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Adam S.

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  1. Normally, I'm not big on JW returning to a series he has already left. But in this case, when the alternative is starting to seem like nothing at all, this is very hopeful news. Also the series has become darker and the score promises to be a very different score from his early Harry Potter scores (1 and 2) so there should be opportunity to cover some new territory in the manner that Azkaban did to a certain extent. - Adam
  2. The Reivers is probably my favorite. It shows how good of music he could have been writing if hadn't been pigeonholed into slight comedies. Heidi has some nice music. The 60s comedies are interesting in the sense that he throws out a lot of different musical ideas. They're actually very rich scores musically in his development of different melodies and ideas but just so cheesy that its easy to not notice. The theme that Roald mentions is a highlight as well. - Adam
  3. I thought the alternate main title was really written for the The Cowboys trailer and probably temptracked with Berstein's Magnificent Seven. That would explain why it is so different. He either did it before he developed any of the material for his score or he did it with allegiance to the temptrack, knowing it wasn't necessary to connect it to his score. - Adam
  4. If he could do it over I wonder if he would have prioritized writing more original underscore instead of so many fully developed concert themes. I get the feeling he originally wanted those pieces to be adapted by Ross to the movie but when he realized how that wasn't going to work he was left making clumsy adaptations form the first Harry Potter score and even Attack of the Clones. The result is a some great concert tracks but some embarassing underscore that doesn't live up to his usual standards. Still, what original underscore there is, is very good. - Adam
  5. There's an evolution in his sound overall but, then again, something like Missouri Breaks is completely different stylistically than Star Wars which was written about a year later. You have to really know JW to even know that they're the same person. I know JW has said he doesn't have a style which is my way of thinking about it as well. His technique has evolved but if he does a completely different project the scores can be about as different stylistically as can be while still being the same person. Presumed Innocent compared to Home Alone in the same year for example and there's very little stylistically in common with the two though, again, there's a kind of abstract voice or technique that he brings to the table that we recognize if we've heard a lot of music. The style comes into the equation for me if we're talking about his big orchestral scores which tend to share more in common with eachother. - Adam
  6. The tracks for American Journey were written for a documentary so there might have been a temp track. There's a theme that sounds a lot like the Patriot and Amistad and they all play more or less the same role in their respective films so the similarity was probably just an accident in that case. All 3 themes were written to feel very American and patriotic with the protagonists yearning for freedom in their films (the theme builds upwards in the similar way in each case and back down). They're also different in ways that are interesting to me and reflect their films but I won't get into that. - Adam
  7. The poll isn't explictly laid out like I said - that's true. But that's been the gist of the discussion and a reasonable inference from the results. My only point is the gap between the certainty by some that he's worse and the results which seem to suggest its far from obvious, whatever one's point of view.
  8. Its interesting that for some people his decline is so completely obvious because, so far, 65% of the people answering seem to think he's just as good. Maybe he's not only declining but he's developed the craven ability to trick a majority of his fan base. - Adam
  9. First of all, my analogy is obvious regardless of your final point though I can understand why you would rather nitpick it. I said that this is an extreme example (dancing) but that the principle still holds for the reasons that are pretty clear but that you didn't deal with at all. Its no coincidence that JW often talks about his music providing a "balletic" effect for a scene. Lots of action scenes are like choreography with music providing a very crucial role in giving scenes their energy and kinetic pull. Another obvious example would watching the scene where ET flies - without music it would just lie there dead on the screen. I don't even consider this that controversial. We're not able to dial out music but take something like what the Boston Pops did, where they dialed out the music for the Barrel Chase scene and then played it again with the music and this point becomes pretty clear IMO. - Adam
  10. Actually, I should be more precise and say that The Nutcracker directed in the same way to not have music would be bad direction because ballet needs music and people would be bored watching people hop around without music. However, its good direction in so far as it recognizes the need for music and uses it appropriately. The same goes for films. If Speilberg wanted to make ET without music, the way he did in 1982 it would be poorly directed as the final 15 minutes (more than that actually) would feel bizarre and make the audience uncomfortable but its brilliantly directed from the point of view that he reocgnized on some level the role music would eventually play. - Adam
  11. Maybe I'm misunderstanding some of the points but it seems to me if we went to see the Nutcracker Ballet without music it wouldn't be a very good experience. Sure the dancing and direction would still be great but it would be a very incomplete experience. That's an extreme example but its the same principle for some films. Sure, a lot of scenes would hold up without music or would simply be experienced in a different way. But something like the finale to ET would be downright strange to watch without music playing for the final 15 minutes. It would feel naked or awkward or something. Those are the kind of examples I'm talking about. - Adam
  12. I've always wanted JW to do an animated film as well and Pixar would be particularly good. I somehow doubt it though.
  13. I liked this a lot. Animation was incredible. It bogged down a little bit in the middle I thought but the initial scenes on earth were amazing in terms of the extent to which they humanized the robot and established such a unique feel to his world. The music was good - not particularly ambitious - but effective enough. The kind of film that left a lasting impression with me in a way that most animated films don't. - Adam
  14. I'm probably rephrasing somewhat what was just said but the last 15 minutes of ET is wonderfully directed and, yet, completely flat without music or, I would imagine, inferior music. I think Speilberg's ability to direct scenes in a very musical kind of way (particularly earlier in his career) is one of the things that is rarely appreciated among critics who write about his career. In the right kind of film, that kind of approach and with the collaboration of Williams, can allow his films to be so much more ambitious in terms of where it takes the audience. But that's a hard thing to pull off because the film has to stand on its own in terms of the acting and the production value and, yet, has to feel very incomplete sometimes with a director having the confidence that the music will tie things together. Jaws is another example where Speilberg, seemingly intuitively, directed the action in a very musical way. Its great direction and, yet, completely flat and that's not a contradiction. That was one of the things the Boston Pops did at least once, showing a shark attack sequence without music and then, again, with music just to highlight the contrast. - Adam
  15. There's also a theme that suggests the devil at work - an 8 note repeating, descending, primitive sounding piece that is in several scenes in the movie and unrepresented on the soundtrack. - Adam
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