karelm

Just saw the film and had a great time! It was very loud but not sure if that was my theater. It hit all the right notes for me such as nods to nostalgia, great set pieces (chases), good side characters who have their own backstory yet contribute to the plot, good villain and henchmen. To me, this is much better than Crystal Skull and almost as good as Last Crusade but that one of course has Sean Connery. Story wise, damn good and here is why. Indy always pursued the treasure but usually found in the end, the treasure must remain in its place. The others who are greedy don't realize this usually costing them their lives in a desperate bid for a futile pursuit. But now, in a carefully crafted story, the shallow Helena pursues the prize of the artifact. Once Indy, who's always lived in the relics gets to experience the past for the first time in his life, it is he who starts to lose his life by the desire to experience the past itself. And Helena, the greedy muse who realizes Indy is right after all and has to pull him back kicking and screaming to reality and leave the past in its time. That was brilliant storytelling and very moving plus added a layer to the character without compromising his legacy. To me, that makes it a worthy entry in the Indiana Jones saga. As far as negatives, I wish Mikkelsen had more opportunities to show his villainy because frankly, I really like him as an actor and he never seemed bad enough or greedy enough. Perhaps just one more scene of utter villainy would have sold it. I also felt the audio (not the score) was way too loud. Again, I don't know if that was just my DOLBY ATMOS theater experience, but the score seems way better than I recall as I'm listening to the soundtrack now but all I remember was the sound effects. Harrison looked amazing for his age but sometimes looked quite old and sometimes I forgot his age. I think a lot of this comes down to hair. When he's disheveled, he looked older. But you still catch glimpses of his eternal boyish charms. I also felt the film needed a little more humor. He's weary most of the time. I get he's older and all but this still needs to be a fun movie. It would have just taken a touch or two to pull this off. One small example, when he's with Marion at the end, the final shot should have been an empty clothesline where he takes the worn out fedora he has on placed on the clothesline (the complete opposite of what they shot) and implying they're about to hop in the bed to snuggle but also a very nice send off. Overall I would rate it at 7/10 and entertaining and glad to see a beloved character return for another adventure with some nice twists and expansions but some missed opportunities.

This is very gorgeous! Herrmann's Wuthering Heights suite released today in exceptional audio quality. Very moody, impressionistic, and lyrical. This substantial suite is from his three hour opera...his passion project that he spent a decade composing and self-funded the premiere recording since no one was interested. It's very beautiful and substantial.

I would be very curious to have heard him do a historical epic like Gladiator. Also Alien since there was a time it seemed he might do that. Would have been interesting to hear how he would have approached that. Probably like the first half of CEOTTK. Dark psychological would have been very interesting too. Something like Apocalypse Now descent in to madness.

I quite liked this release.

What do you folks think of Howard Hanson's music?

This. The greatest interpretation I've heard is Boult's 1950's cycle but are mostly mono so not everyone will be able to get past that. They were done either with Vaughan Williams' cooperation or just after he died. A good second choice is Boult's 1960's stereo recording which are very good, stereo, not quite as great interpretations as the '50's cycle though. Previn is from the late '60's and early 70's and was on fire during this time and it's the third great Vaughan Williams cycle. Haitink should be avoided EXCEPT for his magnificent 1st (Sea Symphony). Hickox is pretty good, a great expanded Symphony No. 2 but his cycle is incomplete. Symphonies 7 and after were conducted by the lifeless Andrew Davis. Very sad because Hickox did a great Symphony No. 9 in concert. They should have used his concert recordings instead of Davis and just cleaned them up.

I don't know if I'd even agree with the list of who you are saying had sizzling careers then blew out. Just because they aren't scoring the blockbusters doesn't mean they blew out. The composers you mentioned are all in fact very successful. Honestly the answer comes down to a simple detail that to be scoring big blockbusters, you have to be a very good businessman and have that networking, socializing temperament. Many composers don't really care for that and would rather be selective and picky but do projects that resonate with them artistically and sacrifice some income to gain more creative freedom and some form of a life. Some of those you mentioned were former employers or teachers of mine and they are doing very well, just might not be in the sort of projects you care about or that catapult them to A list territory.

Dallapiccola il prigioniero. If you like Bartok or Henri Dutilleux, you will find much to love here. Rich, evocative 20th century dramatic and colorful music!

Kirk's death needed a TWOK Spock death impact. It didn't deliver. I don't know if he even needed to die. I get they needed to pass the torch but there were many other ways to do that. In TWOK it was an example of just how great that script was...superior to Moby Dick which it's based on. Point 1 of killing off a major character (listen Star Wars TFA), the characters who experience the loss need history with that character. Picard just met Kirk. Nowhere near the impact as Kirk losing Spock but more importantly was it was in settling a decades old revenge obsession.

Star Trek Star Wars...tomato tomahto.

