Sandor
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Posts posted by Sandor
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I always feared this poll might show up sometime....
I can't choose a favorite among those three themes! To me they're about equally good and a favorite changes from day to day.
I guess Leia's Theme has the most simple melody, but I love the way Williams employs a counter-melodic effect for wind-instruments at the end to give power to the melody then dominated by strings (almost John Barry-like).
Han Solo and the Princess is a long-lined melody that Williams doesn't write that often. He prefers shorter melodies that can easily be used as motifs throughout his scores. Han Solo and the Princess is gorgeous (especially during the final scene of The Empire Strikes Back).
Luke and Leia may be the most complex of all three and has a great string-driven bridge that always moves me. The build-up of the piece, although critisized, is amazing IMHO.
Roald
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Yeah, I COMPLETELY agree with king mark. Also, ever read the liner notes from Chris Colombus on the album? He doesn't even MENTION Ross and it's so obvious Williams was responsible for EVERY NOTE of the score. Maybe a few seconds were arranged by Ross (especially one or two times Hedwig's Theme appears).
I'm even convinced it was Williams who conducted the music and NOT Ross.
Roald
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Williams' scoring assigments this new millennium (oh, and to avoid confusion or teachy remarks: for me the new millennium started in the year 2000 although I know that is not completely accurate) have been really interesting. New Star Wars films, the Harry Potter series, Spielberg returning to Sci-Fi... Here are my short reviews of his work so far...
The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich, 2000 - ***
For me, a dissapointment. Why does Zimmer get to score so many films I wish Williams would score (King Arthur, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, etc.)? You know, big epic films. The Patriot was one that Williams got to do. The result? Average. I adore the love theme (especially played on the violin), but the main theme doesn't do it for me. I think this score actually hurt the film. It should have been more sweeping, more epic, more 'on the foreground'.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, directed by Steven Spielberg, 2001 - *****
One of Williams best scores. Ever. Williams put so much effort in this score and there is so much emotion in his themes. Monica's Theme, The Search For The Blue Fairy with it's Morricone influences, the trip-hop music in The Moon Rising, the almost pastoral opening of Stolen Memories. I LOVE this score! I even like the pop-version of his main theme (For Always). Classic!
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, directed by Chris Colombus, 2001 ****
It took some time for me to appreciate it completely simply because I expected the thematic richness of Hook. I now realize that Hedwig's Theme is brilliant and the A Change Of Season melody is gorgeous. I love the choral effect Williams employed on The Arrival Of Baby Harry cue. That's truly perfection! One of the best scores Williams wrote in the last five years!
Star Wars Episode II Attack Of The Clones, directed by George Lucas, 2002 ****
Yeah I know all the shit that has been said about this score and I know the shit Lucas' pulled on Williams when editing the final act of his failed production, but you can't blame Williams. His Love Theme from the film is the single best theme Williams wrote this millennium. It's GREAT! The kind of music I missed on The Phantom Menace soundtrack. I love his Confrontation With Count Dooku/End Credits track! An amazing, albeit a somewhat infamous soundtrack.
Minority Report, directed by Steven Spielberg, 2002 ***
Exactly the kind of music that I don't want to hear. It the film it did miracles, but on the album it's hard to digest. I listen to it very little. I appreciate the action music, the haunting vocal effect and the final track, but it's just not enough for me.
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, directed by Chris Colombus, 2002 ****
At first hearing I was utterly impressed! I truly considered this far superior to the original score. Now, I regard it to be it's equal. I love the new themes, especially Fawkes The Phoenix, but I feel they are not integrated well enough in the final film score. I never actually heard The Chamber Of Secrets theme in the film, only on the album.
Catch Me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg, 2002 ***
Not really my favorite music. But I do appreciate Williams' approach! It turns out this is one of the most respected scores of his career! A lot of reviewers praised the score. The Father's Theme is highly complex, but it takes me time to extract the melody from the piece. The Float seems so simple (the basic theme), but the arrangment is brilliant. A score I need to listen to more often.
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, directed by Alfonse Cauron, 2004 *****
This is for me one of the best, most ingenius scores in Williams' career! By far the most interesting of all the Harry Potter scores. I love ALL the new themes! The Waltz, the flying theme of Buckbeak, the A Window To The Past Theme, Double Trouble,.... BRILLIANT! Listening to score makes me realize how regretful it is Williams will not score the fourth installment.
