Movie Nights w/the Nephew thread

[BobaMike]

Oh, yes, thanks, Andy! Lots of relatives of internet people to keep track of!

[Monterey Jack]

Goldfinger has an iconic title song, and while the score works great in the film I don't think most of Goldfinger's actual cues to have a lot of standalone appeal.

"Dawn Raid On Fort Knox" is a banger.

[Paul MacLean]

Had my niece and nephew over again tonight. They had never seen Superman: The Movie, so clearly it was high time they did!

They both got a kick out of it. They also singled-out the effects work as outstanding -- which pleased me no end, as they are in their late 20s, and are used to MCU movies. I think this speaks to the artistry of Superman -- the filmmakers may not have had access to CGI, but the effects in the film possess the kind of elegance you don't see much of today.

Also, my nephew -- who is a keyboardist and drummer, and generally more of a rock 'n roller -- loved John Williams score, and said "I have to get a copy of that soundtrack!"

[BobaMike]

I just watched Superman, my 4th grader wandered in and out while playing legos. Said it was too cheesy. Hurt my feelings!

Once I told him the movie was older than me he changed his tune a bit, but I don't think it'll ever be one he'll want to watch again.

One of the top five Williams' scores in my book though.

[mkaroly]

Superman The Movie has heart and soul - triumphant, moving, and well made. One could argue its effects were ahead of its time, and the score is beyond outstanding. I will always love that movie.

[AndyDursin]

It's phenomenal. Theo really enjoyed it, I'm glad though I've exposed him to some of the older "non CGI" fare at an early age so he can watch an old STAR TREK with me plus SUPERMAN and understand it's not something paced like a "modern" ADD riddled movie.

We also just watched STAR WARS ("a new hope" -- via Daddy's 4K download of a 1977 reconstructed version, minus that prologue line!) right after the prequels (and both Mandalorian seasons) and Theo enjoyed it even more than before.

At any rate, SUPERMAN IS great stuff. Maybe my favorite Williams score ever as we've discussed before. As a movie, I still love SUPERMAN II also because I don't feel the need to see the "origin story" every time out, and the original movie's structure takes away from the amount of time you have Christopher Reeve on-screen.

[Paul MacLean]

I just watched Superman, my 4th grader wandered in and out while playing legos. Said it was too cheesy. Hurt my feelings!

Once I told him the movie was older than me he changed his tune a bit, but I don't think it'll ever be one he'll want to watch again.

Take heart -- when my nephew was 10, he was a huge Harry Potter fan, so I gave him the CD for Chamber of Secrets for Christmas. He was very musical, and I thought maybe his interest in Potter could blossom into an interest in John Williams. I decided to throw-in a CD-R of Superman as well.

He couldn't have cared less about either of them. But now he wants the Superman score!

So just wait!

[Edmund Kattak]

You know, the thing that always amuses me is that most of us here have been fans of this music and collecting for over 40/45 years now and have been in the insufferable position of being branded square or odd for liking this music. Yet, at some point when it becomes popular or fashionable for the "mainstream" to all of sudden be engaged as "fans" of the music, suddenly, it's cool to like John Williams because they say it's cool.

But when i pull out my original LP to "IMAGES," they get caught like a narc at a biker rally.

[Paul MacLean]

You know, the thing that always amuses me is that most of us here have been fans of this music and collecting for over 40/45 years now and have been in the insufferable position of being branded square or odd for liking this music. Yet, at some point when it becomes popular or fashionable for the "mainstream" to all of sudden be engaged as "fans" of the music, suddenly, it's cool to like John Williams because they say it's cool.

But when i pull out my original LP to "IMAGES," they get caught like a narc at a biker rally.

I remember 1977 (!) when Star Wars was released in May, and then Close Encounters arrived in November, and how John Williams was suddenly a "hot new act" -- in the era of the BeeGees and the Bay City Rollers! The Star Wars soundtrack even went platinum (no mean feat considering it was an expensive 2-record set).

Then of course Superman came along the following year, then Raiders in '81, E.T. in '82 (and of course the Star Wars sequels). Williams was synonymous with blockbuster movies.

But I noticed a change in attitude in the mid 80s: Williams was becoming "uncool". Song compilations were now the thing -- Purple Rain, John Hughes movies, Top Gun, Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, etc.

I started hearing people say "John Williams all sounds the same". This one kid I knew -- who actually played the cello in the school orchestra with me -- dismissed Williams with "All his themes are the same, he just changes two notes".

I got to college and took a course called "Music in the Media". My instructor was actually a great guy -- he loved Herrmann, Goldsmith and Barry -- but he did not like Williams. He used Williams' scores as examples over over-obvious scores that were full of cliches. I would argue with him and point out that Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones were homages to classic movie tropes (with tongue in cheek nods to cliches) and that Williams was simply scoring them accordingly. I also distinctly remember one student in the class saying to our teacher "I can't believe Lucas and Spielberg want to work with that guy!"

Williams was of course still popular, but his detractors were quite legion in the mid-late 1980s. I remember inquiring at a local record store owned by these insufferable "alternative" poseurs, and asking if they had any Boston Pops albums. I was greeted with an appalled "No!" by the Johnny Rotten fan behind the counter. (They did carry the soundtracks for Liquid Sky and Desperately Seeking Susan however!)

I think the tide started to turn with Born on the 4th of July, when people were surprised to see a "serious" filmmaker like Oliver Stone working with Williams. I also think Home Alone made people realize Williams was not only "brassy heroics". But seemed to take Schindler's List to force people to admit that Williams was a composer capable of profundity (of course I submit that Superman and Close Encounters have profound moments themselves, but people were just to snobby to see it).

[AndyDursin]

Pendulum swings all over the map, I had the same experience with a high school music teacher like Paul did. Now it's gratifying to see the classical community firmly embrace him like Dudamel and DG with all of these album recordings...not that they may not have before, but there's certainly a renaissance being cultivated with these European concerts he's made over the last few years.

[Paul MacLean]

Pendulum swings all over the map, I had the same experience with a high school music teacher like Paul did. Now it's gratifying to see the classical community firmly embrace him like Dudamel and DG with all of these album recordings...not that they may not have before, but there's certainly a renaissance being cultivated with these European concerts he's made over the last few years.

Oh, and I forgot the snobby girl who played the violin, who snidely quipped "The strings are out of tune" when she passed by me as I was listening to Star Wars!

I informed her it was the London Symphony she was dumping on, to which she responded "What a waste for them to play Star Wars."

Unfortunately at that moment I didn't think to point out her statements were contradictory -- if she has such a low opinion of Star Wars, why is it a "waste" for it to be recorded by musicians who "can't play in tune"?