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Posts posted by Bayesian
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3 minutes ago, Smeltington said:
I'd buy a Funko pop of Mike Matessino.
He deserves it easily as much as some of the awfully obscure characters that do get the Funko treatment. But this simply calls attention to the fact that the lack of a JW pop is borderline criminal at this point. They'll put out Star Wars characters that six people in the world would actually care about, but the guy who writes the music for all nine episodes of the skywalker saga gets nothing??
I've emailed Funko three times over the last four years with eloquent and articulate reasons for making a JW pop and I've heard nothing but crickets from them.
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Videos like yours, @InTheCity, remind me how much goddamn work goes into writing good music. I'm, to my eternal chagrin, not a musician or musicologist, but to see how much thought and interpretation goes into, for example, a single unit of articulation under a single note blows my mind. To think how many hundreds upon hundreds of such marks a composer might incorporate into their work, or a conductor might have to think about those marks in their interpretation, or a musician must remain mindful of when playing. And then to think about the decisions required about tone color, instrument assignment, and all the rest... so many of them made for split-second moments that may tragically not even register for 99% of the movie-going audience... It's humbling and overwhelming to think about this.
This is music that deserves to be listened to the way you might study for the SATs or the bar. After videos like these, I hardly feel worthy enough to listen to any more JW until I've studied my music theory!
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Killing the Coyote v. Acme movie will long remain in my mind one of the biggest missed opportunities in Hollywood, right alongside Jurassic world dominion. The premise is high-concept in a way we haven’t seen in ages and bursting with comedic potential.
I’d really enjoy it if some other studio someday picks up the rights to make this film, same cast, same everything, and earns $500M at the box office with it.
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15 hours ago, bollemanneke said:
Did they get rid of Andrew Collins after that disastrous JW interview or is that unrelated?
What's this?? A disaster of an interview? What happened? Is there a link to watch or listen to it?
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31 minutes ago, rough cut said:
@Bayesian Is this a review of the 4K trailers or you’re simply watching the full movies from - let’s just say - an “alternative” source before you buy the physical product?
I'm not sure I fully get your question. These movies I watched in full in theaters and then once more on DVD or bluray. Except for True Lies, which I watched twice in my life, the last time on DVD like 15 years ago or something.
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Wow. The details about the James Cameron 4K releases are a lot to take in. (After LLL's BF drop, I'm going to have to wait until well into next year to buy any of these releases, so I'm hoping they pressed a damn bunch of them.)
True Lies is the one movie in the group I don't think aged very well. It's also uncomfortably sexist in parts, if memory serves, so I'm ok skipping that one. Abyss, Aliens, though, are straight-up sci-fi classics and must-owns, and the Abyss 4K trailer makes the restoration look amazing.
Titanic... man, I dunno. I don't know how many more times in my life I'd feel the need to watch that movie. During its initial theatrical release, Titanic had an incredible scale, a vastness, that I remember had me spellbound both times I saw it on the big screen. However, a big part of that was the film grain, or filmic "look," that simply vanished after the movie got upscaled or restored or whatever for blu-ray. Suddenly, the mesmerizing pan from stern to bow of the sinking ship, with people running away from the freezing water in real time, no longer looked as impressive. It looked instead like it was shot on a set. And the upward pan and pause on a frame filled with hundreds of doomed people flailing in the sea after the ship has disappeared into the inky abyss and the camera has pulled back away from Rose... that moment, in the theater, hit me like a ton of bricks. In the cleaned-up, higher def version, though, it's just not as impressive. If the 4K brings back the filmic look, I'd be tempted one day to get it mostly for the bonus material.
