Trumpeteer

I'll watch "AI" in a heartbeat over "Always," "1941," "Hook" and "Empire of the Sun."

Thinking about this cue just gave me goosebumps. My favorite part of it is the first brass run, after Han says "Never tell me the odds!" The drum roll when the Falcon avoids an asteroid is one of the best examples of excellent spotting in a film. That's a key moment, and most would have written loud music for the almost-crash. Instead, there's just a little drum roll to accompany the miss and the Falcon's little maneuver. If I had to show a newbie one example of why Williams is better than the rest, this would be one of them. That, and "Auschwitz/Birkenau."

ET "Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla. Don't waste my time."

Neither. Fellowship is amazing. It's amazing for about 10 minutes. John Williams wrote more than 200 minutes of excellent music that year. I would have voted for AI because JW had already won two Oscars for big adventure movies (ET is not an adventure movie), and that's probably one reason he lost: People thought both scores were completely great and equally worthy. Or they thought they couldn't choose one and decided to go with FOTR. AI was a major departure and handled very well. It was the only thread throughout the movie that never faltered. Me neither. Nothing since the LOTR films has convinced me that he didn't just fall into a great opportunity he'll never have again.

Well, they are the London Symphony Orchestra.

"Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla. Don't waste my time."

Those wacky Brits. I'm very upset at the film they listed at No. 30, given that the films it beat for an Oscar are nowhere on the list.

Any two minutes of the last five minutes of the end of "ET." A very, very, very close second is the opening two minutes of "Auschwitz-Birkenau." Yes, it's sorrowful, but also beautiful. Perlman at his best. The BSO at their best, too. And obviously, John Williams at his usual perfection.

I get chills equally from "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back." "Star Wars" for its opening blast and the way the tempo seems to pick up slightly as the main theme churns away, and for the French horn near the end. (I've always wished there was footage of those first takes. There had to be a lot of electricity in the air, knowing that they were doing something amazing.) "The Empire Strikes Back" for the bridge between the string section and the second rendition of the theme, and the trumpet crescendo near the end. I get the use of the trumpet solo in "Jedi" symbolizing Luke's lone journey to overturn the Emperor and his heroic attempt. But the orchestra at times doesn't seem to be in sync and JW has to wrangle them all together a couple of times. Of course, that could just be the editing. The only time I got goosebumps hearing the prequel rendition was during my first viewing of "The Phantom Menace" in the theater, and that was because it was the first time I'd heard it in full surround sound in a couple of years.

John Williams will always be the best film composer. There is no second best, and I think every film composer alive now knows they are fighting for second place. (Jerry probably wouldn't believe that.)

Morlock and I share similar moviegoing tastes. I make a point of going to the movies every weekend, though I have been unable to go since the Academy Awards because other obligations have taken over in March. But ... when I go to the multiplex I make every effort to see at least two movies in one day. I start by looking at the newspaper and checking the films I want to see. Then, I cross-reference the movies' start times with their running time and apporximate end time, not including the end credits if I'm not interested in sticking around to hear the music. Once I know which movies I will see, I buy a matinee ticket for the first movie and go to that theater. Most of the time, the multiplex I go to does not have ticket takers on both sides, but rather one ticket taker at the front door, which means I can see as many movies as I want. If one movie is playing in theaters 1-9 one side and the other is playing in 10-18, I can't go to the second movie if the ticket taker is guarding the hallway to theaters 10-18. If I am going to more than one movie, which is rare, I either eat a big lunch beforehand that would cost the same as empty calories such as popcorn. But I do often feel I should compensate the theater for my four to five hours there, and I buy some candy. I always arrive before the movie starts. The later you arrive, the less chance of getting a good seat, even for the art films that fewer people go to. The multliplex I go to has alternating rows of chairs with rocking backs and chairs with unmoving backs. I prefer the rocking chairs, and usually sit in the middle of the theater. I don't really mind the commercials and trailers. I do enjoy watching the late-comers fumble in the dark or stand in the aisle trying to find an empty seat in the darkness. A few times, someone thought the chair I was sitting in was empty and actually sat in my lap! No kidding. (No jokes about me being black.) My only pet peeves during the movies are people who think they're whispering when they are not, and cellphones. I particularly hate those who distill the plot to their mates or vocally predict what's going to happen. Arrrrgh! I guess we in the USA don't have to worry about subtitles, unless it's a non-English movie. But when I went on a trip to Paris many years ago we saw "Batman" (the Tim Burton version) and they had French subtitles. It wasn't distracting at all, probably because it was my 100th time seeing it. As far as intermissions, I wonder what it was like before the studios got rid of them. As far as putting them in musicals, they were replicating the intermission that comes during live theater. And, movies back then were easily pushing three hours. You needed a break. Ken Branagh's "Hamlet" had an intermission. I remember it not being published in the movie listings, or in many of the critic's reviews. Having read Ebert's review, I knew there was one, but most of the people I was with did not. As I walked out of the theater during the 10-minute intermission, I saw a woman complaining to the manager about it. I eavesdropped and the manager said the movie was cut that way and they were required to show it with intermission. She got a free popcorn out of it. She really thought she deserved her money back. And when she walked out at the end, she was telling her friend how much she loved the movie. No complaining about the intermission. I wish there were intermissions in movies that last more than 150 minutes (two hours, 30 minutes). Not so we could go to the bathroom, but because your butt tends to get numb by then. As much as I love "Titanic," I always wished Cameron had put an intermission in right after Jack and Rose made love in the car. As for my choice of multiple movies in a day, I try to mix up the genre. The last time, I saw "Little Children," "Bridge to Terabithia" and "Notes on a Scandal." All three are downer movies, but in different ways. Next week, I'm going to try to fit in "300," "Zodiac" and "Breach." The art house is also showing "The Lives of Others." I should see that soon because they don't keep things here long ("Full Nelson" only survived a week).

