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Cerebral Cortex

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  1. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to crumbs in Star Wars IX The Rise of Skywalker (JJ Abrams 2019)   
    I might be naive but I highly doubt Disney will start another Skywalker trilogy immediately after IX. They'll give it at least 5 or 6 years to build anticipation. Everyone will be happy to take a break from the Skywalker story by the time we reach IX.
     
    I like the idea of starting a new trilogy set in the Old Republic, with completely new characters dealing with an ancient Sith order that worships the dark side. They could essentially remake the prequel storyline in a totally different era, and it would be a cool way to fill the gap between Skywalker trilogies.
     
    Eventually they need to start making films that stand on their own feet, rather than rehashing existing events and characters. Rogue One, Han Solo, the rumoured Obi-Wan and Boba Fett films... c'mon, let's do something new!
  2. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to mrbellamy in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    That's so cool! Never expected we'd get an unofficial Disney sketch of John Williams at the podium out of this.
  3. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Will in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Here it is!
     
     
    By the way, looks like we should be able to see the specific date of the premiere on March 15: https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide
  4. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Muad'Dib in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Glen posted this on Facebook a couple of hours ago
     

     
    Kobe Bryant closes his eyes and listens for the first time to John Williams beautiful and emotional score for "Dear Basketball".
  5. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to crumbs in Favourite Star Wars musical third act & end credits   
    You mean, like a Zack Snyder movie?
  6. Like
    Cerebral Cortex got a reaction from Jay in What to expect from Episode VIII's Score?   
    I've been thinking about that phrasing quite a bit over the past couple days. For the longest time, I couldn't quite put into words why I liked Rey's theme quite as much as I did, or even why I liked it more so than other great Star Wars themes, even when they seemingly seemed equal to me at the surface level, but I think you just put it into words for me. It's that distinct lack of a sardonic or derisive underbite to the theme that, as you said, does seem to dominate the musical vernacular of the films that really makes it stand out. I didn't really realize that that was what it was specifically that did it for me until I came across your post. Thanks for putting into words what I could not.  
  7. Like
    Cerebral Cortex got a reaction from Bilbo in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Great find, Maclaine! That being said, I think it's worth noting that the bromance goes both ways, with Williams himself having a picture of Kobe in his office as well. 
     
  8. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Will in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    More:
     
     
    Nice that Kobe doesn't follow the Disney method of treating recording sessions like National Security Council briefings. 
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  10. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Tom in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    This is probably the first time in many years Williams has composed a score for a movie with a near-final edit while scoring. 
  11. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Tom in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Have we ever seen new Williams sheet music snapped in almost real time before?
     
    I like how Williams adds the personal touch of "for Kobe Bryant."  This piece could be special. 
  12. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to The Psycho Pianist in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Seems like a piece that starts off quietly and slowly, maybe with some solo passages - before building up later on. At least, from what I can see.
     

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  14. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Will in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Mid-April is going to be awesome guys. This and Last Jedi trailer!!
     
    I love Williams fanfares so I am absolutely hyped for this. So glad to be finally 100% certain that it hasn't been cancelled. 
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  16. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Muad'Dib in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant Collab ‘Dear Basketball’ To Premiere At Tribeca
     

  17. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to mrbellamy in THE POST - FILM Thread   
    I don't see it that way, necessarily. Like, I wish he could get that Moctezuma film going more than anything, but I don't see this as the thing that's replacing or delaying that or any of his more ambitious projects on the horizon. We all know Spielberg could do a grand epic and still easily crank out stuff like this in 6 month intervals. To me, at least with these dramas he's been seeking out world-class writers like Tony Kushner and the Coen Brothers and digging in with fine actors he's never worked with before like Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, Mark Rylance, now Meryl Streep (yeah I know she was in A.I. but that doesn't really count.) It's not like he's bringing David Koepp in on these too. If cinematically they lack the kind of vinegar that we know Spielberg is capable of, at least the craftsmanship is never lacking and the core material -- while sometimes lacking in bite, depth, or ambiguity in its drama -- is generally stronger than the genre stuff he's been picking IMO, at least since Minority Report.
     
    I mean, if anything, Lincoln and Bridge of Spies felt like movies he's never really tried to make before? Yeah, they get stuck in a kinda dull rhythm as they approach 150 minutes, but after overly blowing his load with the expected Spielbergian melodrama on War Horse I think it's been interesting to see him try out this muted side of his classical craftsmanship, it's quite elegant at times. I think he could be going somewhere with that if he can just figure out how to engage his newfound understatement a little more into an accelerated pace, and some more interesting staging than a few too many shots of Honest Abe sitting down monologuing with the camera slowly pushing in. But the silent opening of Bridge of Spies following Rylance around New York for example is masterful Hitchcockian suspense, except reminding me more of the reserved momentum that influenced the French New Wave rather than the kinetic genre techniques that Spielberg always made his mark with. It was kinda like his version of the chase in Le Samourai, awesome! So I'm open to seeing if he can pull off something compelling with this and Edgardo Mortara.
     
