The Towering Inferno & JFK coming from LLL!

[Thor 7,495]

1 minute ago, Drax said:

Godzilla '98 is a decent creature feature. But the monster in that movie was not Godzilla.

 

Could be, but as I said, I've never been that interested in the GODZILLA franchise. I guess for fans of the film series, its design must have felt somewhat alienating, but I loved it. I also adored the JURASSIC PARK-like segments with the human-size babies at Madison Square Garden.

 

It also helps that the film has one of David Arnold's best scores of his career.

 

Why did we enter into an Emmerich discussion, btw? Was it THE PATRIOT?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

There was nothing wrong with his design. It was his whole persona. Never has Godzilla run away from the military and chased taxis around. That is not the King of the Monsters that I idolised as a child.

[Thor 7,495]

3 minutes ago, Drax said:

There was nothing wrong with his design. It was his whole persona. Never has Godzilla ever run away from the military and chased taxis around. That is not the King of the Monsters that I idolised as a child.

 

Fair enough. We come from opposite angles to this. I don't think I saw a single GODZILLA film in full untill I became an adult, and only then sporadically and because I felt I "had to" for knowledge's sake. They are simply not my cuppa tea. So Emmerich's approach was more up my alley when it arrived.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You didn't even like the original Gojira from 1954? 

It's excellent parrable of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings 9 years earlier 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

When it came out, I didn't mind it, but was left feeling empty after I was amazed beyond my wildest imagination in ID4. Then I constantly asked "where's David Arnold's soundtrack?!"

It wasn't until 1999 that my parents bought me a computer and I began researching the internet to find out if a score was even available, but maybe Australia never received it in stores. Holy shit, I had to get a damn bootleg? I didn't even know what a "bootleg" was. And those were hard for a penniless 13-year old to acquire back then!

[Thor 7,495]

37 minutes ago, Drax said:

When it came out, I didn't mind it, but was left feeling empty after I was amazed beyond my wildest imagination in ID4. Then I constantly asked "where's David Arnold's soundtrack?!"

It wasn't until 1999 that my parents bought me a computer and I began researching the internet to find out if a score was even available, but maybe Australia never received it in stores. Holy shit, I had to get a damn bootleg? I didn't even know what a "bootleg" was. And those were hard for a penniless 13-year old to acquire back then!

 

Welll, the official "songtrack" did have a score cut or two, if memory serves.

 

39 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

You didn't even like the original Gojira from 1954? 

It's excellent parrable of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings 9 years earlier 

 

No. Parable or not, "monster films" beyond a certain point in time only have academic interest to me (whether it's GODZILLA or THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD or 33's KING KONG or whatever).

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yeah that was all it needed.

[nightscape94 965]

3 hours ago, Ricard said:

And now box office is an indicator of a director's greatness.

 

Certainly not, but it would be pretty hard to argue that he's not a capable director, the quality of the material notwithstanding.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He usually manages to get decent performances from actors and has a clear vision. So he's demonstrated that he's competent. Give him a decent script and I reckon he could shoot the shit out of it.

 

But then again I can't get over how horrible 10,000BC looked. Simple scenes that could have been shot on-location had that nauseating blue-screen look. They really cheaped out on that one.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

7 hours ago, Ricard said:

And now box office is an indicator of a director's greatness.

A fair indicator as any if the director keeps dominating the box office  like a certain director did. Am I talking about Wes Anderson?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

11 hours ago, Drax said:

He usually manages to get decent performances from actors and has a clear vision. So he's demonstrated that he's competent. Give him a decent script and I reckon he could shoot the shit out of it.

 

But then again I can't get over how horrible 10,000BC looked. Simple scenes that could have been shot on-location had that nauseating blue-screen look. They really cheaped out on that one.

10,000 BC was one of the worst films I've seen in a theater.

