Farawyn

I watched Jane Campion's The Piano yesterday for the first time in years. Wow... This has to be one of the most exquisite films ever made. Intelligent, daring, perfectly acted, brilliantly scored... A masterpiece.

All editions seem to be available on December 18th. Just in time for Christmas...

I agree. It was never supposed to be a historical reconstitution, simply a fun and stylized war movie... Aesthetically, it surpasses anything ever done in its category (Sky Captain, Sin City...)

Each film score composer has his or her musical trademark, a particular "sound", something that he masters, that was a contribution to film scoring in general. I tried to "summarize" the contributions of some composers (obviously this is very schematic). Do you agree with these interpretations ? What do you think characterizes the "sound" of John Williams, Basil Poledouris, etc. ? -Hans Zimmer : rythmic, heavy brass superposed with strings (Crimson Tide, The Rock, ...) -Jerry Goldsmith : high-pitched violins with a counterpoint synthesized rythm (Legend, Total Recall, Basic Instinct...) -James Horner : the four-note danger motif (just kidding ) -Thomas Newman :delicate piano notes over light strings (The Shawshank Redemption, Cinderella Man) -John Barry : heavy layers of violins combined with brass instruments (Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves) -Philip Glass : tense and jerky violins, often combined with piano (The Hours, The Illusionist) -John Williams : closely-woven themes, often developed in poignant strings or rousing brass instruments (Schindler's List, Star Wars...)

But Beowulf wasn´t written by the Brothers Grimm. Unless that's not what you mean? Lol sorry, I didn't express myself correctly. I meant that Beowulf has acquired less fame than many Grimm Brothers tales. Which is a pity.

Thanks !

Don't get me wrong... I know Beowulf quite well personnally, having read a lot about it because of my passion for Tolkien. I was just saying that it is a dificult and complex tale, and has hence acquired less fame than Grimm Brothers tales for example (unfortunately, might I add). [edited]

Not as well-known and accessible as, I don't know, Anastasia for instance.

By the way, how is "Vangelis" pronounced exactly ? I had always thought the g was pronounced as in "jerry" ; however, I was interested to hear Jack Black's character in The Holiday use a soft g, as in "great".

Beowulf looks really ambitious and promising to me ! Making a seemingly "adult" animation based on a tale not so well-known is a daring move for a studio-financed movie.

I used to surf around on filmtracks.com and soundtrack.net quite a lot, but rapidly got tired of both these sites. The first seemed to me almost overcritical by times (I remember reading a review where the webmaster didn't give a five star rating to Seven Years in Tibet -- which is acceptable -- just because the score wasn't better than Schindler's List... -- which is a strange way of noting -- ). The second seemed, to the contrary, to be too objective at times, and all in all not very "welcoming". Now, I usually go to musicfromthemovies.com or soundtrack-express.com . What are your favorite film score review sites (besides this one of course... ) ? Secondly, what do you think is to be reviewed ? -The music itself, divorced from the film ? -In relationship with it ? -In relationship with other similar film scores ? -The sound quality ? -The Cd packaging, liner notes, etc. ? -All of the above ? Personnally, I really tend to examin the music on its own ; great sound and packaging may add something, but bad music in a great Cd isn't worth much... For instance, I listened recently to a very old Cd of Stokowski's Fantasia, and was completely blown away by the power of his orchestration... despite a very simple mono sound quality. Do you agree ?

I definitely agree. I'd add that if AOTC maybe lacks identifiable themes, it brilliantly managed to capture musically the "feel" of the movie, in a very atmospheric way. Perhaps it's that "feel" that bothers listeners by times, more than the music itself. Let me explain. This is purely subjective, but I've always felt sort of alienated (no pun intended ) when I listen to the whole Geonosis part. The cues are both vast and dry as the desertic landscapes, and yet mechanic and cold, like the droids. All in all, the feelings the score provokes in me are different from those of any other JW score.

You're right ! There is a musical "hiccup" at 4:45 ! Errare humanum est ... Strange it passed unnoticed.

It has rather horrible sound quality actually. You really think so ? How come ?

I hope you followed Greg1138's advice and checked out both HMV and Virgin, which is where I left an enormous amount of money in February 2005, when I went to London to JW film music concert. BTW, is anybody considering going to this concert? I'll try my best to go, gotta check those CD stores and come close to bankruptcy once again ... I did follow his advice... all to well ! I am close to bankrupt, but happy, and purchased : -Superman, Rhino edition (at last !) -Supergirl -Cutthroat Island -Medicine Man -The Russia House -Angela's Ashes -1941 -Tristan and Isolde -The Iron Giant -A.I. (the musical DVD edition -- fabulous sound quality !) I'd love to go to that concert, but my finances won't allow me to...