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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/05/13 in all areas

  1. I understand it was something the Fleischer cartoons started to prop sprites when the gloom of war was hitting American shores. And I don't disagree it was a vital part of the character for a long time. However, if you've picked up a comic anytime in the past twenty years, you would realize that Superman isn't so undeveloped as he was. Since the end of the Cold War, writers have taken the opportunity to explore different aspects of Superman and explore the fact that he is an alien, and one who doesn't always agree with the way that humans act. As previously mentioned, there was even a story where Big Blue abdicated his citizenship which caused quite a controversy but did enable some new insights from a character that is over seventy years old. The simple fact is, Superman has by and large been portrayed as a defender of America, but in actuality he is a defender of all mankind. We've had plenty of examples of his pride in his home country over the years, but quite honestly I hope that's all left out of the new film. A scene where maybe he straightens the flag would be nice, but something as blatant as the end of Superman 2 would seem insincere in this day and age. That kind of display is out of touch with the way the world is now, and not concurrent with the character at this point. During WW2, the phrase "truth, justice, and the American way" was created as a rallying cry to unite Americans. With the current landscape of the world, a world which is smaller than its ever been, Superman can be used to unite all mankind and portray how great humans of all nationalities can be, not just as some sort of inclusive cheer which it has become over the years. If the filmmakers attempt to tackle such a subject I would be incredibly pleased and it honestly seems like the next logical step for the character to take on the big screen.
    3 points
  2. Probably old, but it amused me.
    2 points
  3. Listening to this again, it probably remains my favourite of the 70s JW disaster scores. What a great theme - and the subdued moody music really gets under the skin. I hope someone reissues The Paper Chase - that would make that FSM album, which I don't have, obsolete.
    2 points
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoqL8NWFPJc
    1 point
  5. mrbellamy