[Thor 7,495]

10.000 BC certainly was no APOCALYPTO or anything, but it's not THAT bad, IMO. It had redeeming 'entertainment' factors. But yeah, I agree it's in the lower half of Emmerich's output.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It had the ingredients of a decent film. I liked how its story was influeced by The Searchers, and the sabre-toothed tiger was well done. But there are so many dodgy looking shots in the movie, I lost faith in him as a director who cared about the quality of the visuals. It looked almost amateurish compared to all his other mainstream output at that point.

[mstrox 6,651]

I hated 10,000 B.C. and probably would count it as one of the worst movies I've seen, if I have to make a list.  My wife liked it enough to buy the DVD.

[That_Bloke 115]

I sat through 10,000 BC and was so thoroughly impressed with the over-the-top nonsense that I enjoyed it. It reminded me of a big-budget version of those Satuday arvo serials that Lucas tried to emulate with Star Wars and Indiana Jones, or Tarzan flicks. I broke out the widest grin when I heard Omar Sharif seriously saying the cliche "and so it came to pass..."

 

It was as though Emmerich needed a (cinematic) holiday.  I sure hope he didn't want this movie taken seriously.

 

Just to put things in perspective: I also enjoyed Jupiter Ascending and Gods of Egypt for pretty much the same reasons.

 

Now, what was that about some Towering Kennedy being released?

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

On 05/04/2016 at 10:03 PM, Richard said:

JW should lament the day he ever met Roland Emmerich. Oh, and JJ Abrams.

 

Why? Did they not get along?

[Thor 7,495]

41 minutes ago, Drax said:

 

Why? Did they not get along?

 

I think Richard simply doesn't like those directors. Personally, I'm grateful to have THE PATRIOT among Williams' works. "Autopilot" or not, it's a fine score.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

On 11 April 2016 at 0:22 PM, Ricard said:

And now box office is an indicator of a director's greatness.

 

Of course it is! That's why Emmerich, Nolan, Cameron,  Abrams, and Trevorrow, are right up there with Wyler, Coppolla, Spielberg, Ford, Griffith, Murnau, Eisenstein, Welles, Chaplin, Altman, Lang, and Scorsese.

[Thor 7,495]

8 minutes ago, Richard said:

 

Of course it is! That's why Emmerich, Nolan, Cameron,  Abrams, and Trevorrow, are right up there with Wyler, Coppolla, Spielberg, Ford, Griffith, Murnau, Eisenstein, Welles, Chaplin, Altman, Lang, and Scorsese.

 

Except for Trevorrow, I agree, actually.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Trevorrow Never Dies.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 hour ago, Richard said:

 

Of course it is! That's why Emmerich, Nolan, Cameron,  Abrams, and Trevorrow, are right up there with Wyler, Coppolla, Spielberg, Ford, Griffith, Murnau, Eisenstein, Welles, Chaplin, Altman, Lang, and Scorsese.

 

This!

[Ricard 2,245]

You guys are hilarious.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

[Koray Savas 2,251]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Except for Trevorrow, I agree, actually.

Emmerich on the same level as Scorsese?

[Thor 7,495]

Yeah, but for very different reasons.

[publicist 4,643]

What about Irwin Allen and Oliver Stone?

[Thor 7,495]

2 minutes ago, publicist said:

What about Irwin Allen and Oliver Stone?

 

Are you serious?

[publicist 4,643]

Look at the thread title. And when you can goof around, i can, too!

[Thor 7,495]

Ha, ha....good point. I forgot about the topic of this thread in all this.

[Amer 2,102]

Ok guys Its September already. We are now headed towards the Fall release schedule and MV had indicated to me that Williams releases timeline for LLL 2016 being  October and November.  This was from the April timeline. So unless things get further delayed to December, I think we can play around with a few guesses. Of-course TOWERING INFERNO & JFK wont happen until next year.

 

I would guess that HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S/PHILOSOPHER'S STONE could fairly be the very next title to get the upgraded expansion? 

 

And Maybe  WITCHES OF EASTWICK finally may happen?

[rough cut 1,714]

Stepmom?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I am confident that WB would never let LLL be the ones to release an expanded Harry Potter OST.  If such a release were to happen, and I don't think it will anytime soon, WaterTower would surely release it themselves.  I mean, in general specialty labels get the films that the rights owners don't think would sell to a mass audience, definitely not the case with Harry Potter.

