Bayesian

It was quite enjoyable actually. Formulaic as hell but very well executed. On par with the first one, perhaps even better in some ways. Cameron knows how to deliver a spectacle and this is definitely yet another example. The score was pretty good actually, definitely better than I anticipated.
 
As for the running time... Let's put it this way, I had some coffee not long before the showing and wanted to pee 20 minutes into the film and enjoyed myself regardless. If that's not praise, I don't know what is. 😄
 
Overall, it's sort of exactly the kind of experience like Top Gun: Maverick. You know exactly what you're getting and yet you're still having a good time.
 
This guy definitely knows what he's doing.
 
Karol

I really like the first one even on the small screen. I watched it at home this week for the first time in ages, and even though I remembered the main plot beats, I was still drawn into the story and adventure. I think Saldana's excellent performance as Neytiri is the key to the first film. She is probably the only character that feels properly fleshed out rather than a mere trope, such as Ribisi's "evil corporate asshole" or Lang's "evil military asshole" (although I did enjoy Lang's scenery chewing performance). I don't quite think the sequel has the same amount of heart that Neytiri brought to the first one.
 
This sequel looks spectacular. Aside from the scenery and underwater stuff, there are some close-ups of Neytiri that look astonishingly real. The new teenage characters walk a very fine line between being tolerable and annoying, and it doesn't help that they refer to each other as "bro" in practically every scene they are in. That might work for LA surfer dudes but it doesn't quite work when the people who are saying it look like the Na'vi.
 
I still prefer the first one, and I think I'd enjoy the sequel more if it wasn't three hours. There is loads in it to enjoy but there is also a lot of padding.

This indicates to me Williams is going to campaign hard as he reasonably can for Oscar no. 6

Definitely do the theater. It's the last time you'll see "Music by John Williams" on a new Spielberg picture on the big screen. Unless, of course, it's not.

I only just noticed the cleverness of the way the Amblin moon is introduced after the Universal earth as though the two actually belonged to each other in real life.
 
(Yeah, yeah, duh.)

Definitely do the theater. It's the last time you'll see "Music by John Williams" on a new Spielberg picture on the big screen. Unless, of course, it's not.

I liked it a lot! Some really good acting and direction, it knows its scale, highly personal but overall humble enough, more of a love letter to the parents with all their quirks and faults than a self-glorifying biopic. Many standout scenes I loved.

Definitely do the theater. It's the last time you'll see "Music by John Williams" on a new Spielberg picture on the big screen. Unless, of course, it's not.

Here's the same video on youtube, might be better quality than twitter
 
 

Love this article on what also stood out to me as the most interesting scene in the movie (the one in the hallway after showing the Ditch Day movie)
 
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/12/steven-spielberg-the-fabelmans-blockbuster-legacy/672456/
 
The key:
 
I even liked reading the article's spirited defense of Ready Player One being an exercise in self-critique
 
But ultimately I disagree.  I think it's a valid read on the film, but I don't personally sense that intent on the part of Spielberg.  I think in his mind he was just making a crowd-pleaser where he got to experiment with new technology (which is of course another theme of The Fabelmans, his interest in the engineering of film). Obviously I think he failed with that movie, but I enjoyed this alternative take.

Definitely do the theater. It's the last time you'll see "Music by John Williams" on a new Spielberg picture on the big screen. Unless, of course, it's not.

I did like the new Universal -> Amblin logo that premiered with The Fabelmans.  If nothing else just for the humor of having Goldsmith score over the ET Amblin emblem .
 
Despite my problems with Universal's strategy these days, it does feel good and right for Spielberg to be back "home" after so many years.  I just hope they continue to work together despite the failure of this one.
 
