pixie_twinkle

Hey, it's the same face Sean Connery makes when he scares the seagulls on the beach in Last Crusade!

Perhaps some of these guys are less concerned with how their scores sound outside of the film nowadays. It really seems to me that much of the music composed for films since the early eighties is blandness personified. It works well enough as accompaniment to a scene without actually doing anything too daring (like actually adding much to the scene!) The good old art of composing memorable scores is dying a death. Name one new-generation composer (anyone under 60 qualifies) who has produced a really memorable "classic" score in the last 5 years. It's all synths, guitars, drum tracks, and synthi-orchestras. Half the time these guys can't even read music. OK, now I feel like a grouchy old man. Grumble grumble!

By the way, this seems as good a thread as any to ask this: Has anyone seen Starship Troopers 2 yet? It's been out for about a week, direct to DVD. It's directed by Phil Tippett so I'm expecting great things of the visuals if nothing else. Hope the budget wasn't too tiny given it wasn't released theatrically.

Please tell me why other directors can't seem to make films of the quality of your classic Showgirls. How do you work your movie magic?

It's a pretty good compilation to get. Although most of the music is pretty easy to find elsewhere it's a nice way to get the Family Plot end credits, Black Sunday suite, Rare Breed suite (the ONLY way to get this I think!), and if I remember rightly I think it has the film version of the end credits to Temple of Doom (with Shortround's theme in counterpoint with the Raiders march, I think. The Temple of Doom soundtrack CD is a different recording without Shortround's bit). It's a good way of getting these odd pieces without buying 10 different CDs!

I hope not!!! Didn't Bach die before finishing it?????

Sure. It's on it's way!

Sure. Can I email you the attachment?

Neil - who concurs I know what you mean. I just find POA so satisfying as a film that it is head and shoulders over the other two however. When I watch the first two I can almost hear the pages of the book turning. I can also clearly sense when chapters end, which is slightly tiresome in a film. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the first two films, it's just that POA is so much more stylish. I love that it doesn't feel so much like an adaptation, but rather an exciting new re-telling. Now that I've seen it (twice!) I am disappointed that Cuaron won't be directing book 4. Now who could direct book 5? Tim Burton? Terry Gilliam? Jean Pierre Jeunet? I have every faith that Gilliam would make a spectacular movie. I'm just not sure it would fit with the canon...

I must confess the Rancor definitely needs to be fixed IMO. I remember thinking it looked pretty dodgy back in 1983! I wouldn't mind a CGI Rancor. As long as they don't have it doing a song and dance or give it a giant beak. James (who liked Sy Snootles better before the CGI job)

My CD of the original soundtrack release includes the disco version as a bonus track at the end. It was also reworked by Geoff Love on his wonderful but horribly dated 1978 album "Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Other Disco Galactic Hits". Gotta love Meco! Look at what he started!!!! (I DO love Meco! Those arrangements of his REALLY take me back!)

:cry: Ok

Well it was a few years ago I heard the Kane rumour, and thankfully nothing has materialised yet. Hopefully it was abandoned. Now digital remastering, there's something more productive!

I thought so!

Someone just posted this "review" on Amazon. It looks like speculation, but I wonder if any of it is true. Also what is his source???

I've seen colourised films before. Trouble is, if you turn down the colour on your set you just get a very watered down version, lacking all the crisp clarity of the ofiginal black and white. Colourisation is EVIL. I recently bought the DVD of Scrooge (with Alistair Simm), which had been colourised. Luckily they had the good idea of including BOTH versions on the dvd. It amazes me that people today can't suspend their disbelief any more. It was bad enough when Chaplin added dialogue (well, narration) to his 1925 classic The Gold Rush in 1942. But colourisation???? It's not as if these films are lacking in any way! The directors SPECIFICALLY shot their films to work in b&w! The use of shadows in Citizen Kane is a good example. I heard that someone was colourising THAT as well!!!!!!

Ok, I couldn't get the attachment to work. It's a word file. How do I attach it?

My lectures at Orange High School went down well last week. The children were all fairly receptive, particularly the 6th graders (who asked a lot of very perceptive questions). I began by showing Chaplin's "His New Job" (1915) with Eric James' improvised piano accompaniment. Next I showed King Kong (1933), the first appearance of Kong in which his appearance is preempted by the "footsteps" in the orchestra. Great moment for the importance of film music as "character". (Steiner) I followed this with the death of the boy on the lilo in Jaws (1975). The shark is barely glimpsed in this scene, but the orchestra tells us clearly that it's there! (As does the enormous fountain of blood!) (Williams) I next showed the driving scene from Psycho (1960) both with and without music. This is a clear representation of how music can almost completely create the mood of a scene! (Herrmann) I next showed how the opening music of a film is vital in telling the audience what kind of a film they are about to see. I showed the opening credits for Heat, Carry On Teacher, Twelve Monkeys, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to illustrate examples of serious, comedy, dark unpredictable, and mgical fantasy movies respectively. I finished with the final 5 minutes of the Death Star battle from Star Wars. I included a handout (which I include here as an attachment) showing how the music reflects the onscreen action. This went down very well and made for a "climactic" close to the presentation. The kids all responded very well and will, with any luck, listen more closely to the score next time they go to the flicks.

Ok, now that many of us have seen this film (at least once!) I feel it's time for this rather obvious poll. Remember this poll is based on your fave film (not just the soundtrack, although that may well play an important part in your answer). If you haven't seen all three please wait until you have before voting. Er..obviously... Let's see how Cuaron fares against Columbus. I have a suspicion I already know, but I'd love to see what you all think. All comments and reasons welcome.

It is celesta in the key of E minor. Williams uses this trick a lot to imply both magic and Christmas. Hook and Home Alone both have similar themes to open the movies for precisely the same reason. E minor celesta music has always been synonymous with magic/Christmas ever since Tchaikovsky first introduced the instrument to the orchestra in Nutcracker (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy is celesta in E-minor. Hey presto...Christmas magic!).

I love the music after the line "And now we wait" where Hermione and Harry are waiting beside the whomping willow. The music accompanies bats flying through the forest. Is this music on the CD? I don't recall hearing it outside the film.

What's wrong with the 20s? Some of my fave films came out then! The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Thief of Bhagdad, Metropolis, The Lodger, Ben Hur...

I think they're piccolos. Well whatever, I agree KM. That has to be some of the most virtuosic writing in a Williams score!

The best "flute" moment in a Williams-scored film for me is in Close Encounters. The start of the final scene, right before the UFOs come down and hover above the airstrip they twinkle in the night sky like shooting stars. Several of them come together as one and then seperate, shooting apart into the night sky. As that happens 3 flutes form a minor triad. Ooooh it sends chills up my spine every time. Magic.

Pete N Tillie?? Images??? Black Sunday????? Where did you get them??? Me want!!!