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Hlao-roo

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Posts posted by Hlao-roo

  1. I was surprised to receive an email this morning from Richard Dyer who  writes for the Boston Globe.  I had expressed my concerns about William Ross and my sadness at the news.

    Here is his response:

    Hi there-Sorry to hear you are going beserk - I was disappointed when Ken Wannaberg told me this too, and presumably he would know: he said JW simply didn't have enough time between finishing "Minority Report" and starting on the Tom Hanks/Spielberg film.  I asked whether JW would be conducting the soundtrack recording, and was told the answer to that question hadn't been determined yet.  I wish JW wouldn't try to do so very much, although in response to that question he said he's doing his exercises and feels good and doesn't see any reason not to keep a full schedule.  He does love his work, God love him.  

    All the best wishes, and sincerely yours,

    Richard Dyer

    Ricard, I did not ask Mr. Dyer's permission to retype his reply here so if you feel that it should be deleted feel free to do so.  I feel better now that I have received this reply.  Knowing the reason why this is happening somehow makes it a little better.

    Joe

    Dyer -- always the Williams devotee. Thanks a bunch, Joe.

  2. I'm no music expert and art is always subjective, but I agree that John Williams is the best film composer ever. For the following reasons:

    - I'm familirar with oeuvre of the most renowed and influential film composers to date and no one strikes me like John Williams does

    - John Williams scored some of the most popular and influential movies ever. And JW didn't become popular cause he scored popular movies. He ssocre movies with potential and he helped give that extar push that made them classics. His legacy in film history is undeniable.

    - Jw composed several world famous movie themes (I mean that are recognizable to people thaht don't listen to film scores)...not once. but maybe 10 times. No other film composer can claim that.

    - And I believe he is a genius. he has composed around 20 or 30 absolute masterpieces. That's a lot. As I said, art is always subjective and I'm no music expert, but some of JW works have touched me really deeply and I can say my life would be very different if it weren't for JW.

    Apparently you haven't heard Jerry Goldsmith is better. It's a fact. A flat fact. You can't argue with facts. Sorry. How do I know? I asked the folks at the Film Score Monthly message board, and they're never wrong. Soon, I will be one of them.

    Join us, Merkel, and together we can help to crush this senseless rebellion spreading the outright lie that John Williams is the master. It is...your destiny.

  3. For a while, Rosewood and Seven Years in Tibet were widely considered Williams's two finest achievements of 1997. Since then, there's been a revival of sorts, it seems, of The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad, and increasingly, people seem to embrace the two Spielberg scores as the superior of the four.

    I think this just goes to show the greatness of 1997 in Williams's career. In my book, unless Catch Me If You Can somehow ends up being the most brilliant masterwork of Williams's career, 2002 won't come close to matching what Williams accomplished in 1997. Every score in '97 was fresh and had its own character; sadly, the same can't be said of 2002.

  4. The precogs aren't named in the short story.  I'd guarantee naming them as such was intentional, since the film is a classic mystery wrapped in the guise of a sci-fi film.  I thought of that on the way home and got a good laugh out of it.  Very clever!  At first I thought using the name Agatha was just unique, since it's kind of out-moded, but a good name for the character.  Surprisingly, Roger Ebert caught the Agatha (Christie) reference, but not the other two.

    Wait a minute, Steven, I think you've got it wrong here. Read the story again: it's "Donna," "Mike," and "Jerry."

  5. :baaa: Would the bashers stop bashing John's scores because certain

    cues sound "just like" or "Similar" to his other stuff. Of course they sound

    familiar... it's the same composer!!! Every bit of J's music is excellent, and

    NOOOOOOOOOOO, Anderton's Great Escape sounds Nothing like Lost World, It's brilliant. Everybody Runs is great too. Attack of the Clones score rocked! Chase Through Coruscant was a wonderful action cue, and went on for 11 minutes TOO SHORT!!!!!!!!

    "Anderton's Great Escape" blatantly revisits a motif from "Ludlow's Demise" and "The Quidditch Match." That case has nothing to do with style.

  6. Minority Report is easily among Spielberg's most entertaining films ever, and is, believe it or not, a vast improvement over Philip K. Dick's so-so story. Don't get me wrong, Dick's premise was brilliant, but his plot was contrived and over-convoluted and no doubt would have translated poorly as a cinematic piece.

