 all in the span of a few months?

Lincoln The Lost World Assassin's Creed's Syndicate The Hateful Eight

Heidi by John Williams: A lovely piece of writing from the Maestro, particularly for the woodwinds and strings. There is an innocent child-like enthusiasm and lyricism to most of the material complimented by the ruminative woodwind moments for the grandfather and the gentle bashful almost courtly love theme that gently winds through the album and is fully heard in the special arrangement at the end of the main programme. It really is an early showcase of Williams' drama skills which are best on display in the yearning and passionate Shadows and the slow beautifully unfolding finale in Miracle, which sparkle with his customary magic. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Alex North: A superb Baroque tinged piece of dramatic scoring that delves with subtlety and no small amount of compassion into the troubled relationship of the main couple of the story. Chamber-sized approach feels entirely right for the play turned into a film and North brings his usual unusual to the orchestrations and achieves some wonderful effects with it that give the music its distinct coloration. The music plays a fine line between detached and involved but culminates into Party's Over which begins with subdued but powerful emotional release full of regret and sorrow in the form of a religioso theme turned lullaby and continues with Sunday, Tomorrow - All Day where the main Baroque tinged nocturne theme gently offers a final small kernel of hope with its stately but tenderly orchestrated calm. Well worth investigating but be prepared to delve deeper than hummable themes with this one as much of its power resides in the nuances of the excellent orchestration, writing and musical concept although the disc is not devoid of purely emotional rewards either as North manages to bring in some gorgeous melodies as well.

TPM for me. It was much more effective than on TPM, that's for sure. I loved it on first listen. One of my favorite Williams scores from the last 20 years.

I really like the concert version of the TIE Fighter Attack, "Here They Come!"

No. Han should have said: "I love you" And Kylo would have replied: "I know" BOOM!

Yay! That will be the third recording the piece!

Yes it definitely is! Much thanks. I figured it was tracked (sounded a bit familiar) but couldn't place where.

Jason, I just realised this music is actually in the FYC, as it's tracked music from the first sequence! It's on Attack on the Jakku Village, Part 1, at 2:49 to 3:03, and then jumping to 3:06 to 3:15. After that, the scherzo begins. In a custom edit, we could have now the complete finale.

I mean to post about this show more, but I have been loving Rebels. I miss The Clone Wars, but this show has been filled the void nicely. The new crew is fun to watch, and I really enjoy the nods to other Star Wars media, like The Clone Wars (with appearances from Ahsoka, Captain Rex, Hondo Ohnaka, and Cham Syndulla). I'm really looking forward to the second half of this season. It seems like we have a ton in store! As far as the music goes, I still wish Kiner would avoid the obvious Williams references (whether to the Star Wars scores or to other films). Kiner proved with The Clone Wars that he could write music that was his own but that could still fit in the Star Wars musical library, only referencing Williams' themes when appropriate. With Rebels, Kiner seems to rely on those references too heavily, and it can be somewhat distracting. I wish he would develop more of his own themes rather than try to repurpose bits and pieces of Williams' scores. But all that being said, sometimes he has pretty nice moments, like the Kanan-Inquisitor duel in the finale or this moment below. These kinds of cues make me wish for a Rebels soundtrack (as well as expanded soundtracks for The Clone Wars).

An outstanding businessman and a technical innovator first and foremost. His early work shows the signs of a promising film maker (director/writer/producer), but his latter work undoes that. Now he's someone who has left a great legacy (good and bad) on Hollywood and how films are made and sold. (ironic, considering he largely eschewed Hollywood) But his role seems to have played out a long time ago. He never did make those low-budget art movies he said he was gonna make after ROTS.

Yep nice! Still amazed how much of the action is strings and brass for the most part. With very little of the usually piccolo runs, snares, xylophones etc.

