Will

I find Williams' comments that this score is like ballets and musical theatre very intriguing. It sounds like in his mind this score is really unique in his oeuvre.

"Visitor on Himmel Street" is a great cue, and overall the Book Thief is a very good score. But I found the film overall (like the book) to be quite cold and emotionless. It felt like it should have made me cry, but it didn't. Not even nearly. TFA had some really emotional film-and-music moments as well. Not always sad, sometimes joyful, but emotional. Han and Chewie enter the Falcon, Han enters the cockpit, Rey and Finn are picked up from Starkiller Base by Chewbacca, and they and the X-wings fly home, R2 wakes up, Rey and co. depart for Ahch-To, etc. Looks fine to me.

I just finished re-reading Dahl's book. I hadn't remembered just how good it was! A feel-good, humorous classic. Particularly some of the things the BFG says are really funny ("serves them right, left, and center" and "am I right or left?" are two examples, but there are so many). I can't wait to see what Spielberg has done with the story.

Has anyone seen this New Yorker review? The reviewer calls the BFG "Runt." Yes, one of the mean giants dubs him that at one point, but call him the BFG! Is this critic being funny or does he not realize everyone just calls the BFG ... the BFG! http://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-bfg-2

Technically, the saga told in the original and prequel trilogies is about Vader's descent to darkness and return to the light. So, he's the main character. But I see what you're saying.

In the cut scenes video I linked to earlier, 1:15:18-1:15:48 (containing the Force theme) is music not heard in the TFA OST or film. But is it from another of Williams' Star Wars scores? Or some other Star Wars-universe score by another composer?

Last week's EW stuff has made me even more excited for Rogue One! The tropical scenes look really cool.

I actually think the little reprise sounds kind of forced. The cue would be fine without it.

Well, Giacchino said this film was more like classic Star Trek, so that's the type of score he'll be writing. Which would be awesome.

I'll be seeing this on Friday afternoon (in 3D) and I expect to thoroughly enjoy it, despite the negative reviews. I don't trust most film critics too much.

I don't think that was ever confirmed in any solid way. A couple people online said it was coming in Q1 2016, but we have no idea whether these people are making that up or are mixing up various pieces of information.

Sweet! Interestingly, in the above video we hear the OST edit that combines "I'm No Hero" and "Arrival at Takodana," and microedits the arrival cue. So it seems that at least some of the time the game-makers were just taking stuff directly from the OST. But of course all the "You're Han Solo" material was not on the OST, so it seems they have access to the recording sessions (or at the very least the complete film audio track?) Here's a video containing every cut-scene in the game I found on YouTube. I'm checking for TFA music that was not on the OST right now. UPDATE: At 22:30 or so of the video I linked to above, we hear what we've assumed is the unused opening to "Rey The Scavenger." It plays over the shot of Finn waking up after the crash on Jakku and stumbling around, finding the TIE fighter crashed. In the film, there's no music during that scene. I wonder: Could the opening of OST "The Scavenger" have actually been intended for that Finn scene (thus making it a separate cue from "Rey The Scavenger"), but been dialed out in the final film? I just wanted to throw that out there and see what you guys think. Its style is similar to the cue heard during the scene right after the "waking-up" scene, which is "Finn's Trek." Additionally, its darkness, particularly at the end, seems to fit pretty well with Finn's predicament as he watches the TIE fighter collapse into the sand. And now I just realized that we could be dealing with two separate cues even in that little unused OST "Scavenger" bit. The end of that bit sounds very, very similar (perhaps even identical) to the music we hear as we see Finn in the stormtrooper transport, just after Phasma talked to him, and just before we cut to Rey opening the metal thing. But I figure the opening of that unused bit must be for a Jakku scene, so we could be dealing with a Jakku cue and a transport cue edited together just to make that 35-second opening to the OST track. Just speculating. It's a mess. UPDATE #2: Through 25:00 in the cut scenes video, I have not found any music that was not on the OST. Additionally, in the video Chewy Bomber posted, I didn't find anything beyond of course the "You're Han Solo" material. UPDATE #3: Nothing through 30:00 in the cut scenes video, I think. That's all the video game watching I'm going to do this morning.

By the way, are you still not revealing what's in your signature? (for us non-music-reading folks)

:55-:57 One of my all-time favorite rhythms.

Who's Willams? I think Romão might be John Boyega in disguise.

Good or bad arrangements? Can't listen right now.

Me too!

New featurette. Haven't actually gotten a chance to watch it yet.

Was there an intermission? If so, do you remember if Williams wrote any new music for the end of the first act (to lead into intermission), and/or any new music at the end of intermission to lead into the 2nd act?

Been stuck in my head for several hours. That fugal writing!!

Sounds fantastic! Super fun jazz. It's cool how Desplat says in the article he always wanted to do a big jazz score but hadn't gotten the chance -- until now. Is it just me or does the main theme resemble a melody from West Side Story?

Some pretty excellent dust collectors, those.

You don't remember the story? After Spielberg screened Schindler's List for Williams for the first time, Williams was so overwhelmed he had to go walk outside for a few minutes, which is what I was referring to. Then, of course, he came back, and told Spielberg that he thought the director needed a better composer for the film. And Spielberg replied with the famous (well, famous in film score circles) line: "I know, but they're all dead."

Not sure if anyone noticed this in the Wired Spielberg article from a few days ago (http://www.wired.com/2016/06/steven-spielberg-the-bfg/): So maybe he's still planning to direct It's What I Do? Or maybe the writer is basing that off old information and hasn't heard anything new.

Sweet! Love seeing JW on the podium, and this music sounds great! A lot more of the dream-like beauty and magic style from "Dream Country," it's not necessarily from that cue though.