Braveheart

While some of the similarities posted on that website are very accurate (such as Horner's ripoff of the Schindler's List theme in Enemy at the Gates), most of the other ones illustrate that the creator of that website has perfected the art of absolute thrash!! Like Ricard said in an another thread discussing the same website, the comparisons are based on too few musical notes. Afterall, there are just 6 music notes and their flats and sharps and coincidences DO and WILL CONTINUE to occur. And another thing is, you will discover that those pieces that the website claims the film composers are stealing from sound A LOT like many other pieces that came before them. For instance, the Eric Korngold piece sounds a lot like something written by Richard Wagner. And if the orchestrations and harmonies between two pieces sound the same, then what's new about that? Just pick up any Hadyn melody when played at a slow tempo like Adagio or Andante and tell me if it doesn't sound like a melody Mozart would have written. Pieces can sound the same if the same chords are used in their composition and thus once exact notes are repeated, they will sound exactly the same. It's really nothing for the most part. The most stupid comparison on that site from what I can remember: the one about The Right Stuff and Hook. I am ear trained and there are absolutely no similar notes in there. Seems more like the same rhythms and similar chords used for accompaniment. The melodies are totally different. Guess what? The other day while I was watching some really old episode of Passions, I heard some part of the music that sounded EXACTLY the same as something that was in Stepmom. Hmm... John Williams must have been sooooo out of ideas to have gone as far as lifting from an old TV soundtrack which has no available recordings right now! :wow:

Anakin's Theme and Duel of the fates are two things that make The Phantom Menace the best Star Wars score to date in my book. Of course there are many other parts, such as the haunting choral passages, the great battle music, the flag parade (totally awesome!!), the fanfare heard when Anakin won the pod race, Quigong's Theme, his funeral music, Jabba's comical tuba based music, the fanfares heard when Naboo comes up on the screen, the Trade Federation March, etc. Just so much. Not to mention how Williams was able to incorporate themes from the Star Wars trilogy into The Phantom Menace. Of course ESB has a lot of great music, especially the unbeatable Imperial March. But musically TPM is the best in my opinion and also my favorite. Anakin's Theme is actually a very complex theme. I developed great appreciation for it after I got hold of the full sheet music for it and saw all the complex composition Williams put into it.

My favorite Star Wars score of all time is THE PHANTOM MENACE. I just LOVE that score!! That score features some of Williams' best work in years! 1. The Phantom Menace 2. A New Hope 3. Empire Strikes Back 4. Return of the Jedi 5. Attack of the Clones The Phantom Menace was really good. And I don't see much special with The Empire Strikes Back. I think film score fans have over hyped that score and in the process, under hyped some others.

I checked the schedule of my local PBS Station and it seems like they will never broadcast it at all!! Yesterday at 3pm they had Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops performing a salute to Richard Rogers and some other people. But they will never broadcast the one featuring Williams. Well, I hope someone on this site would be kind enough to send me a copy of their own recording. :?

I too have begun enjoying Williams' quiet, emotional works more than the loud, rousing, bombastic music. All of them are good, everything Williams writes is good, but then I think the quiet scores show his skill to a greater extent than the louder ones. It is easier for a composer to write loud, rousing music passages than restrained passages that can get inside the human soul and remain very memorable after listening. This is why Angela's Ashes is my favorite film score.

Hmm... nope. My boat is definitely not sinking. It is sailing excellently. Yours has sunken though.

So are you trying to say that these days Williams sucks more than Goldsmith? I don't think Williams sucks at all... I think he is clearly still at the top of the game. But clearly we are on different boats when it comes to that. So, let me get into your boat... let's assume that Williams sucks now. Even with that assumption (because it is really an assumption and not true), I think you'd agree with me that within the past 5 years Williams has not released a score as dull and as quality deficient as Goldsmith's "Along Came a Spider." In fact I am saying 5 years just because I am in your boat, if I were in my boat I'd say that Williams has never released such a bad score in his entire career!

Yeah... I don't like what they did to Williams' music at all. And it is even worse because Lucas thinks that he and his crew made the right decisions. I think these top film composers need to include other details in their contracts with studios, such as having their music used exactly as composed !! I think that all the praises Lucas gives to Williams' music is contradicting with the way he treats the man's music. Well, we can't do anything about it now. All I want is a 2CD set (or 10CD set if that's what we need) containing all the music Williams composed for AOTC and in the order he composed and recorded it.

That's true. But Williams always excels when it comes to scoring epic motion pictures and that's why I want him to continue with the Harry Potter movies.

Williams's score to the first Potter movie was a thundering masterwork with some of the most magical orchestrations and composition I've heard for sometime... I wish he'd do the entire series too. 8O

Both scores have awesome themes. I just like the theme to Presumed Innocent better... the D minor arppegios on the piano are just awesome! It's nothing new, but somehow it always impresses me a lot... I just can't get tired of it!

Not true. The score is meant to function in a kind of low key, not too blatant way (except the action sequences I guess). Like Williams stated in an interview, it isn't one of his scores that he expects people to hum as they walk out of the theater. Of course this is unlike most of his scores which contain great, unforgettable themes that immediately get everyone's attention.

Such music always uses the same lyrics. Just like a Requiem Mass. The Lyrics to all the requiem masses are exactly the same... in Latin... the difference between the masses is that the actual music changes. But of course some composers may decide to be a bit different and use lyrics different from the common ones...

I completely disagree! Does the author of a film have to remember every single thing completely? Expecting Lucas to remember every aspect of the music like we do here is like expecting a director to remember exact camera angles, their sequences in the film, exact lighting and all sorts of tiny details including where a prop will appear next in the film, why exactly every single prop was put where it is, etc. He is the author of his film in my opinion. I'm not supporting what he did, but not totally remembering the music doesn't make him less the author of his film than he would be had he remembered every thing about the music in the film.

I'd say some Hornershriners for sure because a John Williams fan that was disappointed with this score should know that he can make up for it, and will pretty soon. Furthermore, if for no other reason, a John Williams fan will never choose that second to last option just because of the word "die" in it. That was a bad option... shouldn't have been included there at all!!