KK

This would indeed surprise me, since the original music is virtually non-existent in the film other than a sub drone that is mixed waaaaay down under traffic noise (as much as Hildur's press circuit will have you believe otherwise). I'm guessing Women Talking will make the list instead, since I've heard that is a more overtly musical score.

If Hildur's Tár is eligible (which I believe it is), there's no way on earth Williams's score isn't.

Can't argue with that!

100% it will get nominated, even if it means backtracking on their own rules (which they have done time and time again when convenient)! The PR narrative around Spielberg's swan song, and John Williams final gift to his longest standing creative partner is just far too juicy to ignore. The Academy loves a good story and Hollywood loves to pat itself on the back.

With multiple dragons, I think there's just more CGI in this show, and the quality is definitely beneath the final seasons of GoT for VFX. But in terms of real locations, framing and composition, I actually think it's a few steps up, at least from the first few seasons. Either way, it's the writing and staging of characters that's the real highlight of the show. The finale, while just a little wonky in its pacing for a finale, reaffirms the high quality of this show. Just great stuff. Can't wait for season 2!

I watched the first two episodes and stopped. But then heard a lot great things about the last episode and decided to skip to it with a friend. Genuinely cracked out loud at the ending...how does this kind of shit get past the writers' room? Bhaha is this for real? Jeez...what a mess.

Thanks karelm! You can actually spot the tail end of the ceiling mics at the top of the frame. And no, it's the same audio from the filmed performance and it plays fine for me, so I'm wondering if the sync problem is on your end? Let me know!

Well, the girls were barely teenagers in the first half. And people mature the most physically in those 10 years. Ser Criston and the Strongs were already adults from the beginning, more or less. Anyway, I'm not complaining. I think the two new leads are fantastic and bring a great new energy to the show.

With the official time jump in today's episode, just wanted to chime in here and say that this show has really been firing on all cylinders (except for the music lol). Just great writing. Feels like early GOT, but with more maturity even.

Never expected this to sound like Williams, but that main title sounded pretty boring.

Well, sure. I'm not trying to make this a debate about the subjective musical integrity of Shore's music...there are plenty of other threads that have waded through this and I've said more than my piece on it. Though I'll add that I think you're carrying a pretty reductionist view of what you consider "advanced" and not. And that even in its simplicity, there is actually another kind of complexity Shore builds, especially as film music. But all that aside, those deliberate choices ended up being fundamental to those scores' success. It's why that music made the splash it did in Jackson films...and why it felt like such a breath of fresh air in the midst of long trodden path of indulgent romantic fantasy music that had existed up until that point. Not unlike what Kilar's score did for Coppola's Dracula. And in doing that, it achieves what most film scores only dream of doing, but rarely get to. It lives and breathes as its own world. I do not believe McCreary's score does that. And that's fine. I never expected the score or show to ever raise to those heights. But I also find the whole thing rather boring and flavourless for my taste. I'm glad it's doing more for others.

It would be rather bizarre if Williams won for this. But he will certainly get nominated. Hildur is getting a lot of buzz for Women Talking and I imagine Tar will do well too. So could be her year again. The character of those descending fifths in the beginning sounds close to the intro idea that leads into the main melody (which is doubled on celeste). From what I remember, the main theme itself is rather simple in shape. Maybe I'll noodle something out from memory later when I'm at the piano.

The key difference that I'm able to discern from both scores, is that Shore's music feels so distinctly like it's built a sonic and imaginative world of its own. It's not just about how many themes and different instruments one has used. But look at the way those scores have orchestrated, the way it's been recorded, the modal style of the writing, the sparsity and tact with which soloists are incorporated...it all feels so deliberate and hence feels like music of another time and place. Yes, it benefits from being attached to the films and its original hyper-surge in popularity, but the music was clearly trying to do something that was just not being done in films at the time (whether you like it or not). McCreary's score is mostly just drawing from existing modern film music tropes and conventions (even if it uses everything but the kitchen sink in instrumentation), and while it might have some pleasant moments, it ultimately feels as vanilla as the show itself. And at the risk of sounding terribly pretentious, it has no real point of view to offer.

I made it through two episodes. And about 10 minutes into the third one (with the introduction of Numenor), I gave up. I tried, I really did. It's just so...vanilla. There's no character, personality or even vision to this thing. Tolkien or not. Everything looks, feels and sounds like a plastic knock-off. It also feels very TV...meandering plot lines and contrived Hollywood beats that feel like they were designed by an algorithm of mass fantasy interests. From what I've seen, it feels like a colossal waste of $4 billion. House of Dragons has surprisingly ended up being far more interesting. I'll stick to that!

Agreed. I imagine Williams is just another face of Hollywood excess that he came to loathe. You can see through the entires that Cuaron's film was the only one he was actually rather happy with and fond of.