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I don’t think Holly Hunter is miscast, I think the whole movie is just tonally off. Only 2 years prior, she had kicked butt in Broadcast News which was a similar character with a similar range of emotions that she played brilliantly, with a similar set of character conflicts. She knows what she’s doing.
To me, “Always” plays like a wannabe version of Broadcast News’ comedic walk-and-talk (which Aaron Sorkin would copy and perfect) but further thrown off balance by Spielberg’s really poor comedic sensibilities, the same ones that led to 1941, all of which clash with the 1940s sensibilities of the Spencer Tracy film that inspired it, with a dash of fast-talking Howard Hawks films from the same era.
In short, a tonal mess.
Spielberg was technically always prepared for the walk-and-talk in the sense that he was great at doing David Lean-style long tracking shots with Robert Altman-style overlapping dialogue. But that always worked better for achieving naturalism and drama for Spielberg as opposed to comedy.
This film has great moments throughout, but on the whole it doesn’t really click.
The music kind of suffers from the same sense of meandering tone - but I do love John Williams so I’ll definitely be buying it for archival and studying purposes. With a few exceptions, even Williams’ not-so-great music is worth studying.
But yeah, if you doubt Holly Hunter, definitely see Broadcast News! The score by Bill Conti actually might POSSIBLY be the first time we hear that style of comedic music which came to dominate similar Sorkin-esque comedies. And Marc Shaiman has a hilarious cameo in it as a music composer for TV jingles!
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Posted: |
Jun 5, 2021 - 3:45 PM
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By: |
governor
(Member)
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I don’t think Holly Hunter is miscast, I think the whole movie is just tonally off. Only 2 years prior, she had kicked butt in Broadcast News which was a similar character with a similar range of emotions that she played brilliantly, with a similar set of character conflicts. She knows what she’s doing.
To me, “Always” plays like a wannabe version of Broadcast News’ comedic walk-and-talk (which Aaron Sorkin would copy and perfect) but further thrown off balance by Spielberg’s really poor comedic sensibilities, the same ones that led to 1941, all of which clash with the 1940s sensibilities of the Spencer Tracy film that inspired it, with a dash of fast-talking Howard Hawks films from the same era.
In short, a tonal mess.
Spielberg was technically always prepared for the walk-and-talk in the sense that he was great at doing David Lean-style long tracking shots with Robert Altman-style overlapping dialogue. But that always worked better for achieving naturalism and drama for Spielberg as opposed to comedy.
This film has great moments throughout, but on the whole it doesn’t really click.
The music kind of suffers from the same sense of meandering tone - but I do love John Williams so I’ll definitely be buying it for archival and studying purposes. With a few exceptions, even Williams’ not-so-great music is worth studying.
But yeah, if you doubt Holly Hunter, definitely see Broadcast News! The score by Bill Conti actually might POSSIBLY be the first time we hear that style of comedic music which came to dominate similar Sorkin-esque comedies. And Marc Shaiman has a hilarious cameo in it as a music composer for TV jingles!
smart reply, bravo.
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To me, “Always” plays like a wannabe version of Broadcast News’ comedic walk-and-talk (which Aaron Sorkin would copy and perfect) but further thrown off balance by Spielberg’s really poor comedic sensibilities, the same ones that led to 1941, all of which clash with the 1940s sensibilities of the Spencer Tracy film that inspired it, with a dash of fast-talking Howard Hawks films from the same era.
In short, a tonal mess.
The music kind of suffers from the same sense of meandering tone - but I do love John Williams so I’ll definitely be buying it for archival and studying purposes. With a few exceptions, even Williams’ not-so-great music is worth studying.
What you describe as "a tonal mess" rather points to your personal expectation for any story to be told just in one tone, without mixing other elements to achieve something different.
Apart from that I disagree. I think "Always" is very straight forward in its approach. The comedy of the first part is absolutely crucial to create sympathy for the characters and their love story - so that our hearts are broken when they are torn apart and then have to find a way to move forward.
Williams´ score perfectly highlights that but is and remains in its center the score for a love story which deals with enchantment, grief and healing.
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The love stories in this film lack maturity. No conviction among the actors of the two loving duets, no chance of having any empathy for them at any time. Debra Winger would have made a magnificent Dorinda IMHO. Techs save the film - magnificent photography, editing, set decoration, special effects. Let's not forget John Goodman.
They lack maturity? How?
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Do we get a track list on the day of release or before?
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Do we get a track list on the day of release or before?
LLL debuts the tracks lists via their email newsletters that go out in the middle of the night the night before release day.
Unless they make a deal with an outside website, like for example JWFan did for Minority Report, or Planetary Union did for The Orville
https://www.jwfan.com/?p=12572
http://planetaryunion.net/exclusive/145/
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I cannot wait to hear this!
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Premiere of one unused cue on classical fm shortly. 1130am UK time.
https://www.classicfm.com/radio/shows-presenters/bill-turnbull/
Wow. It’s a premiere of the unused ‘End Credits’ The themes weaves in between with variation ‘Smoke Gets in your Eyes’ song and other themes. I love it.
Kinda reminds me of what’s happened with the unused ‘End Credits’ of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Can’t wait to hear it on the full album
Truly magical.
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Here, actually. Go to the previous page.
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The image is available on the Classic FM Twitter page.
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The image is available on the Classic FM Twitter page.
You’re right - the link does not lead to that image. My mistake. I only saw the image in that post.
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In advance of tomorrow morning's release I'll say that there are no songs on the new edition and it's a maxed out CD running 79:45.
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