 

I hope I'm wrong.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

So do I.

 

STEPMOM? Please.

[Thor 7,495]

No expansions, please.

 

I hope LaLaLand can dig up an unreleased score, for once. Have they ever done an unreleased Williams before?

[Incanus 5,714]

9 minutes ago, Thor said:

New expansions, please.

Fixed!

 

I wonder who will take the mantle of FSM as the one label to release more obscure JW from his early years and his television pilots.

[Amer 2,102]

11 minutes ago, Thor said:

No expansions, please.

 

I hope LaLaLand can dig up an unreleased score, for once. Have they ever done an unreleased Williams before?

 

Perhaps later but I doubt anything so close to that ' Storia di una donna ' score you want anytime soon. Perhaps HARRY POTTER or even a more definitive re-issue of CE3K or ET would seem probable given the recent slew of reissues and improved expansions.

[Jay 37,352]

6 hours ago, Thor said:

No expansions, please.

 

I hope LaLaLand can dig up an unreleased score, for once. Have they ever done an unreleased Williams before?

 

Their Lost in Space box set featured the completely unreleased pilot episode score recording conducted by Williams

[Thor 7,495]

7 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Their Lost in Space box set featured the completely unreleased pilot episode score recording conducted by Williams

 

True, but it's not the type of 'unreleased' I'm talking about. LOST IN SPACE already had three(!) albums before that box -- rerecorded or not -- including the pilot score.

 

Like Amer says, I'm also curious if any label will pick up the mantle after FSM. It's been, what, 5 years since their last Williams release and the last previously unreleased Williams. I doubt LaLaLand is a likely candidate. They do 90% expansions. I was hoping that maybe Intrada or Varese would step up, but so far nothing. It's a rather depressing time for "new-old Williams", but hey -- I save a lot of cash!

[rough cut 1,714]

On 5 september 2016 at 8:34 PM, Richard said:

STEPMOM? Please.

 

Sabrina, then?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

Better, but unlikely.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

The patriot.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

That would be...acceptable.

SLEEPERS would be better.

[TownerFan 4,983]

Both Stepmom and Sleepers are fairly complete in their OST incarnations. Sleepers though has reportedly quite a lot of alternate/revised cues, so it might be interesting to hear them (if they were recorded, of course).

 

The Patriot would be very nice to have in expanded format. Even though not his most original work, it's still a very good score and quite underrated as well.

 

Sabrina is a different story. While the OST is a nice program and has its own merits, it contains very little of the actual film score, which has some very nice and elegant moments that would be great to have on disc.

 

I agree that would be preferable to see more unreleased scores from the specialty labels, but the reality is that the bulk of JW's still-unreleased titles are from the very early part of his career and elements from those scores are probably very hard to find and restore, so I wouldn't bash the labels for not trying hard enough. For all we know they might do, but of course they also have to keep a margin of profit, as small as it is. I guess all the labels would jump to release any Williams title available. But it's great too they are restoring and presenting definitive editions of his works for the ages.

[Thor 7,495]

9 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

I agree that would be preferable to see more unreleased scores from the specialty labels, but the reality is that the bulk of JW's still-unreleased titles are from the very early part of his career and elements from those scores are probably very hard to find and restore, so I wouldn't bash the labels for not trying hard enough. For all we know they might do, but of course they also have to keep a margin of profit, as small as it is. I guess all the labels would jump to release any Williams title available. But it's great too they are restoring and presenting definitive editions of his works for the ages.

 

"Definitive" is in the eye of the beholder. I think the original albums are almost always "definitive", even if stuff like sound quality can sometimes be improved upon.

 

I understand what you say regarding the realities of the unreleased Williams titles, but to be perfectly honest, I don't think the labels are doing as much as they could in regard to this. FSM was unique that way, because they actually went out of their way to find these things, and had the interest to do so (and also the apparatus to do so). Most other labels these days seem more interested in expansions, which has been "all the rage" now for at least 15 years. But of course, it's difficult to get the label heads to talk about this; the philosophy is to keep your cards close to your chest untill things are confirmed, which I understand.

