crumbs

Very sad news. Annie Wersching, the original actress who portrayed Tess in the video game, has passed away at 45 years old. She had cancer I've been a fan ever since her multi-season appearance in 24. It would've been wonderful to see her reprise the role of Tess in the TV show, but I guess this explains why the role was recast with Anna Torv (she was likely too ill when production started).

Oh absolutely, it's a huge can of worms. I'm just trying to highlight that this disparity isn't contained to film music and female composers (though clearly there's history when it comes to women and classical music, whether subconsciously related or otherwise). But how many are screenplays optioned by studios? Clearly not many. I guess we can argue about the quality of modern screenplays until the cows come home, also the types of films the studio system is interested in optioning (seems their focus is increasingly narrow, and perhaps these genres don't necessarily appeal to female writers).

Is it the same case for screenwriting then? Because one woman has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay in the last 3 years (she won, go figure) against 19 men in the same period. In the decade prior, 62 men were nominated compared to 9 women. So while I'm intrigued by the argument that women simply aren't interested in film music, I find it hard to believe so few women are interested in writing, considering the plethora of female authors out there! A recent study indicates that 24% of published books are written by women, yet female writers on Hollywood movies only just increased to 4%. The further you dig on this topic, the clearer it becomes there's an industry-wide bias here... it isn't exclusive to film music.

It's ineligible but the recording dates are so close to the cutoff that maybe the AFM will be generous enough to grant a waiver. But I doubt it's a huge priority for the labels as they still have plenty of pre-2005 scores to tackle. By the time they've worked through everything except the Disney scores, hopefully the rules have changed.

Not being critical but have you considered that expansions might enhance your opinions of these scores and make you want to listen to them more often? That's been my experience with almost every Mike Matessino expansion; after hearing his expanded presentations I almost never revisit JW's album presentations. And scores I never listened to in OST form (Always, Presumed Innocent) suddenly got heaps of airtime after being fleshed out with expanded presentations. All 3 of the scores you mentioned were revelatory experiences in expanded form. And in the case of Minority Report, the improvement in sound quality alone made the score more listenable.

It's "comedy" tracks like The Snake Pit that veer way too far into that "silly music" territory for my liking (and it doesn't help that the scene itself is excruciatingly bad, from writing to execution). I also can't stand the Ewok material in ROTJ.

And now it's 6 in 5 years! Fingers crossed for either of Hook or The Terminal this year

I loved the continuity of maintaining the vocalists from the first film, I thought this was a neat touch!

I agree with her sentiment but it's probably poorly worded/timed. I'd love to see more female composers getting high-profile opportunities and the nominations should follow, but it's not really surprising that all 5 nominees are men when 13 of the 15 eligible scores were scored by men. At the end of the day, most directors like working with established composers who are the best fit for their films, while studios want composers who can pump out scores fast and cheap (hence the Zimmer factory gaining so much traction). Ultimately the change needs to happen with the next generation of talent to ensure all composers have the best chance of success, regardless of gender. I don't think Holt is saying women should be nominated for diversity's sake at the expense of "better" scores (this is subjective anyway), but we're also talking about a category that regularly features questionable nominees. Personally I would've nominated any of Black Panther, The Woman King, Pinocchio, A:TWOW or Glass Onion over All Quiet on the Western Front (which is little more than atmospheric droning) but Hollywood loves the "sound design" style of scoring nowadays, and the Academy love showering prestige films with token nominations in this category. Mercifully Tar was deemed ineligible!

How ironic.

Good find!

I thought that was great!! Visually disturbing and very memorable. If you're an active fungus looking to infect new hosts, mouth transmission is logical. Not only does it have a perfect temperature for cordyceps to thrive, but it's an easily accessible entrance point for new hosts. I'm loving how the clickers look, move and sound like the video game versions, but the infected have unexpected new behaviors that elevate them from conventional brain-dead zombies we've seen a thousand times before. It deepens the lore and also the threat of existing in this post-apocalyptic world. And it's exactly what good adaptations should do. Shout out to whoever raised the flour theory, looks like they were spot on.

The thing that stands out for me are how loudly the bells are mixed at the end.

Disney had an Indy tribute at the Disney Chinese Theater tonight, but this recording of the Raiders March sounds a bit different than the 4 film scores. Could be from anywhere I guess.

I know exactly the scene you're referring to and had the exact same experience (the colourful scene at night flying around the forest, lit only by the moon and bioluminescence). RealD 3D as well. It might be the first instance of rapid movement HFR in the film and thus stands out in your brain more? I remember one of the early shots in the first Hobbit looked horrifically bad in HFR, one of the shots of old Bilbo walking around Bag End. It was like the film was running at double speed, because my eyes hadn't adjusted to the HFR.