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Favorite John Williams score of the 2010s


BrotherSound

Favorite John Williams score of the 2010s  

78 members have voted

  1. 1. Which is your favorite John Williams film score of the past decade?

    • The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
    • War Horse (2011)
    • Lincoln (2012)
    • The Book Thief (2013)
    • Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
    • The BFG (2016)
    • Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
    • The Post (2017)
    • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)


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I love all of them to varying degrees, but my personal favorite to which I return the most without ever getting tired of it, is Tintin. Even if I consider Rise of Skywalker as the even more accomplished and complex score achievement. 

 

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For me is a close tide between The Force Awakens and War Horse, but I voted for the former. I love all these scores although not so much The BFG and The Post (I think they have great moments but overall I don't enjoy them as much).

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On 11/11/2020 at 3:49 PM, Smaug The Iron said:

They are all great. But the Star Wars sequels are my top 3 and TLJ is my favorite of them all. 

(If Star Wars was out it would have been Tintin)

 

My thoughts exactly. The Last Jedi and Tintin.

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3 hours ago, Bellosh said:

Star Wars fans in this poll:. STOP THE COUNT!

I remember when fans tried to start a campaign to vote for TPM- THE PHANTOM EFFING MENACE!- on IMDB.

Their goal? Make it Number one on the Favorite films ranking .

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4 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

I remember when fans tried to start a campaign to vote for TPM- THE PHANTOM EFFING MENACE!- on IMDB.

Their goal? Make it Number one on the Favorite films ranking .

 

Lol.  I think that has to do more with the age demographics of who saw TPM as their first star wars movie.  The same demographic that would do that sorta 'internet campaign.'

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People literally camped out in front of the theater for weeks before it opened.

One can't but help their disappointment for wasting their time resulted in the subsequent campaign to convince themselves it was a great film(?)

 

 

Thinking back....

I may have misremebered...

It could have been a campaign to make it the NUMBER ONE BOX OFFICE film. So they urged everyone to see it over and over and over...

That's even more pathetic!😅😅😅

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TBH

 

JW may have written a masterwork, but the film was so mind-numbingly bad , it made zero impression on me. I had to fight just to stay awake. Paying attention to the score was not an option.

There is no such thing as a great score for a terrible film. IMHO.

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Well, opinions differ. I liked the Tintin movie very much. Not a masterpiece, but very entertaining, well executed and with excellent 3D use. Perhaps it helps that I grew up with the comics and like them, too. 

58 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

It's just not as memorable as one would expect from this type of JW score.

 

I found it extremely memorable. The whole family was listening to the soundtrack in the car and humming along. 

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1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

TBH

 

JW may have written a masterwork, but the film was so mind-numbingly bad , it made zero impression on me. I had to fight just to stay awake. Paying attention to the score was not an option.

There is no such thing as a great score for a terrible film. IMHO.

 

I had to fight just to stay awake reading this post.

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12 hours ago, blondheim said:

I expected Tintin to get more votes.

 

Tintin is amazing, but as the 2010s went on JW just kept writing banger after banger so it's not surprising to me at all. Especially when you consider War Horse and Lincoln are two of the best scores he ever wrote, and anything Star Wars always gets a huge amount of votes on polls on this forum 

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Just now, Jay said:

 

Tintin is amazing, but as the 2010s went on JW just kept writing banger after banger so it's not surprising to me at all. Especially when you consider War Horse and Lincoln are two of the best scores he ever wrote, and anything Star Wars always gets a huge amount of votes on polls on this forum 

 

I expected The Force Awakens to get massive praise.

 

Not as big a fan of Lincoln as everyone else. It's nice, sure, but even if I were to weigh it against its presidential brethren Nixon and JFK, it would come out on the bottom. I don't pull Lincoln out very often, Tintin I pull out all the time. I can understand if someone's sensibilities swung more the direction of War Horse that year, they were both absolute knock-outs.

 

Maybe I was surprised because I felt like the four brightest scores from the list were the two from 2011 and the two from 2017 and so while I went with my first pick from both years, I expected all four to get a decent showing. Well, maybe not The Post. I sort of expected to be holding a torch in the wilderness for that one. I am not upset at the votes any of the other choices are getting, maybe I just assumed Tintin would be more competition?

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If think if you did a similar poll but with all three Star Wars scores removed, Tintin would get a lot more votes.

 

However, I think there still is a pretty low ceiling due to another reason, that is the movie bombing and the Tintin franchise being almost entirely unknown to Americans.  I think there's a lot of young people here who have never listened to and don't even know what Tintin is; while their parents might have shown them Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Jurassic Park films in their childhood, the amount that showed their kids Tintin is significantly smaller so I think a lot of people just don't know it.  The fact that it hasn't really been a concert favorite, and the film never grew a cult following after it's theatrical bomb, and a sequel was never made all add up to me not being surprised at all to its low vote count.

 

The best thing that could happen would be an expanded releases from the labels, which would bring the score back to the forefront of discussion again, on top of releasing a ton of additional music we don't have clean or at all right now that would really make people appreciate the score in a whole new light (I believe)

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This poll is great, because I think no matter what your personal preference, look at that list... not a disappointment in the bunch.  The '10s are without question stronger, more engaging Williams than the '00s.  I can't quite find the words to articulate it, but his scores seem more purposeful and focused than the decade before.   Not that the '00s were "bad", but I'm finding myself more satisfied and not wishing they were something other than they are.

 

Star Wars or not, Rise of Skywalker moved me to tears.

 

Did you guys know War Horse seems to be out of print?  When I saw that, I quickly snatched up the Post and the BFG, on which I was procrastinating.

