Lewya

The new score sucks apparently.

I don't HATE him or even DISLIKE him - I "like" him in fact, but most of his stuff isn't beyond mediocre. He is the most overrated composer right now (followed by Junkie XL who might surpass him in the future). I mean stuff like this is truly baffling to read: 10 Composers Who You Should Never Admit Liking To A Musician Who Considers Him or Herself Serious 4. Howard Shore or: Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, John Williams, or anyone named Newman. That’s not to say that all film composers are off the table, but proceed with caution. If you name Bernard Herrmann, be sure to precede it with, “Well, I love Alfred Hitchcock, so…” Other classic era film scorers are safe-ish, but don’t expect more than polite stares. Michael Giacchino is safe, but you’ll have to provide a lot of explanation and name check Alex Ross several times. Giacchino is without a doubt the lesser composer than any of the names mentioned before him, but for him reason he gets a pass ... shows how much influence a single critic can have for an article to people who are shockingly clueless about music or at least don't bother looking things up before writing an article like that. He does seem pretty knowledgable according to his site, but this gives me the impression that he isn't after all. http://www.willcwhite.com/2011/03/top-10-composers-who-make-you-seem-cool-when-you-tell-other-musicians-you-like-them/

According to Jon Burlingame's article: http://variety.com/2016/film/spotlight/fantastic-beasts-bfg-john-williams-1201930763/ "He begins recording “Star Wars Episode VIII” in December and expects to record off and on through March or April 2017. "

The boldest and perhaps least pretty score of the year, it is not for the faint-hearted, a good listen if you want to listen to one of the most challenging scores of the year:

Nah, he had 7 weeks.

Clint Mansell will score this apparently. http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/ghost-in-the-shell/43849/ghost-in-the-shell-first-trailer-clint-mansell-to-compose-score

It looks like William Ross will orchestrate - maybe he will even do some heavy lifting?

1-2 times a year, not much interets me enough these days to go out, I have no time and prefer to not do it alone. I wish it was more often though, maybe like once a month.

Nope. It is one of Williams's weakest scores of the millenium.

Some of the score can be heard here: https://www.journeythroughhell.com/

Some info about the score: "Johannsson worked with several singers and vocal ensembles and combined both classical and avant-garde elements in his compositions, augmenting his already unique approach of combining orchestral writing with digital sound processing. Among those appearing are the prestigious Theatre of Voices, conducted by Paul Hillier, and artists such as Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and Hildur Guonadottir, known for their unique musicianship. Johannsson also integrated some found sounds from the legendary avant-garde vocalist Joan La Barbara into his score. The soundtrack was recorded in Prague, Copenhagen and his native Reykjavik. "

More footage from this, seems like it includes some CS-80 music too.

Not on JWfan, but I think that he is the most overrated composer right now together with Giacchino in general and especially by more casual listeners/movie-goers.

Junkie XL and Michael Giacchino.

Listen carefully to the music in the beginning of the video - that's Apocalypto! The guy on my avatar makes an unexpected appearence.

Spielberg talks about John Williams here “John does that all on his own—I just hand my movie over to him. I’ve done that since the first movie we made together; I think he’s scored 28 of my 30 films. What John does [is], I give him my story, [and] he rewrites my story in music. He writes a musical version of the story I’ve just told. But he does sit with me and we look at the movie. Every single scene, we watch together, before he writes a single note. We watch the movie and we decide where there should be music and where there shouldn’t be. He’s a real strong believer [in that]. [For example,] he didn’t want to write any music for the Omaha Beach landings [in ‘Saving Private Ryan’]. He wanted that just to be the reality of what it was like. Those guys didn’t hear an orchestra in their heads when they landed on Omaha Beach. So John said, ‘There’ll be no music until we see the women writing the letters home.’ And that was really the first music after that sequence. So where there isn’t music is as important as where there is music.” The conversation at the table returned to the subject of “The BFG,” and what Spielberg ultimately attained from his experience making the film. “This was an excursion into the imagination and into magic. I [hadn’t] done anything in my entire career, except a couple of little scenes from time to time, that involved real magic. For me this was an original adventure, and I had the best time. I worked three years on it, and the worst moment I had was when I finished the movie, when it was all done. I had finished the color correction, the soundtrack had been mixed, Johnny Williams had finished his brilliant score, and I was faced with the fact that I wasn’t going to return to the film again. It was at that moment that I realized how deeply in love with this project I had fallen. I didn’t even know that until the last day on the film.”

