Leaderboard

I just saw this shared on social media. Very cool! Williams and Jones already performed the GUNN theme live in a Mancini tribute concert some 4-5 years ago, but gotta dig the line-up of this recording session for an actual new Mancinin tribute album. Just wish the videos of the recording session itself lasted longer.

Gotta love Doyle in his "this is probably a bit much for the movie but it's a brilliant album" phase... having said that, it does get perhaps a touch full on by the end, but plenty of wonderful stuff. I miss this Doyle I can't deny it.

So it seems the Superman sequels will be available to purchase separately in 4K. Note, that Superman The Movie was not part of the line up, and how the box art for the sequels mirror the already previously released 4K release. Does that mean that the new remaster of Superman The Movie will only be available in the box set? Or that, actually, Superman The Movie wasn't remastered at all, only the sequels? Or are they just keeping it under wraps a bit longer to increase preorders for the box set (because, let’s face it, Superman The Movie is the biggest draw here), and it’ll be announced a bit further down the line? WB is expected to issue a press release about Superman 4K in the coming days, so I guess we'll know soon.

This is my all-time favourite Doyle score. The music which underscores the sequence where Frankenstein creates the creature, is brilliant.

It's a terrific score, easily a top 3 Broughton. Great themes, never a dull moment and everything you could want by way of an old fashioned western score (instead of some grumbly noodling that you often get now with gritty westerns... same goes for war film scores...). Silverado is indeed a bit more on the nose and doesn't have quite the tonal or emotional range of Tombstone, but only because Tombstone is such a great score (perhaps his best ever?!). While they aren't quite in the same league, some of his TV movie western scores are well worth checking out, notably O Pioneers! (what people in the 19th century said instead of FFS...) and True Women, which admittedly don't sound that promising, but are really lovely, albeit a bit more genteel than the more forthright styles of Silverado or Tombstone.

I already posted the first 2 covers in a post dedicated to John Williams. But here is the full JAWS collection

OK. I have seriously underestimated this score. It's still my least favorite of the three. It relies too much on the first score, more than the second one did. Good grief, it IS Return of the Jedi. But wow are the strong parts so strong. I have held Third Date in terrifically high esteem for a long time. But I can't believe that I haven't really thought much about the track The Hidden World. There is some stuff that is so big, not just in terms of orchestra or choir, but just the musical idea is so big that I almost can't absorb it. Maybe that's a problem when put together with the whole score. The 3 material meshes very well with 2 but less so with 1. OTOH, there are some fantastic reprises of material from 2. I hadn't really thought of it, but I don't think there is anything from a previous film that I liked better when it was recalled in a later film. 1 doesn't sound better in 2 and 3. I'm not sure 2 sounds better in 3. Unlike, say, uses of themes in the later Star Wars films that I like better than in the film they originally came from. I might have to dig into this and see if I really mean this. I know there are quotes of themes where I'm just excited that they are there. But it's not like "I can't wait to hear this version of Forbidden Friendship from 3!" Or Astrid's theme. I don't think. Oh darn. More listening to Dragons music.

Yaaayyyy!!!!! Atta boy, James Newton Howard! I knew you had it in you!!!! After sampling on Spotify, I took the plunge and picked up the LLL 3CD of Wyatt Earp. I listened today, with trepidation that it might meander or sag like Waterworld did for me. I’m happy to say this was not the case at all. I LOVED this score! Sumptuous cinematic themes, but also a great sounding orchestra, and a cracking good mastering. Never did I get bored, as the C&C presentation somehow mixes JNH’s big set pieces with welcome folksy sounding cues. It all is spread out so that nothing wears out its welcome. Even the less thematic underscore, such as the percussive martial music for I assume the gunfights or whatnot, give contemporaries like Tombstone or Silverado a run for their money. I only wish I had heard this prior to Arnold’s Independence Day, because now I have to un-hear the ID4 theme which rips off the Wyatt Earp Love Theme. Hopefully I can disassociate it, but I’m far more familiar with listening to ID4 for almost 30 years. Didn’t Arnold reportedly take some of his unused material from Waterworld and repurpose it for ID4 also? Strange relationship there. This is a triumph, an absolutely delightful presentation. I can’t believe JNH purposely made an effort to get away from this type of writing, but whatever. I’m so glad I gave it a chance because I now have a favorite James Newton Howard score.

