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Empire Of The Sun - La-La Land 2CD


Jay

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Looking forward to the liner notes!

Ditto!

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Well I don't think many of us had any reservations on that account. LLL knows its stuff! (mostly) :)

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knew, in the past tense? Like I used to know, then forgot?

Don't mislead us with semantics!

BTW, i was speaking in conditional sense. It made sense in my mind.

Now i see i should have used another formula for english :P

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/conditional.htm

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I don't hate March of the Villains but find it extremely grating. I never liked Williams in his overly droll Prokoviev style.

I never really liked the theme within the score, but the concert piece is quite cool.

Alexander Courage made better use of it. It's more threatening, especially when married to Nuclear Man theme.

Karol

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The film was misundrrstood at the time.

It also came in for a lot of (unfair) comparrisoms with both "The Last Emperor", and "Hope And Glory", which were released at roughly the same time, and, between them, covered much of the same territory.

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Why did they compare it to The Last Emperor?

Because it takes place in the East!

Same reason we compare The Avengers to a Woody Allen film.

Karol

Ha, ha! Well, that's critics for you!

They both dealt with comming-of-age, internment, the passing of an old era, and the subject of mentorship. Plus, they were both set in China, but, then, that's critics, for you.

Of course, these comparassoms are purely cosmetic: they really are completely different films made by different directors, who were both at the very top of their game. It's like trying to compare the colour blue, with the letter J...

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They both dealt with comming-of-age,

In The last Emperor we follow a person through the various stages of his life but it wasn't really about coming of age, was it?

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They are all set in Far East, hence they are all the same. Et punctum!

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internment

Boy in prison camp ... boy in Forbidden City (which was sort of a prison as well) ... okay, I'll give them that, even though the boy in the latter was treated as a king as long as he remained between the walls of the city.

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internment

Boy in prison camp ... boy in Forbidden City (which was sort of a prison as well) ... okay, I'll give them that, even though the boy in the latter was treated as a king as long as he remained between the walls of the city.

Terms of Internment 1 and 2?

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Ca. Nah. Twait.

When I first saw Empire of the Sun (in the early 90s), I felt like I was watching a good movie, but couldn't understand why it was good. I couldn't quite get a hold of the thing. Watching it again some years later I realized that it has the essence of someone's memories presented without being ordered and arranged in what you might call a classic narrative style. It's not a straightforward story so much as a series of recollections seen through the fog of time, with some memories enhanced by the magic of nostalgic wonder (like the "Cadillac of the Skies" sequence, or the scene when Jim stares at the propeller of a plane in awe and then salutes the Japanese pilots), and others coming across as more broadly impressionistic (like "Lost in the Crowd"). Seen in that light, it actually becomes a much more vivid and interesting experience. If you're watching it as a standard film, it's a fairly mediocre piece. If you treat it like you're watching someone's recollections projected as they see them in their mind, it's much more engaging.

But whatever. The music was masterful, and this is the release I've been waiting years for. Bring it on!

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Ca. Nah. Twait.

When I first saw Empire of the Sun (in the early 90s), I felt like I was watching a good movie, but couldn't understand why it was good. I couldn't quite get a hold of the thing. Watching it again some years later I realized that it has the essence of someone's memories presented without being ordered and arranged in what you might call a classic narrative style. It's not a straightforward story so much as a series of recollections seen through the fog of time, with some memories enhanced by the magic of nostalgic wonder (like the "Cadillac of the Skies" sequence, or the scene when Jim stares at the propeller of a plane in awe and then salutes the Japanese pilots), and others coming across as more broadly impressionistic (like "Lost in the Crowd"). Seen in that light, it actually becomes a much more vivid and interesting experience. If you're watching it as a standard film, it's a fairly mediocre piece. If you treat it like you're watching someone's recollections projected as they see them in their mind, it's much more engaging.