The Terminal, directed by Steven Spielberg, 2004 ****
I LOVE the arrangment of Viktor's Theme! It's so great and truly a sign of Williams endless arrangemental (is that English?) abilities. Also the theme presented in the Diner Of Amelia track is classic European style film scoring! And there are hidden treasures: ever heard the theme after the National Anthem (on the album?). It's simple, yet beautiful.
So what's still to come. A short forecast:
Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith, directed by George Lucas, 2005
I expect Williams to blow everyone away with this one. I'm sure, like Lucas obviously, he wants to end the Star Wars series on a high note.
War Of The Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg, 2005
I really hope it will not be too atonal or minimalistic. On Close Encounters it worked great, but I hope the direction will be more action/adventure. More like the music David Arnold wrote for Independence Day.
Memoirs Of A Gesiha, directed by Rob Marshall, 2005
I expect this score to be FANTASTIC! I hope Williams will take the best music from Seven Years In Tibet and use that as the template on this one. It could be the best score since Schindler's List. I have high hopes for this one!
And ofcourse some projects still a little vague: Vengeance (Steven Spielberg), Sub-Mariner (Chris Colombus), Indiana Jones IV (Steven Spielberg)...
I'm excited about ALL of Williams upcoming assignments. 2005 could turn out be another truly GREAT year in Williams' career (like 1977 and 1993).
Let's hope...
Roald
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I stil have the funny feeling that Ross did NOTHING on CoS. His credit is purely contractual.
Roald
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Just for clarification's sake, No, Narnia is definetely NOT a made-for-tv production this time around.
Didn't want to look like an idiot, but I was also sure that Narnia was going to be a cinema flick until Joe "corrected" me. I guess I was right all along!
I think it helps that Joss has a lot of freedom with his writing. I mean, "Buffy", "Angel" and "Firefly" are all his brainchilds - all characters he made and the basic story of each season is his.And those are FANTASTIC! I have always loved Buffy and Angel! Firefly proved to be one of the most amazing series around (too bad it got canceled!)
Roald
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Whedon is an extremely clever writer and an amazing director.
I was really excited when he was assigned to write Alien:Ressurection. But to be honest, I was really dissapointed with the finished film. I didn't find the screenplay to be clever at all. In fact, the direction of that french dude had a lot of flair (I mean, this guy made the fanastic City Of Lost Children!), but the story just didn't go anywhere I wanted a new Alien film to go. The film upsets me even more than Fincher's Alien3.
Roald
P.S. The last season of Angel was exceptional!!
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I really, really love the score to LOLITA by Ennio Morricone. The main theme is a really beautiful, haunting, and quiet piece played in part by the piano. I saw the movie on DVD once and was really impressed by it and got the CD. I'm sure the score would have garnered an Oscar nomination, but because of the controversy surrounding it, the movie was never released in the US theaters (or for a short time, anyway). Adrian Lyne, the director, praises the score in audio-commentary.
Lolita is indeed a brilliant score. I love the title track and the theme presented in "Love In The Morning". Morricone should have been nominated more often during his extraordinary career and should have won back in 1987 for his incredible and highly influential The Mission score.
Morricone has so many incredible scores in his discography (which counts almost 400 (!) films). His Once Upon A Time In America, The Untouchables, Canone Inverso, etc. ... Even his mediocre scores (like Mission To Mars) still feature at least one track worth the price of the album (in the case of Mission To Mars the cue Where? is as good as any classic piece of film music).
Roald
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After some comments have been made on this board about Goldsmith's Star Trek The Motion Picture score being so great (even better than the best Williams scores) I had to check it out (again).
First; I watched the Director's Cut Edition of the film and I was blown away! Not only seemed the film so much better than I remembered, but paying special attention to the score was truly a moment well spend. Years ago mr. S send me a copy of the (almost) complete TMP score and it has been in my CD player for days now. I truly discovered a gem in my collection that I before only regarded as simply a 'good score'.
Also I took out all my Goldsmith scores (I didn't even realize I had so many!) and have been listening to selections on a daily basis. Mr. S send me a recording that he made in London back in 2001 I think and it's great! I love the suite from Rudy! Tryouts is one of my favorite pieces of music! And the Love Theme from Supergirl.... AMAZING!!
Goldsmith and Williams truly were exceptional during the mid-'70's until the early-'70's writing arguably the best film music in history.
Roald
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It's so funny that Joe, Stefancos and others express the same feelings I had when watching Attack Of The Clones for the SECOND TIME.
The first time I saw it I was blown away! I thought it was the best Star Wars film (besides The Empire Strikes Back)! I loved the final 45 minutes! It was such a good feeling to go home and think: "Ah, finally I can forget about the failures of The Phantom Menace".