    American Sniper

    Let's not forget that Spielberg himself is approaching 70. He even explicitly said in an interview recently that filming action sequences just doesn't give him the inspiration that it used to when he was in his 20s and 30s, making all those good, fun adventures that he became so famous for. As much as some of his fans complain, the fact is that he's received a lot more encouragement lately to do dramas than sci-fi/action/adventures. In his first ten years making theatrical features, he landed Best Picture Oscar nominations for Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T., as well as a Best Director nomination for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Reviews were great, and so was the audience response. In just about every corner of the world, people responded to that kinetic energy, and they let him know. Since the 90's, however, his best-received films have largely been his dramas. His adventure films have done well at the box-office, but aside from Minority Report, reviews haven't been outstanding, and how much crap has he gotten since about the likes of War of the Worlds and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? It seems that all he can ever talk about regarding Indy 4 is how poorly received it was by fans, and while it's usually in good humor, it had to have been rather discouraging for him to keep bringing it up. Sure, it made a lot of green, but it's easy to take that kind of thing for granted when it's a goddamn Indiana Jones movie. After Jurassic Park came out, he's often said that he has a "one for me, one for the audience" type of attitude about the blockbusters. Movies like Close Encounters or E.T., though, were highly personal, and not merely done out of some obligation to an audience that craved escapism. I just wonder if he's starting to feel that ship has sailed for him.
    1 point
  6. They have one! It's Lord Bravery...
    1 point
  7. What dipshit wrote that review of TESB?
    1 point
  8. Not too many post 2005 films come to mind... The Artist would have been an ideal canvas to explore the entire history of film music (which Williams is better equipped than most to do), but at the same time add more flair and personality than what was present in that film's actual score. It could have also generated a lot of fun concert material... Although I'd generally rather have Williams pursue his own personal musical interests at this point (more chamber music, please), I do think it would be wonderful if he were given the opportunity to write music that was truly conceived as the driving force behind its film (the film serving the music just as much as the other way around), or to be given the chance to write more autonomously, giving the score its own identity as a counterpoint to the film at hand ("non-underscore"). Something I'd love to see, would have been a collaboration with a truly outstanding director of similar spiritual inclinations as Williams (profoundly humanistic). I'd be very curious to hear Williams respond to the most recent films of Michael Haneke, for instance. In general, I think Williams could work miracles for something intimate and slower paced.
    1 point
  9. but Star Wars has the Millenium Falcon and star destroyers,
    1 point
  10. Some examples of aleatoric techniques that Williams uses: - Instructing the pianist to hit "lowest cluster." This is by far Williams's most frequently used aleatoric technique. It means using one's palm to hit all white and black notes in the octave of an 88 key piano. If the pedal is down, it creates a gong-like sound - if it's off, it's a dark, metallic thud. Either way it's a very percussive effect. Most credit its development to Henry Cowell. Some examples - Very beginning of "The Idol's Temple" from RAIDERS. 0:!3 in the "The Visitor's" from CE3K. 0:48 in "The Shark Approaches" from JAWS. 0:12 in "The Wampa's Lair" from EMPIRE. 0:21 in "The Shoebridge Headstone" from FAMILY PLOT. Low white note cluster. 5:03 in "Eye to Eye" from JP. No pedal here, but marcato ^ accents overhead. Combined with "huge bass drum." - The opposite of this is "highest cluster." Due to the highest strings of the piano having very little sustain, there are usually exclusively for clinky jabs. 2:48 and 4:09 (here also combined with lowest cluster attacks) "Jedi Master Revealed/Mynock Cave" from EMPIRE. 6:54 from "T-Rex Rescue & Finale" from JP. Combined with low clusters. 2:53 in "The Island Prologue" from TLW. - "As fast as possible" (or AFAP) figures. A series of pitches are written out in sequence, and the players are told to either play them as fast possible, play them in random order, gradually increase speed, or slowly play them out-of-sync with the rest of the orchestra. Williams mostly commonly writes this for cellos and basses or harp, but can also be applied to low winds, piano, trombones, horns, trumpets, and high winds. 0:18 and 0:58 in "Han Solo Returns" from ROTJ. 0:41 in "The Clash of Lightsabers" 1:10 in "Ludlow's Demise" from TLW. Trombone figure. 2:17 in "The Trek." Low winds double tonguing chords AFAP in a Morse code-like pattern Tonnes of other examples here - others can fill this in - Cluster glissando. Basically a tone cluster that either slides to a designated higher or lower cluster, or to the lowest or highest possible pitches on the instrument. Usually played by strings, but sometimes horns, trombone, synth. With high winds, Williams usually just writes "shriek to highest pitch." 4:34 in "Eye to Eye" from JP. Strings and synth. 2:49 in "Rescuing Sarah" from TLW. 4 Trombones and 6 horns "rip" to highest pitches. 1:04 and 1:36 in Drawing the Battle Lines/Leia's Instructions from EMPIRE Picc/flutes shrieks throughout "The Compys Dine" from TLW. - Behind the bridge technique on strings. Usually violins. This is where the player bow on the other side of the bridge, creating seemingly random pitches. What you're hearing are the highest partials of each string. 0:52 in "The Compys Dine," When Donovan super-ages in TLC. Here the violins are playing pizzicato behind the bridge. - Harmonic glissando. This is a usually for violins, but refers to all string instruments. Almost always touch four harmonics (the player lightly stops whatever note is a fourth above the one playing) - these sound two octaves higher than written. The glissando means than the players slide the notes up and down ad lib. 1:01 in "Bait for E.T." Violins and violas slide around harmonic cluster (D-Eb-F#-G-A). 2:42 in "Pre-Crime to the Rescue" from MINORITY REPORT. No pitches indicated - these entirely up to the players. 0:11 in "Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace." Love this effect - double basses doing the same thing, creating a ghostly, almost electronic sound. Also violins harmonic gliss on the first down beat of this cue, marking Vader cutting off Luke's hand. - Piccolos shrieking at highest pitches 03:52 in "Searching for E.T." 0:31 in "Dracula's Death" and etc. Listen to Lutoslawski's Venetian Games. One of the earliest examples of aleatoricism, and quite similar to the kind found in Williams's oeuvre. Another recommendation is John Corigliano's score for ALTERED STATES. Corigliano is a big influence on Williams's avant-gard
    1 point
  11. I don't think we should read too much between the lines on this. As I see it, it's plain and simple, just like it seems: they're waiting for JW to say "yes". And they're confident he will. I'm sure you all know how much working relationships are a main thing in Hollywood. Giacchino and Abrams share an exclusive relationship based on mutual respect and admiration and they appears also to be good friends (i.e. it's not just work). They both reached high level of power and success working together, so it's pretty natural for both to speak high of each other in public. They both know how much one owes to the other (in the best sense). Now, since Abrams has to work on a franchise with a more than estabilished musical identity (i.e.: it's one of the major things that makes Star Wars what it really is) and the fact its composer is still alive and kicking, I see quite natural they want to give him first option. Well, they MUST give him first option, as I see it. John Williams is Star Wars, as much as Lucas, Ford, Hamill, Fisher, Burtt and all the others who created it are. As I said before, nobody in the world would take the job out of his hands just because the chosen director has an ongoing working relationship with another composer. Also, as much as Abrams is fond of Giacchino and his music, I think he would be more than happy if JW ends up writing music for a film he's directing. For any director, it's like winning the lottery!
    1 point
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