 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Absolutely love this score and the movie--minus the bookends of course.
Seconded. The bookends are totally unnecessary, and the last one feels cloying. To me, the bookends taint what is otherwise and amazing film. There are scenes in Saving Private Ryan that are among the best he's ever directed.
I heard one story that a set was built at the wrong angle, so the light wasn't what Spielberg planned. Instead of getting angry, or spending money & time correcting it, Spielberg walked away from the set for a bit, and returned with a different shooting plan. The assault was instead shot from Jeremy Davies' character's perspective, where he can only see bits and pieces of the battle from a distance, until he comes up at the very end. The man's a master.
I don't want to totally defend the bookends, but they're necessary to the story in that Ryan survived and still doesn't know if he has truly earned the sacrifices made by those - like Miller, whose grave he visits with his family - who saved him. I know the bookends are slow and they take us away from the desaturated killin', but it's part of Ryan's story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Aug 2, 2018 - 11:02 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Hurdy Gurdy
(Member)
|
The bookends, to me, are trying to validate the war effort and make sense of the senseless.
My boggle with them is that they are so badly shot, framed, acted and executed.
They're more akin to something he did for Amazing Stories!
Plus, sometimes...(most-times?)...war doesn't make sense.
I agree Goldman called many things in it right (the fake Damon story/reminisce, which paints him and his brothers in a horrible light. Also, change it to them NOT being ALLOWED to leave the village near the end cos of the enemy, not cos bratty Damon don't wanna), but he also over eggs stuff ridiculously too, like he's on some jealous vendetta.
And yeah, his booby obsession comes across as puerile and creepy pervy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have to echo some of the negative comments on this one. The first Williams score I was hugely disappointed in, and I realised grandfather time had taken a grip of him (although he had three or so good years left before every score was as ‘meh’ as this).
Agreed, though at this point, I'd say he's earned the 'right' to phone it in, so to speak.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Aug 3, 2018 - 2:26 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
SchiffyM
(Member)
|
I have to echo some of the negative comments on this one. The first Williams score I was hugely disappointed in, and I realised grandfather time had taken a grip of him (although he had three or so good years left before every score was as ‘meh’ as this).
Obviously, taste is subjective. I'm not much of a fan of "Saving Private Ryan," but since then Williams has done some of my all-time favorites of his – "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "War Horse," and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" – and some that are close seconds ("War of the Worlds," "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Lincoln," "Catch Me If You Can," and "The Terminal").
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’m with you on your post-SPR Williams likes, and I’ll add in that I loved Tintin as well.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’m with you on your post-SPR Williams likes, and I’ll add in that I loved Tintin as well.
I also enjoy "Tintin" – probably more in pieces than as a whole, but I like it. But I didn't want to list too many, lest I seem like an easy critic!
Too late.
Now we know, you ARE easy!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There's highlight tracks/cues to be found since then, but the last John Williams score I can listen to all the way through is The Lost World.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I am surprised by some of the comments I have read, not necessarily in this particular thread, regarding the fact that the new Saving Private Ryan release is not technically "remastered." There have been many discussions where the idea of remastering has been derided, dismissed as being nothing but "louder and brighter," etc., and where it's been expressed (sometimes astutely) that the original sonics were fine and should be left alone.
In the end, everything has to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. La-La Land's upcoming release is an anniversary commemorative edition, for the first time presenting the score with deluxe packaging and liner notes that I am very happy with. No one can do anything about the fact that there wasn't that much score left off the original album, but what we can do is embrace the fact that Maestro Williams was amenable to the idea of this release and that, as a result, additional music will soon be available. He could just as easily have said 'no' and that the original album was enough.
When it came to the audio, he took the time to listen to some of the original release -- which is actually a BIG DEAL, and said that he was happy with the program, the mix and the sound quality. That was certainly enough for me.
UME provided me with Pat Sullivan's delivered digital master, which she and I then reviewed together. We cleaned up a few little things, finessed track starts and endings, etc., but in the end, while this IS, in the strictest sense, a remastering, it did not feel right to shout that from the rooftops because the mixes, EQ and levels were not altered in any significant way. For the additional tracks, Patricia actually recalled her notes from 1998 that detailed exactly how to EQ and process the audio. I followed that in creating the added tracks so that everything would be uniform.
In this particular case, this was the best course of action for the release and the one that the Maestro was comfortable with us pursuing. It does not mean that any less TLC was applied to it. The only other option would have been to retransfer the stereo mixes and rebuild all the performance edits, but the end result would not have been drastically different from what already exists since both John Williams and Shawn Murphy liked their mixes.
If anyone feels that the those mixes were lacking and/or that there isn't enough new material to warrant a purchase, or if you don't care for the score at all, that's totally fine. But if having a deluxe treatment of a great Spielberg/Williams collaborative effort appeals to you, then I think you'll enjoy having the new edition in your collection. It's one we are all proud of and which La-La Land is now privileged to have in the catalogue. I hope that it will be supported by the collectors so that more will keep coming through the pipeline.
Mike Matessino
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