 

For my own part, I don't really care if the unreleased titles come in the form of original recordings or re-recordings, but the latter is obviously a more costly affair. As I've said before, however, I feel fairly confident that even an obscure title like STORIA DI UNA DONNA would sell well (for various reasons), so a costly re-recording would cover its costs. Maybe I'm being too optimistic?

[TownerFan 4,983]

I know very well your views about those things, I don't want to start the umpteenth debate about it. I meant definitive mostly in terms of archival and historic perspective, though, for the future generations who will want to study and analyze Williams and his music.

 

I'm no super-expert about the technicalities of releasing a film score, but from what I've been told by people who work in this field, it can be a real nightmare in terms of searching the elements, obtaining the rights, getting approvals and sign-offs from studio people, getting approvals from composers' estates... and then cataloguing, restoring and mastering the elements... It's a lot of hard work, really. Sometimes it's a web very difficult to untangle. And let's be honest: even when a title sells well, the profit margin for the label is still a small amount of money. FSM was mostly interested in the obscure stuff and Lukas acted always as a sort of prospector in this sense. But when they started, the list of yet-to-be-released titles (even if we just circle it to best-selling composers like Williams and Goldsmith) was very, very long. Today, as of 2016, most of the things have been released in some way or another. I think we're very lucky with many things we already have, actually. For decades, studios and film companies (and, in some cases, even composers themselves) didn't think there could be commercial value in these things and had even less consideration about the archival/historic value. Film music was seen as something disposable, music for mere consumption. The awareness about preserving and restoring music written for films is quite recent, so there's still a lot of work to do.

[Thor 7,495]

Oh yeah, I'm very grateful for what we have, and what FSM managed to put out there in their day.

 

It's just that the catalogue of unreleased Williams is still so vast (especially if you also start including the TV stuff), that I'm a bit saddened by the sudden 'stop'. Many of the remaining titles aren't necessarily more difficult to release than some of what has already been put out. It's hard for me to believe that the remaining titles are simply not available in any shape or form. The difficulty in obtaining them is part of it, of course, but I also think there's a definite element of labels not wanting to pursue them -- for whatever reason. Of course, it's just pure speculation on my behalf.

 

It's a bit of a vacuum right now, and people like me -- who have no interest in expansions -- continue to tap my fingers impatiently on the table year after year, hoping that someone will pick up the mantle after FSM.

[Jay 37,352]

Thor, why must you derail every thread into your own agenda?  It's very counterproductive and pointless.

 

No one from any specialty label is reading this thread.

[TownerFan 4,983]

Point is that it's quite awkward to think the labels are purposefully avoiding to look for Williams' still unreleased works. I can understand the collector's impatience to have every single note JW ever wrote and recorded (I too want to hear as many as possible), but these things are difficult to produce. Let's see the glass half full and enjoy what's already out there for the moment.

[Thor 7,495]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

Thor, why must you derail every thread into your own agenda?  It's very counterproductive and pointless.

 

There's no agenda. We were just having an off-topic discussion about label policies. Certainly not the first time around here. I apologize if I veered away from the "hot" discussion of TOWERING INFERNO and JFK coming from LLL.

 

2 hours ago, TownerFan said:

Point is that it's quite awkward to think the labels are purposefully avoiding to look for Williams' still unreleased works.

 

Well, no one knows what happens behind closed doors, so we're all just speculating here. I'm a bit more skeptical than you in regard to this.

[Faleel 5,346]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

 

There's no agenda. We were just having an off-topic discussion about label policies. Certainly not the first time around here. I apologize if I veered away from the "hot" discussion of TOWERING INFERNO and JFK coming from LLL.

 

 

Well, no one knows what happens behind closed doors, so we're all just speculating here. I'm a bit more skeptical than you in regard to this.

I  pretty sure getting labels to release early Williams is an agenda