Avatar and Avatar 2... well, here's another couple of examples of "how often am I really going to want to rewatch this?" On the other hand, I desperately want to see any and all deleted scenes showing life on dystopian Earth, and there's at least one such scene in the forthcoming 4K. My interest in this may seem weirdly specific, but I always like seeing realistic or thoughtful portrayals of potential futures (e.g. Minority Report) and obviously Cameron would have done his portrayal as plausible as possible. Also, given the lead time to make Avatar, it's likely that any such scenes were storyboarded or visualized in 2006 or 2007, meaning we're now approaching twenty years since this visioning occurred. It's a little bit like a time capsule, a nugget of futurecasting from the Inconvenient Truth era.
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21 hours ago, Andy said:I voted Silvestri. I don’t like him enough to be a completist, but I think he has an interesting career. And Elfman already got his box set.
Elfman got a box set that no one owns because they made too few of them and they're impossible to find on the secondary market. I need my Elfman box set, one way or another.
- Andy, Yavar Moradi and JTN
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18 hours ago, crumbs said:
Doubly bizarre considering Williams so regularly praises Stone and their collaboration together. You'd think he'd be keen to revisit those scores with fresh remasters. Strange that none have been done yet, and sad that the WB situation means JFK is off the table.
As for the other two, I'd bet good money BOT4J will turn up in July next year for the 35th Anniversary, and hopefully Nixon is one of the two JW Intrada titles in development.
I never knew JW volubly praised Stone previously. That's neat to learn.
I too yearn for the JW/OS scores to get their time in the expanded OST limelight. Nixon would be at the top of my wishlist, as there was something unique (if short-lived) about JW's sound in the mid-90s, especially between Nixon and Sleepers, and I'd love to dive deeper into that world.
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Have we remarked yet on how beautiful the album art is? The album cover is perfect for a definitive edition with its near-regal color palette and uncluttered layout. (Not that I had any problem with the previous expansion's art -- I've always loved the way that cover was put together.) And from the LLL spash art for this release, it's amply clear we're going to get visual resplendence on all of the (many) pages of the booklets! (Is that splash piece available in larger resolution anywhere??)
There's something intangible but essential added to the enjoyment of music when you see it nestled in a beautifully designed package. It's a big part of the reason I collect CDs, and in this regard, LLL is the standard-bearer. Jim Titus, we owe you a huge and heartfelt thanks.
EDIT: The facebook page for this release has the splash art in larger size.
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I’m in total disbelief right now. How long has our community obsessed over a new, better Hook? I joined in 2015 and it was already received wisdom that that score needed a new presentation. And so, year after year, we’d hype ourselves over the possibility of a Hook expansion, talking about anniversaries and studio intrigue and all the rest. And year after year, disappointment awaited us. Until today. Improbably, unbelievably, we no longer have to wait. No more pleading! No more teeth gnashing! No more disappointment! It’s finally, actual-factually coming!!
Thank you MM and everyone else involved in making this dream come true!! And @Jay, how long have you had to sit on this news?? Your restraint here — not a single hint from you that this was in the pipeline— was phenomenal. Kudos, sir.
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Fucking ordered as fuck!!!!!
- Jay, Bryant Burnette, QuartalHarmony and 2 others
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2 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:I still believe people here tend to overestimate the intent behind these releases.
The people in charge likely know nothing about film music. They probably never thought about how a film contains more music than the accompanying soundtrack album. Maybe they've heard of expanded releases, in which case they might think of the additional tracks as bonus tracks (like on a re-release of a pop/rock album with bonus tracks). If they even stop to consider that there might be even more music that hasn't yet been released, I doubt they conclude that there's a sizeable (and sadly *that's* debatable) community that is desperately waiting for that music to be released.
In short, they probably know and care about as much about film music as I do about cars or football, or even less.
"Complete" in that context makes sense - and in some others. The set is complete insofar as it contains every soundtrack from the series. No, it doesn't contain every second of music from the series - see above. "Complete" is a marketing term - c.f. the "complete recordings" of the LOTR scores, which certainly aren't the complete *recordings* (those would be hours and hours more, and most of them would be uninteresting). They're not calling them "expanded" - and even that could be argued for, because the first three *are* expanded compared to the OST albums.