And a new one: RPReplay_Final1676856321.MP4

A.R. Rahman's score to the 2014 epic film Kochadaiiyaan has finally received an official release today. It is a rich, thematic orchestral/choral score and really a dream come true for me. I had been waiting for this since 9 years. Highly recommended for everyone.

Half and half was Williams's customary arrangement for a while. Then he went to Vienna and started doing full concerts again. My guess is we are back to half (which is still quite remarkable).

Licence to Kill by Michael Kamen

My attempt at a mockup for the Fox Fanfare. I did 3 subtly different versions, just based on some different recordings I've heard over the years like one for example where percussion doesn't play on some bars.

The older John Williams gets, the more obsessed I get with seeing him go back and play the piano. This video that came up in another thread a few months ago was a huge factor in that. Maybe this experience will send him back to re-explore his jazz roots for some upcoming work!

Ann-Sophie Mutter recently said Williams is still making arrangements for her. Worst case scenario, she meant only Helena's Theme and no more are forthcoming, but I think that's not likely. Best case scenario, there's an Across The Stars Vol. 2 in the works. I could be just dreaming, but anyway, what pieces would you like to see/hear Williams arrange next? Here are mine - I settled on 17 (a nice full CD) and this was hard, but I kept in mind that previous arrangements have been love/melodic themes, energetic pieces (The Duel, Witches of Eastwick, Hedwig's Theme), and a couple of surpise older pieces (Nice to Be Around and The Long Goodbye). In no particular oder: 1. A Window to the Past 2. The Reivers Main Theme 3. The Accidental Tourist Love Theme (Williams hasn't recorded his own orchestral concert version) 4. Superman Love Theme - Since most of the Star Wars love/melodic themes have been arranged for Ann-Sophie, this one certainly deserves the same treatment. 5. Superman: March of the Villians 6. Parade of the Ewoks 7. If We Were in Love from Yes Georgio 8. Willie's Theme from The Temple of Doom. I think this deserves a concert version. Come on Steven, get Williams on this, it was kind of written for your wife! 9. Seven Years In Tibet - I'd love an arrangement of the main theme that makes up the first half of the sountrack piece. 10. Jazz Autographs from The Terminal 11. Jaws 2: The Catamaran Race 12. The Paper Chase 13. Remembering Munich - Three versions already: solo voice, oboe, and cello, so why not one more? 14. Hook: Remember - This deserves its own arrangement! 15. AI: Monica's Theme - Done! 16. Helena's Theme - we know this is coming sooner or later. 17. ET: Flying Theme And two more that just came to mind from Amistad: 18. Cinique's Theme 19. Cinique's Memories of Home I can't stop - lost more - Let's make it a 2CD set, please. 20. Anakin's Theme 21. The Asteroid Field 22. Fawkes The Phoneix 23. Memoirs Of A Geisha: Going to School 24. The Patriot: Ann & Gabriel 25. The Ballroom Sequence 26. The Face Of Pan 27. The Fabelmans

So the Zod motif... I don't mean the bongo heavy percussive stuff from the Trial scene of the first film, or the crystal motif Williams wrote. It's just a 3 note motif used (I think) only twice. I mistakenly put it at the Daily Planet invasion, but Zod's motif first appears at the beginning of the White House invasion here: And then makes another appearance at the film's climax here: I can't connect this with anything Williams wrote, but would be happy to find out I'm mistaken. By the way, the Alternate version of The Dome Opens will forever be connected to Superman II and III for me, after hearing it used for years in those films, prior to the Blue Box release.

