Pieter Boelen

It does fit in a way, but then it doesn't fit in another way. The music seems to be more spectacular than the scene. Which is the complete opposite of the finale, where the scenes are more spectacular than the music. Still I much prefer having spectacular music in good scenes over having anything less than that. Most of it does fit the scene, but some of it feels a bit out of place. Most of the music I genuinely enjoy. There's just a couple of really bothersome elements. "The Kraken" is no big favourite of mine, but one could argue it does fit in a way. And the finale of Dead Man's Chest I find really annoying music-wise with the low male Crimson Tide "Hynemou" choir. That piece of music always distracts me. But then there is "The Medallion Calls" which again works wonders in the first film for Jack Sparrow's entrance. Basically I find the quality and "fittingness" of the music to vary greatly throughout the scores. Some pieces really enhance the scenes, but some are pretty distracting as well. I'm not entire sure what to think of it.

One thing I do find with Hans Zimmer is that his music is frustrating. Frustrating in the sense that I get the idea through his music that he CAN write better music than he does. For example: The track "Up Is Down" from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End demonstrates what I would want the ENTIRE score for that film to sound like. But then we get a track like "I Don't Think Now Is The Best Time" which is just plain standard-Zimmer music with the PotC themes thrown into the mix. This illustrates that he CAN do it, but usually doesn't. Surprising to me is that "Up Is Down" doesn't really fit the scene in the film so much, yet "I Don't Think Now Is The Best Time" is somewhat distracting at times as well. In the Maelstrom making-of they used "Up Is Down" to underscore the maelstrom sequence, which, even more strangely, worked surprisingly well. One thing that would greatly help Zimmer's music is he would record the orchestra normally for a change and see how that turns out. That might bring a lot of like to the music he writes that is now lost simply because of his preferred recording method.

There is no SFX in there anywhere, is there?

Alan Silvestri and James Newton Howard are both pretty good contenders. John Debney can write truly amazing music (Cutthroat Island), but he doesn't frequently do it. Of course he never got another project of the same size.

Why is it that everybody is always so adamant on having sequels be darker than the film that went before it nowadays? It seems for every sequel there is a "must be bigger, better and darker" kind of idea. It's beginning to get annoying, really. How about: "Just as big, just as good and just as dark/light as the previous film"? Of course some variations are fine, but I'm beginning to dislike the going darker trend of apparently every series of films. In some cases it is understandable and sometimes even required, but in many other instances it is entirely uncalled for. In the case of Harry Potter it is OK, although I think they shouldn't be so pinned on making the next film darker. Instead they should try to make the tone of the film the same as the tone of the books. The way the films are going, Deathly Hallows might be shot in black and white. The best examples of this "darker" trend can be seen in Pirates of the Caribbean and Spiderman. The first PotC film was good fun, but for some reason they had to put a lot of drama in the second two films that was entirely uncalled for. It made for some pretty good and enjoyable films as far as I'm concerned, but they didn't stick to the tone of the first film, which I think was a missed opportunity. In the case of Spiderman 3 I don't even want to see the film because the "inner darkness", "son of bad guy with hatred of hero goes bad as well" and "love triangle" kind of storylines are just dark for the dake of being dark and in my opinion this is just plain boring.

How about this for an 8-disc version: 2-CD Phantom Menace Special Edition 2-CD Attack of the Clones Special Edition 2-CD Revenge of the Sith Special Edition 2-CDs of unreleased OT tracks and additional PT tracks That would, I think, be the ultimate 8-disc version possible. Then with this 8-disc version and the OT Special Editions, we'd have everything available.

They even report it on the main page on MuggleNet now (some really odd comments in the "comments" section though); looks like people are taking this news seriously. I hope it indeed is to be taken seriously. I would love to have John Williams write for Harry Potter again. I personally sorely miss his involvement. John Williams definitely confirmed writing for Indiana Jones IV, possibly unreleased music being released from Star Wars and John Williams possibly writing for Harry Potter again: Not a bad week, is it?