The DSO is performing (and recording for Naxos) the Trumpet Concerto this week. It will be streamed on the DSO Live webcast on January 22nd. http://dso.org/live

JOHN WILLIAMS - Born on the Fourth of July Many an eyebrow is raised around here when this score is placed among the composer's very best efforts - sadly, one may say, as per swarm intelligence there seem never to be enough derivative Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Harry Potter sequels to take these high honours. Especially noteworthy as it is one of the select few collaborations with oddball director Oliver Stone, who may not be Robert Altman but whose gripping and polarizing style seems to have rejuvenated the old 70's juices in Williams like the older Altman once did. And just about the right time: in 1989, success already had embalmed the composer in a precious layer of nostalgia-thick vaseline, made of wistful reminiscences of a golden past (all the Lucas and Spielberg blockbusters) and pompous proclamations of an indeed bright american present (literally hundreds of jubilee fanfares for all kind of festive occasions). The academic gusto with which Williams attacks Stone's wistful, pathetic and angry Vietnam recount seen through the eyes of a returning vet, Ron Kovic, makes it abundantly clear that intellectually he was more than up for such task (one wonders how he must have languished in the putrid ponds of, say, 'Always', 'Amazing Stories' and 'Spacecamp'). A static trumpet lament opens the score, an eulogy for the dead, and it's one of those classic Williams ideas that sound as if they must have been around forever but also immediately establishes a powerful spell over the whole score, which formal brilliance lies in the treatment of the disparate elements: the solo trumpet, the earthy string orchestra for the yearning look back (another classic theme) and the avantgardist tableaus of the battlefield flashbacks are all rigorously interwoven in aid of Stone's storytelling to which Williams not acts as mere illustrator but indeed a loud musical messenger. And while the thematic material by design doesn't shy away from big pathos, Williams carefully avoids toppling over by juxtaposing the melodramatic moments with either the dreadful stillness of his dirge-like trumpet call or even brutal Ligeti-inspired dissonances (note the ghostly whispers in the latter half of 'Cua Viet River' and the uncompromising atonality of 'The Shooting of Wilson'). This is brilliant stuff and it bears mention that it neither is the norm for the typical end-of-the-year Oscar bait nor indeed for Williams himself. The final apotheosis, the aptly titled credit sequence 'Born on the Fourth of July' dashingly summarizes the whole score and movie in what is one of Williams' most formally ripe cues (he would later expand on the academic air, unusual for film music anyway, and expand it for some of his 90's and 00's scores, mostly in tandem with various solo artists). The MCA crossover album, usually a case for grave concern, is equally conceptually satisfying: there's no dead air, no material simply aiding some movie sequences, the 25 minutes are a perfect summation and while i probably would buy a complete score for archival reasons, this album (or at least all the Williams cues) should have a place in every self-respecting Williams collection.

Williams is just lazy copying all the greats of the past. Every time I hear the first note in one of his pieces, I can't stand listening to any more because I recognise that note from somewhere else. Every single instrument and note Williams writes has been used before. But he just reorganises the instruments and notes in a different order, thinking we wont notice. It disgusts me.

I've always found the comparison between Korngold's King's Row and the Star Wars main title way too far-fetched. The first five notes are truly similar, but literally nothing else is even close. You could point out that the next motif may sound like the second motif from Superman march, but just rythmically. I think these kind of 'comparisons' are made just in our very common cultural model of unreflexive repetition. People talking about books they haven't read, music and composers they haven't listened, and overall taking part of a mainstream opinion, favorable or not, of issues they will never really dig into.

For me it'll always be that entire last hour of Jedi. And then he did the same with TOD the following year! Mind-blowing. No wonder he took a break in 85.

When I get my EWQLSO packages (soon hopefully) I can use them to create some orchestral-style covers. All these here are very good, so great job

Ah--THAT'S where I got mixed up. Forget what I said, then. It's doubtful the majority of voters will pay any attention to the FYC's (beyond pricing them out as bootlegs). And they'll probably take just the approach nightscape was talking about: recalling the Star Wars main theme, shrugging it off, and giving the award to someone else. And if the whole Academy votes, I think Thomas Newman's chances just went up. Morricone may be a sentimental favorite, but folks aren't going to be remembering "music" when they think back to The Hateful Eight. Bridge of Spies will get some traction in other categories, and the Newman family name still has plenty of pull.

Alan Rickman said it best: roles win awards, not actors

I'm not familiar with the Marvel films, but the fact The Force Awakens rehashes Episode 4 story is tolerated in the understanding that is a first installment that needed to make the connection with the older movies, but I think the trilogy is certainly expected to depart to new grounds. If criticism about the rehash has been significant (still not enough to prevent this movie for making billions), I think a second time would be riskier. At least that's the impression I've got from comments on the internet and talking to people that have seen it here.

I wish they would publish the full scores. Since these events are being done, then it's evident they already have a well edited full score for all the cues. I would be like buying an opera or ballet score, but with outstanding John Williams music for studying and performing! But I don't think they'll do it anytime soon...

Lucas was a perfectionist.