I love Ken Thorne’s work for these. Oddly, as a kid, I got my soundtrack LPs out of the library, and was far more familiar with the Superman II OST than Williams’ original! But I really love how Thorne expands on the Clark Loses His Nerve motif. He even has an original brassy 3 note motif for Zod that gets used in the Daily Planet and Fortress sequences. Superman III could’ve been overkill, but Thorne wisely gives us the delightful Streets of Metropolis for the Main Title. And then the score comes totally alive when the Balloon Sequence introduces all new original material. It’s super fun, and I agree, better than Ottman’s overbaked effort.

It still sounds to me more like a concert arrangement of this theme than it does a real score cue. The original version of the cue is indeed better in the film, and also in the main program, I'd say. This music is nice to have on its own, but I like it better as a bonus track. It's kind of funny that if this was indeed written for this scene, Spielberg didn't use it, removing Dillard from the film here, but then when on to track Dillard all over many other scenes in the film... It really is more moody and ethereal without the Dillard, more fitting for the somber tone throughout the scene. This could have worked if used throughout the whole scene instead of just the first half I think, but I do like the film mix of having her show up for the second half to end the film. That's "Cinqué’s Theme (Solo Flute)", not horn Hmm. This actually works mostly OK for the scene here, though it's hard to say any of it is better than the actual cue. One need sync point, happenstance or not, was some kind of deep drum hit right when it shows an explosion in civil war footage. I had to take a second to make sure I wasn't hearing sound effects, lol. When the later deep drum hits aren't synced to anything at all, I guess that makes it a coincidence. Phew! Finally found time to watch all this. Thanks so much Holko, this was really great. You are doing really good, really important work here! I wish more people watched and commented. I hope you find motivation to keep going through more of his scores!

He says it in Mende! It's "Thank you, Cinque", I think/assume.

I liked seeing that the solo horn Adams theme opening covers the lawyers alone pondering the case, with the strings only entering when we're back in the courtroom and the judges are reading the verdict. And then that Adams's theme intro melody comes back as soon as the judge decrees that they are not slaves, but free individuals. The build up to the Dry Your Tears Afrika melody finally beginning as the handcuffs are removed is great, as is the return of Cinque's Theme as he shakes Adams' hand. The solo horn version of Cinque's theme covering him giving the tiger's tooth to Joadson was interesting, as a lusher arrangement of his theme is then used for his handshake with Baldwin. BTW @Holko, there's no subtitles for whatever Baldwin says to him at the end here. This reminds me so much of Empire of the Sun, the way there's this poppy end credits song for a bleak movie, and just a few scene before the end credits, a similar arrangement appears as a score cue. I'm still not sure if the movie or scene deserves such up-beat music here, but it's really quite Spielberg-ian to do so. Man, I never noticed before how shoddy the miniature work was for the wall that gets destroyed by cannon fire. Hmm, seeing this I think Spielberg was right to leave out the Dillard for the first half in the film. I love it being here the whole way through for the album's main program, though! Oh man I just like this so much better. The way Dillard's voice tapers down as the film fades out, and then the vocal intro of the song starts as the end credits do is just great here. I don't know why Spielberg thought he needed to change it! Nor why the OST album had to recreate this hodgepodge to open the album! So thankful we don't have it on the LLL.