This release is redundant. It's horribly overpriced. I don't believe it's a scam.
Ultimately, the problem is that these releases are handled by business people instead of artists/fans.
Business people know how to read, right? Like, how to read the exhortations from the passionate, money-spending collector crowd? Or they have staff who can tell them that there exists a passionate, money-spending crowd that would buy properly produced expanded albums, I assume? So why don't these people listen??
The specialty labels aren't charities. They aren't raking it in, but they've remained going concerns for years, during the CD format's lowest ebb. Disney should know they could make money from this endeavor-- indeed, they do know it, since they've got their Legacy Collection going.
Money is money. Revenue is revenue. If I spend $50K on something and earn $65K in return, I've made money. That alone should make the endeavor worth undertaking. Whether I made that $15K flogging Mickey Mouse crap on the sidewalk or producing & releasing an archival-quality expanded score from America's and the world's favorite composer, it's still $15K to me. Why would I turn my back on it?
What the hell are these scores going to be worth in the future if the source tapes or reels or whatever are degraded beyond repair, or the people capable of doing the restoration and production are no longer around or have moved on to other things? Make your money now, Disney. Come back in 10 years with a reissue of a properly expanded box set and get folks to double-dip if you want; at least you'll have another product in your back catalog you can reissue.
What on earth is the downside to any of this, Disney??
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1 minute ago, crumbs said:
Is it a safe assumption that we're effectively screwed either way now?
If this set tanks, Disney will never invest time or money into proper remasters, much less pay the AFM fees to expand 4 and 5, because they'll assume there's no interest.
If the set sells well, they'll just keep it in print forever, because there's no financial benefit in spending money on a superior product when lazy trash makes an easy profit instead.
It will take the personal intervention of Spielberg, Williams or Mangold at this point to get expansions off the ground now. It's plainly obvious Disney do not give a fuck.
There's also the likelihood that no company will want to be the target of a social media-based, wrongheaded witch-hunt for releasing an actually complete box set of OST expansions soon after issuing a box set they already called "complete". So, yeah, we're fucked.
- ThePenitentMan1, enderdrag64, Bellosh and 1 other
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I think we’re all actually looking at this situation the wrong way. Hear me out.
First, Disney, knowing that they’re responsible for releasing likely the last OST of a great and popular composer’s career, offers the album for sale for approximately 20 minutes on some dark corner of the web instead of allowing preorders on Amazon where it could be gauged what the demand would be. Then they manage to piss off literally everyone interested in the OST—even those who managed to order it—by repeatedly delaying the ship date, encouraging the secondary market extortion of desperate CD completists, and sporadically making additional copies available for sale in a sick game of online retail whack-a-mole that’s been going on for four months now.
After all this, you’d think there’d be nothing left Disney could do to insult and antagonize the devoted CD collecting crowd, but now they spring this “complete” box set of scores of us at a ridiculous price, tempting collectors who missed out on the DoD CD to basically pay 5x the money to get the one disc they actually want.You gotta admire the sociopathic genius behind it all.
- GerateWohl, enderdrag64, Bellosh and 11 others
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Napoleon
4.25 stars out of 5.
I just left the first showing that was playing in my area, and even though it’s not perfect, I loved this film. In its production design, it’s epic in a swing-for-the-fences way that reminds me of Waterworld (an astonishing achievement in a far different genre, the likes of which Hollywood will never manage again). The film cost a fortune to make, but you see every last dollar and British pound up on the screen.
At the moment, the only things I can find fault with involve Scott’s fairly staid blocking and the way the film sort of breezes from one major event or setpiece to the next. The former is only a problem to the extent blockbuster moviemaking has become a vertiginous mess in the last two decades and conditioned us to expect more camera motion, but even so, I’d have loved to see a bit of the Spielberg touch to make camera moves a little more captivating. (That said, Scott’s steady camera does at times allow your eyes to drench themselves in a beautiful unfolding of armies rushing to collide with each other, and those moments are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Oh, if only they lasted longer on screen!). As for my second quibble, the cause of it is simply that there is so much ground to cover. I very much expect the 4-hr cut to resolve a lot of that problem.
