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Or it can make up for sloppy film-making and acting and provide the emotion in a scene that the actor couldn't provide or create tension in a scene that the director couldn't create or give momentum and pace to the story that the script didn't have or give the impact to an important scene that all of them combined couldn't give it. Film scoring at its best can truly transform a film for the better - that if it is even given that chance.

Fuck Pirates of the Caribbean!

Williams' score has already been rejected? Harsh!

*cough* tickly throat *cough*

This one of the most stupid, cliched things I've ever heard. The type of thing the pr*ck character in a John Hughes movie would say. How old are you? EDIT: Just saw your post Jay, fair enough.

Elfman wishes everyone "Happy Batman Day." He mentions how happy he is "returning to the DC universe".

"Well, ultimately they're just children's films." - George Lucas

It's a mixture of nostalgia and iconicism. There'll be many people here who grew up with the films, and more fascinating is that some grew up with the original trilogy and others the prequel trilogy, two very distinct and different eras of filmmaking unified under the umbrella of 'Star Wars'. I also think there's a fair argument to be made that the commodification of the franchise is becoming more transparent with Disney's takeover - it always was a force of nature with marketing, but maybe it's getting out of hand now? With age I'm also reticent to fawn over the franchise too. There's a line I draw where I consider myself a 'Star Wars Fan' because I love the franchise and the Prequels hold some nostalgic place for me (no matter how scrambled a mess they are) but I'm not going to blindly love every film that follows just because it's Star Wars.

I'm really looking forward to TLJ, but if that incredibly stupid leak turns out to be true I'm probably giving up on SW episodes altogether. I might just walk out of the cinema, come straight home and burn my Last Jedi poster to "The Immolation Scene", shouting YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!

In this book, Emilio Audissino has written a chapter titled "John Williams and Contemporary Film Music", which discusses versatility as one of the composer's keys to success over the decades. After mentioning several musical styles with which even 1960s Williams was fluent in his film scores, he cites Stravinsky's famous quote: "lesser artists borrow; great artists steal". I found Audissino's dissection of this pithy comment most insightful: Succinctly put.

UPDATE: September 18, 2017 THE ARCHIVE WITH JASON DRURY: EPISODE TWO http://www.cinematicsound.net/the-archive-with-jason-drury-episode-two/ Welcome to episode two of THE ARCHIVE WITH JASON DRURY here on CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO. This episode features an exclusive suite of music from Tadlow Records' brand new recording of BEN-HUR by Miklos Rozsa. BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES turns 25 years old this month and to commemorate that momentous occasion you'll hear selections from the various scores composed by Shirley Walker. Jason takes a trip back to 1983 and plays for you selections from John Barry's score to HIGH ROAD CHINA. Composer Roy Budd was born on March 14, 1947. Sadly and suddenly, he passed away at the age of 46 from a brain hemorrhage on August 7th, 1993. Jason celebrates Budd's 70th anniversary with music from FEAR IS THE KEY and his final score for PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Back in 2009 Intrada Records released Jerry Goldsmith score to ONE LITTLE INDIAN by Jerry Goldsmith. You'll hear a suite from that score which was initially released in 1973. Afterwards, Jason treats you with music from David Arnold's forgotten classic to LAST OF THE DOGMEN and then rounds off the program with a flourish with music from Tadlow Records' re-recording of TARAS BULBA by Franz Waxman. The show is available via iTunes, Google Play & Stitcher http://apple.co/29zAyyL | http://bit.ly/1ZrG6Lf | http://bit.ly/2bIQlM3 Cinematic Sound Radio Affiliates www.wrockradio.com | www.podtyrant.com Co-Host of Tracksounds The Soundcast Stereo http://thesoundcast.blogspot.ca/ Social Networks www.facebook.com/cinematicsound | www.twitter.com/cinsoundradio Enjoy! -Erik-

It's like poetry. It rhymes. #ringtheory

after obi wan... did luke really didnt learn anything from him? weird. it is completely the same mistake.

I saw a preview of it on HBO. Looked like a meta Hollywood love letter, which I have no interest in seeing. It's rare that I enjoy anything set in LA. Ed Wood is a mega rare exception where it's even about filmmaking. Or ID4, of course, where it's destroyed by aliens.

You just bought yourself another Saturday at JWFan. You through?

More music?

1) John Powell 2) John Williams 3) Erich Korngold 4) Bernard Herrmann 5) Miklos Rozsa I don't know 4) and 5) that well though.

Medicine Man - Jerry Goldsmith "The Trees" alone make the soundtrack worth it. One of the most beautiful and inspiring tracks Goldsmith has written, so beautiful.