But then a few days later I saw it again.
Boy, it was like seeing a totally different film! The veil had been lifted from my eyes and all of a sudden I saw the most boring, most tedious, most awful Star Wars film of all! I was soooo dissapointed. Some films only get better the more you see them, but Attack of The Clones only gets worse!
Attack Of The Clones is now my least favorite Star Wars film. Sometimes I long to see again what I saw the first time I saw the film. I put in my DVD and try to watch it. After about 17 minutes I always turn it of. It's just so lame!
Roald
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While I agree it was possible better acted, it was no where near as scarry.
The ideas that the zombies could run was stupid. That just ruined it for me, then the people in the film were just so stupid. For once somebody please make a zombie movie where the people are not dumb.
Although I feel the original is far superior, I actually did like the new conceptualization of the zombies. It worked so well in 28 Days Later (although that were not zombies) and I found them more menacing, threatening.
Joe, looking forward to the sequel to 28 Days LaterIs there going to be a sequel?!! Really? I have heard something about that a while back, but I assumed the idea was put on hold.
Roald
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Stefan, describing wreslers only like half-naked men it's like saying soccer players are dumb because they're in 22 in a field with only 1 ball for everyone. Couldn't they take 22 balls and be all happy?
Ouch! Tommy I love wrestling, but I also share a love for soccer. My favorite team being Ajax, but I'm sure only the dutchies on this board know what I'm talking about now.
Roald
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just watched the trailer for Kingdom of Heaven, looks interesting enough even with Bloom being the lead.
Yeah, that trailer is good. Since Gladiator is one of my favorite films I hope Ridley Scott can repeat the succes he had with that film.
Roald
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John- counting posts till the first "that's because it sucked" comments. Rolling Eyes
I may be one of the few who actually liked the Episode II score. I still think the Love Theme is among the best Williams ever wrote.
Roald
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The Power of One by Hans Zimmer (1992). It's often suprising how many of those Zimmer followers dont know of this one (or are aware of it, but dont own it because they think it's early work and probably not as good). It's a classic. Not the later "Lion King" Africa. But dark and brooding Africa of race tensions and tribal roaring. The drums shake the floor when you play this. There are so many awe inspiring tracks in this score. When it's in mourning (such as "Death and Dying" and "Funeral Song") it's low and brooding. But when optimistic, it reaches for the skies with the choir, like a bird. Thrilling. There are few scores that can rouse you or bring you to tears like this one. Something about it send shivers up your spine. It has that immediate emotional impact of 'power ressurected'. In one scene of the movie, the main character goes on a kind of "Search for himself" in the wilds, to find his own individual power (hence the name). And the music which accompanies this is stunning. It's one of those scores that stands so well alone, without even having to know it's a film score.
Zimmer collaborated with Lebo M. on this score which made it as good as it is. I absolutely agree with you: this score is stunning. I should have mentioned it. My favorite tracks from the album are the opening "Rainmaker", "Mother Africa" and the last track "Mother Africa Reprise" which presents a totally new choral medlody at the end. This is by far the best and most complex African influenced film music I have ever heard! Whatever opinion you may have of Zimmer, this score is among my favorites.
I did this really cool thing where I made one CD that when cued up, played 30 minutes of preshow then directly into processionals. The sound guy didn't even have to do anything. I was quite proud of myself. The preshow music included Ilya's theme, Leia's theme, Luke and Leia, some Yanni, then the Inner Light piece for the bridesmaids and Vangelis' Hymne for my bride. We ended it all with the foreboding Augie's Municipal Band.
Stewdog that is awesome! Why didn't I think of that when I got married!!
Roald
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That's the question that's been bugging me since page one.
And still you keep reading it untill the fifth page! Wow, that takes stamina!
Roald, who doesn't invest time in things that irritate or "bug" him...
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the best Tim Burton film of this year will be THE CORPSE BRIDE
Didn't people say his Planet Of The Apes was going to be the greatest film of all time?
Roald
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If he is a master orchestrator, then he really was lazy when he made LOTR.
... for 12 hours of movie, it is not enough, same for the lack of themes (there may many, but when we talk about recognisable/rememberable the list narrows).
It's so funny that I disagree with everything you say
Maybe they released the films with an alternate soundtrack in Spain, I don't know. Like the Jerry Goldsmith/Tangerine Dream/Legend mix-up. It seems we listened to TOTALLY different music
Roald
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I'm sure everyone here has something in his or her film music collection that is not as famous as Star Wars or James Bond. I'm sure you have something that most folks here have never heard of.
