Delorean90

Either way, I appreciate it. I hadn't said anything, but that really irked me, as I haven't gotten to watch it yet. I had heard speculation along those lines, but no one outright stating it. I know it's been a little bit, but you can't watch everything at once, and we're not in a discussion thread for that show.

I don't know, drunk Morgan Freeman tickled my funny bone.

I'm hearing that this trailer is awesome, but I've been avoiding it. I was already gonna see the film, the last trailer already extra-sold me. I think I want to just experience it in full from this point.

I think the bit you're thinking of is what I called the "Mission Motive." What do you mean by PIcture Motive? What I called the "Tension Motive" plays in the Peabody barn scene and during the scene where George confronts Biff.

I didn't have a problem with the placement of humor (Iron Man Three was more guilty of that, IMO, if only in the climax). For me THE issue is that they develop a potentially interesting twist on Khan, and then simply drop it all in the third act to say, "Nope, he's just an asshole bad guy that's really good at manipulating people. Just knock him out so you can get his blood and we're good to go. Don't worry about that whole thing of his concern for his crew or anything--and please, PLEASE, don't get too excited at the notion of Khan and Kirk working together to stop a warmongering Federation from throwing itself into unnecessary war. Nope."

Definitely. Hell, one of the big problems with that film is that his fake death on the Enterprise B was a far better one than his real death.

I'll try to add some more commentary later; this is a quick dash-off. To the best of my knowledge, themes from the first film with their first statements (some of these become more definitely themes in the sequels do to their reuse there): Friendship/Sentimental Theme "Logo" - 0:00 (see also "Marty's Letter") Main Theme A section - "Einstein Disintegrated" - 0:05 B section - "Logo" - 0:12 Time Chords (or "gliss," but really more of a quick arpeggiation) "DeLorean Reveal" - 0:06 Doc "Einstein Disintegrates" - 0:16 Silvestri actually weaves together the time chords with the initial driving material from 0:16 in a more melodic way to make a sort of theme of the basic material. This begins at 0:23 of the track. Mission Motive "85 Twin Pines Mall" - 0:28 Tension Motive "Peabody Barn; Marty Ditches Delorean" - 0:00 Discovery Motive "Retrieve DeLorean" - 0:35 Biff/Danger Ostinato "Skateboard Chase" - 1:08 Return Theme/Time Travel Theme "Doc Returns" - (0:49) This is particularly interesting, because the second disc of original versions shows that Silvestri initially used this in "Einstein Disintegrates" after the initial demonstration, which is why I gave it the two names. These aren't necessarily the strongest or most prominent examples, but they are the first of each, and should give you an idea of what you're listening for. Silvestri actually does a lot to form the score out of these smaller bits, with the main theme being the biggie. You can take it further, though, because the main theme (particularly the A section) has several uniquely identifiable settings that serve different purposes and almost become functionally different themes in a way.

That could lead to a really sweet situation: the fanfare appears on the new films, and we get a full-blown restoration of the originals.

Excellent! And fitting--it looks like I'll finally get to order The Fury when I get paid on Friday.

I picked 4. I couldn't believe they would go back to Khan--on the second film of this iteration, no less!--and thought it must be John Harrison or someone NOT KHAN but then started hearing the notion enough that when it turned out to be Khan I was kind of okay with it because it seemed like they were doing something different with him and at first it was and then he ended up just being an asshole and they didn't even give him a real payoff with the family issue and even though I liked the movie I'm kinda starting to get pissed NOW because there seems to be some real missed opportunities. WHEW EDIT: OH MY GOD, HOW DID THIS NOT HAPPEN? I'm reading Harry's review on AICN, and he pointed out that when Spock melds with Khan, it shouldn't just be a transfer of pain; Khan should realize that his crew is okay. Man, that would've been so much better. Damn.

