Jules

So, Season 1 of the Japanese animated anthology series Star Wars Visions just landed in its entirety on Disney Plus. What are people's thoughts on the shorts?

For me it was a mixed bag, which was exactly what I was expecting from an anthology series from completely different studios. There were three I thought were quite good: 'The Duel' by Kamikaze Douga (Batman Ninja), 'The Ninth Jedi' by Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex), and 'The Elder' by Studio Trigger (Kill La Kill). This was followed by two which I thought were just good: 'Lop and Ocho' by Geno Studio, and 'The Village Bride' by Kinema Citrus (Made in Abyss).

It was especially cool seeing a bunch of different Japanese (for the most part) composers try their hand at scoring Star Wars. While some took a significant departure from the soundscape others did a downright brilliant job of working with the Star Wars sound, creating an almost vintage orchestral feel to it that would've felt right at home in the Original Trilogy. It was especially amusing to see Kazuma Jinnouchi's name pop up, for those that don't know he was co-composer and composer for Halo 4 and 5 respectively, and his music has been critiqued as sounding more like Star Wars than Halo at times - so pretty great he finally got a chance to score Star Wars! He was a really good fit. I would genuinely love to hear more Star Wars music from some of these composers, as some of these pieces put even some of the regular Western composers on the series to shame. Fingers crossed there will be some kind of album release at some point.

Either way, I hope this ends up being a huge success and we get a second season with a whole new round of studios. Star Wars has felt incredibly stagnant as a series for a while now, and although not everything hit the mark I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this injection of creativity into the franchise with a traditional Japanese flair, that fits quite well considering the foundations Star Wars is built off. My absolute dream would be for Studio Khara (Evangelion Rebuilds) to make a short, apparently some work on Season 1 was out-sourced to them so there's already some kind of tie. The head of that studio, Hideaki Anno, while being an incredible director, is also a huge fan of the Original Trilogy so I think it would be a match made in heaven.

.

I was invited by a friend.* As you see, I rate the film above average, and I wouldn't mind watching part 2. Regarding the score, it often blended with the sound design, to the point where I couldn't distinguish between music and sounds, and sometimes the music was outright consumed by the sound effects. Nothing new under the sun.
 
*Although what kind of friend invites you to a HanZ-scored movie...

I wouldn't be in that film for anything. Not after seeing the doc about FR!😵

I live in Sydney and I’m signed up to an extras casting agency. Super keen to get a role in this one, missed out on Thor this year

This has probably come up a bunch already on this forum so I apologise, but has anyone else noticed that Spotify has loads of JW the guitarist albums under the Maestro's discog?

Hey folks!
 
I made a few updates to The Music of The Mandalorian back in July, including the addition of revised write-ups for Chapter 5 and Chapter 6. These entries are a continuation of the series of posts which began back in April, with similar reviews having already been added for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. In addition, the site hosts isolated score videos for notable sequences in Chapters 4, 8, 11 and 16. I hope to do more of these in the future. Of course, for anyone not yet familiar with the score, I recommend glancing through the thematic catalogue, which has been compiled for easy access by several fans of the score over the course of both seasons.
 
As for the remainder of the write-ups and timestamps, I do not expect to chip away at them significantly for some time, as there are still a lot of revisions to be made since they were originally posted nearly two years ago. Wow! Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 will likely take the most time, as my writing on Season 1's two-part finale was particularly extensive. Fortunately, reviews of the two volumes of music for Season 2 are more recent and will be posted promptly thereafter! The goal is to have these entries up in time for the release of The Book of Boba Fett in December. Also, there is what one could call a special feature in the works that I am very excited to share. More on that some other time though! 
 
Thanks for reading and cheers! 