Phoenix and Kirby are excellent in their roles. Actually, everyone is terrific. Not a bad one in the bunch. Costume design is top-shelf. Music is very good; I love what Phipps wrote for the coronation and for the battles at Austerlitz and Waterloo. The staging of these two battle scenes, incidentally, was glorious, in particular, Waterloo. I wouldn’t be surprised if they show these scenes in classrooms in the future.
The critics are right when they say this film doesn’t glorify Napoleon or his battlefield successes. Indeed, the very idea that France in the first decade of the 19th century had vastly expanded its territory across most of Europe is barely hinted at. Scott never takes the viewer to the 30,000 ft view of things, so unless you already know the history, you never really learn why Napoleon and his army are fighting the battles they fight in the places they fight them. By a similar token, the Reign of Terror, the Egyptian campaign, the Congress of Vienna… all are shown in glimpses with little to no context. If you don’t already know about them, they’ll come and go from the screen without leaving much of an impression. (All the more reason we need Spielberg’s miniseries/docuseries more than ever.)
But all these issues evaporate in the avalanche of sumptuous eye candy Scott gives us. The burning of Moscow. The port at Toulon aflame. The coronation scene. An utterly magnificent shot of Napoleon marching with his followers through a European hayfield upon escaping Elba. The eerily beautiful, snow- and windswept shots of Austerlitz. The Prussian march toward Waterloo from the east. I could go on and on. The film is a visual revelation and absolutely worth watching on the big screen for that reason alone.
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Just finished the series. I'd love to know what version all the many critics who gave one- or two-star reviews were watching, because the version I saw was incredibly well done. (Sure, the German characters (save Werner) were almost uniformly played as sociopaths, but never in a way that was not credible.) Production values were film-level quality and JNH's score was excellent. (Model Building is a memorable cue that works really well in its scene in Ep. 4.)
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On 12/11/2023 at 12:28 PM, Edmilson said:
Do you agree or disagree with Cieply?
Michael Cieply: Movie-wise, The Most Exciting Part Of The Year Is Behind Us
Click-bait BS. (Unfortunately, it worked, since I clicked the link.). Guy bases his entire argument on the notion that nothing’s coming up this holiday season that rivals Barbenheimer, then lists a half dozen movies that are collectively more interesting and appealing to audiences than those two pictures were. Unless he equates “exciting” with box office, which is disingenuous to say the least.
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8 hours ago, Edmilson said:You consider JP3 worse than any of the Jurassic World movies?
I think JP3 is a masterpiece when compared with Fallen Kingdom and Dominion.
Dominion was a shameful and infuriating letdown. Finally, we had the chance to see dinosaurs and humans coexist in the real world — as teased by the trailers themselves — and instead they isolate all the action at some placeless site in the Dolomites?? Boo. Hiss.
The JP franchise may be the only one where each entry is worse than the one before. To manage that feat five times in a row is probably some kind of record.
- Edmilson, Yavar Moradi and JTN
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JW writes two film scores, gets a Grammy nom for each. Sounds about right.
- Yavar Moradi and Sandor
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Claude Bolling wrote film scores?! I only know him for his (fantastic) albums for jazz piano trio + [insert instrument].
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I’ve read before (likely in one of these threads or via links in one of these threads) of composers sometimes being seen by producers as the last best hope to rescue a bad film. However, I’m not sure I can come up with any strong examples of that. Does anyone have a good example, or know of an archetypal example?
There are lots of movies, of course, where the score does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of selling the emotions of different scenes or moving the story along, but actually making a bad movie watchable by virtue of of the score alone— I’d love to know which movies count in this category.
What does John Williams drink?
in JOHN WILLIAMS
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Screwdrivers are at least more affordable than the top-shelf Johnnie walker we learned he likes earlier in this thread.