A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

To me, one of the best things about the movies is the vast variety of themes that composers have created over the years. From Max Steiner’s “ Tara Theme” of Gone with the Wind to “ The Flying Theme” from E.T. , composer/conductor John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra take us on a musical journey spanning nearly four decades in Aisle Seat.  Of the 10 themes presented in this Philips CD, three were composed by Williams. Two are famous in the Williams repertoire -- “The Flying Theme” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark March” -- but they were still relatively new when this album was first released 21 years ago.  The third Williams composition is “If We Were In Love,” a romantic theme from Yes, Giorgio , a forgotten (and forgettable) movie starring Luciano Pavarotti. No matter…even if the movie flopped, the theme survived. It’s sweet and sweeping, almost operatic, yet you can hum it -- if nothing else, great movie music often is catchy and easy on the ears. ...

One of the toughest problems that faces filmmakers involved in creating and selling any "franchise" movie series (whether it's  Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Star Wars, Batman  or  Superman ) is "How do you keep an audience's interest (and repeat business) in your characters and situations without getting stale or silly?" Now, there are lots of possible good answers, but two of the most obvious are "Be consistent and follow the rules of the universe you create, and above all, don't be constantly remaking the first movie over and over again." Unfortunately, not every screenwriter, director or creative team keeps these rules of the road in mind.  The Superman  movies which starred the late Christopher Reeve started out with a classic (Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie ) then qualitatively slid downhill when the producers decided to give the next two movies to Richard Lester. So when Sam Raimi's first two  Spider-Man  movies proved...