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eitam reacted to Thor in Steven Spielberg is Making a John Williams Documentary
Regarding the health situation, here's Jennifer on the red carpet, saying he's doing great and will "be back on the road very soon". Take it for what it's worth:
By the way, I think Spielberg has had a few pre-premiere drinks. He looks tipsy!
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eitam reacted to King Mark in Williams composing for the Vienna Philharmonic - "Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic Ball"
I tried to amplify the crowd noises as much as possible
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eitam reacted to crocodile in Bear McCreary's The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
I am getting a bit of a Na'vi vibe from that climactic duel, if I am to be honest. 😄
Karol
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eitam reacted to Damien F in Steven Spielberg is Making a John Williams Documentary
I love the shot at 1:43 of JW turning around in his chair at the piano in joy!
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eitam reacted to Jay in R.I.P. Dame Maggie Smith
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgk7375ngkxo
https://variety.com/2024/legit/news/maggie-smith-dead-harry-potter-1236157839/
https://deadline.com/2024/09/maggie-smith-dead-harry-potter-downton-abbey-89-1236101469/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/maggie-smith-dead-downton-abbey-1236014232/
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eitam reacted to Nick1Ø66 in What is the last Television series you watched?
The Expanse (2015-2022)
Why did I wait so long to finally watch this? People had been recommending it to me for years, and I finally got around to it.
Simply phenomenal. Instantly one of my favourites. Well-developed characters, tightly written, and fantastically plotted, it’s one of the best sci-fi shows I’ve ever seen. I was hooked from the first episode, and, while it took me a couple of months to get through it, I was sad when it was over. The kind of show that makes anything you watch afterward feel like a letdown.
All the major characters were nuanced, and it was difficult to categorize any of them neatly into a box. Not all the military types were shoot-first (though some were), and not all the scientists were noble (though many were). With nuance, the series showed us the point of view of Earth, Mars, and the Belt. Sometimes we sympathized with each, and sometimes we hated each. We saw all three groups from different perspectives. I primarily like character-driven shows best (especially for rewatchability), and in The Expanse, the characters weren’t stereotypes but real people. Most of the characters are likeable, even if you don’t always like the choices they make. You enjoy spending time with them. By and large, the acting was exceptional, with some truly great performances, especially from Jared Harris in a recurring but sadly too infrequent role as a freedom fighter/terrorist.
Similarly, the plot is well-paced and kept me engaged throughout, and I was intrigued by the mysteries, even as the show largely avoided the dreaded “mystery box” format. It was episodic enough to make each episode feel complete, but serialized enough to keep you wanting to watch. I haven’t read the novels, but my understanding is the show largely stuck to the books, and it shows. A testament to how good a TV adaptation can be when you have strong source material adapted by creators who love and respect it.
The series was largely scripted and aired prior to 2020, and it shows. Politics are a part of the show, but the show isn’t aggressively pushing an agenda. All “sides” are shown sympathetically and judged harshly, and the creators leave it to the viewer to draw their own conclusions. Everyone who does good or bad things has their reasons for doing so. And if there is a message, we’re not hit on the head with it.
It’s also obvious The Expanse, at least the TV series, is seriously influenced by what came before it…and I mean this in a good way. It’s not derivative, but clearly, they’ve taken inspiration from a lot of high-quality sources. Battlestar Galactica is the most obvious example, but careful viewers will see hints of Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Firefly, Alien, Contact, Independence Day, 2001, and even Game of Thrones and Indiana Jones in there as well. And that’s just what I can remember; I think I spotted even more influences as I was watching. It’s military sci-fi, hard sci-fi, epic sci-fi, and space opera all rolled into one. It can also be horror, a police procedural, mystery and a political drama.
Technically, the show is a marvel…the title sequence, the digital effects, the practical effects, and Clifon Shorter’s atmospheric score all come together brilliantly. And while no science fiction show is ever going to be 100% accurate, it's obvious they tried to ground the show in scientific accuracy as much as possible. While there is intergalactic travel, there's no warp or FTL speed, and it was refreshing to see a space sci-fi show set largely in our solar system.
It’s not perfect. I occasionally found James Holden (the main protagonist) to be a little self-righteous for my taste. But others may disagree, which is a testament to how nuanced and multidimensional these characters are drawn. I thought Season 4 (the first Amazon season) dragged a bit. And while they mostly stuck the landing (mostly), the truncated final season, while at a natural stopping point, felt a little rushed and left some important plot threads hanging. But these are small complaints. I hope they go back one day and finish the story.
