Larry O

Three years is a pretty significant break for a series that's been ongoing since 2015. Granted, it's not like the 12 year break between Avatar movies, but imagine Pixar taking a 3 year break once Toy Story 4 drops, or Marvel not releasing anything after Endgame until 2022, or Disney taking three years off from their animated classics remake slate after Lion King. Their machine is very finely tuned, and audiences are very used to annual (at a minimum) hits from their favorite brands. Disney+ will scratch some of that itch, but three years off isn't in-significant considering the entertainment landscape as it is now.

I didn't say it wouldn't make money. But it's gonna need some context after more than a decade off. That's what marketing departments are for, even when the product sells itself, as with Marvel and Star Wars. Something that seems like a no-brainer still has to get placed in a framework and sold as effectively as possible. Avatar's been gone for 12 years and it's cultural footprint isn't particularly deep. The Disney marketing machine is going to do a good job counteracting that. Or at least I expect they will. I guess they could screw up and sell it like they sold Mary Poppins, though. But I'm not anticipating that as a realistic outcome.

It would be pretty cool if the big switcheroo was waiting for us once formal announcements get made. Everyone thinking this is the Benioff/Weiss trilogy and it turns out it's Rian Johnson's. I think the Disney+ presence will make the every-other-year release schedule seem less spaced out, although yearly Star Wars was working just fine. I know people will point to Solo's underperformance, but Iger more or less took the blame for that in an interview last year. If Solo had been pushed back to December (like Rogue One had) once Howard got brought on to reshoot most of the movie, I think the rhythm they'd established up to that point would have been rewarded. People got very used to Star Wars being a Christmas event very quickly, and the decision to force Solo to stick to its original summer release date (to protect Mary Poppins, which for some reason was anointed as THE can't-miss Disney winter blockbuster for 2018, which was a really bad call as it turns out) is what hurt Solo more than anything. If Solo had gotten the opportunity to come out in December, not only would it have made more money (even with its bad release date it still made more than Poppins did in its choice one) but I'd imagine the compressed and cramped nature of everything would have been lessened quite a bit. More press, better marketing, more of a chance to spin what happened with Lord & Miller, more of a chance to give Howard an opportunity to make the case for authorship, more of an opportunity to give audiences some distance from the giant ugly mess that "discourse" about The Last Jedi became, a conversation that quickly became so ugly and controversial the conversation itself became fodder for more than a few cultural and political articles. But every other year Star Wars will be fine. We used to have to wait three years between movies, and then wait decades between trilogies, and we didn't have huge, high-budget miniseries constantly running in the interim, either. Plus it's possible we're not getting consecutive trilogy installments. It could be possible we're getting Benioff & Weiss part I, then Rian Johnson Part I, then Benioff & Weiss part II, etc etc.

So that'll be what, a 12 year break between sequels? The Disney marketing machine behind it will probably do a good job of recontextualizing it for a marketplace that isn't exactly thirsting for a new Avatar. Interesting in that the Star Wars films seem to be going back to one every-other-year instead of yearly (imagine if they hadn't been so weird about not pushing Solo back to December for the sake of Mary Poppins, which was in hindsight a really bad move) so that means if this is the Benioff and Weiss trilogy, there's no real room for Rian Johnson's trilogy until after 2026? That's a long wait if that's the case.

I think it's thematically appropriate for young Han Solo, impetuous dick, smirking cheat, irresponsible dumbass, and hot-rodding menace, to have a score that is a lot younger sounding than other Star Wars scores, and as such, Powell's using classic instrumentation and then adding modern-feeling percussion to it (as well as some synths and some more pop-like arrangements) never felt out of place to me. I really like Reminiscence Therapy (save for the weird beginning transition from the Approaching the Death Star quote to the rest of the piece) and a lot of that has to do with its title (and placement in the film) telling you what its purpose is: It's a remix. It's supposed to be sort of tongue-in-cheek but still earnestly fun. That's the character, that's the movie. So ping-ponging from Han's Theme to Chewie's Theme to the Asteroid Field to TIE Fighter Attack, having that percussion be the thing linking all those different pieces together makes sense, and works really well both conceptually and musically. I don't quite understand the idea that adding drums to a thing (an unfair description, really, because it suggests drums are artificially included in the composition like a sweetener instead of planned from the beginning) automatically "cheapens" it either. What's cheap about musicians using all the tools they have at their disposal to elicit the emotional reactions they're going for? Writing off the percussion work as "RCP Pads" is more than a little unfair, even if the extra percussion isn't appreciated. It's not like he just hit a button and boom, complicated syncopations just fed themselves into the composition. The situations Han Solo gets himself into in that movie, at that age, sound just fine to me with "extra" drums (just drums, really. Loud drums. Nothing wrong with that) providing just that extra sense of youthful "oomph" the score needed. I like the Solo score more than the Rogue One score because Powell did a better job of both being himself AND writing "Williams-esque" music (Chewie's Theme, Love Theme) than Giacchino managed. It's a weird tightrope to walk and so far only two people have even gotten the opportunity to try it. I think Powell did it better than Giacchino did but I appreciate both their attempts a hell of a lot.