Vangelis and Moroder. I don't blame them, though, because I like the scores for their movies very much. It's kind of like blaming "Gladiator" for "Troy," "Alexander," "300" and TV's "Rome." You should blame studios for thinking they could capitalize on a genre.

In every freakin' action score he's written. My favorites are in "The Quidditch Match" and "Anderton's Great Escape." And it is true that it is hard to define JW's sound, but it is easily recognizable, even in two disparate scores. His layering is second to none. And that's as far as I dare to go in using musical terms.

And how dare anyone say that no piece of JW music has the same effect as "Adagio for Strings?" How about "Auschwitz-Birkenau," just to name one? "A Prayer for Peace" Heck, even the music played when Darth Vader dies gives me goosebumps. I'd appreciate "Adagio for Strings" if it weren't the go-to piece for just about every director in the 80s. It was in "Platoon," "The Elephant Man" and "Scarface" most prominently. Now, it's being used in comedic TV episodes. It has lost its impact on me.

I had an urge to play "Chasm Crossfire" yesterday, and I didn't know why. Now I do.

Babel was the bigger injustice. As I was watching the movie, I did not know GS was the composer, but the music was easy to recognize. It sounded very much like "Amores Perros." Yes, it was an injustice for it to beat two fantastic Williams scores and a very nice score for Pride and Prejudice, but the win was understandable given the film's exposure. As for Babel, I don't know how voters didn't pick up on the similarities, and how they didn't find more pleasure in listening to music from "The Queen" and "Pan's Labyrinth". But, now four days removed from the announcement, three things come to me: They voted for Babel's score because GS had to blend four stories on three continents. I will admit he did that. They voted for the score not knowing GS was connected, that he won last year and that he just played the same music as before on different instruments. They gave GS the award to honor all the work he's done with Alejandro (three films), not really knowing that the music and instrumentation is pretty much the same. I'm starting to reconcile that the average Academy member doesn't think much about music quality. They don't study the particulars of the notes as we do, and probably judge other categories the same way. But it was a travesty that they did what they did this year. Now I know how I would have felt if I was watching the Oscars the year they gave Herbie Hancock his Oscar.

Wow! We have a real life assistant to a "major" film composer on the board! Wow!

Thats not exactly saying much... Film Composers are not what I'ld call a handsome group of people. That's precisely my point. But the Newman clan has good genes. Even Randy was a looker in his prime.

I really wish they had the faces of all the composers onscreen when GS won. I always like seeing his expression. Well, maybe "like" isn't the right word. You can just see the disgust in his face. John Williams comes close. I wonder what Thomas is doing next. And one more thing about Thomas Newman: He's the best-looking composer on the planet. Not too wild about the hair, though.

I care about every category. But I seem to care more about the score award, even when Williams isn't there. I would love to find that chat room ranting about Kevin O'Connell missing out on the sound award again, or how Emmanuel Lubeski was the night's biggest snub.

I agree with you 1,000%. Unfortunately, the vote for "Babel" had nothing to do with music quality. Voters noticed that the film had no awards. So they filled in "Babel" on their ballot. You must know, however, that the ballots do not have the composers' names. Otherwise, we might have gotten a Thomas Newman win. As I said before, the score award has become a consolation prize. In the words of Whitney Houston, it's not right, but it's OK.

If you saw/heard "Babel," you've essentially heard the score to "Brokeback." Thus the frustration over the win this year.

And Harrison Ford came out to presumably give the Best Picture Oscar to "Saving Private Ryan," one of many years where that trick didn't work out. Though it is interesting to note that Ford announced Roman Polanski won the directing Oscar. You might remember that Polanski directed Ford in "Frantic." So maybe there was some premonition then. Oh well.

I guess it's no surprise that two scores that many here will say unjustly won over a John Williams score are the finalists in the Oscar showdown: Fame and Brokeback Mountain. Vote for the one you dislike the most. Don't vote on whether one deserved the Oscar least over the other. This about the quality of the score.

I would tend to agree with pi, but I do not believe the conductor knows beforehand. Only the accountants who tallied the votes know before the envelope is opened. The show's director doesn't know. The producer doesn't know. The host doesn't know. No. One. Knows. The orchestra and the conductor is just quick on their feet, sp to speak. They do rehearse the pieces beforehand, and for the most part, there are only 15 film cues to rehearse. As with last night, they played most of them (11 different feature films won Oscars last night). I have to give them props for being able to play after hearing "Shakespeare in Love" and "Crash" win Best Picture.