Josh500

I wonder why. Does anyone know about an interview with either JW or WR regarding the scoring process of CoS??? Except for the brief interview with JW on the CoS DVD, I can't think of anything. I think that if JW did indeed conduct some of the pieces, he wasn't credited just because it would have looked too awkward: Music composed and partly conducted by John Williams Music adapted and partly conducted by William Ross Besides, it's very likely that Ross did indeed most of the conducting, considering JW was busy with CMIYC.

Yes I loved Hans Zimmer's score to Ferngully The Last Rain Forest -Tim Yeah, right, The Lion King was written by Hans Zimmer! I always confuse those two! Dunno why.

Nah, but did you see the trailer to Tim Burton's film? It looks quite good. Roald Tim Burton's the director? Whoa, didn't know that. Well, that changes everything.

Well, I didn't assume that JW was conducting "Moaning Myrtle" in the footage, but that doesn't exactly prove anything, does it? In fact, most of the footage that can be found on any DVD has music tracked onto it. Well, WR probably DID adapt the music from SS for the CoS underscore and he probaby DID conduct the music as heard in the score, but it's harder for me to believe that JW didn't drop in once during the recording sessions.

Is it just me or does anyone else think that JW conducted some of the pieces (especially the concert pieces) from the CoS soundtrack? This theory is based on several thoughts: 1. Harry's Wondrous World. The version performed by the LSO sounds almost EXACTLY like the version on the SS soundtrack, save for the ending, of course, which was rewritten by JW. I just can't believe that two different orchestras (even if some of the players for SS were members of the LSO) with two different conductors can play a piece this much alike. In fact, when I heard HWW at the end of the CoS CD, I assumed that it was the recording from SS. But, of course, it isn't. 2. The unevenness in quality of the soundtrack. I really do believe JW conducted the concert pieces Fawkes the Phoenix, Chamber of Secrets, Dobby the Houseelf, and Harry's Wondrous World (perhaps also The Flying Car). 3. Just because he is JW. I just can't believe that he thrust a stack of orchestral sheet music into William Ross's hands with a casual "Good Luck with that" and didn't show up once for the recording sessions. Remember, at that time he himself hadn't heard an orchestra play a single note of the score, either. Do you really think he said to himself, "Oh well, let's just see what the music sounds like when I get the Chamber of Secrets soundtrack, along with all the others out there." It's more likely that he stuck around at the begining or dropped by sometime in London to give Williams Ross and the orchestra some advice and conduct the concert pieces himself. 4. This may not mean anything, but the footage that can be found on the CoS DVD MAY be in fact from the CoS recording session.

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 the audio-commentary.

You really think JW keeps working with him over and over again, even going so far as to write 2 sequels, just because CC is "a nice guy"? Give him a little more credit, will ya???

I voted for TPM. The documentaries and, especially, the music video show some really great footage of JW conducting!!! I love the way he moves, man!!! LOL Second is AotC, then probably CMIYC. I love this thing he does with his arms . . . kinda twirling his hands to (I guess) spur the orchestra on. You probably all know what I mean.

Roald, did you really think someone's gonna give his vote to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory??? LOL

The DVD Filmography on this site says that there's a 15-seconds footage of the recording sessions on the Amistad DVD. I can't find it. There's a making-of featurette on my DVD, but nothing whatsoever about John Williams. Could it be that the JW-related stuff is only on the US-edition of the Amistad DVD? Mine is the international edition, I guess. Does anyone know??? Thanks.

One of my absolute favorites by Alan Silvestri is the score to THE LION KING. Absolutely magical!!!

Almost three weeks until the nominations are announced!!! Let's keep our fingers crossed!!!

JW scoring a zombie movie? Please no!!!

Thanks for the responses. I think from now on I'm gonna view the score to ESB in a wholly different light.

Morlock, I think you've got a bit of a skewed perspective. Do you know how many struggling directors there are out there, most of them just plain awful? Sure, if you compare Chris Columbus to directors like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, or even George Lucas, he may not look so hot, but those are MASTERS, almost prodigies. You don't have to be a master or a prodigy to be considered just "great." You may be right that if he stopped making films today he would be quickly forgotten -- we could argue about that -- but I think some of his movies are gonna be watched for a long time to come. And while we're at it, I shudder to imagine how SS might have turned out if it had been helmed by a less talented director (i.e. Alfonso Cuaron . . . he's obviously talented, but not on the same level as Chris Columbus -- not by a long shot). I think people tend to overly criticize people who produce/direct movies which are pure entertainment and are highly successful at it (and Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Harry Potter are some of the most successful films in movie history), just like Steven Spielberg was at some point in his career. Also, considering what this site is for, the fact that JW is willing to work with him over and over again should tell us something about how dedicated and talented a director CC really is.

Got it. Thanks. P.S.: By the way, you can be a lot sicker than wanting to own everything with the name "John Williams" on it.

That would be a tie between RotS and WotW, closely followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (in my humble opinion). I cast my vote for WotW . . . Steven Spielberg still makes my heart beat faster!!!

Well, I've got nothing against him but he's a bit faceless, isn't he? The films he directed aren't even really his films either. He's just a gun for hire. What is his importance? Who did he influenced? Where is his stamp on history? To say he's one of the best director ever is a true insult to the real and acknowledged great directors such as Billy Wilder, John Huston, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Steven Spielberg. Directors who might make it into the Hall Of Greats (if they haven't already) are names like a Tartantino or a David Lynch. ---------------- Alex Cremers Well, I know what you mean and the directors you mentioned certainly ARE giants, but they're also a bit older than Chris Columbus, aren't they? And as far as his stamp on history goes, IMO it's a bit early for that (well, you COULD compare him to Steven Spielberg, but that wouldn't be really fair, would it?) . . . But someone who's already helmed such smash-hits like Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Harry Potter is most definitely a director worth watching. And the fact that he's disassociated himself from the HP franchise to pursue his own projects shows that he's not ONLY out for money -- besides, he's the head of his production company 1492, so it isn't true that he's acting ONLY as a gun for hire these days. IMO, we can expect great things from this (relatively) young director in the future.

Thanks for the response. So for those who already own the RCA releases, it doesn't really make sense to get the SONY CLASSICAL releases, right? Are the RCA versions out of stock now that Sony released the re-issues? Or are both versions available as of now? Do you know?

Chris Columbus is one of the best and most talented (not to mention successful) directors of all time -- that's not my personal opinion but simple fact. Period. I don't know what you've got against him.

I have the original RCA versions. Should I get the SONY CLASSICAL versions, too, just for completeness' sake? Does anyone have both versions???

That's a bit harsh, after JW worked with CC on Home Alone 1+2 and Harry Potter 1+2.

According to IMDB, John Williams will collaborate in 2006 with Chris Columbus yet again on the movie Sub-Mariner, which is a sequel (follow-up?) to Rent. Does anyone know anything about those movies? I'd love to see JW work with CC again . . .

The question was what goes through your head. Not what are you doing with your hands and feet while you're listening to JW. I'm sure JW thinks about the specific scenes of the movie he's scoring while he's conducting the orchestra . . .

Generally, I would have to say option no. 2, sometimes option no 1. Just curious . . .