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If Arnold's around I don't know why you wouldn't just get Arnold. Giacchino's score for The Incredibles was an amazing John Barry homage, so I'd suggest him if Arnold isn't available. But really, it shouldn't even have to get that far. Just let Arnold do it.

The Spotify playlist that the Star Wars account tweeted out on the 3rd features multiple selections from Rogue One in it. I think rumors of enmity & dissatisfaction behind the scenes sound plausible enough, sure, but I also don't put a ton of stock into them myself, not just because I don't want to put stock into them (I like both Williams and Giacchino and don't like the idea of there being any sort of bad blood even if it's one-sided) but because it just seems weird to me. Either way, it doesn't actually speak to the quality of the music itself, and despite the fact everyone knows Giacchino came in at the last second and only had four weeks to work on a film that had basically been half-reshot by a completely different writer/director, it's a score with no shortage of high points - albeit high points that seem to rely more on Giacchino-isms rather than Star-Warsiness, if that makes sense. Do I think he needed to spend so much time and energy coming up with two different Imperial motifs when he already had two pre-existing ones to work with (that he ended up incorporating anyway)? Nah. I don't. And maybe that time could have been better spent on making other aspects of the score sound more Williams-y. I don't feel all that comfortable armchair directing that particular situation with all the hindsight I have, especially since those Imperial Motifs actually work pretty decently as an (unnecessary) bridge from 1977 to 1980. My major criticism is that it's a score that feels sorta stuck in a tweener space. It's the first time anyone was scoring a Star Wars film not named John Williams, and I think that pressure (plus the working conditions) maybe led to Giacchino not fully embracing the lesson Powell got from Williams directly: Play with it. Make it your own. There are times Giacchino DOES this, and those are often the best parts of the score. But there are times he feels tempered and tentative, and those are the times the score sort of stalls out. The movie seems to be only increasing in stature as time goes on, and I think the score is gaining some residual goodwill as a result. People mentioned Shadows of the Empire earlier, and I can see those two scores as companion pieces both in style, substance, and in the way their esteem quietly grows and keeps growing. I don't think Rogue One will end up being as forgotten as Shadows was (for one thing - there's an actual MOVIE at the center of Rogue One, and not a video game/novelization/comic book collection) and I think Giacchino's work will end up becoming sort of a celebrated curiosity: The bombastic-but-low-key sideways success of an unlikely Star Wars score.

1) The Jedi Steps I remember when all the trailer music guessing games were going on with TFA and people spent a lot of time arguing back and forth over which piece of trailer-house score was really John Williams. And then that one TV spot dropped with some of "Jedi Steps" in it, and not only was it immediately clear everything else was a well-done imitation and this was the real deal, but that this was special, on top of that. The first comparison that occurred to me was, believe it or not, "Duel of the Fates." Not that they seem to have much in common, but it immediately sounded nothing like Star Wars to me while also being the most Star Wars thing I'd heard in a lonnng time. It's a neat trick (not as neat as spinning) and really, only Jedi Steps and Duel have pulled it off. 2) March of the Resistance It's like in an RPG when your character gets enough XP to level up into a new class or whatever - This is what happens to the Droid Army music when it finally completes its training and ascends to a higher purpose. 3) The Adventures of Han I'm not sure that Williams' thematic work is even the best stuff in the Solo score (I'd put Chewie's theme ahead of it, really) but this concert piece is really, really fun not only in how many buckles get thoroughly and unapologetically swashed throughout, but because the sort of thematic development that usually takes a whole movie to grow happens in the entirety of this one piece. 4) The Rebellion is Reborn This is notable mostly for how it seems like the sort of very clever motif-mixing that used to happen in the end titles (before those became just post-production puzzles to be fitted together and glued down) but as its own separate suite. The fact the motifs are for two characters that never even see each other much less interact in any meaningful way makes it more of a pure musical exercise than anything. Like, imagine a suite that manages to blend Enfys Nest's theme with L3's. Something like that. I'm not saying it wouldn't sound great - "The Rebellion is Reborn" sounds great, too! It just doesn't quite resonate the way the three above it do. 5) Scherzo for X-Wings This has quite a bit in common with "The Rebellion is Reborn," except it's not quite as clever or interesting in how it re-purposes the new material and the old into a cohesive whole. It's very cool that Indiana Jones and Star Wars both have their vehicular scherzos now, and depending on which symphony/conductor are putting it through its paces (I've heard it a little punchier and up-tempo - faster and more intense if you will - and that really helps it out) but it feels like a taster plate on the way to being seated for a full meal later in the evening. 6) Galaxy's Edge This is being unfair probably, but really, it's only been out for a day and I've only listened to it like 3 or 4 times. Almost by default it's gonna sit down at the end of the bench until it becomes more familiar and more interesting things make themselves noticed and the whole thing settles in my brain for increased appreciation. It's not you, Galaxy's Edge, it's me. And unfortunately, I'm not someone like Frank Lehman or Doug Adams or David Collins, so it takes me a little longer to suss out why a thing is brilliant sometimes.