Is the show that good, or am I biased because there's so little exceptional sci-fi on TV? Hard for me to judge at the moment. And while I can’t say I liked it quite as much as Battlestar Galactica (2004), which again it’s most often compared to, I will say The Expanse was more consistently good than that show. BSG has higher highs but more weak episodes as well. It’s definitely a Top 10, if not Top 5, sci-fi show for me, and in my opinion the best science fiction show of the last 15 years. And certainly one of the best in any genre during that time.
Verily recommended.
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eitam reacted to Nick1Ø66 in The Rings of Power show discussion - spoilers allowed for all aired episodes
It's a really good thing for Amazon that J.R.R. Tolkien doesn't have a blog.
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eitam reacted to La La Land Records in The Official La-La Land Records Thread
We started the year off with 2 James Bond Scores, released Top Gun, unleashed the 50th anniversary of Sugarland Express, Last Action Hero, a never before released Bernard Herrmann classic and finished of our Star Trek TOS series, arguably the most famous and profitable franchise in television history...all of this along with a host of other releases that as of Sept 1 has made 2024 our most successful year yet ...and we have 4 more months to go of some amazing releases.
What have you accomplished in 2024?
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eitam reacted to Jay in Duel of the Fates played on the Royal Albert Hall organ
Enjoy
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C---V3lgqha/
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eitam reacted to Glóin the Dark in Ridley Scott's NAPOLEON (Martin Phipps, 2023)
Maybe they mixed it up with the new cut of the Abel Gance version...
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eitam reacted to mrbellamy in Steven Spielberg is Making a John Williams Documentary
I mainly just want as many stories and clips of him behind the scenes as I can get. I don't need to be convinced of how good his music is by playing tons of clips from the movies, or especially by his friends reiterating his genius without ever really putting their finger on it. I've seen the movies, I've heard the music, JW is great. I just wanna know more about what he's like in action.
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eitam reacted to mrbellamy in Rick Beato makes a case for JW as “the most well-known musical artist in history”
I think a lot of John Williams fans had the experience of being a fan of him before they even knew they were a fan. "Wait, he did that one? Oh wait he did that too? And that too?!"
Incidentally that's also a big part of what made it fun for me when I was first really getting into The Beatles.
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eitam reacted to Luke Skywalker in Steven Spielberg will be making a UFO movie based on an original idea with a David Koepp script
New Williams star wars score in 2026!!!!1
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eitam reacted to GerateWohl in THE BOYS & GEN V
Maybe it's because in parallel I watched dumb trash like The Acolyte. But compared to that The Boys Season 4 was gold. I liked the characters development and the political allegories. One of the strongest parts was Homelander's visit at his old laboratory. Yes, frenchie's ark was weak, but compared to Sol's or the twins' in The Acolyte pure poetry.
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eitam reacted to Ollie in Douglass Fake from Intrada has passed away
https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/sc.13/category.60330/.f
A huge loss for the film score community. My condolences to his family, Roger and the gang at Intrada.
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eitam reacted to Tallguy in Terminator Zero (2024 Animated Series)
I miss The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
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eitam reacted to mrbellamy in John Williams canceled concerts 2024
From Mike Matessino, at around an hour and 25 minutes of the new Sugarland Express episode of the Legacy of John Williams podcast
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eitam reacted to Marian Schedenig in Hans Zimmer and Martin Grubinger "interpret" the Austrian anthem
It's rather on the boring side. Which is one plus it has against the Zimmer/Grublinger version.
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eitam reacted to Marian Schedenig in Hans Zimmer and Martin Grubinger "interpret" the Austrian anthem
Words fail:
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eitam reacted to Muad'Dib in Premiere at all-John Williams San Diego Symphony concert: Abandoned in the Woods and End Title from A.I. Artificial Intelligence
"Scherzo for Motorcycle"
Interesting! Got rid of that pesky orchestra, I see.
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eitam reacted to Taikomochi in Premiere at all-John Williams San Diego Symphony concert: Abandoned in the Woods and End Title from A.I. Artificial Intelligence
I don’t think anyone else is really amused by you jerking yourself off how you know more, tbh.