I only just saw this the other day, the announcement must've flown under my radar. The rest of the Star Trek films are coming to 4K in April. Star Trek: Generations 4K Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) Star Trek: First Contact 4K Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) Star Trek: Insurrection 4K Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) Star Trek: Nemesis 4K Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection 4K Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)

Big Night Man, I like independent movies but forget sometimes the huge boon that digital cameras were to the industry; Even this film from as recent as 1996 is a bit hampered by poor picture quality just due to the budget. A shame! This is an interesting story of two Italian-American immigrant brothers in 1950s New Jersey who own an Italian restaurant. Tony Shalhoub is the chef, who wants to honor the original Italian recipes and refuses to American-ize the food; Stanley Tucci is the manager who has to stress over keeping the business running (it isn't doing well). Ian Holm runs a competing restaurant that is far more successful (with Americanized Italian food); Isabella Rossellini is Holm's wife.... who Tucci is secretly sleeping with. He's also sleeping with Minnie Driver, who he finds himself unable to commit to, perhaps due to his failures at the restaurant. Allison Janney also has a small role as Shalhoub's love interest. All of these various plot threads come together and go off in new directions over the course of the titular big night, when the brothers spend everything they have to try to get the recognition they need when Holm tells them he's convinced a famous singer to eat at his restaurant. A nice indepedent film directed by Tucci and Campbell Scott, and co-written by Tucci as well. I enjoyed the performances and delicious looking food shots more than the fairly thin story and character drama

Yes, please keep it up! You are doing great work; We need people like you who check out everything and tell us a little bit about them!

"fan art"? haha! The artist is Steven Chorney. He's responsible for quite many well known posters. He's clearly emulating Drew Struzan's style with fluctuating success. http://www.stevenchorney.com

Thanks for the heads-up, DemonStar! And nice to see you around; don't see you much at the boards anymore.

The newly released score album of Kochadaiiyaan (A.R. Rahman). A powerful orchestral/choral score that I highly recommend to everyone.

I've only seen her in Avatar, Marvel, Star Trek, The Terminal and From Scratch (Series). Oh and the first Pirates Of The Caribbean of course

And I bet she’s paid less than lots of other (probably men) who are considered more famous “stars”… quite an achievement though, must watch some of the other films she’s been in lol

Or just have one cover per track 😉

Wow those are really lovely. One argument for having half a dozen different boots and other unmentionables in your iTunes library, to just enjoy all the lovely covers! Is it more or does the artwork for the top two have a bit of a Studio Ghibli vibe?

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is, officially, now the third most financially successful film if all time. Fyi, TITANIC is fourth.

Kazoo! But if it gets released it won't be interesting anymore.

Those strings are gorgeous! What library did you use? Just playing with Wordbuilder @Jay @Ricard The JWfan "motif"? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JsUImODjmwHqC9h57QZ07pujSj28Uhyy/view

It must have been a bit surreal for him to be doing session work, so to speak, at this stage in his career—a fun little time warp. I’m looking forward to this album!

Nice. Do you know who did the art for LTK?

Ordered! Superman 4K Steelbook Box Set

He's so full of charm and modesty. A real gem of a human being. It also looked like he was having some fun being a session player for a change. I bet he felt like 26 year old again.

Uugh.

It's called The Hunchback of Westminster Abbey.

"King Charlie" I'd laugh my head off... if I didn't hate the very idea of it.

Oh you're right! For whatever reason only Jar Jar's motif was on my mind. That's a shame... I was looking forward to one day hearing Jar Jar's Theme | EPIC™ VERSION 2.mp3

I really enjoyed the first 8 tracks of the album. It's some great instrumental pieces. The first cue especially is great. It almost sounds like an instrumental from UB40. But the rest of the album is much more downstated and focused on synths, strings, piano and more modern thriller stuff.

If they had respect for the comic and its author, they wouldn't do a sequel of any kind, but maybe that's just me

Atlantis: The Lost Empire Not as great as Dinosaur or Treasure Planet due to some meandering parts here and there, but still pretty amazing. I'd say this is the closest JNH got to writing something similar to John Williams' Star Wars scores, filtered through his own Waterworld score. Listening to this you can almost see the directors asking him for a "Star Wars kind of music".

I love the three scores, with my favorite being Revolutions. One of my favorite trilogy of scores ever written alongside the more traditional choices (SW, LOTR, HTTYD, etc).

I have the inserts on my channel and they're not causing any issues either. So I do believe length is the only factor here. (Shameless plug)