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Geez they're really fast-tracking this through the pipeline! Wonder how long Koepp was working on that script before it got announced.

Nothing post-WOTW is happening from the smaller labels until the AFM changes their rules, yeah.

Did that set use the same album master as the last Intrada reissue? If not, and it uses brand new transfers of the scoring elements, that might be a solid hint a remaster is in the works. Also interesting that Williams wrote a new violin arrangement back in 2020, so the score was fresh in his mind for some reason.

Born on the Fourth of July - 35th Anniversary Edition (LLL, July) The Terminal - 20th Anniversary Edition (LLL) The Rare Breed (Quartet) Cinderella Liberty or The Patriot (Intrada) Sleepers (LLL)

It's an oddly mixed cue on the OST, yeah. But I like the performance a lot more than the KOCS version, so...

The strings are very much there, just low in the mix. Williams conducted this arrangement at the premiere and you can see the strings playing. Also, that shortened opening is really silly. Has Williams not conducted this piece hundreds of times? The audience always goes nuts after the first few bars but shortening it means the cheering overlaps with the first bars of the main theme. This was never an issue with the longer opening. Hopefully we've heard the last of this edit.

Could just be some junior intern at JKMS who was given the assignment. I assume Williams himself noted the bars he wanted removed though. On the original topic, I verified Jay's theory through spectrograms. The opening of the Nazi material in the end credits (OST Prologue) is indeed from a separate recording. I'd love to know just how different this early Nazis suite was compared to the final (presumably revised) suite we heard in the eventual end credits. I'd also love to know what else was potentially recorded in these sessions. We seemingly have 3 versions of Helena's Theme, an almost unused Nazis suite, and maybe other 'wild' recordings (Helena in Action?). Were these early sketches JW wrote for William Ross, before deciding to write more of the score himself? An interesting technical detail is that Patricia did a smoother job matching these two separate recordings on the OST than the film, where it's somewhat noticeable that an alternate recording was inserted (they don't match as seamlessly in the film mix).

I really liked that score as well, but I think it runs afoul of the Academy pre-existing material rule.

Williams didn't even get an Oscar nomination for Hook, one of the best scores he ever wrote and one of the best film scores even written! Yeah, he was nominated for JFK instead (and best original song for When You're Alone) but it's still a dumbfounding omission when you look back on his career. So for anyone befuddled by the DoD nomination, just consider it righting past wrongs

Or Bluray reviewers who bitch and moan about film restorations that retain the authentic grain structure because it looks "noisy," while lavishing praise upon DNR'd trash because it looks "cleaner."

Exactly this. It's like arguing Williams was only nominated for the Star Wars sequels because he's John Williams, then pointing to Rogue One not being nominated as evidence for your argument. Personally I think he was nominated because the music branch considered his music for Indy 5 amongst the 5 best film scores of the year.

I don't think it's elitist at all, there's plenty of truth to it. Williams' modern style is less "direct," less reliant on simple melodies and more orchestrationally complex than scores of prior decades, layered and rich with overlapping counterpoint. It's music that opens up and rewards upon multiple listens, but suffers greatly in modern mixing rooms where hundreds of layers of competing SFX are given priority. It's also the exact opposite of modern scoring trends, where scores hit people over the head with repetitive drum loops, "minimalist" piano solos and obnoxiously loud sampled brass. In their defense, this successfully cuts through the swamp of SFX but hardly rewards as a standalone listening experience. Casuals simply don't have the patience to "unlock" Williams' modern scores, instead lamenting why every score doesn't sound like Duel of the Fates (or worse, a trailer remix version of Duel of the Fates). They can't seem to grasp that Williams excels at nuance, a trait few other modern composers seem to possess.

I skimmed through to roughly 9 minutes in and the first thing I hear is him describing the "song" Canto Bight. As if it wasn't obvious enough the guy has no idea what he's talking about.

I've never heard of the guy He has a whopping 6700 subscribers on YouTube. Based on his comments, he didn't even listen to the soundtrack, which has barely any pre-existing music. Just add him to the pile of ignorant screeching morons that rely on clickbait and outrage porn to earn a living. These self-proclaimed "content creators" aren't even scraping the bottom of the barrel, they're the rotting mould beneath it.

Why is Williams the only composer being singled out in all these articles? Do they not realise 4 other scores were also nominated? Or are those scores exempt from criticism because they're attached to critical darlings? This just reiterates that most scores aren't judged on their merits anymore, but the merits of the film they're attached to. Good on the music branch for sticking to their guns. IMO no musical composition from 2023 comes close to Helena's Theme. Williams earned his nomination for those two arrangements plus Prologue, The Airport, Syracuse and Centuries Join Hands alone (which contain probably 15 seconds of pre-existing material combined).

The Kathleen Kennedy bashing is so tired. Films produced by Kennedy have grossed $13.3 billion dollars worldwide. Financially she's the third most successful producer in history, behind only Kevin Feige (Marvel) and David Heyman (Harry Potter, Barbie). If not for Kennedy, we likely never get a trilogy of new John Williams Star Wars scores, nor a theme for Solo, Obi-Wan, or a fifth Indiana Jones. She's also, along with husband Frank, one of Mike's biggest advocates when it comes to score expansions. It's easy (and lazy) to make throwaway barbs about someone's apparent lack of talent, but the data doesn't back it up. If anything, it was Kennedy's lack of micro-managing filmmakers on the Star Wars sequels that led to the issues fans level squarely on her shoulders.

Plenty of salt on the subreddits, but plenty of love elsewhere for JW's nomination. Just to counter the negativity:

Well a global pandemic did sweep the globe mere weeks after TROS was released. Coincidence? I'll let you decide...

Amazing how every Lucasfilm movie JW has scored since the Disney acquisition has received an Oscar nomination. They're getting a solid return on investment. Would be nice if someone at Disney Records had the bright idea of monetizing all that free publicity with score expansions...

Correct. So really, the nomination is probably more meaningful because it's an acknowledgement from his peers.

I'm sure the music branch are just as frustrated as us that he hasn't won since 1994. The best they can do is acknowledge him with nominations and that's fine with me. It's pretty obvious he isn't winning another competitive Oscar; I think that final ship sailed with Fabelmans.

And soon, the only person to lose 49 times!

This marks JW's first Oscar nomination for an Indiana Jones score in over a third of a century! It's also the only Oscar nomination for Dial of Destiny