The Suicide Squad (2021)
 

 
It's better than the 2016 movie but it's still not good. Weak characters, a few poor actors, jokes that fall flat, the first half feels like an episode of The A-Team, iffy CGI, ... If you're not going to make a serious movie then please make it funny. DC is doomed! 3,5/10

I'd say the top-5 polarizing JW scores are:
1/ IMAGES
2/ STEPMOM
3/ THE BOOK THIEF
4/ ROSEWOOD
5/ SPACECAMP 

Glad it’s not just  me that felt that. I really enjoyed the first episode and the overall animation quality and style seemed superb. Beautiful backdrops and fluid action animation but the facial animation was quite mixed and the lip synch was a bit off somehow. Not enough to spoil it but a touch distracting. The music was great though but agree that a couple of albums worth for the series would be a nicer way to enjoy it rather than episode at a time. 

The Book Thief is one of the best thematically structured Williams scores in recent decades.  It is a brilliant score.  Perhaps the construction of the OST does not bring that out fully, a chronological treatment might help.  Each cue is wonderfully constructed on its own and within the narrative structure

JERRY NOTE (A Note From Jerry)
While extensively delving into the soundtrack to Finding Dory, I named this motif as the "Commando" theme originally, but then called it "Fish on a Mission". It has that spy/secret agent feel to it. Not sure if any official name has ever been stated. 
 
EDIT: Man from UNCLE anyone?

Tie for THE WIND RISES and THE BOOK THIEF, both dreamy and beautiful. 

Very surprised that Inception never got an award, thought people were blown away by the score back in the day. 

I like War for the Planet of the Apes, loved it when I first heard it. 
 
Coco is a fantastic score for a fantastic movie with fantastic songs. 

This is actually really hard to choose from. I adore all of those scores except for JOJO RABBIT which I thought was really mediocre. 
 
LITTLE WOMEN is surprisingly the score I return to most, and 1917 probably a close second. HTTYD 3 is really so fantastic though. 
 
 

BEALE STREET is a masterpiece imo. Perfectly complements that film. SOLO, ITSV and BLACK PANTHER are amazing blockbuster scores, we were spoilt. 

I agree, FANTASTIC BEASTS is such a great score. My fave was FINDING DORY, just because Newman probably knocked that out in his sleep doesn't mean it isn't a ripper
 

Tie for THE WIND RISES and THE BOOK THIEF, both dreamy and beautiful. 

No question TFA, although Rogue Nation slaps

I like War for the Planet of the Apes, loved it when I first heard it. 
 
Coco is a fantastic score for a fantastic movie with fantastic songs. 

I can't remember who played this earlier in the thread (publicist?), but it's a great score. The 11-minute "Riddles" is a true tour-de-force of Gordon's skill -- there are times in it where it sounds like it's going to break out into the E.T. theme! It's the first new Gordon in my collection since MAO'S LAST DANCER in 2009.

The second and third volumes are out today, and after listening I've found that they don't add a great deal to the first release besides a few variations, a lot more muddiness and meandering (especially on the second album), but nonetheless a handful of highlight tracks worth noting.
 
I'm all over the place with my playlists, but there are a number of options for those who are interested in checking out some sort of abridged presentation of this score. I've put together shortened programs for each volume, with each offering a different presentation of similar material. I've also made a playlist that serves as a relatively comprehensive combination of all three albums. Here are the Spotify links:

Volume One (51 minutes) 
As previously shared, with the track The Journey added.
 
Volume Two (29 minutes) 
There was far less of interest on this one. Some nice development of the Aria theme in House of Baal & It Must Be Searched.
 
Volume Three (40 minutes)
A number of familiar iterations of earlier material, with Pursuit of Happiness, Valentine Trio No. 2, Descending Piece, and Three Banjos being nice new additions. There is a reprise of The Journey that doesn't have the first two minutes of rumbling, which was the reason I initially kept it off the first playlist, so that's good to have.
 
The Underground Railroad (1 hour, 6 minutes)
There's a good score hidden in these three volumes, and this is my best attempt at whittling it all down to a manageable length. This will probably be the playlist I return to the most in the future.  I may tweak it a little in the coming days but I think it works.
 
Feel free to make use of any of these playlists! 

He's just trying to follow the new rules!