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That leap of logic about Hammond is absolutely genius. To celebrate it, I created something special: For those who are not real JWFans: 1. Krzysztof Penderecki, a classical composer born in 1933, also a friend of ASM 2. Dumbledore takes memories out of his head and puts them into the pensieve so that he does not have to remember 3. Did you know that John Williams stole from Holst? 4. Sony Classical put the photo of Guitar Williams in their Twitter post celebrating JW's 88th birthsday 5. Don Williams said that John has always been interested only in girls and music 6. Telling stories at Tanglewood! Edit: I noticed that some of my explanations already require a measure of fan knowledge. So advanced is this meme!

Star Wars Expansions: No Hope

LOL. Check out Oma Tres' official STAR WARS Databank entry: https://www.starwars.com/databank/oma-tres "As a bartender in Kijimi City’s infamous Spice Runners’ Den, Oma Tres has heard his share of discord – and on occupied Kijimi, the drums of war are part of the soundtrack of life. Tres can only hope the present strife will reach its crescendo and be followed by an era of harmony."

We should just give Thor his own thread to repeat himself in while those of us who actually like soundtracks can speculate and build up anticipation for future releases.

Social distancing.

I agree. For contrast, watch a movie like The Post. And watched even the side characters in any shot. Everyone has an inner life, everyone is doing something. Nobody is standing there being an audience for the leads. It's remarkable.

Let's face it, if Williams' daily routine is as he states in his interviews, the man has been practicing social distancing since long before the rest of us were born.

It has that typical Chris Columbus look. If you're familiar with the Home Alones, it looks along those lines. Gotta make those pale upper class white people look all warm and cozy in their enormous houses.

@Thor, unless they recently changed the time, they'll actually be announcing the releases in less than 30 minutes (10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern).

I have two fundamental problems with how Yates directs his movies. -Staging/Blocking: everyone on the frame is just standing and looking silently at the lead characters, without the slightest movement/reaction/energy. You have these flat wide shots of lots of people doing just nothing (example: in DH2 Harry comes back to Hogwarts, and after a few hugs, everyone is silently staring at Harry as if they were members of a choir on stage). -Editing: I find that there is absolutely no energy to the way he edits dialogue scenes (and many others). Long akward pauses between sentences, with each character waiting respectfully for the next line (the same scene in DH2 is a good example as well: long stares, no movement, and long pauses between each sentence). The combination of his lifeless staging/blocking of scenes, and his lifeless editing choices drains all energy from his films.

No. Flights have been cancelled only for human passengers. Not for cargo, products, and other stuff.

Twister Pretty much anything featuring Bill Paxton is good and a flick where he's a guy actually named Bill engaged to a charming beautiful southern belle played by the chick from The Lost Boys, wearing denim, driving a big red Dodge Ram chasing after tornadoes and constantly cursing sounds like a recipe for success. It was a big hit, of course. I've always liked it, even after they replaced the Ghostbusters show at Universal Studios with a reenactment of the scene where a twister rips apart a drive-in movie. It does capture not only that perfect 90s era when we were all happier with plenty of denim, plaid and alternative music, but also the feel of driving around the midwest/south which I have a fondness for. Helen Hunt is a bit Jodie Foster here. Cary Elwes nails the southern accent and is completely believable as the "villain" despite the fact that they both share the same goal of releasing the sensors into a tornado. The entire cast is great. The state-of-the-art twisters are animated by ILM with sophisticated computer technology and look better than real ones. There is also a huge amount of practical effects and stunts. Cars and large objects being flung around and blown up. It's pretty epic at many points. Soundtrack by Mark Mancina, Lisa Loeb and others. Produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.

