And I thought OBI WAN was bad!!! This looks awful (admittedly only from two short clips). The music does sound cool though. Classic JNH infused with the Horner theme.
My main complaint is the camera/cinematography. They really need to stop using the Arri Alexa Mini LF on *everything*. It's great for dramas, documentaries, etc. but not this.
(Finally found this thread. Felt like a quest ...)
Just watched two episodes of the show and wondered if there are any news about a possible release of the new material.
I for my part enjoyed the musical approach. The inclusion of James Horner's themes(s) are quite satisfying IMHO. There are some modern elements in the rhythmic sections which I didn't expect though. On the other hand, the original score contains some quasi source material at the end which makes use of some synth (?) in the rhythmic sections too. If I'm not mistaken.
The new show features some songs in the end credits which I never would warm up to, but I'm definitely looking forward to discover the new score for the rest of the show.
Available now in any country where it is already Friday
1. Hidden Away (2:13) 2. One Day (1:13) 3. A Reputation (2:05) 4. Until That Day (1:48) 5. Castle Romances (1:27) 6. I’ll Go (4:30) 7. Succeed or Fail (2:16) 8. Campfire (1:14) 9. What Happened to Elora? (2:14) 10. Abandoned Post (1:27) 11. Crossing the Barrier (1:39) 12. Vigilant (2:01) 13. Royal Heirs (1:35) 14. Last Best Hope (2:24) 15. This Is Where We Live (2:09) 16. Consulting the Bones (1:54) 17. Revealed (1:21) 18. She Needs Our Help (2:30) 19. Nelwyn Village (2:12) 20. I Need You (2:18) 21. Treasure Hunter (1:39) 22. Focus (1:26) 23. You Are Extraordinary (1:36) 24. Dark Vision (1:57) 25. Epic Tales (1:37) 26. You’re Not Yourself (1:52) 27. Outnumbered (3:13) 28. The Veil (1:28) 29. The Mark (2:02) 30. Less Than Honorable (1:43) 31. Indestructible Magic Armor (1:51) 32. Back in the Wagon (3:40) 33. You Did Good (4:15)
I own that I'm not terribly familiar with JNH but I know him enough to know his voice is here in between the following points.
The opening track just transported me to an odd place....to hear the 4-note calling card used so prominently followed by the segue into Willow's theme took me to a happier place when film music used to be so much more interesting.
The rest of the score falls really into 3 primary categories:
1) Reverential quotes from Horner 2) Lower key music that comes oddly close to the village music in Avatar (ironic given the timing) 3) Action music that sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean
I would call this score fun background music and little else. Its enjoyable for what it is, but what it isn't is multilayered themes played on exotic instruments with any kind of track to track cohesion. I'd give this a solid 3/5 effort.
Considering what JNH had to work with in terms of the material I'm not surprised this is so lacklustre. It would have been nice if he could have pulled a Jerry Goldsmith and scored the picture we should have gotten but oh well. So sad that this property did not receive better treatment overall after such a long wait.
Willow is a movie that I feel lives differently in people's heads versus what it actually is. It's quite an 80s classic, you'll get no disagreement from me there. I grew up watching it often on VHS. I loved it. But it is thoroughly a Ron Howard movie. What it makes up for in lack of directorial vision, it is made up for in how well Howard works with actors and gets compelling performances from them when they are engaged with their characters. I have only had time to watch the first two episodes of the series, but it is fairly on par with that. And it is always great to see Warwick Davis on screen. He is undervalued as an actor and performer.
It was only to hear Howard's music that I sat down to try this show last night. It's not for me (and to be fair, it's clearly not made for me), and I won't be returning to it. I am often a fan of Howard's music, though, but this scoring just moves from one little idea to the next and never makes a real statement of any kind.
It's a bit odd to me that they made this series at all. Who is it for? It plays like a YA project, but I did a quick (and very unscientific) poll in my office the other day, and nobody under 32 had ever even heard of Willow. I know Disney spent $4B on Lucasfilm, and I suppose this IP has a bit broader appeal than making a series about Radioland Murders or Mishima, but I will admit I'm a bit confused.
I've defended here composers like Ludwig Göransson and Nicholas Brittel doing "Star Wars" without emulating John Williams, but whatever you think of those scores, they've definitely made big choices. I find it strange that Howard here seems to make no choice at all. There's music, you hear it, but what is it saying?