 

Spielberg has had a not great track record with casting young men over the last 20 years.  They've mostly ranged from bad (Justin Chatwin in WOTW) to the just ok, not actively hurting the movie but not good either (Jeremy Irvine in War Horse, Tye Sheridan in RP1).  Well, he finally struck gold with The Fabelmans.   I was so impressed with Gabriel LaBelle in this movie, he really knocked it out of the park in every way.  That scene with the jock bully in the hallway after showing the beach movie.... wow, the absolute highlight of the movie for me and LaBelle was truly great in it.

There's not much available as far as I know, except the art already used on the soundtrack album. But I've made this one with less text:
 

Watched Die Hard 2 this evening with the wife. Second best Die Hard movie set during Xmas!

Watched Die Hard 2 this evening with the wife. Second best Die Hard movie set during Xmas!

Listened to The Perfect Storm for the first time in a while. There’s some terrific terrific music in that one. I’ve forgotten how much soaring action it contained (and how sad I am that he isn’t around to do Avatar 2). 
 
While it’s still written in his unmistakable voice, it doesn’t seem to directly lift from his prior scores. At least nothing really jumped out at me. High time for an expansion (along with Mask of Zorro!)

A movie where humans and dinos meet, that's so imaginative!

I would never put it this way (it's a movie for dummies, the 'dialogue' takes the cake). But even with all the dumb spectacle in front of you, i give it to him that, like De Mille, when Cameron parts the Red Sea, it's something to behold and i enjoyed the last hour very much. It's not something i think anyone should spend years and billions of $ for, but given the competition it still comes out tops.

Just came back from the film. Not allowed to say much about the plot or other main aspects until tomorrow, but in short: Superb film, pure cinema at its finest. But you must see it in a proper cinema, preferably IMAX.
 
A few comments about the score, though. The best parts are those that have Horner's DNA in them, whether it concerns themes or orchestration. The rest -- and especially the action/suspense music -- is completely generic. In one ear, out the other. Indistinguishable from the dominant Hollywood action blockbuster sound (trite, synthetic ostinati, a wall of sound, chords without a core etc.). Just because Franglen was Horner's assistant/programmer/coffeemaker doesn't mean he automatically inherited his talent. The underwater music screamed for James Newton Howard in "Swimming" mode. But I'll give the soundtrack a go just to hear it on its own and see if it's possible to make a decent playlist out of the no doubt excessive presentation.

Well, we know of course JW remains keen to write music. When he says he doesn't want to spend 6 months of his autumn years working on a score, I take it to mean he has no more patience for experiences like Rise of Skywalker (i.e., endless rewrites and butchering of his hard work in the final cut).
 
From that POV, Indy 5 is almost assuredly the last blockbuster score with wall-to-wall music we will see from JW. But one or two more smaller scores for Spielberg are easy to imagine.
 
 

Well, we know of course JW remains keen to write music. When he says he doesn't want to spend 6 months of his autumn years working on a score, I take it to mean he has no more patience for experiences like Rise of Skywalker (i.e., endless rewrites and butchering of his hard work in the final cut).
 
From that POV, Indy 5 is almost assuredly the last blockbuster score with wall-to-wall music we will see from JW. But one or two more smaller scores for Spielberg are easy to imagine.
 
 

Well, we know of course JW remains keen to write music. When he says he doesn't want to spend 6 months of his autumn years working on a score, I take it to mean he has no more patience for experiences like Rise of Skywalker (i.e., endless rewrites and butchering of his hard work in the final cut).
 
From that POV, Indy 5 is almost assuredly the last blockbuster score with wall-to-wall music we will see from JW. But one or two more smaller scores for Spielberg are easy to imagine.
 
 

Original article (in Italian):
https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/22_dicembre_10/02-spettacoli-texxcorriere-web-sezioni-a4a6c670-789d-11ed-826e-c8ce3b8cd17b.shtml
 
Translated version:
https://www-corriere-it.translate.goog/spettacoli/22_dicembre_10/02-spettacoli-texxcorriere-web-sezioni-a4a6c670-789d-11ed-826e-c8ce3b8cd17b.shtml?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en