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TFA will be remembered as STAR WARS' GREATEST HITS. It has nothing new to say, but you have fun watching it. TLJ is, for me, a deeper, richer film. It's better paced, and better framed with some spectacularly beautiful shots. I have yet to see TROS.

The Last Jedi is the best thing about the Sequel Trilogy. I actually had hopes that TROS would be just as good.

Today I got my copy... Yay! Now its Close and Here!

I had an interview with Maestro eight years ago. Extremely nice man. During the interview, I asked, among other things, whether he was tempted to write something for a film himself, since his music was used by great directors, such as Kubrick, Scorsese or Wajda. "I don't want to waste time," he replied. "Besides, it would be a transition to the 'other side', which I don't want to do. "Other side?" I asked. "Look at John Williams. He composes very good music, various symphonies and concertos, he is comprehensively educated, he conducts, but everybody knows him only as a film composer. Similarly Ennio Morricone - even when he writes a mass, it's not as good and known as his film music. I think I'll stay on this side!" https://kultura.onet.pl/muzyka/gatunki/klasyka/szkoda-czasu-na-film/jn34jqn

I would support another trilogy ONLY if Rian Johnson writes and directs it.

Meesa propose....

Far and Away episode https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/9/e/e/9eefac4c261b7761/indycast-300320.mp3?c_id=68489969&cs_id=68489969&expiration=1585580116&hwt=8ee70495d5bf0ce249c074e6acf550cf

Mine has just been delivered here in the UK too. Tracking still has it in transit between facilities in the US so perhaps there isn't as much of a backlog as thought.

I luckily cancelled my Intrada order of both F& A and The SWARM and had it re-ordered via La La Land. Due to a technical issue which doesnt allow me to place order directly on LLL's website; so I had to call and place my order on phone to MV Gerhard himself. What a solid nice guy he is. Its always great talking to the guy. Hats off to the LLL team for being there and doing their job.

Pity this perception of a divide that still exists, and I'm afraid that the pop composers who dominate film scoring do things no favors. But it's very refreshing to hear a great recognizing greatness when he hears it.

The context of Palpatine's speech was simply that the Sith could keep other people ("the ones he cared about") from dying. It was only a tease so Anakin could think he could save Padme. Plagueis couldn't stop himself from dying so why should we expect Palpatine to? Palpatine should have stayed dead. Him coming back in Episode 9 was stupid.

The coronavirus probably got to it.

This is a disturbingly prescient post for many reasons that have nothing to do with soundtracks.

ahem

Fourth episode was kinda neat too -- a kind of cross between COCOON and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. And directed by veteran Michael Dinner of HEAVEN HELP US, OFF BEAT and HOT TO TROT "fame" (first two with Horner scores, third with a fun Elfman score that has yet to be released -- outside a single track on the MFADT compilation). Plus a whole bunch of TV. The episode also had a nice, moody score by Harry Gregson-Williams -- a composer I used to dislike, but now have come to appreciate.

I mean, we would have no clue if they are still coming or were canceled for other reasons, but to answer the second half of your question they haven't put out anything licensed from Sony music since he mentioned there was two pending titles in February 2019. The last title LLL released that was licensed from Sony Music was The Thin Red Line 4CD, released a few days after that MV post, but announced before, so I assume that means it is not one of the two mentioned. Their Karate Kid reissue from 4 months ago involved Sony Pictures of course, but had nothing to do with Sony Music

The puzzling thing about The Force Awakens is that it is fun, even though lots of bad sh*t goes down in it. I mean, we basically open with Kylo Ren ordering the massacre of an entire village, and close with him killing his father. Its actually quite tragic. I don't at all agree that The Last Jedi (which I found just a tad laborious) is better paced, especially given the fact that The Force Awakens is the establishing film. Those movies so often get stuck in setting-up an entire trilogy or series (Sorcerer's Stone, An Unexpected Journey), and The Force Awakens admirably never does that. It has great momentum, without the breakneck, breathlessness of The Rise of Skywalker. So yeah, its still my favourite.

I don't know, I still kinda feel like The Force Awakens is the better movie.

The Last Casino: Star Wars, A Ruin Johnson Story

I can't fathom how people exist who watched this failed trilogy, especially its ugly finale, and still are hell bent on willing another one of those into existence. The light side DID WIN. It was asinine in concept, pathetically written, clumsily executed, and agenda driven, but it DID WIN. Vader is DEAD, Palpatine is DEAD, Yoda is DEAD, Han is DEAD, Leia is DEAD, Luke is DEAD, Ben Solo is DEAD. The saga is beyond DONE. Just because you COULD invent some "never before heard" Sith to pretend like they weren't destroyed and to pretend you NEED another trilogy, doesn't mean you HAVE to. Let it go.

