John Crichton

Yes, thanks Charlie, was talking of the overall visual design, not just the effects. I agree that the young Jeff Bridges effect certainly didn't come off seamlessly. Steef, I don't know if I'd say NOTHING substantial. There is one new thing introduced that's important to the plot but also feels a bit insignificant. I think most of it was riffing off the original, but unfortunately it's been so long since I've seen it I can't say for sure. But I thought it was built very well using the original, what I remember of it, as a basis.

Tron: Legacy Loved it. The visuals were amazing (even moreso than Avatar IMO), and I didn't find the story to be as flimsy as most seemed to. It tied in to the original movie very well, and in this day of studios preferring reboots over sequels, that was very refreshing. Solid performances all around, too. The score was hit and miss. The quieter and character driven moments were where it excelled, there were some very good cues there. Some parts reminded me of the music to Mass Effect, another electronic score which I really like. The action scoring was a big letdown though. Very subdued and it all sounded pretty much the same, all based on that one motif. By the end I was really pining for some Giacchino-style balls out action music. I'll definitely be picking this up on Blu, along with the original if Disney ever gets it out.

I couldn't watch the heart-ripping scene in ToD until I was nearly in my teen years.

They must have done something with makeup. I know in the books she's described as pretty haggard in HBP but I don't remember if that carries on to DH as well.

The UE does have killer sound quality. The only good thing about the production process is that it wasn't put through Shawn Murphy's Mud Machine.

Exactly, they were giving us what we thought we wanted. It wasn't malicious, just incompetent. Woj, I think Christopher Lee ate one of those Wonka blueberries.

Battlestar Galactica- Season 4 I don't know what impresses me more: that McCreary delved deep into his ethnic instruments bag of tricks and had the balls to pull out bagpipes for part of the epic Battle of the Colony sequence, or the fact that he makes them sound so bloody awesome?

I thought it was about a nightmare future where Taco Bell was the only restaurant that existed.

The TPM OST is one of the worst, worst presentations of a score it's ever been my misfortune to hear. For all its flaws and false advertising, the UE is at least an attempt to do it right, just a horribly botched one.

I'm still waiting on the SAE order I placed the day after Christmas to ship. Guess that's what happens when they take a week off.

Indeed. I do have minor quibbles about sequencing. As mentioned I wouldn't have put Silvestri's source cues in sequence with the rest of the BttF score, and I would have but the Genesis Project cue at the end for Star Trek II. But, as I said, quibbles.

I'm hoping for this and a Super 8 trailer for the Super Bowl.

I lost the first disc of the UE after editing my own version. I've never bothered to try and find it.

I don't recall this.

Look, if you have a time machine, why don't you go back and kill Austin Powers while he's sitting on the crapper or something?

Honestly I never go further than reading the opinions here. Who says it has to be a professional reviewer?

The only time I ever go to Filmtracks is when someone links it here.

Why do you think the labels have been pushing so hard the last couple of years?

What the white-on-black format does to my eyes doesn't help either. And for tracklists I highly recommend SoundtrackCollector.com. Great database, including...unofficial material.

Two of my favorite TV shows ever are Farscape and Battlestar Galactica (Ronald D. Moore version). Both were highly serialized, but took very different paths. The brains behind Farscape sat down toward the middle of the development of the second season and created a road map for the entire series over a 5 year run, and actually stuck to it (in the end the 5th year had to be truncated down to a 4 hour miniseries, but that's another story). On the other hand, it's very clear that Moore and co. at Galactica were making it all up as they went along season by season, and even within seasons. Moore is one of the most open and honest producers I've ever seen. In the end they both turned out brilliantly, in my opinion at least. I know those last couple of years of Galactica cause a lot of division, and the Farscape mini was not universally acclaimed by the fan base.

Hmm, tough call there. I should have specified film score specifically. It'd definitely be between Let Me In and Lost: The Final Episodes for my favorite new music release of the year.

I'd never heard of Tintin before I started to hang out here (quite surprising considering I spent 3 years of my childhood in Germany), but I like everything I've seen about the movie so far.

Voldemort! Who was implied to have made the choice to be evil in COS because the theme of that book was that "it's not our abilities that make us who we are, it is our choices" which sends a nice message, but this is contradicted in HBP that he was born evil and is the "evilest wizard ever!" Wow, you're born with it, you're stuck with it, you're like a Goa'uld and inherently bad whether you like it or not; to the least popular house for you! I almost expected him to be born of a jackal after this big piece of retcon. No, HBP merely shows Voldemort making bad decisions as an early child. Rowling is never saying that he can't become good, but that he won't. Perhaps a character describes Voldemort as being born evil and being the "evilest wizard ever," but not all characters are always in harmony with the theme of the book. Often times, they're opposed to it (ie Malfoy saying: "You filthy little mudblood!"). And I don't think Voldemort being described as "the evilest wizard" is even proof of such a rigid binary. There can still be relative levels of evilness even if everybody has a little good inside them. I think we could agree that Dumbledore is less evil than Wormtail, but both of have their share of good and evil. And finally, I think it's a little unfair of you to ignore the countless examples I gave of people in the Potter world being both good and evil. And don't forget the redemption of Draco Malfoy the last couple of books. For all the horrible things he is, he's not a killer, and once he makes that choice he slowly starts to question everything else, to the point where in the epilogue he and Harry have at least come to some sort of mutual understanding. Personally I don't see the big deal about whether Rowling had the whole thing planned out or not. It doesn't matter if you lay out some grand master plan or just fly by the seat of your pants, all that matters is if it works in the end. And I say it works.

I said on my FB that it feels like Lost and The Omen had a beautiful, terrifying baby. Especially in the choral parts, I was really thinking of a more subdued The Omen.

Let Me In Holy dear God, this is good. I mean good. Sensational good. I can't imagine anything knocking this off as my favorite score of the year. I know it'll get snubbed come Oscar time, but I'll even go so far to say that I think this deserves a little gold statue more than Up did.