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Star Wars is better than everything
Cerebral Cortex and one other reacted to nightscape94 for a topic
Sorry if this was asked and answered before, but anyone know where this version of The Cantina Band comes from?2 points -
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Gruesome Son of a Bitch and one other reacted to Unlucky Bastard for a topic
And he found that all we ever talk about is Star Trek, erections, ASMR, boobs, daytime soaps, Trump's theme.2 points -
Favorite short musical moments in Williams scores?
Cerebral Cortex and one other reacted to leeallen01 for a topic
The Strings rising at 0:30 - 0:36 is to die for.2 points -
I kind of liked the intrigue factor of hearing almost nothing from TFA before the film was released. All we got was Jedi Steps IIRC.2 points
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Can't wait until The Last Jedi comes out so that John Williams can be the new Michael Giacchino.2 points
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Well, exactly. It's the same thing that started the "M. Night Shyamalan is the new Steven Spielberg" trend after The Sixth Sense. Eventually these guys either carve out their own identity or they fade away. But there's never been a "new _______" who stayed that way and left any sort of legacy. The kinda weird issue with Giacchino is that he was dubbed "the new John Williams" 15-20 years ago as an up-and-comer and we're still hearing about it even though he's an established 50 year old professional and a quite successful one....I mean, it's kinda condescending to him too at this point, but he's brought it on himself by riding on the back of so much retro stuff and inviting comparisons to so many great composers. First Barry, then Jerry, Jerry again, Johnny, Johnny again. Fuck's sake, he can never be anything but "the new John Williams" if this is how he's gonna spend the rest of his career. I doubt he really wants that either. When it comes to Star Wars specifically, I don't know why there has to be a "next John Williams" anyway when there is no such talk of a "next George Lucas." The whole excitement right now should be in opening up the playground. Williams's role in Star Wars, like Lucas's, is completely singular, so how could anybody hope to replicate it? Why is there this assumption that just because Williams has had sole authorship over the music up to this point (because duh!) that the franchise is obliged to go to a new permanent boy king? "The passing of the baton!" It's so arbitrary. I get that right now it's mostly just fretting about the potential need for a sub on Episode 9 (although judging by a lot of comments I've seen, most people seem to think Williams is Mozart at the end of Amadeus, dictating from his sick bed) but just the idea that there has to be a new "official" Star Wars guy simply because John Williams is that for his own damn creation? That's pretty boring. Giacchino is not that special, neither is Desplat, nor JNH, nor anybody else who might take a crack. Nobody is going to be able to just pick up wherever Williams leaves off. They are ALL starting from scratch in their own voice, and really less than that because his shadow looms so large. The truly successful ones will find a way to escape being perceived as the new John Williams because their work will contribute something vital on its own terms, rendering the label irrelevant. Good luck to them.2 points
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Christ Almighty! No previous thread on this either? This is one of my alltime favourite Williams scores (and as such one of my alltime favourite soundtracks in general). "Angela's Prayer" leaves me floored every time I hear it -- the quintessential example of what I call JW's "religious sound" and my primary reason for having him as my favourite composer -- but there are so many other great aspects to it too. Sometimes playful and childlike (harps or pizzicato strings), but mostly extremely spiritual, with gorgeous pastoral stretches in the style of Vaughan Williams. The film is so-so; it tries a little too hard. Not one of Parker's best films. But not bad either.1 point
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The Chronological Film Score Thread
Gnome in Plaid reacted to Bilbo for a topic