My current amount of Star Wars music is 11 hr 30 min consisting of extended Episode 1, 2 and 3 scores, along with SE's of the original trilogy. Devided by 80 minutes per CD, this would require 8.6 CDs if all space on the CDs would be used. Since my extended Episode 1-3 editions still have quite a bit of missing music, we can conclude that it is impossible to put all music on 8 discs even if all space would be used by putting the beginning of the next episode's music on the end of the previous CD. The sound quality on the DVD accompanying the RotS soundtrack is notably improved over the SE's, isn't it? Even if this release would not contain any new material, don't you think it should have at least the same sound quality as that DVD? That would at least be something noteworthy material released. I personally think that yet another re-release of the original trilogy SE's would be completely nonsensical. First there was the RCA/Victor releases, then Sony re-released the exact same discs again with some additional "improvement" of the sound quality that I personally cannot hear at all. In other words: Most of the music for Episodes 4-6 is already pretty well available. Episodes 1-3 on the other hand are a different story. None of these have had a proper soundtrack release. I am personally crossing my fingers, hoping against hope that this 8-disc edition will have at least some sort of notable new music included, even if it wouldn't be much.

A Collectors' Edition? Who are the collectors anyway? Since it concerns John Williams' music, one might assume that WE are supposed to be those "collectors", right? Would be interesting if it would actually BE what they advert it to be for a change: An edition of the Star Wars scores to satisfy the "COLLECTORS", also known as "US".

Williams used what theme was appropriate. The other themes weren't really nescessary nor appropriate. But there are scenes in films 4-7 where Voldemort's Theme, A Window to the Past or Fawkes' Theme would be VERY appropriate. I would personally love to hear a sad but beautiful version of Fawkes' Theme for the ending of Harry Potter 6. That's what I imagine the music to sound like when I read the book. Also PoA is simply utterly great music that is good enough to not need past themes that much. The same can not be said for Potter 4 and 5. The music is OK, but could definitly benefit both from the appropriate use of established themes as well as having an identity of their own. Somehow I don't really find much of an identity in Potters 4 and 5. The same can be said for many modern scores though: There are bad ones, there are good ones, but many of the good ones still don't really have much of an identity.

Alan Silvestri is great. But how about James Newton Howard as well?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for me. But only because that's what I heard the most music of. I haven't heard much of the unreleased music from Prisoner of Azkaban outside the film and I can't remember much from in the film. I still love the music to Prisoner of Azkaban, even though I don't really like the film too much. Order for me: 1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Great themes, great use of themes, captures the atmosphere of both the film and the books brilliantly. 2) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Great emotion in the beautiful Window to the Past, the elegant but sad Buckbeak's Flight, the absolutely bone-chilling finale music combining the dementor music with the simple Patronus music, layered with a Window to the Past. Captures the spirit of the book brilliantly, even though the film does not. 3) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets The Chamber of Secrets and Fawkes' Theme are great and completely appropriate themes. The rest of the music is pretty good, but not in the league of the above two scores. 4) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix A pretty good score, but not enough new themes and not much thematic development. All tracks have something enjoyable about them and no tracks are truly great. Pretty good use of Hedwig's Theme. I especially like it's usuage in the opening track. Although it's far from John Williams quality, it does sound Potterish. 5) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire I really don't care much for this one. Some tracks are somewhat enjoyable, but much of the music completely misses the mark. The First Task was begging for better music than what it got. It requires exciting "Flying on broomstick, chased by dragon" music. Instead it got "Look, a dragon! Look, it's still there! Dragon! DRAGON!" music. Only a couple of seconds of that track actually did justice to the "exciting flight on a broomstick" aspect of the scene and the rest of the music only focussed on the dragon. The themes are OK, but none of the music feels at home in the Potter world. I personally think there should be some more thematic integrity between the films. Fawkes' Theme should be used where appropriate and I want the return of Voldemort's Theme and A Window to the Past. These are all great themes that could and can be put to great use in many scenes in films 4-7.

Favourite: John Williams beyond a shadow of a doubt. Other composers have written good scores and there are several other brilliant composers, but John Williams is simply the best. Least feavourite: Alan Menken. He might write memorable songs, but I don't like any of his music. And he won more Oscars than he should have, based on the amount of Oscars John Williams won.

Raiders March.

Does anyone have this release? It seems pretty interesting. It includes, amongst others, music from the Pirates of the Caribbean films performed by actual orchestra.

I am thinking of buying this DVD, but I would like the version with the score only track, of course. So the question is: Which version has the score only track and how do you access it?

