Re: Looks like a whole lotta

ah, john williams, another rip-off artist. for "memoirs of a geisha", listen to the "going to school" track. it is nearly identical to the main theme from "the last emperor".

by the way, i'm not particularly attached to kurosawa. i'm referring to FACTS. it is indisputable that lucas HIMSELF said that he cribbed from kurosawa.

also, loverboy, there is no way for you to know if kurosawa wanted john williams to write music for his movies or not. you're not a mind reader (but you do pass a lot of gas).

As for myself . . .

As for the whole argument, I'm with Chris . . .

lol @ Tim. The Will Farrell pic is excellent!

Well said Hendrix!!!

And remember, just because you are not as successful as George Lucas, you don't need to hate on the guy...

And he is INDEPENDANT. He uses his OWN cash to finance his projects....ORIGINAL! I think the man has had so much success, that he wants to fail. Everything he has touched (save howard up there ) has turned to GOLD.

Eddie said -

Quote:
"also, loverboy, there is no way for you to know if kurosawa wanted john williams to write music for his movies or not."

Well Duh! ^no kidding.

You have misunderstood... I mentioned John Williams incredible Oscar-winning musical scores as yet another benefit as to why the STAR WARS films are not only popular among audiences, but are part of the overall 'quality' of the film saga. Again, it's too bad you don't have much respect for Williams either (along with Lucas) - pity.

And I doubt John Williams (with his Spielberg commitments, etc) would have been brought on to even score a Kurosawa film, based on the Japanese director's views on music (in films) - Kurosawa did not believe that "finished" music went well with film. When choosing a musical piece to accompany his scenes, he usually had it stripped down to one element (e.g., trumpets only). Only towards the end of his films are more finished pieces heard.

^This is why some people (like myself), who've viewed some of his films find them rather 'dry' and obviously slow-moving (and even occasionally boring). Visually, Kurosawa's work is often unique and stimulating. But since there exits little or no music (to help the narrative), his films don't translate well to Western audiences, who are used to music being a regular (and often major) part of the cinema experience.

I remember back in the 1980s when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were reviewing/promoting Kurosawa's 1980 film KAGEMUSHA (The Shadow Warrior) - which was produced by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola (for US markets). I rented the VHS (not available in widescreen) and while the storyline was interesting, the film was so slowwww-moving, and with little music too (as I remember). Kurosawa's method here of long scene 'takes' with little dialogue (and even less editing) will certainly try the patience of even the most avid foreign film fan.

Kurosawa is primarily known for about half a dozen movie 'classics', but it takes some discipline to sit thru his work, because of the pacing. (Indeed, Kubrick's 2001 is slowly paced too, but I've never gotten bored watching it every time... perhaps because of the amazing MUSIC that's featured in this landmark of cinema?).





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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

the comments here by loverboy and pooprunner show how ignorant the average american "movie buff" is compared to movie buffs from around the world. why is it that everyone else has to like american products but americans piss on anything non-american?

stupid provincialism. it explains a lot (including loverboy's favorite, dubya's invasion of iraq).

Wow Eddie - your bitterness and ignorance are in 'full' mode with the above? You said above "Americans piss on anything non-American"...?

Blu-ray player - JAPANESE
Plasma HDTV - JAPANESE
LCD HDTV - JAPANESE
PS3 - JAPANESE
...Sony, Toshiba, Pioneer, Hitachi, Sharp, Panasonic, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Canon, etc. - JAPANESE



Planet Earth BBC documentary - BRITISH
March of the Penguins doc - FRENCH
Iron Man film producer Avi Arad - ISRAELI
...etc...etc...etc...etc...etc...

I could waste more time mentioning -TONS- of the non-American "things" - products, music, inventions, etc influenced or produced by non-Americans - but you'd definitely find a way to misunderstand (again) and then gripe about it.





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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

loverboy,

we're obviously talking about works of art, not works of mechanics. don't change the subject out of sheer facetiousness (or stupidity).

eddie