Uni

That's fine. We need an official JWFan list, now that we'll have one for JW and JH.

. . . which is most of what we get around here, which is why it's nice to see a lady show up and offer a view from the other side of the fence. We don't get enough of a feminine presence here. Umm . . . sure. Why not? I'd say it's nearly indispensable, as Horner music goes. Not a lot of original sounds in it, but it remains one of his better epics. Some consider it one of his best. It was one of the turning-point scores in his early career, and a fantastic adventure filmography—although it really does go best with an understanding of the film, which is also a classic adventure romp. You ought to see if you can track down the DVD for cheap (I'm sure you can). You won't regret it.

I wondered when someone was going to do this. I actually don't think JWFan has done a Goldsmith list yet. Are you actually going to be tabulating and releasing the results, Josh? (If you're not planning on it, I can do it. I've already got the matrix worked up for it.) I still have to post my Horner lists . . . then I can turn my attention to this. (Wonder if it'll be as hard. . . .)

This is just you being sarcastic again, right? You're just pullin' everyone's leg again by playing a ridiculous extreme in a completely straight manner, right? Right. . . ? Even when you say things like: That's just you joshin' us again. S'gotta be. I promised myself I wouldn't be pulled in by your poker face again, and by golly, this won't be the time it happens. Of course, it's a little harder to tell, because in your own words: . . . and the line can get so subtle that people have no way of telling (such as in the posts above) whether you're bloviating or parodying. Juss sayin'. But I know you're kidding. You can't seriously be worrying about this kind of thing to such an extent. Ah . . . so in films primarily about animals (like the Disney "Buddies" movies), the violent deaths of animals is fine. Cool. Best post on the subject. "Needless" is in itself annoying as hell, whether it involves death, violence, unnecessary characters, or what have you. He didn't really. You missed the part in the credits where it says, "No acklays were harmed during the making of this film." Actually, you stole my thunder. I was going to bring up the years and years of absolutely senseless deaths involving redshirts on Star Trek. Really, when you think about it, this is the far greater tragedy. Here you have human beings who have joined Starfleet for no better reason (apparently) than to get killed instead of someone else, like a higher-ranking officer. They're substitute deaths. Really makes you question the "higher sensibilities" of the Federation after all. . . . In the spirit of TGP's admirable activism, I think we need to start a new organization: People for the Ethical TrEatment of Red Shirts, or PETERS. And we shouldn't just sign up to be a PETER; every one of us should act like a PETER, all day, every day. Be a PETER, and change the world!

I do need to give MoS a fair listen sometime soon. I was not a fan of the movie, but the score may well be a match for BB. (The film will never be.)

Yeah . . . I don't listen to it as much as I used to, but it's a strong work for the film in question and a superior evolution of the first score. And "It's Over/Goodbye" is Fiedel's best moment ever. It still brings the goosebumps sometimes.

I'd recommend you explore them in that order. Body Heat is good, but hardly my favorite. Good music for certain moods. "Chinon/Eleanor's Arrival" from Lion in Winter is flat-out one of Barry's finest moments. Out of Africa, however, is as indispensable as DWW. They played the Overture during the "In Memorium" sequence of the Oscars the year before last. There's never been a more perfect piece for the job.

Fair enough. You shall be spared.

Another loss that still makes me sad. The man who gave James Bond his swagger, and could out-romance just about anyone when he was in the groove. Ditto. Currently, I only own King Kong (FSM) and The Living Daylights (Rykodisc). Oh, and I picked up Dances with Wolves and Raise The Titanic used a while back, but haven't really listened to them much. Get on the Dances With Wolves thing. Now. And while you're at it, get Out of Africa, High Road to China, and Lion in Winter—or be prepared to turn in your "Film Score Fan" membership card.

That would've been my pick. Not in a million years. Nolan is as uncinematic as it gets. Whatever, dude.

Bingo. They never again came close to Cameron's vision (although, really, who does when it comes to his kind of movies?).

Sack the mod. Seriously. (And by more than 2 to 1. . . ?) Karol's right. This is a travesty. I never really understood what it was about Burton's Batman that people thought was so great. It was all right, I guess. An interesting take on the comic legend. But Batman Begins completely outdid it as an opening story to the Dark Knight's tale. And Superman is simply a classic. A great buildup of the character, a stylish and clever sense of humor, awesome effects (for the time), and one of the great performances when it comes to "filling" the shoes of a cultural icon. Reeve didn't just make us believe a man could fly; he made us believe Clark Kent and Superman were two different people, and I think that was by far the harder job.

Nah. Urban legend. Don't believe everything you hear.

I've known vegans who can hardly stand the sight of meat, much less fathom the desire to actually eat it. I, in return, cannot fathom their palette. I guess it wouldn't do to call them crazy outright; it's just a matter of personal tastes and an approach to eating. I can likewise see where someone on a steady diet of Horner can't really wrap their minds around other styles of music, and to such ears Goldsmith might indeed often sound harsh and eclectic (save the scores where he sounds the most like Horner, such as Rudy). I'll never understand it myself, but to each his own. That is because you are awesome.