Thanks for the comments about all of the recent episodes. I have been told about the wrong note played on the piano for Kevin's theme, which comes from me getting incorrectly transposed sheet music. I have re-uploaded the episode with the piano performance removed. As for Hook, we were not pressed for time. I try to keep co-hosted shows to an hour if possible. Many people write to me wishing we could spend two hours on their favorite score, but that is not the goal of the podcast. I'm not planning to play every minute of every score, but to just give a historical guide to the music. However, I was not aware that the piano melody that plays before "We Don't Wanna Grow Up" would turn into Tinkerbell's theme, so thanks for that observation. My podcast episodes are not being affected by the worldwide pandemic, so you'll still get new ones every Wednesday!

@Mattris My point is, there can always be more Star Wars, more to tell. It might be wreckless, it might be misguided, but where the franchise can be exploited, it will. I'm not overly pessimistic about that fact either - I love some of the expanded materials Lucasfilm has put out - Clone Wars, some of the novels, games etc.

How CCP-19 could spell the end of petty neurotic semantic hysterical über left causes.

I'd gather everyone to listen to the LLL Titanic, then watch the film, so we could map and study all the edits, from the biggest to the tiniest, all the single minor differences between what James Horner recorded and what actually is on the movie. On the next weekend, we could do the same for Prisoner of Azkaban.

^But not Palpatine. His story is 100% finished, end of story.

Whilst I don't fully agree with Mattris, I do agree that the series' potential for more stories is still there. Did the original trilogy end with RotJ? Yes, it formed a tight narrative arc that wrapped up the main Skywalker saga, but there's nothing saying that was a definitive ending. There's always an opportunity to tell more stories. I thought the ending to TRoS was poignant and heartfelt, but it also felt like it was leaving the door open for more stories - with Rey and everyone else.

Or he should collect all his liner notes and publish them in a book.

Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Hi everyone! The moment is here! We are so excited to share Cue No. 18: The First Task with you all. This is truly the first big action set piece in the score, and it gave us a chance to essentially write "Quidditch Year 4." We hope you enjoy this fun cue that's an homage to the old with a mixture of the new!

Just read a few pages of the liner notes. MM is a wonderful writer.

I put this together. This might and could very well be the full opening, including the Mustafar sequence, the journey to Exegol, the encounter with Palpatine and the appearance of the Final Order. If nothing else, I put it together just for fun. Enjoy! 01_Main_Title_and_Journey_to_Exegol.m4a

He's beyond wrong.

Silly rabbit, you’re not supposed to appreciate things here! Everything must compete!

His impact on film scoring was just as great as his impact on 20th century composers. His music was used effectively in Kubrick's The Shining, Children of Men, Shutter Island, Twin Peaks, and much else. His early concert work, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, practically invented its own notation system and that approach to composing was very influential in the 50's and 60's. He abandoned the avant-garde around 1970 and turned to Neo-romantacism around that time. Sweet photo that represents the breadth of his reach - Penderecki with Goldenthal.

And yet it clearly is. Best to just mind-wipe yourself of the sequel trilogy, I'm afraid. Sure, you can find ways (convoluted or not) to make sequels to Return of the Jedi - Disney did just that - but they were clearly so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

I wouldn't say that Rey's Theme resolves gorgeously in A New Home. The dark-sounding cello cadence resolves - but rather open-ended with those repeating notes in the fore, just like the concert version of Rey's Theme. The 6-note figure is a variation of the first bars of her theme, which modulates (upwardly) throughout, also similar to Rey's Theme. John Williams is trying to tell us something with cellos at 0:16. Removing the second-to-last note of the phrase reveals the major triad of The Imperial March. Emperor Palpatine wanted Rey to "Make the sacrifice", and by killing him in anger, "all the Sith" in his spirit would pass into her, resulting in Empress Palpatine. Rey refused, but later chose to push his Force lightning back at him... with quite an angry face. So, in my view, Emperor Palpatine's plan succeeded. Anyone assuming that Rey's story has ended, with nothing significant to reveal, I think, is sorely mistaken. Based on the events of Episode IX, the Saga cannot end in that manner. I'm calling it right now: A Final Trilogy will be made, and it will happen sooner rather than later. Its climax will feature the final showdown between the Sith and the Jedi. Palpatine will return with a vengeance like no other villain in cinematic history. But he will be defeated... conclusively this time. (Third time's the charm!)