    That said I obviously love his big, exciting, emotional audiovisual feasts and desperately want to see him truly succeed with something like that again. But it does seem like the stuff he's been actively pursuing with that kind of potential (or that he's able to get made right now) fall a little too close to his previous movies to feel like he's doing anything but essentially retracing his career highlights. You get these isolated great moments like the first 30-40 minutes of War of the Worlds, the Falcon chase in Tintin, or the Dream Country in BFG but the movies themselves don't really have enough else going for them. Ready Player One could be really neat, I guess we'll see. At this point, though, once again I'm expecting one or two absolutely cracking sequences in an otherwise just moderately entertaining movie. Indy 5, about as promising. 
     
    And even still, there's something to be said for how something like BFG could have been done with a much more novel approach throughout and yet it's still pretty hit-and-miss. Personally I would have liked to see him take a more modest approach with it, a purer fantasy vision that felt very loving and handmade, stylishly atmospheric. You do get some really lovely passages, but it's kinda marred by pretty garish designs owing to his insistence since JP on pushing the CG envelope....that lead to some splendid results in the early 2000s but lately feels to me like a misguided attempt to be cutting edge? Also his sense of humor which has always been kinda campy and has rarely consistently worked to his advantage. For every Raiders there's 1941, and likewise in BFG for every scene like the surprisingly funny Queen's banquet, there's cringey shit like this:
     
     
    Anyway, honestly, more than anything, as a JWFan I appreciate Spielberg's working process and how he's able to suddenly announce these smaller things and squeeze them into his schedule, since it's always a new opportunity for a Williams score. I still thoroughly enjoy his recent drama scores so the more the merrier for me. We'll probably get a solid end credits piece out of it. 
  18. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Disco Stu in The MCU - Marvel Cinematic Universe   
    This picture has made the entire MCU worth it.
     

  19. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Dixon Hill in Has John Williams ever conducted music written by a Japanese composer?   
    Indeed.  Takemitsu brought the language of Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Koechlin, and even the already contemporary Messiaen and Dutilleux fully into the present day.  He, along with Schuller, was among the first to really exploit the potential that lush idiom had for a subtle melding with jazz stylings - as opposed to the more overt, delineated attempts at injecting jazz into concert music by some other composers like Stravinsky and Gershwin, and the aforementioned Ravel and Milhaud.  
     
    As Schuller was the one to coin the whole "Third Stream" idea, it isn't surprising to find him as one of the first to really achieve it, but Takemitsu, in my opinion at least, was even more successful with it.  Alex North had taken it quite a distance as well, and he obviously was a presence for the young Williams, along with Mancini who also did this.  But Takemitsu's earthy, mystical, nature-infused aesthetic must have really seized on Johnny's sensibilities.  Look no further than the early flute concerto - that could easily be mistaken for a piece of Toru's.  
     
    I know when Williams' "influences" are talked about, the favorite candidates are always Elgar, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Wagner... but I think those are mostly rather facile guesses.  Takemitsu is where it's at.
  20. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to KK in FILM: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson (2002)   
    While I agree that the pieces you point out aren't necessarily "distinctive", I still think they feel very "at-home" in Middle-Earth, if you follow me. I understand why that material maybe underwhelming for most. Even I was bored by many of those passages for many years. But there's a very natural Tolkien-esque/world-building ambience to them that I've really come to appreciate, and that's something you don't often hear often in these kind of big pictures. Something Shore himself never quite brought back for the Hobbit pictures (though I blame the films more for that one). The Ent material is a good example of that. Not melodically memorable, perhaps, but it has some of the coolest and most earthy textures of the work.
     
    Some other moments that come to mind from the storylines you mentioned:
     
     
     
     
    This whole bloody cue is fantastic:
     
    It's like Shore built all the shapes and characters with FOTR, and then was adding the more subtle details of the painting with TTT. It's a far more textural work, much like DoS funny enough.
     
    To clarify, I definitely see where you're coming from. I'm just trying to say that's a whole side I've come to love about TTT. That the Three Hunters storyline probably has the score's highlights is true, but as a whole, the balance works very well, for myself at least.
     
    As for my favourite, that's ROTK, for various reasons. But each of them have something different to take away.
     
     
    Mind you, I think it's very distinctive, and one of the finest moments of Shore's career. But many would, and have disagreed with me, hence my phrasing
  21. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to KK in FILM: The Two Towers - Peter Jackson (2002)   
    I think that's the beauty and strength of the score actually. Of the trilogy, TTT probably channels the natural Tolkien-esque ambience of Middle-Earth best. Something like "Gandalf the White" may not feel as overtly distinctive as the location/journey cues of FOTR, but it feels so inherently Tolkien, where Shore seems to write for a deeper subtext. This gets somewhat lost in the grandeur and scale of ROTK, but that's fine. One of the beautiful things about the trilogy is that each score, while part of a whole, has something unique to offer in spirit and craft.
  22. Like
    Cerebral Cortex got a reaction from Quintus in John Williams to Score Kobe Bryant short film "Dear Basketball"   
    Great find, Maclaine! That being said, I think it's worth noting that the bromance goes both ways, with Williams himself having a picture of Kobe in his office as well. 
     
  23. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to crumbs in Pursuit of the Falcon   
  24. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to BloodBoal in Pursuit of the Falcon   
  25. Like
    Cerebral Cortex reacted to Will in Favorite short musical moments in Williams scores?   
    3:24 - 3:29
     
     
    One of my two favorite moments in the piece, the other being:
     
    1:41 - 1:58 (it actually sounded better on the OST)
     
     
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