Definitely true. A lot from that time has been rerecorded, with excellent results . . . but still not the same as listening to the original, which I prefer to the rerecordings most of the time. Granted, it does take patience sometimes. Max Steiner is a Golden Age composer who seems to have a lot of vintage recordings available, for instance, but his stuff always sounds like it was recorded from three blocks away. Doesn't always make for the best listening experience.

ROTFLMAO ROTFLMAO Funniest thing I've read on the internet in weeks. Nice!

Indeed it does consist of more than those notes but the 2-note and variations is a prominent part of it, to a degree it becomes the strongest thematic element associated with the shark. I have always thought the Spielberg anecdote gross exaggeration as the theme was indeed "weird and melodic" as he initially hoped for rather than just those 2 notes. But I guess his first impression was really for those 2 notes and I understand his reaction. The whole theme is a lot more than that. Absolutely true. Actually, it's a very interesting theme in that it seems to be made up of several motifs, none of which really develops into a theme of its own during the duration of the score—the two-note repetition, the three-note horn piece (which flourishes a bit but doesn't really develop), the syncopated bass hits, and the insertion of the sort of half-theme "pirate" motif (the one that begins "Out to Sea") over the whole thing in the middle . . . and the assemblage as a whole becomes the main theme, used in place of a long-lined melody. I would debate this. Again, it's just semantics, but if a single scene has an identifiable melodic line that repeats and becomes a prominent part of that scene, even if it doesn't appear again for the rest of the film, I would call that a theme—maybe not in the "leitmotivic sense," as you say, but a theme written specifically for that sequence. And no one's better at that than Williams. Great examples include the extended melody that emerges from the sick triceratops scene from Jurassic Park (everyone reading this knows what I'm talking about, which is why I feel justified in calling it a theme), "Jim's New Life" from Empire of the Sun, and many others. Hardly. "The Shark Cage Fugue" is one of Williams' great themes from that period. And, by the definition I stated above, I would say "Montage" and even the music from the scene with Ben Gardner's boat would count as themes (although the latter is a little iffy in that it's a single musical idea that moves around a lot but never really repeats during the course of the scene).

For you, possibly. It was the by far the best of the teen "rom-coms" of the 80s, mostly because it took an authentic look at teen relationships rather than treating them like out-of-control animals the way most movies did back then.

Almost Famous was a great film, second in Crowe's portfolio only to Say Anything. I always agreed with Ebert's comment on how the film constantly made you want to hug yourself for the joy of the sharp dialogue and completely sympathetic characters.

I went completist on the Big 3 years ago. More recently I've decided to do the same with some of the Golden Age composers—Herrmann, Rozsa, and Korngold (who's the easiest to achieve, since he only did 18 films). It gives the act of collecting more of a sense of accomplishment, and allows you to truly realize and appreciate the breadth of these composers' repertoires and styles.

I'm always particularly interested in how these polls are worded. I note that you didn't ask which composer was better, but which one we "admire" more. Which, while being more diplomatic than the latter, is a more difficult question to answer, because there are all kinds of ways we can admire someone that have nothing to do with their artistic talents. However, I assume you're referring to whose music we prefer, which is much easier to nail down—or would be, if we weren't talking about two such amazing composers. Ultimately, I have to go with Goldsmith over Horner on the first one. He demonstrated a much greater range of sounds and textures throughout his career, and though he was sometimes just as prone as Horner at repeating certain elements of his music, he sketched across a wider landscape in the long run. When you ask how many CDs we own from each composer, I'm assuming (again) that you mean how many works of theirs we've collected, and that we're not dialing into specifics like multiple CD sets to tip the score one way or another. With that in mind: Goldsmith - 207 Horner - 119 Of course, you have to take into account multiple releases of the same score with that, but since you asked for "CDs" and not "scores," that's the way I counted them. (I own pretty much every released score from both composers, plus some boots, and given that JG did about 100 more films and T.V. shows than Horner did, there was no question who was going to come out in front.) That last question is the hardest one of all, though. It isn't just that they both did great films; they both made films great through their music. In the end, I'd probably have to give Horner the edge here simply because Goldsmith never turned down a project, meaning he wrote for quite a few duds over the years, where Horner seemed a little better at attaching himself to higher-quality movies. (This isn't universal, of course, and Horner did some lame films too, but this is my general impression.) Absolutely. One of the centerpieces of his 80s works. None does exist, unless you choose to see it as competition instead of simple comparison—an activity you engage in on this board all the time, so I'm not sure what makes this different.

This has to be one of the best fan edits I've seen. Almost makes me wish this was coming for real (although it wouldn't work in a million years, of course . . . not that that's something to deter big studios these days)—though you'd think a videographer sharp enough to create something like this could've spent two minutes thinking up a better title. But it's still a fine piece of work overall:

Carolina Clark. . . ? That is a solid list, except . . . there's no #5 entry. I can't tabulate it properly without that info. Did you leave something out of the middle, or just skip a number and leave the last one off? In either case, you get one more choice.

The second one was too cinematic, and that was its downfall. As I said (well, more like indicated) in my post, I haven't seen MI:GP yet. I've heard great things, though, and J.J.'s take put me back in the MI groove, so now I'm really looking forward to it.

Maybe. But I like T.V. shows, too.