Batman Forever Delivering big once again on the spectacle after a comparatively lowkey return of Batman in the previous flick, which was apparently too weird for Warner Brothers. That didn't stop them from slapping the guy onto practically all conceivable paraphernalia in '92. This time around, it's still weird, but it's far more marketable with a hip all-star cast whose big names fly all around the screen during the opening credits, a diverse tie-in soundtrack album with something for everybody, a friendly circus that doesn't kidnap and murder children and less women being brutally shot. We swapped our plastic McDonald's tumblers for glass mugs. Sounds like a recipe for success. For being the biggest movie of '95, it holds up as an entertaining enough funny book flick. There are some real wild visuals in this one, a lot more fun, even human conversation accessible for the straights. The blondie female lead in this one (Nicole Kidman has never looked better) isn't oppressed, pushed out of a window by her boss and/or having a psychotic episode. She's the most normal one! She has a thing for Bats and Val Kilmer suits up, only occasionally looking badass in the suit. Hey, Joel. Can you tell him to scowl once in a while? Look remotely intimidating? Keaton was better. Jim Carrey is a convincing psychopath. He steals every scene, of course. Tommy Lee Jones' performance is bookended by his best scenes. Most of it is comprised of yelling, laughing and making weird noises. I think he's great casting, to be honest. Who else is in this? Oh, that's right. The kid from the Disney Three Musketeers is Robin. I like the scene where he goes on an adventure in the Giger-inspired Batmobile with fins that flap around, tries to pick up hookers and then rescues a 90s babe in double denim from a neon street gang. It's unrelated to Riddler and Two Face and it's just kinda cool to see the streets of Gotham overrun by these punkers who scatter once Batman arrives. Audiences would do the same for the following entry in the series.

Yada yada the latter films are better when viewed as their own thing (paraphrased essence) Well that's the thing, and what I'm saying in that quote: even when divorced from the book, form barely follows function a lot of times, like with this upliftig awesome happy place, their one escape, being a cold blue hall where you put people on the spot, they fall on hard floor while others stare and mirrorlike walls reflect it. (TV director sensibilities: let's just reuse the already built trophy room set, we'll save a lot, it'll work just fine) Another example for that I just thought of: Wesley Wizard Wheezes. The set is built to follow the book description of a bright orange spot of fun in the dreary dying Alley, the one island in depression, the music follows that well, too, but the lighting, blocking, staging, editing, and especially grading make it just as bland, murky, flat and dreary as everything else in this... thing.

Hi everyone! Here's a cue in prep for the first task. We hope you enjoy the buildup and some character moments of Cue No. 17: Dragon Selection.

I have been hearing from a lot of people about my lack of discussion about the commercial soundtrack releases. I bring up such things only if it feels like something historic happened with the soundtrack release. Other times, I do record something but take it out in the interest of time and flow of the episode. Besides, my plan since the beginning has been to focus mainly on the music as heard in the film, and the composition itself. But, I will take your comment into consideration going forward. That was the goal that Erik and I made for this episode. We knew there were lots of people who did not like this score, and we wanted to "convert" them. I'm glad you are enjoying the score now.

JWFan is like an intricately choreographed dance. We all have our parts to play out.

Stargate was an independent film distributed theatrically by MGM. The DVD was released by Universal in Australia.

Multiple Polish outlets reported that he passed away this morning. I has been confirmed by the organisation led by his wife. https://nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/polish-composer-penderecki-dies-at-86-after-long-illness/amp RIP. He really made his mark in the history of music. I had a privileged of seeing him three times live. While his early experimental music is what most people know I actually like his later more neoromantic works as well. Karol

You can't make an Episode VII and not undo Vader's sacrifice to some extent.

Doesn't seem very likely. Very little new film music from the 2020s (I know Mando started in 2019) will be pressed to physical CDs. Just the way it is. Vinyl is more likely that CDs, but since I doubt they'd press all 8 individual episode albums to vinyl, someone would have to arrange a highlights LP

No, no, no, no! (times a hundred) Film series need an ENDING, which Star Wars has: its called Return of the Jedi. The more movies pile-on that are set after Return of the Jedi, the more it cheapens the enterprise as a whole. Seeing The Rise of Skywalker only reaffirms my belief that there should never have been a sequel trilogy to begin with. All that it accomplished - by sheer dint of existing - is to invalidate the original films, because it shows that balance wasn't really achieved, the Empire wasn't really defeated, and (as it turns out) neither was the Emperor. All the characters did and achieved in the original three/six films (take your pick) is reduced to naught at the start of The Force Awakens, and they all live the rest of their lives as sad old people, before dying one by one. Pathetic. A fourth trilogy would be a fucking joke at this point. Out of a greedy, childish desire for "more Star Wars", people are bear-hugging this franchise to death. Just accept that it was good while it lasted and say goodbye. Temperance is important.