FossMan

Yeah, another Star Wars & Lucas bashing thread. Can't anyone come up with anything more imaginative? I'll tell you this, I believe most of this cynicism comes from teh fact that most of us grew up watching Star Wars--meaning we watched the episodes with the innocence and joy of youth. I struggled with the question of "Is SW any good any more?" until I saw my son getting as excited about the new movies as I did about the old movies. It was then I could sit back and shed all my cynicism and "adult" intellect. You know what I found? The lighstaber battles were cool! The space fights were cool! the ground fights between people with blasters were cool! You gotta remember that kids don't care about FX quality or even acting quality--WE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT THAT STUFF WHEN WE FIRST WATCHED THEM!!! Why should we now? Sit back and enjoy the ride. Star Wars is every bit as good as old westerns, one of the things it is inspired by. It's nt meant for folks who are so uppitty about their "quality entertainment" that all they can do is sit up and critique. It was made for those fols--mainly kids, it seems--who just want to sit back and have a good time.

Okay, here's mine (in same order as Morlock submitted them): (Rating out of 5 stars) 1. Schindler's List **** 2. Raiders of the Lost Ark **** 3. Jaws **** 4. Saving Private Ryan **** 5. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ***** 6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial **** 7. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ** 8. Minority Report ** 9. The Sugarland Express (never saw it) 10. Jurassic Park **** 11. Close Encounters of the Third Kind ***** 12. Catch Me If You Can *** 13. Amistad (never saw it) 14. Hook ***** (yes... I actually really liked this movie!) 15. Empire of the Sun *** 16. The Color Purple ** 17. Artificial Intelligence: AI *** 18. 1941 (never saw it) 19. Lost World: Jurassic Park, The ** 20. Always ***** (again, I thought this was an excellent movie)

I didn't see a FAQ or anything else that might cover this, so I'll ask it here: does anyone know what John Williams' fam mail address is (I'm refering to a physical address, not an e-mail one)?

Good God, people. Do you have to flame everyone and everything? Shore did a fine job on the LotR scores. IMO, he's set the standard now for medieval fantasy flicks, kinda like the way Williams set the standard for modern-day adventure and space-faring movies (although Goldsmith is a very close second in the space-faring department).

Of course, I'd pay good money to watch a scene where Orlando Bloom and the other two are in bed together when suddenly both girls jump out of bed laughing, point to the poor boy's southern exposure.

Wow, I honestly cannot believe more people dislike "Last Crusade" than "ToD." Honestly, I've never met anyone who actually liked "ToD." I just recently re-watched it, since the last time I saw it was as a kid, and I still gotta say it sucked. I guess it wasn't really a bad movie, it's just that it was nowhere near as appealing to me. Indy seemed cockier and more... I dunno the word for it... out for blood than in the other two. And throw in the fact that with the other two dealt with Christian myths, they kinda left "ToD" a bit flat to my taste.

Actually, I thought this was a thread about an old live-action movie (by Disney, I think) entitled "Something Wicked This Way Comes." Very good flick.

[sigh] Yet another Star Wars bashing thread. I give it twenty years... then the films will be considered classic.

I have a completely different take on that scene. My theory is that the Matrix had no way of countering Smith or infiltrating his code to plant a virus or otherwise destroy him. However when Neo let himself be overwritten by Smith, what Smith didn't know was that Neo was connected into the Matrix from the hub of the machine mind itself. This, in effect, connected Smith directly to the Matrix again, ergo a virus was able to be downloaded into Smith, destroying him.

Whatever that means.

I rather liked it. I think most folks were let down because this third film didn't bring up anything new to think about. There was no new philosophy. This movie was just: "We've presented you the world and all the problems in the last two films, now it's time to get down to business and resolve it!" If you think about it, however, this is a common formula for trilogies: #1 instroduces you to the world and highlights a hero. #2 throws a wrench in the works and is usually considered a tragedy. #3 goes "balls to the wall" and is usually pure action. Look at the Star Wars films, for example. I mean, it's not like Return of the Jedi brought up anything new. Well, that's my take on it anyway.

Okay, besides the obvious (get a degree), how does one become a composer for film? I was told by a graduate student the other day that one of the better ways to accomplish this is to become an orchestrater for an established film composer. Work for him/her, and eventually he/she will pass off an assignment to you because they do not have time for it.

My guess is there are a couple reasons: 1. It is a fairly memorable piece/theme from RotJ. 2. It is a very fun piece to listen to... the laymen can really enjoy it!

Hmmm... I'm running Norton Internet Security and I like it very much. Nice firewall with little to no appreciable slow-down of the system (though I'veheard others complain about a drop in their CPUs speed).

When I found out about Finale's Viewer and other products out there like it (i.e., Scorch), I was both thrilled and amazed. Finally, my friends and family didn't need the Finale program to see and hear my work. I've since discovered, however, that a lot of people don't really care for these small, free downloadable programs, and was wondering why?

That's a very good point, ocelot.

Huh... actually I think Lucas is a magnificent storyteller.

I don't know... after all the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy is being released in standard format, then two months later in SE format. I think a precedent has been set.

Okay, now this piece is one in which giving it a title was the last thing I did. Odd, I usually start witha title first, but this was an assignment to play around with higher-numbered and pan-triadic chords. You can view it here. (You'll need Finale viewer, a small download, to see and play it, found here.)

Well, AI did the same to me, until I pinned him down for specific examples in my work taht led to his derrogatory comments. And you know what, after citing the examples it didn't sem quite so harsh. Yes, AI is still rather abrasive (makes you wonder how he intends on being successful with that attitude, after all, friends and contacts is the way business is done), but until he becomes the director/producer or manager of a movie I intend to score, he's pretty much toothless.

OH yes... completely possible, and in all likely hood probable. No bashing Williams intended, but even he had to learn.

I thought of this too when I started seeing the very first images of TPM back in 98 and 99. Maybe, as Obi was packing his things to go into hiding, he didn't have any other clothes in his wardrobe?? Although, the Jedi outfits are not that different from outfits that people who use Karate and other martial arts might wear. Jeff - who has lots of Star Wars figures on his desk at work and is looking at the Owen figure and the Mace Windu figure and noticing just how similar their outfits are... Also, remember that a Jedi is suppossed to be humble in all things, most importantly his manner. Clothes have a lot to do with how others see you and your manner. In the Star Wars RPG, the clothes of the Jedi are extremely similar to those of a Fringer (i.e., Luke and his family in ANH). That clothing isn't synomymous with farmers, but rather with those who are either poor or very humble.

Okay, using some knowledge from modern day, and using RPG knowledge, I can make this extrapolation about flight suits in Star Wars. Like the modern day pilot's, the Star Wars pilot's flight suit is needed to control blood flow around the body (i.e., keeping it mainly in the upper torso and near the head) during high-g turns and the like. Jedi, however, may not need this "mundane" artifact since they can control their bodies and its flow of blood through will alone. Not only do not need as much blood in their brain to retain consciousness, they can also control how much blood is in their upper torso...sometihng Luke wasn't capable of doing due to a lack of education.

Here's one... TESB: When Han Solo is placed on the carbon-freezing elevator with Leia and Chewie watching, the entire process being overseen by Vader, Fett, and Lando Calrissian. That was a truly moving scene in which the lighting and the music dramatically affected how the viewer felt.

Small minds...