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John Williams returns for Indiana Jones 5


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5 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

Not encouraging.

That screenplay was pretty poor.

It's a biopic so I'm not sure it's the best movie to compare with. Remember that he wrote Logan which was incredible.

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1 hour ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

It's a biopic so I'm not sure it's the best movie to compare with. Remember that he wrote Logan which was incredible.

Actually, that was the problem with FERRARI; it was turned into a cliched Hollywood biopic.

The story it was based on doesn't conform to that genre.

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11 hours ago, artguy360 said:

I think JW will write a fantastic score that will surpass Crystal Skull. Working with a new director might lead to an Azkaban-tier effort where JW was firing on all cylinders.

 

There were some hints of nice Indiana Jones-esque motifs throughout the Star Wars sequels. I especially like that little motif when Rey spots Ochi's ship (after the Speeder Chase).

 

This section of Galaxy's Edge sounds straight out of an Indiana Jones movie:

 

Sadly the motif for Ochi's ship is almost inaudible (because clearly a completely redundant engine noise should take precedence in the mix over a foreboding fragment of musical storytelling):

 

That's one of the things I missed in his score for Indy 4, all the fun motifs for various MacGuffins. However, he did a nice job writing those fun, standalone motifs for various cues -- the Stepping Stones motif, the post-Rocket Sled cue motif, etc.

 

I really like the Crystal Skull concert suite but personally didn't find the theme itself that strong when threaded throughout the score proper. Certainly unlike the memorable Grail theme, which shines in TLC every time it appears. That's the biblical, mythical sound I hope Indy 5 can inspire from JW.

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12 hours ago, Quintus said:

Don't forget it takes 70 years and many writers for a new Indiana Jones script to be written. By the time the film comes out, the Ayatollah of Iran has taken a pass at it. 

Don't forget Salman Rushdie.  Though he gets to go after the Ayatollah for obvious reasons. 

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I enjoy the Crystal Skull score, but it was unusually uninspired for Williams, including the new themes. I think the odds are he could come up with better ones this time around, especially if the film gives him more to work with. He's written a lot of themes since KotCS that were better than the ones in that film. Although somehow I doubt he'll write as good a McGuffin theme as he did for the ark or the grail.

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3 hours ago, Jay said:

I hope this score has a really good, strong, memorable, long-lined theme for the film's macguffin.

 

Raider's Ark Theme is amazing

 

Temple of Doom's Shankara Stones Theme is great

 

Last Crusade's Grail Theme is amazing

 

Crystal Skull's Crystal Skull Theme is..... eh... it's fine

 

Let's go back to the strong memorable themes that the biblical artifacts had!


At the very least, I hope it's more like Tintin's Unicorn Theme, and less like the Call Of The Crystal...

 

As you know, Williams wrote TWO really strong Indiana Jones macguffin themes in later years, he just put them in the wrong movies. 

 

The Unicorn treasure theme from Tintin

The Jedi Steps theme from TFA. 

 

JW is still easily very capable of delivering the goods in this way, he just needs to get his priorities back into order. 

 

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I think the main problem with the Crystal Skull theme is that they were very clearly telling Williams to do something similar to the Ark's theme.

 

Here's hoping the new film allows Williams to try out new things instead of having to stick too closely to the temp-track.

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9 hours ago, Muad'Dib said:

I think the main problem with the Crystal Skull theme is that they were very clearly telling Williams to do something similar to the Ark's theme.

 

Here's hoping the new film allows Williams to try out new things instead of having to stick too closely to the temp-track.

Devising something similar to the Ark Theme is just impossible. The idea is as simple and irreplicable as that of the motif in Beethoven's 5th.

 

But the Wayfinder motif in TROS was cool, and Ochi's ship also had it's own musical mark, so maybe Williams can indeed come up with new ones that will be distinctive and likeable.

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I remember when this comic con promo dropped back in 2007. I was SO unbelievably excited. It was actually happening!

 

”This is just a dynamite movie!” - Ford

 

“ This movie we’ve made entirely for the fans!” - Spielberg

 

Watching it now just makes my heart hurt.

 

But I have some faith that all those involved in Indy 5 have learned from past mistakes. I’ll be there opening day. Willing to have my faith reaffirmed. Or my heart broken again. But life will go on. And we’ll get a new Williams score out of it🙂

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That video is so cringe. Shia is so awkward.

 

LOL @ Spielberg interpreting Ford's comment about "family" as a spoiler around 4:06, then jumping in to clarify.

 

I wouldn't particularly care if Marion didn't return. No disrespect to Karen Allen (who hadn't acted in decades... and it showed) but the entire subplot with Marion was one of the worst aspects of KOCS (especially intertwined with a laughably obvious son "twist").

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Yowzers! I genuinely thought she retired from acting a few years after ROTLA :lol:

 

Not really her fault though. That lemon of a script gave her (and most other characters) almost nothing to work with.