I get him wanting to let the film unfold without a lot of advanced knowledge, but he should've just said something to the effect of, "I don't want to say what's going on one way or the other [Delorean90 note: this should also include not saying if there's a canon villain or not], because I don't want to contribute to a pre-reveal. Go see the damn movie if you want to know anything beyond the basic premise." Also, take this with a grain of salt, because IMDB is the only source I have at the moment, but supposedly they were trying to figure out initially whether the crew faces another villain, or if it would deal more with space/nature/the unknown. With the five-year mission set up, I strongly suspect the next film would be more along the latter lines, and automatically put us in a more specifically Trek realm. Let's hope they don't just turn it into Avatar.

PLOT HOLE! seriously though, it would probably have something to do with them not wanting to have to unfreeze one, and have two "Khans" running around. Or possibly the time it would take for them to get unfrozen in order to get a viable sample, and also they didn't know of any possible unexpected issues with a given individual's blood. Khan's blood had already been shown to take (albeit, in a different species...) and could be readily obtained.

I also love the immediately following moment of Kirk saying "Cuff him," walking away without looking at anyone. Really nice bit. On the whole I liked it, and, like the first film, I had a huge goofy grin on my face--the first mention of them possibly being assigned the first five-year mission made me go "OOOOHHHHH, I see what they're doing here," and I was able to go along with. I was prepared to be far more pissed off that they were reusing Khan, but I felt that they were doing something that they did last time around with the use of Spock and Spock Prime, which was to build off of existing elements to re-examine the characters in a way that is formative for them while still showing us a kind of development in the scope of the universe. The big disappointment for me was where they took Khan ultimately. They spent so much time building the notion that maybe he's onto something even if he's going about it in a shitty way and goddammit, the son of a bitch killed Pike. Stuff like Khan helping Kirk during the ship to ship sequence gave me some hope that they might even use this film to make some kind of miraculous Khan trilogy, of Space Seed, WoK, and this film, ending with an at least somewhat redemptive ending for him. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. At the very least, though, I expected them to actually have Khan see that his crew was okay. Basically, I didn't like that the last thing we see Khan actively doing is fighting Spock. I thought they were going to show him that the crew was okay, have him admire what Kirk did for his ship, and give up some of the blood--or SOMETHING more thoughtful. Alas... However, there's so much to like in the film, IMO, and it's certainly got a lot of great moments with the characters--the chemistry was very strong here. I liked where Giacchino took the score as well. The Kirk-Spock stuff was done well, and I was surprised to find that I really appreciated what they did by flipping the death scene of Wrath of Khan--very potent, and, as I was saying before, an interesting way to examine the characters by switching roles. It was nice to see that it wasn't just mere fanservice, but there was a point to it. I really hope they'll take advantage of the exploratory nature of the five-year mission next time and have something that perhaps confronts the crew on a more existential level. As much as I liked Abrams's direction here (and hey, no shaky-cam for the bar scene this time around!), maybe it would work out for him to move onto Star Wars on its own and let someone else take the reins for the next film if he doesn't dig that stuff as much.

I still think that if they were going to end it with season 7, it would have needed to be a different season.

Yeah, one of my big disappointments is that there was no hint of follow-up to the very touching last conversation with Michael and Erin. I know they needed to let it stand on its own without him, but it would've been fantastic to see her on the phone with Michael as she deals with the Andy/Plop situation, or even better, the situation with her really wanting to find her birth parents. Something like that. You don't even have to hear him, just her fragments of the conversation and then a "Thanks, Michael." Something like that. And yes, I bawled several times in "Goodbye, Michael," particularly Dwight reading the letter of recommendation (when it starts to register on his face, I just started sobbing), and definitely the conversation with Jim and Michael. And I agree, it wasn't just Michael: I loved the whole ensemble. That's why I never understood people who said that episode should have been the end of the show. Michael ending up with Holly was good, but it wouldn't have been whole if the last we see of these other folks that I love is them realizing DeAngelo Vickers could be trouble. Now, if they had planned the season to be the last one, and thus the end of that episode would've been different, then maybe.