Nah, I would have noticed. I check the Williams Imdb page daily

I thought she was an interesting character. She's got some serious early childhood Klingon-related trauma that she's never really gotten over. Her reaction to certain war (which she was right about) was honestly understandable. All of her Starfleet training (and some kind of Vulcan background) just falls apart and it will be interesting to see where she goes from here. Probably her arc this season will be learning that Starfleet's diplomacy first at all costs is the morally correct choice or something. I also just really enjoyed the actor's performance. I thought this episode really sold the fact that this is a crew, Starfleet training or not, that is facing incredible danger from a strange threat and people are raw and emotional in that state. It's a marked contrast with the TNG era especially where mortal danger was often met with reactions that were almost too calm at times (maybe even a little bored). These aren't superhumans who have mastered pesky primitive emotions. Also, remember that this is a single season-long story. Previous Star Trek shows were centered completely on setting up a crew that the audience will like and want to watch for years to come. This is a show that has one story that it is telling with a beginning middle and end. Its first priority is not making you like the characters. Can't wait to watch episode 2!

Perhaps you'd like:

They just keep getting worse and worse.

never realized Powder and Hollow Man basically have the same cover.

I need a complete DRACULA, JFK, MINORITY REPORT, and THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. I want a complete NIXON. The rest, I'm happy with, as OSTs

You fool! MM will do those sets and people will buy them! If the JP and ET sales are indicative of anything is that you can assault fans with a thousand reissues, anniversary editions etc. and people will still buy these expanded sets! "Hmm... ooh look another ET set Ima gonna buy dat!" From what I've seen elsewhere online and in stores is that people will buy anything if it has a brand they like on it, it could have the exact same content as the previous release, but the packaging is a different colour and they'll still buy it because they need everything from that brand.

Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal would be instant purchases for me! Both scores are out of print so I wouldn't mind a new definitive release of both.

I'd like to tell you my impressions of you based on certain of your posts, Josh500, and hear if you think I'm nice, a nice guy, or not nice.

But wasn't Disney's making of this trilogy hanging on "George always wanted to make nine films"? They won't have that excuse (which, admittedly, was true before Return of the Jedi) going forward into more Episodes, and marketing-wise its important.

Yes. The latter is passive (or submissive perhaps more accurately) and a lot of times is really not "nice" at all, borne more from a sense of insecurity/fear than anything. The former comes from a respect of others _and_ oneself. I think the back and forth of this thread is happening with it being murky as to which one is being discussed.

There is a crucial difference between being nice and being the "nice guy". Does any of you know La Califfa by Ennio Morricone?

MM just confirmed it: Star Wars will never be completely released and all sources if the unreleased music will be burned.

And as I recall, I think we both kind of liked it.

To be perfectly honest Will.... I loved Star Wars when I was your age, too

Judging by all Star Trek shows, the prime directive exists solely for captains to break it

Read a few fan theories about Luke and the Force this evening and now I'm back to being enormously hyped for this film. I never stay depressed about SW for long -- as I'm sure many of you have noticed.

You will love his notes for ET if that is the case. Liner notes are important to me too and his notes to ET are my favorite liner notes in years.

Powder: Like publicist said the OST does not represent the score well, but the C&C is also very redundant. It's very relaxing, emitional and quiet score, but it's generally a bit overrated by fans. The problem is that there is no development within the score and the main theme - that's why the score gets a bit boring after a while. Forever Young: Great opening cue, mostly very romantic score, unusual style for Goldsmith. No need for a C&C for you. The OST is basically a re-recording, but that's fine. Hollow Man: Normally considered to be one of the repetitive action scores, but that's madness! One of the late great scores! Eerie, complex and above all disturbingly violent. The OST contains all cues that need to be on an OST. Islands in the Stream: Very subtle drama score, like Papillon. The re-recording is fine, if not better than the original recording. Legend: Quintessential! Must be in every Goldsmith collection! One of his most creative, diverse and complex scores. Synths are perfectly used to create a strange fairy tale-like atmosphere. The OST is not acceptable, since the expansion is still a very good listening experience and does not become repetitive or boring. But the worst flaw of the OST is that it does not contain the final essential cue "Darkness Fails".

I've been playing this for the first time this afternoon. It's a terrific release of a really fine score. Sound-wise, it feels like the bass here is a little more present than on the original album, but there is an impressive amount of clarity and detail across the entire orchestra and it's a very spacious recording, for lack of a better word. I'm not in a position to answer a lot of detailed questions because I haven't played the 2004 album in quite some time, but I think that this new edition actually plays better as a presentation. My (and many others, I think too) big complaint was that the original release was a little exhausting because it seemed to only include the action cues, impressive as they were. The quieter, atmospheric cues serve to break up the action music, and they are just as interesting in their own way. There really isn't any filler to the score. And the notes by Daniel Schweiger are very good too, with an informative essay on the film, how Shearmur got the job and how he approached the score (I was surprised to learn he started with paper and pencil until he had the themes, presumably then moving to the computer to write the actual score) and a track-by-track breakdown covering thematic material, orchestrational details, where the music fits the narrative, etc. This--and I mean this as kindly as possible--is the one area where I have been disappointed in Matessino's Williams complete score releases, especially the Jurassic Park set; the notes are well-written but I really wish he wrote as much discussion of the music itself as he does the film in question. He does such good work in every other aspect of those projects, and the notes always feel a little thin without more about the music. But I digress. Shearmur did a good thing here, and I wish his career had gone a different direction. Maybe he'll get a shot at a Star Wars film (give him Episode IX if Williams can't do it; I would be okay with that!).