I'm interested in the music you have that is basically unknown, but ultra-good. I have some pieces which I dearly love and are absolutely fantastic. If you don't know any of the following it wouldn't harm to look them up and see if you find the same magic in them that I found.
Please let me know your hidden treasures!
Ennio Morricone - The Silver Of The Mine from the Nostromo soundtrack
One of the best pieces of music ever composed. It's absolutely stunning! Make sure you finish the whole piece, because it takes a while before it truly starts to shine. The orchestrations are among the best.
Maurice Jarre - Building The Barn, from the Witness soundtrack
Actually, try to find the orchestral arrangment on a later Maurice Jarre collection CD. This has one of the most profound melodies written by a modern composer. It takes a while before you can truly appreciate the complexity of it all, but when it does - boy it's good!
Mike Batt - The Beginning, from the Watership Down soundtrack (television series)
An unbelievable orchestral piece which is as close to perfection as any. Brilliant theme in the first movement, the latter is a mind-blowing arrangment of Bright Eyes. You will not believe it's brilliance!
Jay Chattaway, The Inner Light., from the Best Of Star Trek compilation CD
A 6:30 minute long arrangment based on a simple melody from only one (actually two) episode. This is one of the pieces I always let my friends hear if they want to start exploring film music. It's a fantastic, albeit a little simple, piece of music with a build up that brings tears to my eyes. It's AMAZING!
Patrick Doyle, The Wedding Night, from the Frankenstein soundtrack
If Doyle writes this kind of music for Harry Potter 4 it's going to be great! The track features primarily the love theme from the Frankenstein remake film. It's gorgeous and far too unknown. Check it out; you will not be dissapointed.
I'll post more soon!
Roald
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I did see the '04 "re-telling" of DOTD, and I highly enjoyed it. Did they remake Romero's? I didn't think so. Yes, they are trapped in a mall. That was basically it.
I agree with you totally. I don't regard it as a full-blooded remake. It was inspired by Romero's film, especially the mall-location, but like you said, that's it.
I did like the cameo's of Tom Savini, Ken Foree and Scott Reiniger. Actually I never saw Scott, but he is credited at the end. And Gaylen Ross is now the name of a clothing-store!
Also small fragments of dialogue from the orginal.
Reminds me of an old 80's "semi-zombie" flick called Night Of The Comet. Which I also..... take a guess..... loved.I'm gonna look for that one buddy!
Roald
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except the remake of "Dawn of the Dead", which is superior to the original film
It's not superior. The original has a far better screenplay than the remake has. But the zombies in the remake are way scarier: they run!
And John Williams will never score a zombie film, save the scenes with those aliens who look like zombies in "War of the Worlds".Well, who knows. Williams may surprise us in the future!
Roald
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Haahahhahahhah very funny!!
You didn't know that you're kind of duplicating the 'Sub-Mariner' thread already in existance?
Roald
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I bet when it finally is revealed in the trailer that Williams in scoring it, you'll still not believe.
"Did Williams put together that trailer? Spielberg has no idea who's scoring the film, what does he know?"
I'll believe it when I have the CD in my hands!
Nah, I'm just joking. I'll believe when John Williams is credited on the trailer reel.
Although, how do we know then if it's OUR John Williams? It could in theory also be that guitar dude! OH NO the agony!
Nah, that's me joking again.
Anyway why are we still discussing this? We all now know that ....
....Tha Zimmer is coming!
Roald
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GoF for me, and then Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A bit of a non-event for movies for me this year.
You see Josh someone actually DID mention Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (which in old Dutch is called 'Sjaakie en de chocoladefabriek' (for those who like know interesting stuf like that))!
Roald
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5. WWF/WWE RAW
Yeah I forget that one! I LOVE Wrestling too! Too bad in Holland it's really difficult to watch it since no network shows it. I'm dependent on the DVD releases.
Recently some really cool old shows were re-released! Survivor Series 87 and 88. Man; those tag-team series were amazing! But ofcourse wrestling became really cool after the WWF (WWE, whatever) reinvented itself under the influence of the ECW and the NWO over at NWA/WCW.
For people not into wrestling the above must sound so stupid. I'm sure Chris knows what I'm talking about!
Have you ever seen that match between The Undertaker and Mankind (King Of The Ring '98)?
Roald
WOTW: I have a bad feeling about this...
in General Discussion
Posted
I'm sorry to intrude on your little party dance, but uh, this is kinda old news boy.
I already posted this (and my - according to Ender "extremely paranoid to a pathological level"-behaviour) reaction too!
Roald