Year One Year Two Year Three Year Four Year Five Year Six Year Seven1 point -
What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)
bollemanneke reacted to Jay for a topic
Elmer still had it all the way to the end1 point -
80th death anniversary of Gershwin
Will reacted to Gruesome Son of a Bitch for a topic
Don't fucking post anything with the word 'death' in the title on the Williams forum!1 point -
I love this score! Worth mentioning is the recording of "The Days Between" by Keisuke Wakao, accompanied on the piano by the Master himself. Keisuke Wakao plays music of John Williams (1999, Denon, COCQ-83115; Pilot, Maruyama, Williams, Wakao, Borromeo String Qt) Featuring John Williams (p): The Days Between from "Stepmom".1 point
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What Is The Last Score You Listened To? (older scores)
Taikomochi reacted to #SnowyVernalSpringsEternal for a topic
Speaking of Dances With Wolves. Wolf Totem. The opening seconds featuring low ominous chords and high pitch ethnic wailing might make some expect the worst, but once the theme sets in all if fine. Essentially Horner in epic Barry made, and that's a good thing! The usual ethnic flavoring is kept to a minimum and supports the music rather than defines it. This may be a chinese film directed by a French guy, but it good old-fashioned Hollywood epic scoring. The final cue especially is a stand out. The kind where Horner closes the film with sweeping broad strokes on a large canvas and slowly winds everything down. (no film composer does this quite like Horner, who will comfortably take 3,5 minutes for an ending coda while everyone else does it in 45 seconds)1 point -
Blade Runner: Final Cut
Corellian2019 reacted to A24 for a topic
In that case, the trailer for the last release in the UK is the best one yet.1 point -
What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)
Naïve Old Fart reacted to Quintus for a topic
Obviously it's well known that Ford isn't exactly Sir Anthony Hopkins, he's well aware of his limitations as we can see from his back catalogue. He has a range which only goes so far. So fucking what? Anyway, did you guys see this yet? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39391431 Embarrassing!1 point -
So I came across this video on my YouTube feed: Immediately I was struck by what appears to be unused or alternate Rogue One music interspersed with the footage of Vader slaughtering the Rebels. I'm not sure if its from a music library but it sounds very dramatic and very classic Star Wars with that Hollywood dramatic kind of feel. You'll notice that the cue restarts at certain points and so the short length adds further credibility to it being originally written for the Vader scene. What does everybody think? Is this a piece that you've heard before or could this actually be from Rogue One. Either way I really like it and would love to hear the full thing.1 point
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Wow I just took a quick look at a few ROTS spots on YouTube, and I every single one I saw was partially or wholly scored with some of JW's film score! Man, times have really changed. I actually love how many trailers have music written specifically for them. Whether Williams or not. That can make some really, really well done trailers. But it robs us of the chance to hear little score snippets... (Well, maybe that's good though so it's a surprise)1 point
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I wonder if any Williams score from the sessions will be used in the trailer, ala The Jedi Steps or Anakin's Betrayal? I doubt he wrote any music specifically for the TLJ trailers after the rumours about TFA's second trailer.1 point
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My favorite part from Dances with Wolves has always been the wonderfull Two Socks theme I've always found it very moving1 point
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Gnome in Plaid reacted to Cerebral Cortex for a topic
It's not something I'm proud of, but I have learned to live with it.1 point -
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The opening movement of Williams' The Unfinished Journey, Immigration and Building:1 point
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Does JW music sound better when your drunk?