Sorry about the misunderstanding. I'm so used to octatonic meaning a scale with alternating half and whole steps that I'd forgotten that some use it in a more general way. And of course you could call it an octatonic chord, but what does "complete" add to the label? What would an incomplete octatonic chord be? I'm just curious. Other examples of this structure are throughout this thread. The ones I was thinking of were the "I can't remember what my parents look like" chord from EOTS, the Nazi-zapping chord from Raiders, and several chords Sharky posted from CE3K. Interesting that almost all of the chords we're discussing derive from that most prominent period of Williams' career, roughly 1975-1993. It may be that he drew on these kinds of composite chords more during that period than any other.

I do think he mellowed out over the years and frankly to me, it doesn't bother me so much. The same is said for Bernard Herrmann, he was just not known to be a pleasant person but he never seemed to mellow out. He is a wonderful and extremely imaginative composer so I do think it is important to separate judgement on the man and the music. Some people can be very pleasant in social settings and very difficult in professional settings. I have no doubt Horner was very pleasant in your experience. I also think we gain much more insight of a person from other people who knew them over a range of time and circumstances than our few minutes or hours with them so I disagree with you on that. You actually get a glimpse of who they really are from the experiences of those who've known them over time in many circumstances you (and I) are not privy to. Thor do you know the background of "Testimony, the memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich" by Solomon Volkov? Solomon Volkov spent "some time" with the major Soviet composer, Shostakovich, in his last year. A few years after Shostakovich died, this memoir was published and was quite shocking in the West because it claimed the famous composer was a secret dissident and the subtext of his "popular" works was anti-soviet. So this was very popular and influential interpretation of Shostakovich's music. The problem is, the people who knew Shostakovich (his friends, colleagues, performers, students, family) said this was not an accurate interpretation of who the man was. Today most people discard Testimony for a variety of reasons but at best, scholars would not reference it in dealing with the true analysis of who this man was. He was actually much more complicated than the version in Testimony. My point is, what we know of the man has little to do with the authors direct experience with him and far more to do with the second hand experience from others because that is where a broader consensus emerges of who he really was and what he was like.

A Sith. Lawd?

Long time lurker and of course huge fan of JW. I absolutely love the new collection, as it's something I've been longing for since 1997. TLW score has been severely underrated and of course given a shortened 14 track OST originally... but now we can all rejoice. TLW extras have given renewed life to the score and I hope this gives it exposure to those who haven't gotten into it before. So far the "Corporate Helicopters" is my favorite addition. Amazing work by JW. I don't want this to seem like a flat out plug, but I interviewed Mike Matessino this past weekend about this collection and figured I'd give you all a heads up. Take a look if you want to: http://www.jurassicparkpodcast.com/home/2016/12/12/interview-w-mike-matessino-produced-edited-mastered-the-la-la-land-records-jurassic-park-collection-episode-77 I'll try not to lurk anymore and actually be an active participant. I've always liked coming around here.

It'sh a fake. You can tell by MM not being called MM-baby.

Keeping the E.T. analysis going, I thought it would be useful to resurrect Sharky's thread to revisit the end of 2M2 "Looking for E.T.", which has that great complex chord: Some time ago, I took a crack at analyzing it below but am not sure I ever posted it on the forum. Essentially, I'm calling this a polytonal chord of F minor against the E pedal with loads of dissonance, or what I've labeled "bristles" (in closed noteheads). This conception blends well with the score's opening chord that I described in karelm's "sophisticated harmony" thread on Williams, but perhaps there are other ways of understanding this passage. Anyway, for those interested, what are your thoughts?

It's over, Compact Disc! I have the higher bitrate!

They're not bad at all. That a film has flaws doesn't make it bad. Good continuity (within the trilogy and as part of the whole sextet), great characters (which entails on-point casting and great acting), an interesting story, good cinematography, some amazing production value (sets, some incredible CG, sound design and score). That I can find emotionally resonant moments in each of the three is evidence enough for me. So the pacing of An Unexpected Journey isn't engaging. So some of the Dwarf table manners humor (of which there is none in the later two) is too crude. So the romance (of which there is little) doesn't work in Battle of the Five Armies. It really isn't enough to discount the films' many merits. Generally, while I like to look at film critically, I tend to like films more than I dislike them. Its completely self defeating to constantly find the bad in something that is made for your enjoyment.

Absolutely. A lot of TFA feels a bit stop-start for most of its runtime, but it all works quite fluidly in the final act (as if John had finally rediscovered his rhythm writing in the Star Wars 'mode'). It would be interesting to read a chronological list of which cues he wrote in what order. Whether Jedi Steps was written early or late in the process is sadly unknown but it's the most quintessential John Williams Star Wars moment in the score, IMO.