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2 minutes ago, Hedji said:

Did you guys know War Horse seems to be out of print?  When I saw that, I quickly snatched up the Post and the BFG, on which I was procrastinating.

 

That and Tintin have been OOP for several years.

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The quality of the scores on the poll is actually quite consistent, as others have said. 5 or 6 scores from that list could've easily taken my vote. But because I want to see it having a more significant percentage, my vote goes to Tintin

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13 minutes ago, Hedji said:

This poll is great, because I think no matter what your personal preference, look at that list... not a disappointment in the bunch.  The '10s are without question stronger, more engaging Williams than the '00s.  I can't quite find the words to articulate it, but his scores seem more purposeful and focused than the decade before.   Not that the '00s were "bad", but I'm finding myself more satisfied and not wishing they were something other than they are.

 

Yes, the 10s were much more varied from Williams.  The 00s leaned towards a grandiose sound (3 Potters, 2 Star Wars, Patriot, AI, Minority Report, WOTW, Geisha, Indiana Jones) while only featuring a few smaller scale scores (Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Munich).  The 10s had 3 Star Wars and Tintin, and then War Horse, Lincoln, Book Thief, BFG, Post.

 

 

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, Hedji said:

Did you guys know War Horse seems to be out of print?  When I saw that, I quickly snatched up the Post and the BFG, on which I was procrastinating.

 

10 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

That and Tintin have been OOP for several years.

 

 

They're only "OOP" on the physical CD format, which - despite being what the majority of posters on this forum still like - is without question a niche format in the 2020s.  Any young fan looking to find more of Williams work will be searching these scores out on their streaming platform of choice, on which all these scores are readily available

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25 minutes ago, Jay said:

They're only "OOP" on the physical CD format, which - despite being what the majority of posters on this forum still like - is without question a niche format in the 2020s.  Any young fan looking to find more of Williams work will be searching these scores out on their streaming platform of choice, on which all these scores are readily available

 

Well, digital files aren't printed. ;)

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

If think if you did a similar poll but with all three Star Wars scores removed, Tintin would get a lot more votes.

 

Wasn't that done a few months ago?

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46 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yes, the 10s were much more varied from Williams.  The 00s leaned towards a grandiose sound (3 Potters, 2 Star Wars, Patriot, AI, Minority Report, WOTW, Geisha, Indiana Jones) while only featuring a few smaller scale scores (Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Munich).  The 10s had 3 Star Wars and Tintin, and then War Horse, Lincoln, Book Thief, BFG, Post.

 

The first half of the decade, especially, really set a new vibe. There's just something very unique about those first five to me, individually and as a group. The softer pastoral qualities, ruminative and reflective, the greater effort toward his end credit suites, the use of piano, but also an exciting and more kinda brawny, stripped down action style compared to the 2000s. The latter half has a bunch of highlights and similar patterns but I feel like their identities aren't as strong individually or as a group? Like they repeat themselves a bit more or fall back into some of the older 90s-2000s tricks more often. I don't know if this makes sense, it's all a generalization. It's interesting to me, though, I just look at those first five scores and it feels like he was doing something real consistent but also totally varied there, in a way that doesn't ring as true in the latter half where I think those have less in common and bounce around more. I enjoy it all.

 

I voted War Horse because even though I think some others actually work better in their films, overall, it just hits a lot of buttons for me. In a funny way, for whatever reason I often found myself wishing certain things from the other scores were just a liiiiiittle more like War Horse. Not literally in sound but just in principle. Melodies that are just a bit more soaring and swooning, those incidental throwaway tunes that have more a life of their own, setpieces that are more focused and emotionally grounded like Plowing and No Man's Land. Just over the years I kept thinking "This is really great but War Horse, man"

 

I also have developed some nostalgia since I joined this forum in 2010 and was just dying for new Williams after waiting so long and the Harry Potter hopes officially dashed. So that was all just a lot of fun to finally be getting something and getting into it as a JWFan and I loved both War Horse and Tintin. They both had elements I didn't quite expect but satisfyingly so and I just kept listening to "The Homecoming" over and over. It was exactly what I wanted and what I missed about having new John Williams in my life since 2008, but actually really since Azkaban since he was in a darker and more agitated space with the 2005 stuff and Crystal Skull doesn't have those emotional highs.

 

And I guess the proof is in the pudding because I don't return to Tintin quite as much and the rest, as much as I love and appreciate them, always have minor disappointments for me. War Horse still knocks me out and has become one of my true Williams comfort listens, one of those favorites I can just count on.

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18 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Wow, I totally disagree. There isn't much to speak of in the last part of the 2000s, but the first half is stronger than most any 5 year stint in his entire career. The 2010s, however, rank the lowest on my Williams barometer, by far. I mean, there are bits and pieces to enjoy (mostly individual cues within scores), but as a whole disappointing.

 

For me it is just the other way round. I take Tintin, Lincoln, BFG and Rise of Skywalker anytime over Minority Report, Attack of the Clones, The Terminal and War of the Worlds. 

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1 hour ago, Gurkensalat said:

 

For me it is just the other way round. I take Tintin, Lincoln, BFG and Rise of Skywalker anytime over Minority Report, Attack of the Clones, The Terminal and War of the Worlds. 

 

There you go. Different strokes for different folks.

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25 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

As long as we agree that The Post is his best score of the last decade, we're good.

 

In fact, yes, there are all best scores of the decade.

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30 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

As long as we agree that The Post is his best score of the last decade, we're good.

 

It's an extremely tight match between THE POST and WAR HORSE for my sake. As of right now, WAR HORSE wins with an incy-wincy tiny difference.

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