John Williams is overrated - here's why

John Williams is a veteran of film composing, and if you are in any way influenced by pop culture from the last thirty years, you can probably hum at least one (more likely five or six) of his compositions because they are so ubiquitous. Therefore, my (unqualified, I'll admit) opinion that he is overrated is sure to cut to the bone of some of his more rabid followers.

As far I am concerned, of all his scores, there are only two or three that stick out as works of brilliance, over the rest of his decidedly average output (for a film composer that is-he isn't as sickeningly average as some of the scum masquerading as 'indie' that makes up the pop charts these days-cf. The Kooks, Razorlight, The View).

When he first broke through (with an young Steven Speilberg, whose career mirrors Williams' exactly), he made a massive impact on film scoring with Jaws. A minimalist cello-led number that sent shivers up the spine of the biggest audience cinema had seen until that point. It won the full round of awards (Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy) and has, rightly, become an iconic piece of music in its own right.

However, since then, he has largely stuck to formula - particularly when teamed up with Spielberg for a overblown popcorn epic comedy-adventure - a catchy motif of about six bars or so, backed up by a full orchestra, with swelling brass and string sections:

• Star Wars (both trilogies)
• Indiana Jones
• Jurassic Park
• E. T. (for which he, perversely, won the full round of awards again)
• Hook
• Superman
• Home Alone
• Harry Potter

Whenever he didn't use this formula, he reverted to the formulaic concept for the genre he was writing for (military drums in JFK, Saving Private Ryan and Born on the Fourth of July, stereotypical jigs in Far and Away) - not exactly pushing the boundaries.
It is unfair to single out Williams for this discrepancy - it is commonplace in Hollywood composers by such as Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer and James Horner.

His best composition, arguably, was the violin score for Schindler's List, showing that, like Spielberg, when he wants to make a serious contribution to the art of film, he can be brilliant - but he is content with churning out the formulae.

Compare him to other composers, who haven't got as much mass recognition. My personal favourites are Danny Elfman (The Simpsons theme tune, Edwards Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas), Alf Clausen (composed the music and songs for each of the 400+ Simpsons episodes, and was criminal overlooked for Hans Zimmer for the Simpsons Movie), Ennio Morricone , Bernard Herrman (Taxi Driver, Psycho), Lalo Schiffrin (although some of his 80s stuff hasn't stood the test of time well-at least he was trying something new, unlike Williams), Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Six Feet Under theme).
Individual films have brilliant scores also (which, naturally, weren't even nominated for Oscars) include The Shining, Requiem for a Dream - both of which pushed new bounds, utilizing a small number of instruments - and Ry Cooder's solo guitar in Paris, Texas. Sometimes, as Williams might want to acknowledge, less is more...

Oh the fall from grace - Martine McCutcheon

Being a soap star is a very precarious career choice. You are always under the sword of itchy writers who are looking to spark up ratings by killing a main character off. This is offset, however, by the fact that as an actor, the stability of working on a soap is a considerable advantage, rather than fighting through auditions, being cut off at the last five, taking the latest crushing blow to your already fragile self-esteem, sometimes struggling to string a decent diet together, to say nothing of rental payments etc.

Therefore, to be an arrogant soap star is a recipe for disaster. There's a reason Shakespearian actors don't take a career move to the cast of Corrie - it's credibility poison. It also says a lot about soap actors who think they are too big for the outlandish storylines, and paper-thin characters, and leave to better themselves and their careers.

With a few exceptions (such as Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce who both graduated from minor parts in Neighbors), soap stars invariably fail in their attempts to better themselves, ending up on sub-par ITV dramas, or late night quiz shows.

The latest example surely must be Martine McCutcheon. Usually when these washed up soap stars show up on cheap commercials, for say, Tesco home delivery, great lengths are gone to to remind the viewer of who this person is. A cheesy line from the fawning pleb usually suffices. McCutcheon apparantly, has become so irrelevant, she is not even afforded this luxury in the ad, and is merely a understudy to the delivery men. I wonder is the thought of playing a dippy Eastender seems like a comfortable alternative for our Martine now?

Technorati Tags: MartineMcCutcheon, RusselCrowe, GuyPearce, Neighbors, Tesco, commercials, Eastenders, CoronationStreet, acting

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Virgin Media - infringing on my Freeview

I have recently sang the praises of the vast improvement of Freeview since its inception. And I was sort of looking forward to Virgin Media stepping into the ring with their new channel, although I thought I was going to be missing out on the Eddie Izzard vehicle, The Riches, because the shitty all-in-one remote I bought doesn't function properly with my Freeview box, and therefore I cannot scan in new channels.

However, I woke up this morning to find my Ftn channel, which I was beginning to enjoy with their 15-to-1 repeats and X Files double bills offering some alternatives when required, now being hijacked by "Virgin 1/ We'll See You At 9pm".

Why must they muddle about like this? Why couldn't ABC1 and Ftn share the same channel number if room is to be made, or the two BBC children's channels (CBeebies and CBBC) share the channel numbers with the two BBC digital-only channels (BBC3 and 4). That would pave the way for at least three future channels (although the dearth of home-shopping channels would be a most welcome sacrifice for more quality fare).

Would Freeview not benefit from having more companies paying for their (increasingly valued, especially considering the terrestrial switch-off begins in early 2008) airspace? And would the consumers not benefit from greater choice of service?

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Propaganda statistics from drivers

Mike Rutherford from Auto Express magazine is being interviewed on News 24 about the recent rise on fuel tax. He has said that motorists contribute £55 billion per year in taxes. There must be a miscalculation in there somewhere, because that equates to every person in the country contributing slightly less the £1 billion £1 million (thanks P)* each, every year, never mind the fact of the fewer number of drivers on the road.


*P has pointed out, that if measuring the 1 billion to 9 zeros (rather than 12), the sum would actually come up to approxiamately £1000 a year per person.

Led Zeppelin reunion... with bloated consequences.

Apparently the 'one that nobody thought would happen' - reunion that is - Led Zeppelin have decided to regroup for a one-off show in memory of their one-time manager, and producer.

It seems as though this is reformation season, what with the Spice Girls, Police, Pink Floyd, Take That among others deciding getting the mates round for a nostalgia trip would suspend that mid-life crisis by a few years. (Another band the media have been touting as one of the recent reformees is Genesis - who the fuck cared that they were even apart - or together for that matter).

And with '20 million' people supposedly queuing up religiously (I would like to know how many of them are not touts, or touts' aliases), one thing can be guaranteed at this reunion. This will be the greatest display of self indulgence the planet will ever witness (at least in pop culture terms - let's not start listing some obscure African king, who decrees he must marry every woman in the country).

Anyone who has seen any record of the Zep at their zenith will be aware of their penchant for mastubatory gestures of their own grandeur. And indeed, nobody seems to deny the fact that it was the clashing uber-egos that split the band up in the first place.

Of course, the salivating millions will rejoice that they have heroes to worship that are as much of a dickhead as they wish they could be, and scramble to remortgage the house in order to get a back row seat, and regale to the grandkids that they were there as Plant kicked into his eighth fifteen minute solo on the lead spoon.

But the one good point out of all this of course will be to inspire yet more reunions of equally ego-massaging and cash-grubbing stature. One such one I am particularly looking forward to is if Ringo dies before him, Paul McCartney will surely announce a Beatles reunion tour.

Technorati Tags: Beatles, LedZeppelin, PaulMcCartney, Ringo, RobertPlant, SpiceGirls, ThePolice, TakeThat, PinkFloyd, music,