Smeltington

To create a more scholarly, comprehensive, and accurate resource for information on various scores and composers of interest.

You should! I hope to make some kind of further contribution in 2014 as well. November/December are crazy every year though. But if you have a new entry in mind, by all means, go for it!

Saw it last night, and liked it a lot better than AUJ. If you're still holding on to any expectations you might have based on the novel or the LotR films, you can only wail and gnash your teeth at the absurdity that unfolds onscreen. But, having long abandoned those expectations after seeing AUJ a year ago, I was prepared to judge the film on its own merits. What we ended up with is an overblown cartoon spectacle that throws caution to the wind and goes all-in to deliver an experience that may not make for a "good" movie in the strictest sense, but still one that is highly entertaining and just plain watchable. While the blatant and unnecessary LotR referencing wasn't totally absent, this time the focus shifted to characters and places we've never seen before, giving it a great sense of discovery and helping it feel fresh. Beorn was over with too quickly, but handled well. Thranduil hammed it up and I loved his scenes. Tauriel wasn't as hard-edged as I had expected, and brought some warmth to the film. I REALLY liked Smaug, all the pieces fell into place and Benedict's performance, the voice filtering, and the CG all managed to mesh very satisfyingly. Smaug's face was well-designed, expressive, and believable. Bilbo's confrontation with him was probably my favorite scene in the Hobbit films thus far. Speaking of which, Freeman's performance got more of a chance to shine, and his mannerisms were spot on. The scene where the barrels rolled down the ramp, leaving him behind and unsure what to do, was a great showcase for him. I hadn't listened to any of the music whatsoever in advance, and the score didn't let me down. There were some themes that were conspicuously absent - I had expected to hear the Misty Mountains theme more than zero times, and Gandalf's more than once, and I had hoped to hear more of Bilbo's themes, although they got a decent cameo when he lets the dwarves out of their cells. But other themes were nicely built upon, especially Smaug's theme, the Erebor theme, and the Mirkwood elves' theme from the AUJ prologue. The action renditions of the elf theme during the barrel sequence were very cool. I also liked the slight expansion of the Erebor theme as the dwarves climb the statue on the outside of the mountain. I caught some nice music for Tauriel's scenes, plus some surprisingly pleasant music for Gandalf's meeting with Radagast. I do agree with those that said the lack of music in a few scenes was conspicuous. But it wasn't a big problem. On a side note, was anyone else surprised at the level of violence and gore? Like many things in the film, it was taken to an extreme we hadn't seen in any of the other films, with tons of gags relating to orcs dying in gruesome and creative ways. Plus the spider-slaying went on forever and was pretty gross. All the violence didn't necessarily bother me, but was noticeably pronounced this time around.

After this evening, How many other movies Will Azog defile? I have avoided The score samples and snippets Now I'm excited!

AUJ referenced LotR so heavily that it seems to make a lot more sense coming afterward, so that's the order I'd do it. But most likely I'll just marathon LotR and leave out the Hobbit films, unless I like the second and third films way more than I liked AUJ. Assuming you liked the Hobbit films enough to marathon all 6, though, it would give resonance to the end of Bilbo's journey in RotK if you watched Hobbit first, then LotR.

So, Williams flew to England to conduct 1 and 3, even though the LSO was not used? Do we know why the LSO performed 2, but not 1 and 3?

It could be yours! It's already ours! What the rest of us need is the trailer music and the ending of You're a Wizard, Harry. That's all I can think of... anything else missing from HP1?

Once the Hippogriff has been done, can it be undone??

I just did!! Bwahahahahaaaa!

No love for Do The Hyppogriff? -1 for you! So be it! I proudly accept your -1!

It was great hearing the opening notes of the Book Thief score in the theater before anything else came onscreen! Too bad you missed Geisha, although it wasn't a movie that resonated with me anyway. I've barely thought about it since, apart from the music. But I know how it feels, being a completist I went to see all of the Williams-scored films after The Patriot. Haven't seen that one. It helps that they've mostly been Star Wars, HP, or Spielberg films, meaning I wanted to see them all anyway.

Incanus, you have just reminded me that my ideal Potter box set would not be 100% complete... it would be 100% complete minus the Jarvis Cocker songs. Bonus points to any release that leaves those out!

I finally saw the film last night, and liked it a good deal better than I expected. Excellent acting by everyone, and with the right amount of nuance and understatement, with Max being the only character that brought some of the heavy-handedness I had expected from the whole movie. There were quite a few gorgeous shots in the film, especially in the opening and some of the shots of the village. I thought the score worked extremely well in the film, and got plenty of breathing room in a mix that was often comprised only of dialogue and faint, ambient sound effects. The film managed to feel stark, yet found a sense of warmth that pervaded every scene, and Williams captured this feel perfectly. He was canny regarding when the score needed to call a little attention to itself, and when it needed to work on a more subconscious level. I'm excited to listen to the CD again now with the context of the music in mind. There were a few little moments took me out of the film, like the scene that intercut Rudy running on a track with TV footage of a real track race. Then, like Jason pointed out, there was the really jarring product placement at the end. They also threw in a line that I'm tired of hearing in movies: "...because that's what people do." The lamest reason for doing anything, and such a huge cliche it took me out of the movie. The whole thing also didn't quite have the right flow to it, with some of the plot threads receiving little to no resolution or impact on the story as a whole. Still, ultimately, I ended up being glad I saw the Book Thief, after having expected to only enjoy the score.

Normally I'd agree, but not this time! A nice box set would go great with the box sets of the books and movies! Either way, though, I'll be buying all the Potter music they release.

Hope you can make it, Thor! And you won't really be alone, there'll be JWFans all around you!

Pretty badass pic dude. How rare, to have met John Williams, brown-haired version!

I believe the tickets go on sale at 10am EST today, which is 1 hour and 40 minutes from now. Let's all refresh our browsers together, now! It's happening! Got tickets for Saturday, 2nd balcony, to the right of the stage.

Gosh, they go on sale so early. I already have tickets for one JW concert next year, but how can I resist?? Are most people here thinking of going to the Saturday performance? I think I'll limit myself to just one of the concerts, but I'd love to join any JWFan gatherings

Wow, I'd be surprised if I was. Its been out for like 10 days in the US I think. I had been keeping track of the release dates listed on AMC and Regal. One of them listed it as November 8, the other as Nov 15, but it didn't open here until the 22nd, and in only one theater. I see that this Friday it'll be in four, though.

Were you the first JWFan to see it? I wanted to go this weekend but ended up having too much work, so it might not be until after Thanksgiving.

The song by Deep Blue Something?

I just saw the film for the first time earlier this year. Loved both the film and the score. I was hoping a complete release would come along, but didn't expect it so soon. Very cool indeed. This'll be the icing on the cake!

Well, redeem yourself and explain it to me! Who's Augie? What does it all mean?

Do we know what's up with the "Augie's great..." titles?

Incidentally, JFK will be in theaters this Sunday (here in the US) as part of a series of classic Warner Bros films. Although that doesn't really answer your question