Chen G.

1995 had Braveheart, Se7en, Toy Story, The Usual Suspects, Before Sunrise and GoldenEye.

A very good example of what I look for in a movie. It was a big blockbuster, with fantastical elements, and one of a particularly large scale, but at its heart it was first and foremost a drama. Or, more specifically, a tragedy. As overly-long and at-times cluttered as the journey to the film's climax was, the fact that I was sobbing at the end of it (and still am, upon revisiting it) meant that it did work.

I don't watch too many films, nor too often: I think that constantly rushing to the cinema in the name of one's cinephillia is the surest way to make the filmgoing experience feel like a chore or a routine. Rather, I choose to savour the exeprience. The films I do see are mostly tentpole blockbusters: I enjoy the spectacle and action like any other guy. But I do want explorations of humanity in my blockbusters. I think its all too easy to explore human themes in a traditional drama - the real trick is to do that in a blockbuster, without letting it be lost amidst the genre elements or the scale of the picture. Its not just a balancing act, either: I find that the best blockbusters are ones that use those narrative elements to prop the drama higher and higher. Ideally, a film would either make me laugh (if its a comedy) or cry, or both. I also have a fascination with serialized cinema. Crafting the story for a film is one thing, crafting a story told over multiple entries - now that's the real deal. By this I don't refer to series that rely on a shared setting, recurring characters or iconography - but of a unified story that's simply too big to be told within the confines of one film.

And yet The Last Jedi, also recorded there, sounds much better. I say its the mix that's to blame, mostly.

In the internet age, people just can't distinguish the man from his work. Someone should tell that to all the Wagnerites out there.

I'm certainly not advocating music drowning sound effects, and the sound design on The Force Awakens is excellent and deserves to shine. But if the audience comes out of the film (especially in this series) unaware that there was music at all - without actively listening to the underscore and without having heard the OST prior - that's a problem. It sure doesn't help that The Force Awakens is one of, if not the least extrovert and grand of the eight scores, and features the smallest instrumental ensemble.

It doesn't, especially during the movie, where it borders on the imperceptible.

See, this is what I don't understand. Stories are defined by their central conflict, and while other long-running series have such a single central conflict, here the throughline between Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter seems to be the setting itself. This, to me, makes the films feel like vehicles for the Wizarding World itself, as if the goal of the film is to experience this fictional setting for two hours, which is simply not what cinema is about.

I can undertand how it wouldn't be someone's cup of tea, as it were.

It’s called build-up. The entire movie’s the build-up to the cemetery showdown. Were it not for that buildup, you wouldn’t remember that scene. Sergio Leone is the master of build-up.

The ending is clearly meant to be a shorthand for the defeat of the Empire at large, especially with the bit added to the Special Edition - an addition which I like.

I simply use a portion of Edge of the Wild (including the company material) as Intermission music. Oh no. There's a reason Shore doesn't quote Dangerous Passes in The Hobbit: its a theme specifically for the Quest of the Ring, and is therefore only applied to situations where the ring is being carried across treacherous landscapes. Its not simply a "high places" theme.

When it debuted in TIFF, it was twenty minutes longer. However, the TIFF audience and critics found it mind-numbingly boring at that length, so the director had to cut his movie shorter. I would say, however, Braveheart isn't great to me necessarily because of Gibson's acting (although I'd argue he's excellent in it) but because of what he does behind the camera, and because of some of the contributions of his creative partners: Horner, editor Steve Rosenblum, DP John Toll and screenwriter Randall Wallace. Its a wonder of a film.

Was it the latest, extended cut? The one that's just pushing three hours? Because that's definitely a tad too long. The American cut of the film is (mostly) much better. Its not a studio cut, though: the "extended" cut was indeed Leone's cut for European audiences. Reproducing it in English did mean some rather egregious dubbing had to take place, which also hurts the film. Otherwise, I find it excellent, not unlike you. There's no doubt in my mind that it was designed to be - as you pointed out - the western genre's equivalent of the historical epics of the era - and I probably like it more than most of the era's output in the latter genre.

From memory, I liked 7 fine.

Titles are a brand, a marketing tool: they mean absolutely nothing to the content of the film.

The script wasn't lost, nor was it dissed by Tolkien - that was an even earlier script by one Zimmerman. I believe Boorman's script was turned down by the studio, after a change of management.

I like it fine (I really like the theme in general) but I don't think its that different to the original arrangement. Like @KK said, Han Solo and the Princess this isn't.

Don't ask me: Its @SF1_freeze that brought this topic back up. If he has any new argument, though - I'm certainly up for the discussion. At any rate, its better than the ad hominem stuff that the last few posts have been trafficking in.

Can we just voice our opinions about the film, rather than about each other?

And immediately following that, the big statement of the Kylo Ren fanfare with choir, which than goes on to sing for the reveal of Luke's astral projection reveal.

Meh. The sequel trilogy's choral writing is nothing compared to Revenge of the Sith. The latter half of that film is like a friggin' opera.

That's right. Because lord forbid Chris Columbus should get even one decision right, visuals-wise.

Will the movie be 2.5 hours like The Last Jedi? I hope not. Abrams has a better sense of pace than Johnson. Oh, its not like I actually think he will do such a suite, but here's for hoping. But I do think he'll want to re-record the opening fanfare. After all, it'd be the last time.

Wasn’t the flashback in Chamber of Secrets Black and White? Urgh.