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Knives Out by Nathan Johnson Listened once and thought it could use a trim from 52 minutes, so I narrowed it down to a half-hour program. It's quite good. The first track acts as a zesty and vibrant overture, as if born out of a Paganini concerto- it's certainly a keeper for shuffle playlists. What follows is a series of cues with plenty of personality, never failing to channel a classic sense of drama and mystery. There's a recognizable Herrmann-esque quality at work here (perhaps Elfman in Gothic mode, which is pretty "Herrmann" as is). There aren't many scores written with this sound anymore, and I suspect that it's a result of the film's attempt to hearken back to earlier whodunits in plot and score alike. On that level, it's certainly a success.

Other labels were brought up to make the point that *even if every Varese Club release is an expansion* (and that has never been the case), you still have plenty other sources to get the premieres you crave. There is literally no need for Varese to cater to your premiere-only tastes; your needs are met. On the other hand our needs (yes, they're wants really I know) for Varese to get a move on and expand their many 30 minute (and sub 30 minute) 90s albums before compact discs die as a format... these can only be met by Varese continuing to release expansions you don't care about. I notice you don't want to answer my question. I think it's because the reality is as I laid it out: whether a label releases a premiere, reissue, or expansion, you're unlikely to buy it unless it's a premiere of a previously-unreleased score by one of your three favorite composers (with maybe a few others like Top Gun thrown in, in addition). So you only care philosophically -- when Varese released the 100% premiere a batch or two ago of Laurence Rosenthal's Rooster Cogburn (don't be confused by them using the Deluxe Edition banner -- it had *never* been released before at all), did you buy it? Were you even tempted? I submit that when Varese recently released a premiere in their Club series, it was just useless to you as when they release an expansion. How many times has Varese put out a batch that were all expansions, Thor? Last time they did a small batch and it was one significant expansion (Dolores Claiborne) and one reissue (The Stand -- yes, this was marked as "The Deluxe Edition" but it was a straight reissue of the program from the Stephen King box set from a few years ago... and even then it's your kind of expansion, with the original album preserved on its own disc and an optional second disc with more music). The time before that, they released one expansion (Air Force One), one reissue (Giacchino's Star Trek), and one premiere (Rooster Cogburn). The time before that but have been difficult for you: they released two expansions (Robocop 2 and Dracula) and one reissue (Raggedy Man). And before that, pretty much every Club batch included an Encore title... A Show of Force, Heathers, etc. All straight reissues of the original albums. Hell, their Delerue London Sessions reissue wasn't even an expansion or reissue, but a *contraction* -- it omitted a few tracks that were on the original volumes. So tell me again how we're swimming in far too many expansions. I for one wish Varese would concentrate on them *exclusively* for the Club (because, once again: only the Club can do them!), but they haven't been so far. Maybe with the elimination of the Encore line that will change, but as I pointed out they've still managed a reissue in every batch so far since then. We only get maybe SIX Varese expansions TOPS in an entire *year*! (When we are lucky, that is. In 2019 do you know how many new expansions Varese released? TWO -- Air Force One and Robocop 2. TWO.) So... you really gonna begrudge us? One expansion every other month (or even every six months) is apparently something you cannot abide, and will complain about Varese concentrating on every time a new batch is announced? Exactly. Surely Thor you can understand the clear logic of this. Yavar

If you want bad sounding CDs, just buy any Zimmer score from the last 20 years! 😅

You're thinking too logically. When the hipsters discover they can have a disc that's less than half the diameter of the LP, with better sound, and most important; that it's much less popular than the LP, they will be all over it.

I'd been wanting to see for a while now how well the "taking off" section of We Go Together would work with the similar sequence from ROTJ. Even with some editing, it's still clunky, but it might still be fun to see.