Wow, a 10 minute cue! A 8 minute one as well. Is that one of Williams's longest ever cues ever?

TIE between Ready Player One and Star Wars VIII so can't pick one. I think both can yield a more "fresh" JW score due to the subject and new director similar to Harry Potter 3 -- probably much more so than the rest of the bunch.

Entering Hollywood, Kobe Bryant gets advice from Spielberg BEVERLY HILLS, California (AP) Kobe Bryant is getting advice from Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams and Jerry Bruckheimer as he redirects his competitive drive from professional basketball to his publishing and production company. One month after retiring from the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers star has a new daily routine. ''I get up early and I train and I work out. Then I go to the office,'' Bryant said in an interview. He spends much of his day ''kicking around ideas'' with his staff of 10 full-time employees at Newport Beach, California-based Kobe Inc. - and calls up those Hollywood heavyweights for guidance. ''I mean those are like unfair advantages,'' Bryant said, laughing. ''I can pick up the phone and speak to them and ask them questions: `What do you think about the story? What is this missing?' And they'll nitpick every single detail and I love it.'' ''They respect and appreciate what I've done for 20 years as I respect and appreciate what they've done over the years. And we understand that there is a unifying force between those two things,'' Bryant said. ''Even though the disciplines are different, the commitment, attention to detail is absolutely the same. So even though Steven Spielberg can start speaking in film language and I won't understand a damn thing, I understand the core, the essence of what he's saying.'' Bryant said his Kobe Studios also includes seven more people who have been working on a project for the past two years, and another team of five writers starting a new project shortly. The company is now making a three-to-five minute film based on the ''Dear Basketball'' poem that Bryant used to announce his retirement, led by longtime Disney animator Glen Keane and featuring music from John Williams. ''You have to be true to who you are,'' Bryant said while making an appearance Wednesday for a watch. ''Throughout my career, I've been able to take dark times and dark emotions and channel those feelings to create something better,'' he said. ''It's not something that I shy away from. We all have things that motivate us. Sometimes you can push those things to the side, make it fester within you. Or you can choose to use them to create something better.'' http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/entering-hollywood-kobe-bryant-gets-advice-from-spielberg-052016

Steven Spielberg mentioned the score - In terms of the movie's music, it's no surprise that Spielberg would turn to his longtime collaborator John Williams, a five-time Oscar winner who has scored most of Spielberg's films since 1974. "I will tell John my story by showing him my cut and he goes away and eight weeks later, he tells a story musically," Spielberg explains. "He has done this brilliantly with 'The BFG.' Every moment is accompanied by a little bit of a musical reminder that there is another layer of story being told." http://www.moviefone.com/2016/05/11/steven-spielberg-the-bfg-d23/

A big surprise - http://deadline.com/2016/05/steven-spielberg-john-williams-afi-life-achievement-award-1201753402/ Steven Spielberg To Present John Williams With AFI Life Achievement Award The American Film Institute said today that Steven Spielberg will present his longtime collaborator John Williams with the 44th AFI Life Achievement Award next month. The previously announced award for Williams marks the first time AFI is honoring a composer. It will be handed out during a private Gala Tribute on June 9 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. TNT will air a special, AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams, at 10 PM June 15. Williams and Spielberg — who won the AFI career award in 1995 — have collaborated on more than two dozen films, including The BFG, which willpremiere at Cannes. Williams won Oscars for the scores to Spielberg’s Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler’s List, in addition to the adaptation and original song score to 1971’s Fiddler on the Roof. Three of Williams’ works landed on AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores, with Star Wars topping that list. He has been nominated for an Academy Award in four of the past five years, and his next Oscar nom would be his 50th. A Tribute to John Williams re-airs September 15 on sister network Turner Classic Movies during a night of programming dedicated to Williams.

So is the film is shown this saturday and sunday at Cannes, or only on sunday? Just curious. I want to check out the reactions the same day.

It sounds very odd for sure true, we will see. I don't think it is correct but it is always fun to read even if not. The Guardian posted news about it too. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/21/rumoured-leaked-script-reveals-star-wars-episode-viii-plot-rey-force it feels too weird to be true. It was the working title, not official title btw.

Someone has who has read the script has spoiled the movie on Reddit (read only if you want to risk getting spoiled) - Should give Williams some interesting things to work with, hopefully.

The movie will be shown at Cannes Film Festival in May already apparently (the festival runs between 11 – 22 May 2016), so it will be shown about a month before the movie will have its real wide release. Do you think we will get some reports on the score then? Just 2 months to go before that first premiere.