DarthDementous reacted to Marian Schedenig for a topic
I once, years ago, decided I had to finish some programming task drunk. Couldn't get it to work and gave up after a while, but left the PC running. Looking through the undo history the next day was hilarious.1 point -
Solo: A Star Wars Story (Ron Howard 2018)
JWMike reacted to #SnowyVernalSpringsEternal for a topic
Jean-Claude Juncker?1 point -
Until the guys up high release every take ever recorded from every single score Williams composed music for, until they record every single piece of music JW penned in his life in digital format (yes, that includes his Symphony No.1), until every JW piece has its sheet music published, until every JW film, TV series and travelogue gets a LtP concert arranged in every major and minor city in the world, and until we know the damn year Williams was enlisted in the USAF, this forum shall still have a purpose to exist. The JWFAN era is only just beginning!1 point
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We all have our pet threads that we like to check but they're different for each of us and it doesn't mean everybody will continue to visit the forum just for the off-topic discussion. The really wonderful thing that we all have in common is that the #1 best thing about JWFan is sharing the release of a new John Williams score together, yes? Am I wrong about that? That's what I love and I check the JW board every day for news on his projects. There's nothing else that brings the whole community so close....we are the only people in the world who love John Williams so fucking much that we just couldn't find anybody within arm's length who could talk about him on our level, so we went online. I love this place, I like reading everybody's thoughts on here on various things, but the thing that gets me really excited to hear from each and every member, uniquely, is what they think about the new score. When John Williams is finally done writing music for any reason, it will leave a huge hole in my life, I am sure of that. And I know that for awhile I am going to rely on this board more than ever, because you are the only people who will understand. We're all going to count on each other for that. The board will keep its usual activity for awhile after the final Williams score but on a day to day level, I just know how tedious it can honestly be when a forum gets to like 10 posts a day and the member you would have most wanted to hear from on a recent news item hasn't been around in a year. Most people are probably not going to continue dropping in like clockwork to post at length about Trump's latest soundbite or which score they happened to listen to for the fiftieth time. Again, aside from a handful of people who really connect outside of Williams, I dunno if we will all gather around every day. We'll always have JW, but we're going to have our own lives and relationships to maintain without constantly checking on JWFan to say hi!1 point
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His Rogue One score is memorable. I can easily hum all his new themes without a seconds thought. And although the usual film goer talking about film music is painful to read, by the looks of the Rogue One score's comment sections on youtube, a hell of a lot of people really love his Rogue One score and say how they adore certain themes and that they are stuck in their heads. That qualifies as memorable. Giacchino has written many memorable themes for many films. And I wouldn't be surprised if some have entered the general public's consciousness on a level of instant recognisability.1 point
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He's logical in that he's an old fashioned symphonic Hollywood film music guy, which you don't actually see a lot of these days. Even Desplat feels more European. Lemme just say, that if after ep 9 they hire Gia for everything else I wouldn't be particularly surprised or disappointed. There were a few moments in Rogue One where he did nail it. Writing Star Wars music without directly quoting Williams.1 point
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John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"
DarthDementous reacted to mrbellamy for a topic
The sentimental Kobe Bryant theme for flute, strings, and piano will be available in an edited arrangement on iTunes and he will perform that in concert, while the badass 3-minute percussion/brass interlude for the basketball game that you can barely hear under Kobe's narration and crowd/gameplay sound effects will be edited out and never heard again.1 point -
John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"
DarthDementous reacted to Josh500 for a topic
Can't wait for the LLL expanded edition! That'll be 7 minutes!1 point -
James Newton Howard's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
DarthDementous reacted to mrbellamy for a topic