What do you think of my Star Trek movie ranking? Star Trek 4 "The Voyage Home" 1986 1 Star Trek 2 "The Wrath of Khan" 1982 2 Star Trek 1 "The Motion Picture" 1979 3 Star Trek 3 "The Search for Spock" 1984 4 Star Trek 8 "First Contact" 1996 5 Star Trek 6 "The Undiscovered Country" 1991 6 Star Trek 11 2009 7 Star Trek 12 "Into Darkness" 2013 8 Star Trek 5 "The Final Frontier" 1988 9 Star Trek 7 "Generations" 1994 9 Star Trek 13 "Beyond" 2016 10 Star Trek 9 "Insurrection" 1998 12 Star Trek 10 "Nemesis" 2002 13

I've had dreams with him too! I've met some of my heroes and Johnny was by far the one who didn't disappoint!

JW's hometown orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has a great lineup of JW concerts in the next season including E.T. in concert conducted by Dudamel, Hollywood film music curated by Johnny, Superman LTP and something called Harry Potter Grand Suite. John Williams Spotlight (laphil.com)

Picture taken by a friend, but from Crystal Skull.

It is crazy to imagine if James Horner were still alive, he would only be 69. He would probably still be a major figure in the scoring world. In contrast, Silvestri is 73. Zimmer is 65. Elfman is also 69. James Newton Howard is 71.

Both as shown here. Same looming moon as shown in TMP and sky as shown in the remaster but ruins in the distance. I think the statues of warriors are relics of their violent past which they've shed. Vulcans clearly are artists which implies some form of expression but don't think those sculptures represent art but rather relics. Glimpses of who they were and Animated Series got that and then the movies took it further most perfectly in TMP remaster. One can argue that Spock, the musician, is embracing his human parentage. I can argue that some consider music and art are actually a science too. So a perfect example of true Vulcans. They aren't artists for the sake of artistic expression but because it is perfect in its essential purity and correctness...purely logical.

I LOVE TMP. It is clearly heavily indebted to 2001 which isn't a bad thing. Similarly, the pacing, hours of flying through an abstract experience with weird reactions and fantastic music plus the whole AI achieving consciousness plot. I don't think TMP is a masterpiece, but it is loveable. I actually love it and TWOK equally because they both represent the yin and yang of TOS. It had very cerebral moments full of awe and wonder and great action/adventure too while always focused on deep and enchanting characters. With TMP, the biggest character arch is with Spock who starts off nearly fully embracing pure logic. But he has doubts turning away Kolinahr. He finds V'ger to be a perfect example of pure logic and sheds a tear, perhaps his first ever, in realizing what all V'ger lacks even though having achieved pure logic. Is this all there is? Am I nothing more? So then seeks out his creator to try to understand why do I exist. TMP is Star Trek at its headiest and one of the great ST scores ever.

So this was exciting...yesterday night, I was in the mountains in my astro club's dark sky event and to my surprise, I met Tuvok there! Tim Russ is a huge astro fan too and I spent an hour talking to him about his Star Trek experiences, being in Picard S3, potential future spin offs in the works and having a great time talking about space too in between looking at galaxies, star clusters, dozens of satellites (I counted 22 including a very bright International Space Station that flew directly above), and at least three or four shooting stars. It was very nice meeting him and finding we shared many common interests including music (he's a musician), astronomy, and all things Trek. He was also in the Orville and Star Trek Generations. The topic of music came up as we chatted about astrophotography and some parallels between mixing an audio recording and processing astrophotography.

My favorite No. 3

You should find a way to tell him. He frequently suffers from self doubt and I'm sure this would mean the world to him even if he didn't respond. Assistants handle lots of his social media accounts but I'm sure a very positive message would find its way to him. This project must have been very personal to him because I don't think there is any dialog, so the music has full reign.

Nolan has such as poor track record on monumental topics. My expectations are low and I hope he achieves it. He is a modern day Jerry Bruckheimer dressed in gravitas because of even more slow motion explosions.

You guys are giving me a Twisted Nerve with your strange Obsession of the music of Bernard Herrmann.

I remember when Michael Keaton was announced as Batman. It was such an odd choice but no more surprising than Jack Nickolson as his nemesis, the Joker. In hindsight it works very well. The only superhero films before that were Superman and its increasingly dull sequels. Keaton was mostly thought of as a comedian but demonstrated tremendous range. Similarly, Tom Hanks was considered an odd choice for Philadelphia, I think that was his first dramatic role and he nailed it. I was very young when Superman 78 came out but would imagine having heavy weights like Marlon Brando, Gene Hackmann, and Glenn Ford must have been extremely jarring but they seem so perfect in those roles in hindsight. Don't forget Bill Murray in 1984's Razor's Edge which was very, very jarring!

What character would you say most embodies the ethos of Star Trek? Kirk? Spock? Picard? Riker? Someone else??

I LOVED the score!!! And had lots of fun watching S3. It did a good job of evolving the cast but keeping things TNG fun. Plus it left the universe wide open for future possibilities. I adored how much love they gave to Goldsmith and Horner.