Gnome in Plaid

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Raiders of the Lost Ark Birdman The Fellowship of the Ring The Two Towers The Return of the King And seeing Home Alone today! Star Wars in January. I also had tickets to see E.T. and Naked Lunch but wasn't able to make it. Apollo 13, the Williams Harry Potters, Interstellar, and Jurassic Park are at the top of my wish list. That's a thing?

It's a tie for me among the AOTC statement, "Approaching the Death Star" from ROTJ, and this magnificent beauty:

In my opinion, it's his best score.

The Last Emperor!

"One of the things I love about film music is if i want to go and do my psychedelic country western heavy metal album, there probably is a movie...there's a producer somewhere going 'banjos and fuzz guitars - I need it!' You're required to experiment; that's the call." - Hans Zimmer Terence Blanchard's relationship with Spike Lee sounds like every composer's dream, too.

In a couple years it's just going to be Hans monologuing.

House of Sand and Fog is utterly devastating. It's the only movie I ever give "trigger warnings" for. Requiem for a Dream would be a close second, though. On the positive side of emotion, I still can't watch the end of Apollo 13 without tearing up.

Heavy Trip. It's basically a Finnish heavy metal Blues Brothers. And it's fucking hilarious. The Catcher Was a Spy was excellent, and it's a shame people got the wrong idea about what kind of movie it's supposed to be, because it should really be getting a lot more press. I can't say anything else really has left that much of an impression on me yet, but this is about the time of year I start paying attention again.

As a born-and-raised Midwesterner, other than the action music (although is "Run" the most Shorian action piece ever?), the score strikes me as very Midwestern. I think it's the pacing.

I don't often bother with anything besides the film festival these days. There's just not much that's interested me lately. I haven't seen a "blockbuster" since Jumanji (which, honestly, I found really fun). There aren't a whole lot of films which really demand a "cinema experience" (Loving Vincent comes to mind). That said, I'm probably going to see Green Book tomorrow. Oh what should have been.

A Dinesh D'Souza crapfest that posits today's Democrats are the ideological heirs to the Nazis and Trump is the only one who can save us from them... Decent score, though.

I really only know enough to go back to 1970, but I thought I'd give it a go. 2018 (so far): The Catcher Was a Spy (Shore) 2017: Loving Vincent (Mansell) 2016: The BFG (Williams) 2015: The Force Awakens (Williams) 2014: Inherent Vice (Greenwood) 2013: The Desolation of Smaug (Shore) 2012: Lincoln (Williams) 2011: The Adventures of Tintin (Williams) 2010: Edge of Darkness (Shore) 2009: Drag Me to Hell (Young) 2008: Appaloosa (Beal) 2007: American Gangster (Streitenfeld) 2006: The Fountain (Mansell) 2005: Revenge of the Sith (Williams) 2004: The Prisoner of Azkaban (Williams) 2003: The Return of the King (Shore) 2002: The Two Towers (Shore) 2001: The Fellowship of the Ring (Shore) 2000: The Cell (Shore) 1999: October Sky (Isham) 1998: American History X (Dudley) 1997: Amistad (Williams) 1996: Hamlet (Doyle) 1995: Apollo 13 (Horner) 1994: The Lion King (Zimmer) 1993: Cool Runnings (Zimmer) 1992: Alien 3 (Goldenthal) 1991: Naked Lunch (Shore/Coleman) 1990: Home Alone (Williams) 1989: Hider in the House (Young) 1988: The Land Before Time (Horner) 1987: The Kindred (Newman) 1986: The Fly (Shore) 1985: Legend (Goldsmith) 1984: The Temple of Doom (Williams) 1983: Return of the Jedi (Williams) 1982: E.T. (Williams) 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Williams) 1980: The Empire Strikes Back (Williams) 1979: Alien (Goldsmith) 1978: The Fury (Williams) 1977: Star Wars (Williams) 1976: The Omen (Goldsmith) 1975: Jaws (Williams) 1974: The Towering Inferno (Williams) 1973: Battle for the Planet of the Apes (Rosenman) 1972: The Godfather (Rota) 1971: Straw Dogs (Fielding) 1970: Patton (Goldsmith)

Hunh. It's one of the few Williams scores I find the electronics really add something.

Hey Steef. Pretty cool you didn't burn the place down.

"Narration by Christopher Lee"

I finally got around to seeing The Catcher Was a Spy, and god damn... Not only is it a phenomenal film (apparently reviewers didn't understand it's a character study, not a spy thriller), but it's probably Shore's best work since Edge of Darkness. He finds a wonderful balance between the touching sensitivity of his recent concert work and the unbridled tension of his 90s thriller scores. The end credits said there's an album available on Howe Records, but I can't find anything about it on his site. It would certainly be a very nice holiday surprise for it to get released.

Oooh, a new Lachenmann piece... That is not even remotely what I would have expected, but I quite like it nonetheless. The man really can do anything. Also, my favorite Lachenmann piece:

Well damn. I really loved Sponge Out of Water. Debney deserved a reprise.

One of my favorites is the exact opposite of a "big finish." It's small, and quiet, and ominous, and perfect.

Now I'm just waiting for the kick-ass replacement score by James Newton Howard.

I'm going to assume that's sarcasm, but if not, check out his sketches for the prequels. The orchestrators didn't have to do that much beyond writing "tacet" on some parts. That's what I was going to say. (That or Fury Road).

It might be impolitic to ask, but does anyone still have the Nixon transcriptions? The Sendspace link gives me an old court decision.

For calmer sea days, I'm partial to these. Thought I'd just post straight links instead of videos since this thread is swamping my browser-boat. MK Čiurlonis - The Sea Pinar Toprak - Dreams Are to Pursue II (The Wind Gods) Jeff Rona - Still Waters (White Squall)

The Force theme statement from the opening of Revenge of the Sith is probably my favorite iteration of the theme. Just awesome.

The Wind Gods was neat, but pretty much everything else I've heard from her is as cookie-cutter RCP as it gets. Hopefully she'll get a chance to branch out some here.