Not a "recollection", not a "fog of time", not "nostalgia" but seen through the eyes of someone who doesn't understand the world around him and who is basically in denial of reality. The film is seen through the eyes of boy, not a writer remembering the past. According to Spielberg, it's about the loss of innocence, but it might just as well be about 'the power of innocence'.

Alex

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They both dealt with comming-of-age,

In The last Emperor we follow a person through the various stages of his life but it wasn't really about coming of age, was it?

That depends on what one means by "coming of age". Which age? Who's age? It's not just physical.

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Then elaborate a bit further on it, Richard. 'Coming of age' is the period from childhood to adulthood. In fact, Empire Of The Sun isn't really about "coming of age" since at the end of the movie Jamie stands only on the verge of adolescence. Whatever peace John Lone (The Emperor) found at the end of the movie, I don't we can call it 'coming of age'. What is your expert opinion on it, Richard?

Alex

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Why is the Countdown thread locked?

Maybe because it was starting to become an off topic thread? Not sure what else people could post in there besides speculation.

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But were allowed speculation

True, but people were getting off topic about Star Wars and not relating it to the countdown. Although, other threads have been derailed, but those weren't locked. Who knows?

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maybe whatever exciting thing was going to happen is cancelled

Or if it's just additional info about this EtoS release it wasn't worth the wild speculation

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Maybe someone accidentally discovered what it was and spoiled it in the comments.

oops.. last post was mine..

I wonder too why it was locked.

Now this thread has become off topic. :mrgreen:

Never quite understood the concept of "coming of age". Every single story is a "coming of age" of some sort.

Karol

well, as i understand it it's a story of the hero growing up and learning his place in the world.

Many anime are tagged as "coming of age", and they are my favourite..

One other classic and favourite coming of age movie is "Stand by Me"

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Not a "recollection", not a "fog of time", not "nostalgia" but seen through the eyes of someone who doesn't understand the world around him and who is basically in denial of reality. The film is seen through the eyes of boy, not a writer remembering the past. According to Spielberg, it's about the loss of innocence, but it might just as well be about 'the power of innocence'.

Same difference. It seemed to me (and remember, this was after seeing it again more than 10 years ago) that he was recalling it as he had seen it at the time—through his child-self's eyes.

It's interesting, though, that this movie was an attempt by Spielberg to "come of age" himself . . . and yet he wasn't ready to do that just yet. He still fell back on the crutch of his patented magic a little too much, which is where the critics had issues with the mixed tone of the film. Through the first years of the 90s, he still hadn't reached that crossing point (as evidenced by films like Always and Hook). It was in 1993, with the stark advent of Schindler's List, that Spielberg reached his creative adulthood. Not that I grudge him the years getting there—he gave us so many great movies during that time—but only then was he able to make a movie that required no fairy dust to lift off.

Why is the Countdown thread locked?

Maybe because it was starting to become an off topic thread? Not sure what else people could post in there besides speculation.

I was confused by this too. The clock is still running, so the news must still be coming. And surely he understands he can't start a thread like that without expecting some measure of speculation on our parts. I wonder if maybe someone was shooting too near the mark, and threatened to ruin the surprise. . . .

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But were allowed speculation

True, but people were getting off topic about Star Wars and not relating it to the countdown.

That's just about every thread on JWFan.

Who knows?

Maybe he does. Who?

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Yes. It is time. We shall raze JWFan to the ground! And it shall rise anew, like a phoenix as HSFan (or MGFan, if that's where the wind blows)!

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It is?

Well, in its simplest terms, yeah. Isn't every single story about character developing and learning something new? Growing up?

Karol

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But we like to diffrentiate between different ages, childhood, teenage and adulthood, old age and have different rites of passage, whether it is the coming to a certain age, and having varying and changing responsibilities that come with it or you might come to some realizations that your previous phase of life is gone. Growing up. That is all part of the circle of life Karol!

And no I have no idea why Jason locked the countdown thread. Anyone worth their salt here at JWFan could have made those guesses we made and off-topic banter is the normal MB MO.

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