It's frustrating because Yates is not an untalented director at all (and at least he encouraged a score like this in the first place), but between Potter and Tarzan he's done six of these epic adventure movies and he just keeps proving himself too conservative for these things. There are occasionally inspired moments but the movies just become a drag to watch. Musically it's not even just about themes...the basic difference in momentum between the two versions of the bank scene is staggering to me. Moreover the charming flute melody brings out an innocent sort of mischief to the Niffler IMO, endearing me to the creature. Yeah it's an imaginative piece of animation, anyway, but I can really feel the little thing going ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in the scored version that isn't as strong to me without music. I can't think of anything that I find really improves the scene by taking JNH out of the equation. Why break up that lightly accelerated comic pace? What is really gained by slowing everything down in that moment? There's a fine line between deadpan and just...dead. Modern directors have some weird artistic insecurity lately about scoring their movies wall-to-wall, as if "real" directors don't need music. That's the conventional wisdom, of course, that film music is some sort of artistic weakness or a crutch or distraction. Never mind that it's half the fun of these silly genre things but nah, lower the mix, the melody is too discernible and people might accidentally listen to it instead of paying close attention to this fat guy running away from a magic rhino. Oh dear, remove the woodwind stem please, those high trills might take away from this grown-ass man running around NYC in a cape and tights like a little baby.1 point -
James Newton Howard's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
DarthDementous reacted to TheUlyssesian for a topic
Just checking out the movie again, and am I missing something or is Jacob's theme never used in the main film at all? Jacob's theme is heard in concert version from 0:00 - 3:55 in Kowalski's Rag. In my opinion, it might even be the most beautiful theme in the entire score. The concert rendition is almost structured like a showstopping broadway number. With one words one could easily imagine this theme being a popular song. Sp where is this theme in the movie? Its used a few times in the soundtrack album, but seems entirely lost in the movie.1 point -
Yeah, I took issue with that too. Glad that sort of thing will never see the light of day in any of the films.1 point
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What is "good", Blood? For that matter, what is "bad"? Blood, I'm not a drama critic. To answer Daniel's post..if I like a film, I like a film, and stuff everyone else (case in point: PROMETHEUS). There are, however, the opinions of certain critics, that I inherently trust, and I try to use what they have to say about a film, as a yardstick to measure the film up against. These are people who - usually - have some sort of journalistic background, or who undertook film studies, at college, or university, and who write about films for a living. In short; it is their business to inform the general public about Cinema, and all things that surround the subject of Cinema. Of course, everyone's opinion is valid. Dan's, or mine, or Inky's, or Steef's opinion is no less relevant than, say, Pauline Kael's, but...is it as informed? Conversely, when The Sun says that a film is "Brilliant!", I usually run a mile from both the paper, and the film, because I just know that the opinion of The Sun is not even worth crapping on. To be fair to The Sun, it's a certain type of newspaper, with a certain type of opinion, for a certain type of readership - which I do not conform to. In short; yes I like a lot of "good" films. For example, I like VERTIGO, but without reading around the subject, I could not inform people as to why it is so good. All I know is, I like it. This is where the good folk of JWfan come in, and I'm grateful for all the insightful evaluations that I have read. They certainly make my own meagre efforts seem as nothing. Like what you like, and don't like what you don't like, but, at least know why. Without that knowledge, one is just supercargo.1 point
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But thematically, everything's been done in science fiction. And generally speaking they're recurrent themes; life, creation, humanity, artificial intelligence. Yes, other films have done a superior job exploring these topics (specifically creation, parenthood and eternal life), but I enjoyed how Prometheus presented a perverted distortion of them. 'Children' who want their parents dead, orphans whose parents died from cell-destroying illnesses, the choice of faith over science, not to mention the entire sexual/rape allegory of the aliens themselves. Some of it is surface-level stuff (and they hit you over the head with it more than once) but it's still more interesting to me than most mainstream films these days. In most films, you're lucky if the protagonist has a character arc.1 point
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Here's our own @Datameister playing lovely piano solo versions (transcribed by ear!) of some ace JW cues:1 point
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Favorite short musical moments in Williams scores?
Cerebral Cortex reacted to #SnowyVernalSpringsEternal for a topic
Immigration Ban and Building The Wall is a great track!1 point -
John Williams at Symphony Hall, June 7-12, 2013 (Boston MA)
Cerebral Cortex reacted to obiwan71 for a topic
We had a great time indeed! I was glad to meet again some of our beloved members I had first come across last year, and had the utter privilege to meet the famous Stefan Cosman this time. Concerts were delightful as expected. Yesterday night was kind of an adventure, with all that rain pouring down by the end of the afternoon. We (that is rpvee and his mum, josefsuma and Régis, my French counterpart) were brave enough to wait under such rain and had got to the stage door very early... so that we were lucky to meet the Maestro (who presented himself at the door very early, at around 7!). That was truly a brief, intense encounter, during which we got our things signed! It was all worth the wait and the effort, as you can imagine.1 point