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2021/01/27/Across-the-Stars-The-Music-of-John-Williams-0700PM

- I liked the Riker moment, very typical Riker sass. -Robo tentacles were so goddamn lame. I'd feel better if they just stopped it before the portal opened. -The gadget is an underlying problem of the series so far. We got like four episodes of Soji and Narek having passive aggressive pillow talk but then this miracle ocarina comes out of nowhere in the last episode? -The cat fight was whatever...from a storytelling point of view I guess it was to avenge Hugh but I think it would have been cooler if the re-integrated Borg from Seven's command took her out. -I was affected by Picard's death, but it was dampened by the fact that they announced another season before this one began. I liked the scene of Rios and Seven taking alternate swigs of Flubber booze. -I thought it was gonna be Q or something when he awoke in the room, but the following stuff with Data was far more poignant. I don't know how I feel about robo-Picard...it raises an interesting question on what we perceive as being intrinsic to a person--done many times in sci-fi of course, but rarely with someone the iconic status of Picard. It feels a little glossed over though...guess when you're old and free of an uncurable disease some of the philosophical ramifications go out the window. -The hand holding was weird. Seven is bi, I guess? Okay, whatever. Apparently it was something Jeri Ryan wanted in Voyager, so I suppose it's nice she finally got what she wanted. Oh but Raffi is at least bi, too, now, I guess? Maybe that's why she and her husband/partner/spouse broke up? Whatever, awfully convenient. And the Rios-Jurati thing doesn't feel earnt. Overall, an uneven season, for sure. A lot of narrative pitfalls if you look in the corners...but on the other hand, there are a number of elements that definitely feel like the work of a talented novelist such as Michael Chabon. The season definitely had philosophical and thematic underpinnings that were well-integrated and woven throughout the episodes. Ideas such as the fusion and symbiosis of organic and machine, exemplified as extremes by the Borg as a violent means of this melding, and pure organics and synthetics on either side of the divide. Picard, in some ways, a broken man, was rehabilitated and made "complete" by his new adventures, completing the path that Hugh wanted for the ex-Borg. And at the end with his consciousness being transplanted into the golem, represents a benign coming together of natural and artificial. (All of this being foreshadowed in the title sequence that depicts fragments of experiences, DNA, etc. forming together to complete Picard). And for the finale, I loved that you had these two giant opposing fleets, ready to duke it out and prove every Star Trek fan right about modern Trek being nothing but pew pews, cussing, and sex...but the fleets never fire a shot at each other, because Picard sacrifices himself to send a message of peace and agency to a member of a despised, forbidden race, who then takes it upon herself to rewrite what seemed to both sides--the Romulans and the synthetics-- as foregone destiny and bridge a gap between peoples. If that ain't Star Trek, I don't know what is. So naturally fans hate it and accuse the writers of not understanding Star Trek.

Watching THE BIG BUS, I knew that I'd found my true love: Stockard Channing. Oh, yeah!

That score has themes now? Color me intrigued!

Quite like the title score. Classic 70s sound but slightly 'dramatic' in line with Airport or whatever. Harbinger Curve and Springfield Sequence are two of my favourites. The film, well I've not seen it in years but it was good fun.

Sounds like a bad Goldsmith-scored pandemic horror!

They refused to get along.

It's a good score, from a largely unknown film. I saw this, in London, as a double-bill, with THE BAD NEWS BEARS.

US Marshals! Great! Very manly score.

Nice idea to have a sale, getting new music can be a nice mood-elevator in these crazy times. Also, all the CD pressing plants are closed now, so the only new titles coming out in the next month will be anything pressed and approved before they closed. And once they open back up, it will be a while until new titles are ready to go... we are basically due for the slowest summer in specialty label film score releases ever

I'll repeat what I said earlier: Ever since Yates stepped in, with the exception of Fantastic Beasts 1, I've felt as though the filmmakers didn't want me to return to that magical world anymore. I'm all for dark drama and whatnot, but there's a difference between dark storytelling and outright dull storytelling.

C'mon, we both know that Aussie dollars aren't real!

Finally bought Schindler's List. Was going to get Home Alone and Far and Away, but one CD plus shipping, with the abysmal conversion rate meant SL alone cost me $66 with the discount. Geez.

Sounds very good! Too bad I can't think of anything to order with F&A at the moment, and that hell will freeze over before I'll voluntarily try dealing with the local customs office.

