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Wow, it sounded fabulous!

In honor of a brand new Spielberg movie just days away, I was trying to reflect on which of his films would be my favorite. He has made great films. Also some I dislike. Not all are perfect. I'm not exactly sure which is my favorite. E.T. is very special but mostly for the simple scenes like Elliot trying to connect with E.T. in his bedroom is very beautifully shot, performed, and scored. 1941 is a mess but enjoyable too...just not as a brilliant film. Always and Hook are weaker films to me but others adore them. I think Saving Private Ryan is superior to Schindler’s List which I frankly think is overrated. As we come to a brand new Spielberg/Williams collaboration, what are your favorite/least favorite Spielberg films? What do you think of Vanity Fair's ranking? Are there any total misfires? Any films you think are generally misunderstood? There are some I think I've come to enjoy over time like Ready Player One that is entertaining overall but when I first saw it, I thought it was awful. All 34 Steven Spielberg Movies, Ranked | Vanity Fair I've come to realize there are many GREAT films by Spielberg that I've never seen.

Yes, that's Samantha.

I loved the little story about Leonard Bernstein squeezing Johnny's testicles and saying "Don't fuck this up" just before he conducted the Boston Pops. I laughed out loud when reading that and like that the family still chuckles over that.

I adore the very gentle tension in Saving Private Ryan when they are looking through the dog tags. I tear up when seeing it because the acting, directing, scoring are all so moving. But it's not a grand moment, not a big theme or anything. Very subtle. Here it is transcribed. John Williams - Looking for Ryan.mp3

This is intentional. Ecoplex is most likely mono not stereo and they are giving the stage a sense of space. Sort of like how most microphones record in mono (even stereo are two monaural mics in specific configuration to avoid phasing) then reverb is added in stereo to give it a hall/stage space. They are doing something similar here, giving a mic a stage presence with delay, echo not happening in the exact same spot plus that would introduce phasing where the audio signal cancels/negates itself. Phasing is how most noise cancelling headphones work.

They are playing adjacent notes, not harmonized. Usually used for tension, darkness, fear, gloominess, etc. Lots of this in Close Encounters before the sense of awe, adventure, child-like wonder kicks in. This sounds like it was used for a drop in...like sound design needing to add sinister elements to a scene or dirty up an existing scene.

Do you want to know what conducting an orchestra is really like?

Hi Mike, very nice job as always! Love your deep analysis and comparison recordings. It makes me realize though how much better the OST is. There is just something really magical there, perhaps because that was my introduction to the music so the base to which all others are compared. Awesome job!

I don't think he listens to music for pleasure partially because he's writing most of the time. He definitely score studies but that's not the same thing. I just doubt he'd have a tune on in the background for his pleasure. It would be to analyze it or he's working on something. I think he would go to symphony concerts in the past (like his Tanglewood days) and get pleasure out of that. I also think the type of music he enjoys is probably quite different from what he's famous for. He might not be a JW fan.

Looks like a match. The people who made this video should see Star Wars again.

What film is this? I think it's Empire but it might be Star Wars. Anyone recognize the scene or scoring stage?

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts is a huge fan of Johnny. We spoke about this in passing when his piano concerto was being rehearsed in LA. He said: "OK, I’ll post MY John Williams picture! Happy birthday, Maestro! Your music has been an inspiration to me for as long as I have known about music." His dad added "Can confirm! Our childhood had a soundtrack written by JW." Kevin is a fabulous composer of music with impact, lyricism, and depth. Photo from 2025.

This is a very good Q&A for fans of Spielberg but also helps explain his approach. He's mostly talking about Warhorse but adds loads of details about his personal experience that would show up in Fabelmans.

Gabriel Yared wrote several ballets. Bienvenue sur le site de Gabriel Yared