I actually liked the restraint there--Michael's moved on and is a family man. Actually, about the only thing I would've added is some kind of reconciliation between Michael and Toby, as I just can't see Family Man Mike holding that animosity against him, and he just seems more mellowed out in some ways--at peace. I wanted to see him actually at Dunder Mifflin at the end, but it makes sense that he would want to get back to his family; it's actually a very tasteful reflection of his development how he still loves and values them, so he was at the wedding, but he also wanted to get back. A scene of him telling, say, Jim, Pam, Dwight, and Angela that he won't be able to make it to the party in the warehouse because he has to catch a plane to get home would've been nice. I'm glad for what we got, though. Not gonna lie: the moment that they panned to Michael, and then the exchange with him and Dwight had me sobbing and laughing all at once. EDIT: Yeah, I did miss Holly, too, but it was good to get the confirmation that they're together and have a family now.

My suspicion is that he was talking about a general approach/philosophy, and they thought, "Well, that describes the score, so that's what to listen for in this complete track!" It's gotta be a mistake. The trailer music sounds much more like it's supposed to relate to that description.

Crimes and Misdemeanors Relative to Woody Allen's other '80s output that I've seen (I have yet to see Another Woman, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, or any of the shorts/segments), I found myself, oddly, respecting this film more than *liking* it. The film's tone/message has a good bit more bite than the fairly positive tone of much of his comedy -tinged output in the decade (see Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters, Broadway Danny Rose), and that may be part of it, but I suspect it's more to do with the meatiness of it; it's got a lot to chew on in its parallel story threads. On the other hand, his balancing of the tones of these sides is done about as well as I'd say can be done. The humor is hilarious, the drama weighty, and neither seems to step over the other or sour the film. Perhaps I'm also feeling a bit of a greater focus on the ideas over the characters in a way, though even that doesn't quite seem to be right. I'm not sure what it is. I definitely regard it highly, but I wouldn't say it's one of my favorite Allen films I've seen (Love and Death, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig, Hannah and Her Sisters)--yet. It may well be a grower.

Okay, thanks.

I haven't seen War Horse yet, but I've got it checked out from the library. Is it a good movie for the family to watch on Mother's Day, or should we pick something else?

For comparison's sake, remind me what you thought of the previous film, Karol.

It's intended as a compliment, yes, and I agree with the sentiment. Fantastic film.

There were things I liked in the samples (that I heard--many of them are down :/ ), and interestingly it is the quieter material that is standing out. "Look to the Stars," as Chaac pointed out, and the solo in "Krypton's Last" were both effective. "DNA" was the exception as far as louder material; for some reason I enjoyed that little figure he had going on. I agree that the problem (as far as we can tell from 30-second samples) seems to be the continued lack of...not necessarily just themes even, but a sense of a nuanced approach to the thing. It still feels like so many dull blows to the head. It seems like Zimmer decides on the mood and color and then decides to apply those with thick brushes, and the result is severely diminishing returns. All that said, I do suspect it'll be a similar case to the Batman films: I'll be able to roll with it more or less when I see the film, sometimes I may even enjoy it on some level, but every now and then I'll just find myself thinking, "Damn! That film could've been THAT MUCH MORE amazing with a more carefully crafted score." Time will tell.

Yeah, doesn't PBS also trim the episodes down when they air it?

I can't help but think there's at least a decent Sunday afternoon Superman flick in there, though. There are fan-edits that I haven't seen, and I've wanted to try my hand at it for a while. It seems like a lot could be done to just cut out some of the most ridiculous stuff--the slapstick opening, the fall from the skyscraper with the skis, that sort of thing. It might even be surprising. Of course, there are limits to what could be done by cutting--for starters, the supercomputer should've been Brainiac, and Evil Superman's misdeeds should've been more sinister, although I suspect that might be helped by omitting the Olympics and Pisa stuff, leaving it to his late arrival to the bridge and then meeting Lorelai and doing the favors for her and Ross. It's also a shame that the Lana plot developments were left forgotten in IV--in fact, the triangle in that film should have been with Lana. Alas...