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Scrooged, Malcolm X, The Sandlot, In the Bedroom, and When Will I Be Loved are all worth seeing

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You've never heard of Scrooged before?  It's got one of Danny Elfman's first scores, pre-Batman.  It's a 1988 Richard Donner film starring Bill Murray, and Karen Allen is the love interest

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22 hours ago, Jay said:

At the very least, I hope it's more like Tintin's Unicorn Theme, and less like the Call Of The Crystal...

 

To repeat myself (yet again), Tintin was the Indy 4 that KotCS never was (the films). If Williams is inspired and the source material allows, he can still write a great Indy score.

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1 hour ago, TownerFan said:

 

Actually Spielberg's brief was to have something along the lines of the 1950s sci-fi scores by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter.

 

 

As much as the MacGuffin themes of the previous three films nodded to the Golden Age heritage of Steiner/Rozsa/Waxman etc, the Crystal Skull theme refers to a similar film music artifact of the past, namely the sci-fi scores of the 1950s era. There is even a callback to the sound of theremin. I think that musically made a lot of sense.

 

Yeah, that's true. But what I meant with the similarity to the Ark theme is that opening-repeating three notes of the Crystal Skull theme feel like the Ark's three-note descending motif, only here it's upwards. Even the rythmic pattern feels quite similar.

 

Hell, if there was ONE cue where they played together in counterpoint I'd throw all my criticism away :lol:

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6 hours ago, crumbs said:

The only film I've heard of is The Sandlot, entirely because LLL released an expansion of it. :lol:

 

6 hours ago, Jay said:

You've never heard of Scrooged before?  

 

I can't believe crumbs hasn't heard of Malcolm X or In the Bedroom either tbh. Aussies!

 

When Will I Be Loved, I'm unfamiliar with. Still I think poor Allen is rather embarrassing in a thankless role in KOTCS. It's really at her introduction that the movie shifts from slightly boring with the Mutt/Indy stuff to more of a notorious cringefest. Not entirely because of Marion but there's some weird nervous energy. It's all been discussed, I think Spielberg's head was just in an entirely different tonal space and he had to fake it, much as they all sincerely wanted to make a great throwback.

 

19 hours ago, WampaRat said:

Interesting. I always thought Tintin seemed liked a good blend of Indy and CMIYC.

Crystal Skulk had a “flightier”sound in its action material I’ve always felt. Especially with the saxophone popping up here and there. A “jazzy adventure” sound he perfected in Tintin I’d say.

 

I personally hope he really lays into the brass ala Temple of Doom. Its just sooo punchy. I love it! But tonally I see it most likely going the route of Last Crusade, which I find the most emotional of the Indy scores. And as this will truly be Harrison’s swan song, I’d be quite ok with that. 🙂

 

I would kinda love a really tough, gnarly JW action score, just to show everyone what he's made of, but I am definitely predicting something very lightly old school with a soft nostalgic heart, the kind of space he's been in lately. I'd be perfectly happy with a cousin of The Force Awakens.

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2 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

When Will I Be Loved, I'm unfamiliar with.

 

Nice little indie flick with Neve Campbell and Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior from The Sopranos).  I liked it a lot when I saw it in 2004/5, though don't know what I would think of it today

 

2 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Still I think poor Allen is rather embarrassing in a thankless role in KOTCS. It's really at her introduction that the movie shifts from slightly boring with the Mutt/Indy stuff to more of a notorious cringefest. Not entirely because of Marion but there's some weird nervous energy. It's all been discussed, I think Spielberg's head was just an entirely different tonal space and he had to fake it, much as they all sincerely wanted to make a great throwback.

 

Oh I agree, the film is a mess and she brings a kind of energy to the proceedings that is quite different from everything that came before and doesn't seem to gel with what's going on... then again, does much gel from one scene to the next in this movie? :lol:

 

2 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

I would kinda love a really tough, gnarly JW action score, just to show everyone what he's made of, but I am definitely predicting something very lightly old school with a soft nostalgic heart, the kind of space he's been in lately. I'd be perfectly happy with a cousin of The Force Awakens.

 

Aye, it's hard to know what to expect until we know what kind of movie Mangold is making here

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42 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

 

I would kinda love a really tough, gnarly JW action score, just to show everyone what he's made of

^ This.
I was listening to “The Hunt” from TLW last night and was thinking how insane it would be to get a cue like THAT in this new Indy score. My jaw would be on the floor!

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Classic JWFan. 

 

New JW score is announced.

 

"I wonder if he will return to the glory days of yesteryear" 

"He won't" 

"hE mAY dO It sTiLl" 

 

JW proceeds to not return to the glory days of yesteryear. 

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His style has changed too much to expect a pure 80s sounding score.  However, the last few years of provided instances of weaving elements of 80s-style Williams into his contemporary compositions.  I would say both Galaxy's Edge and Dear Basketball serve as such examples.  

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46 minutes ago, Tom said:

The Discussion main page reads as "Official: John Williams ret"  My mind keeps filling it in as "retires."  


Me too!!  I’ve thought that multiple times this week.

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