Hello all, It seems there are rather a lot of new films coming up that might be of some interest. But with the amount of films that are upcoming, how to distinguish between the good and the bad? So the question is: Which of the new films are you looking forward to? Which ones will suck? Why? A selection of the upcoming films: Stardust Directed by: Matthew Vaughn Music by: Ilan Eshkeri Release Date: 4 October 2007 In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm. Beowulf Directed by: Robert Zemeckis Music by: Alan Silvestri Release Date: 22 November 2007 The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel who is terrorizing towns, and later, Grendel's mother, who begins killing out of revenge. The Golden Compass Directed by: Chris Weitz Music by: Alexandre Desplat Release Date: 6 December 2007 In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization. I Am Legend Directed by: Francis Lawrence Music by: James Newton Howard Release Date: 20 December 2007 Robert Neville is the last man alive. He busies himself with preparing for a nightly attack from the rest of the world - all of which have transformed into blood-thirsty vampires. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets Directed by: Jon Turteltaub Music by: Trevor Rabin Release Date: 10 January 2008 Treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates looks to discover the truth behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, by uncovering the mystery within the 18 pages missing from assassin John Wilkes Booth's diary. The Spiderwick Chronicles Directed by: Mark Waters Music by: James Horner Release Date: 13 March 2008 Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures. 10,000 BC Directed by: Roland Emmerich Music by: Harald Kloser Release Date: 20 March 2008 A prehistoric epic that follows a young mammoth hunter's journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe. The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep Directed by: Jay Russell Music by: James Newton Howard Release Date: 20 March 2008 A lonely boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches a sea creature of Scottish legend. Indiana Jones IV Directed by: Steven Spielberg Music by: John Williams Release Date: 22 May 2008 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Directed by: Andrew Adamson Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams Release Date: 2 July 2008 The Pevensie siblings return to Narnia, where they are enlisted to once again help ward off an evil king and restore the rightful heir to the land's throne, Prince Caspian. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Directed by: David Yates Music by: Nicholas Hooper Release Date: 21 November 2008 As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past. The Lovely Bones Directed by: Peter Jackson Music by: Unknown Release Date: 2008 A young girl who was brutally raped and murdered, watches the effects of her death on her family from Heaven, as her parents drift apart, her father becomes obsessed with vengeance and her sister grows into the woman she would never be.

Nice! Congratulations on finishing yet another suite. I'm downloading it right now. BTW: I once made attached covers for my attempted Star Wars prequel edits. They are meant to be similar to the Special Edition covers that were released by Sony. I still have the PSD files, so I could change the text on the covers for you so that you could use them for your suites if you like.

Nicely done. I really like that story you made up. Especially the John Williams reference, of course.

I personally don't really see any need to have Sean Connery in Indy IV. I liked him a lot in The Last Crusade, but I think they can make a better Indy IV without relying on the past too much. The only character I really want to see make a return, apart from Indy himself, is Sallah. I would also like to see Marcus Brody again, but Denholm Elliott died, so that wouldn't work. I don't think that having Henry Jones, Marion, Short Round and Willie Scott in the fourth film is going to make it a much better film. They'd probably all have little cameos that don't have much to do with the story. Although it would be great if they could bring in these characters into the story in a believable way that really contributes to the story. Still I'm very much looking forward to Indiana Jones IV.

I hope London Symphony Orchestra. I haven't got the slightest idea if they actually WILL use the LSO though.

Basil Poledouris score: Starship Troopers Basil Poledouris theme: Theology/Civilization (Conan the Barbarian), Lonesome Dove, Quigley Down Under Basil Poledouris cue/track: Battle of the Mounds (Conan the Barbarian), Battle Montage (Farewell to the King), Denouement/End Title (Flesh & Blood) Basil Poledouris album: Conan the Barbarian Film scored by Basil Poledouris: The Hunt for Red October

I emptied it now. PMs should find me again.

They don't show movies there; they show documentaries there. If I want to see a movie about the Titanic, you'd think I could watch the movie called Titanic. Right? I won't deny that: It IS a good film. I might have liked a different film better, but the current film is a good film.

I didn't say it WOULD have been better; I said I would have LIKED it better. That statement is true. I really would have liked that better. I personally don't see what that particular love story has to do with the history of the Titanic. It could have been used in any other film. Why wasn't it a love story between an officer aboard the ship and a young lady instead? That would have provided an excuse to show more of the goings-on about the actual sailing of the ship. AND the reason for the sinking. I wanted to see Titanic to see why the Titanic sank. And although I admit it is a pretty good film, it wasn't really about the sinking of the Titanic at all. It was a love story that was set against the background of the Titanic history. I would've liked it the other way around: The history of the Titanic with a love story in it. Or no love story at all; I don't quite understand why just about all films need a love story. Having a personal story in the film or having the personal story BE the story are two different things. I expected the film to be about the Titanic. It wasn't. It was about the love story. In short: What the film is, is pretty good. But it simply isn't what I would have liked from a film called Titanic.