    As expected, the film isn't high-brow enough for certain people and for several snotty critics, but Spielberg accomplished precisely what he set out to do: create a hybrid of several different styles and genres. If that means compromising a meticulous investigation of each and every philosophical idea and moral dilemma suggested by Spielberg's vision of the future, so be it. There was definitely Raiders-caliber action in there, and I loved it.

    None of the acting was particularly spectacular (unlike the magnificent work of Haley Joel Osment and of Jude Law in last year's A.I.), but it was solid and convincing, as we've come to expect from a Spielberg's direction. Samantha Morton's Agatha was the stand-out.

    Cruise may have seemed completely undaunted in several of the chase sequences, but Anderton's reveries, his interaction with Agatha and his wife, his vulnerability to drug addiction, and the sly humor throughout go a long way in humanizing the character in my mind.

  7. I don't get it??

    Why don't you folks like the idea of JW scoring a Matrix movie?? Those films kick ass!! Well ok the first one did.  

    Seriously though I think JW's style of scoring could greatly enhance the sequels. Especially if he wrote a strong main theme like the first film lacked.

    -Rogue Leader who still to this day 100% believes John Williams IS "THE ONE"!  :cool: <----- The Matrix Emoticon  :wink2:

    I doubt that Williams, at this stage in his career, would be willing to undergo the exertion of integrating score and song track as Don Davis had to do for the Wachowskis for the first film.

    I wouldn't want anyone else other than Davis working on The Matrix sequels. And certainly, his gift for marrying the standard orchestra with electronics and as well as appropriately spotting the use of the electronics eclipses Williams's by far.

    It may not have had a strong lyrical theme, but the brass waxing/waning motif was a clever touch and reminiscent (for me, at least) of Goldsmith's repeated figure in Patton.

  8. Let's take a look at the last few dozen or so John Williams movie albums (pseudo-chronological order)...

    Born on the Fourth of July and Always: MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

    Stanley and Iris through Far and Away: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

    Home Alone 2: Lost in New York: ORIGINAL SCORE

    Jurassic Park through Amistad: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

    ...and then it gets screwy...

    Saving Private Ryan: MUSIC FROM THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

    Stepmom: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE

    Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

    Angela's Ashes: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE

    The Patriot: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SCORE

    A.I. Artificial Intelligence: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE

    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK

    Minority Report: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SCORE

    So I've no idea what makes Minority Report so much like The Patriot...

  9. Morn -- get on the case!  Find out what's going on!

    ~Harry

    Hey, now, Uni is the true detective around here.

    ...although something of such a tragic scope may be beyond him. I don't know Weebo personally, but his A.I. promo and "John Williams Costco" projects were among the most ambitious and -- most important -- generous undertakings I've ever witnessed by a fan for his fellow community. He is definitely missed.

  10. John Williams launched the year with a fantastic exultant piece in "Call of the Champions," but he hasn't impressed considerably since then.

    Minority Report continues his disturbing trend of increasingly prosaic, hackneyed action cues that are rife with sonic intensity and orchestrational intricacy but which are utterly bereft of emotional immersion on any level.

    I do miss the John Williams of '97, who seemed to bring a unique creative sensibility to each successive project.

  11. I don't plan to see the movie.is it an interesting score or not.I ask here because I know what kind of answer i will get at the FSM MB.

    K.M.

    Dan Hobgood was actually somewhat disappointed with it. Naturally, it's still better than anything John Williams has ever composed, but it's still...lacking...he admits.

  12. So, as an admirer of John Williams' work, you hope he creates something that sounds like other composers - makes sense to me

    Of course, one wants to hear Williams do it better :)

    In fact, in terms of lyricism (not tonality), Goldsmith's adventures scores are whole lot more melodic and hummable than Williams's latest.

    Yeah, right :sarcasm:

    Um, I was being serious. Try humming "Zam the Assassin and The Chase Through Coruscant" or "Jango's Escape" vs. humming, say, "The Fire Dragon" from Goldsmith's Thirteenth Warrior" or the action cues underscoring Mulan's heroic maneuvers in Mulan or "The Drones Attack" from Star Trek: Insurrection. I'm not trying to attack Williams's style in any way; I'm just saying that Goldsmith's action music tends to be more melodic and way easier to hum/whistle/etc.

  13. This isn't entirely relevant, but recently, Goldsmith's adventure scores have been very tonal -- just check out The Mummy and The Thirteenth Warrior.

    In fact, in terms of lyricism (not tonality), Goldsmith's adventures scores are whole lot more melodic and hummable than Williams's latest.

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