It's definitely the best thing he ever did, but if I had to knock it for anything (and I don't have to, really) it would be Junkie's score is kind of uneven overall. I wonder what might have been if someone not so beholden to the Zimmer aesthetic (which has its upsides!) was composing for that film. If there was a level of depth equal to the visual storytelling going on. Junkie doesn't have that. But when he needs to land power-shots, he lands them, and the film has no shortage of them. And to clarify: I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with the stereotypical "Zimmer" type stuff, either. I like a lot of the Media Ventures output - I don't like how directors temp track everything with the same 4 soundtracks, but that's a pretty common complaint I don't think needs to get more air than it's gotten already.

I'm inclined to agree with the #1 choice in this poll. You know who else might agree? Steven Soderbergh. Usually you have to wait a few years before the real best picture of any given year reveals itself, and it's almost never actually the same movie that won the Oscar, but it took about 6 months distance from the end of 2015 before it became glaringly apparent Fury Road was easily the best thing that came out that year, and while there might be some argument that it doesn't deserve to be #1 on a decade list, I can't imagine an argument where it's not in the top 5. It is to the 21st century what Raiders of the Lost Ark was to the 20th. I do wish it wasn't scored by Junkie XL...

I remember thinking that this was probably the first one of Silvestri's scores since First Avenger with Joe Johnston - a guy who obviously recognized how important film music is as opposed to a utilitarian tool for "enhancing" mood - where he got to actually SCORE the movie. Most Marvel films - with the recent exceptions of Mothersbaugh on Ragnarok and Goransson on Black Panther - tend to pay lip service to themes and motifs, and never really let the composers develop those ideas. They get one or two statements total and that's about it. But this film has Silvestri taking musical ideas places over the course of the movie. There's a sense of development, musically, that doesn't really happen in Marvel films aside from the aforementioned scores, which both came shortly after that one video about the Marvel Symphonic Universe went viral. I don't think that's a coincidence. You could probably glibly describe it as "The Abyss + Back to the Future" and be more correct than not, but I was probably most surprised by how good Silvestri's work is on this movie, and how much room he was given to do things.

I'd submit The Spark from Last Jedi. that might be helped by the fact the hellacious build that just keeps adding instruments and getting louder and louder is preceded by such a gentle rendition of "Luke and Leia" Keeping with The Last Jedi, I'd also say Chrome Dome is pretty "masculine" in that it's basically just low strings, drums, and horns almost punching each other out. The Last Jedi gets pretty "muscular" in quite a few spots. The score got knocked when it first came out for not really containing any new "hits" as it were, but it's a really good entry in the Star Wars canon overall.

If this is his last Star Wars film - and possibly his last film, period, who knows - he's definitely getting a nomination. The Academy is nowhere near as strict an organization as you might think. The fact Vice got a nomination for Best Picture is perfect evidence of this - it spoke directly to the idea that people don't watch the stuff they nominate so long as you can sell them on the APPEARANCE of prestige. It's not even a secret that most people put it on their ballot without having actually seen it first. As already said upthread - there's nothing that says people have to see what they're voting on, either at the nomination OR the final voting stage. And even if there was - people lie. It's Hollywood. 75% of its members are paid to literally do just that. John Williams will get nominated for his last Star Wars score, and even if he turns in something Attack of the Clones-tier, it's still possible he'll get the win as a career recognition. It's maybe not PROBABLE, and it's really hard to say one way or the other since nobody's actually heard any of it yet. But I think it's basically fait accompli that he's getting one last nomination for Rise of Skywalker.