The amount of travelling she did in the last few weeks, I'd reckon

That is hilarious; a perfect wink and nod to the Maestro.

Yeah, could just be a different scene that got cut out. Nothing else at that point in the film matches the 0:20 of Kylo's theme. There was a lot more intercutting between Ajan Kloss and the other storylines in the Nov 11 cut, whereas the final cut glued all those Ajan Kloss scenes together.

Hopefully, it's Ghostbusters II, a completely unreleased score for a popular blockbuster franchise movie.

Christ are there seriously paragraphs being written over this petty dispute? Some things never change.

We should rename this thread by the way.

I see it 180 degrees to the opposite. People aren't evil by nature. People do evil things out of misguided convictions, and if you really go into psychology, people do evil things out of unwavering conviction to serve a good cause that justifies evil means. It's all over history. Rey conveys a deeply troubled character, and especially in ROS, I find her goody two shoe character unspeakably unconvincing and cringe, and she's very good in moments that she's angry. Whereas Driver is very good at acting the redeeming villain. It could have been a chance to do a real character study a la Anakin, only good, but instead they opted for the most superficial, inane story. Rey should have killed Palpatine, assumed his role, then Ben Solo should have killed Rey. That would have been satisfying.

'tis the season to stay home alone though.

Pretty cool piece, that is. I like the jungley feel. Glad to find Goldsmith put quite a nice spin on it of his own. He was not very good at 'aping', was he? That Conan the Barbarian influence on Total Recall only lasted for a few seconds too, before heading off towards something completely different.

I'm not totally sure how you from this: to this: Either way, the sequence is desperately missing an establishing shot in the upper atmosphere of Mustafar, just to convey the lava fields. There is zero context in the final cut that this burning forest is the same lava planet from 6 films prior. Rogue One did a far better job establishing Vader's castle with a sweeping reveal of the landscape.

Was "Haircut" temp track love? Wow! I'm quite curious to hear the actual temp track then. Goldsmith's version is seriously powerful and works wonders in that film. Even if style-wise, it really stands out from the rest of the score. I like both Goldsmith's alternates too. That scene clearly inspires great music. Would've been curious to know what the film would've been like with the original version though.

That Stormtrooper cover surely is a hideous piece of crap.

Believe me, still trying on that one. The first 40 and last 90 seconds fit like a glove but the rest is a total headscratcher. There's at least 30-40 seconds of missing footage, so this must have been a very, very early cue in the scoring process.

I'm not a fan of the colour palette of The Half-Blood Prince, its often too murky and parchment-like. But there's so much more to cinematography and to directing than colour palette. The Half-Blood Prince has some of the best framing of all of these films, and Yates pulls some great performances from his cast, and he just knows how to let a sequence play out. I think he is a very good director: its some of the scripts he's directed (especially of Fantastic Beasts 2) which are subpar. Regardless, I think that - with five of these films under his belt and at least one more to go - the series could stand to bring-in a new director.

Which was nominated for best cinematography.

I think it works very well with the themes of the film. The cold and geometric Chicago landscape is invaded by the figure of chaos that is the Joker. It's a rather clever visual solution, I thought. I think people get too caught up in the mechanics/logic of the plot. Yes, Joker's plan doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. But this is sort of the point. He's an almost supernatural entity in this mostly very mundane and almost realistic place. I always assumed this was purely intentional. He's a not a character in the strictest sense. As Nolan himself pointed out once, he's the shark in Jaws -- a force of nature. Who he is and what he wants doesn't really matter. This film is not about him at all. Yes, Nolan has a tendency to spell out a lot of things. But I bet this is a requirement if you want to make a film this dense for 200 million dollars. You don't get to be too sophisticated. Hence, the compromise. It's not ideal but... Karol

I really like Batman Begins. The action isn't as polished as in Nolan's later films, and its got his usual overly-talkiness, but its got a big heart. Nolan isn't afraid to show Bruce's parents dying and then dwell on it for two or three minutes unabridged. Now that's drama!