Friday November
30
MOVIE
PROTECTIONISM: Hollywood film workers, including high-profile
stars, rally against shooting movies outside the US. "Now
is the time we all band together and work toward keeping our jobs
in the USA, jobs that will help keep the delicate fabric of our
economy whole." The Age (Melbourne)
11/30/01
Thursday November
29
IT'S
TOUGH TO BE A KID, AT LEAST ON TV: "Forget about the
innocent challenges of flirtation and infatuation. Forget about
exfoliation, and the sting of the Stridex pad. Today's TV teens
wrestle with nothing less than alienation, isolation, spiritual
hunger and the emotional pitfalls of irony. When it comes to coming-of-age
TV, the teen-age wasteland is more T. S. Eliot than Pete Townshend."
Orange County Register
11/28/01
EVERYTHING'S
WORSE IN RUSSIA: Most reality TV simply appeals to our inner
moron. But the Russian version - Za Steklom - is even more
insidious. "We are made to believe that we are witnessing
something of significance, of import - something gripping. I think
Za Steklom more than any other program has exposed that
there is a concerted effort to turn us into morons."
The Moscow Times 11/28/01
Wednesday November
28
FRANCHISE
PLAYER: "In the 1930s, Hollywood's best movies were musicals
and screwball comedies. In the '70s, films were full of loners,
losers and brooding antiheroes. But the movies that exemplify
the spirit of our time are part of a genre that has more to do
with corporate profits than content: the 'franchise film'. And
in an age when much of pop culture is based on borrowed references,
whether it's advertisers using dead celebrities to sell beer or
hiphop music creating hits out of melodies lifted from old pop
songs, it's no surprise that success in modernday Hollywood is
increasingly dependent on cultivating the familiar."
The Age (Melbourne) 11/28/01
THEY AIN'T OVER 'TIL
THEY'RE OVER: Ratings are way down for "reality"
TV shows; in fact, several have been dumped. Still, "the
assumption that some sort of collective wakeup call will chase
Survivor and its ilk into full-blown retreat is simply
misguided. Millions of viewers like these shows, and networks
have a strong financial incentive to put them on, largely because
most of them cost relatively little to produce, an attribute that's
hard to overstate given the current advertising downturn and weakened
economy." Minneapolis Star-Tribune 11/27/01
WAR,
COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: After shilly-shallying
for a month or more as they tried to read the mood of America,
Hollywood producers have decided that war movies are a good idea.
A couple that had been shelved or hidden in mid-September are
being hustled out into the light, release dates have been pushed
ahead on others, and still more are in the works. USAToday 11/27/01
Monday November
26
BIG
BOX OFFICE: So Harry Potter opened big. Very big, racking
up record box office in its first week of business. But will it
topple Titanic's $600 million take at theatres? Titanic was more
of a marathon runner, as people returned again and again to see
it. And Harry? So far, it's in a head-on sprint. Will it have
legs? The New York Times 11/26/01
(one-time registration
required for access)
MOVIE
LOTTO: Ten thousand movie-producer wannabes submit their scripts
in competition for a $1 million prize to film their project and
be distributed by Miramax. Is this any way to make a movie?
New York Magazine 11/26/01
Sunday November
25
TRAILING
EDGE: Want to see the Harry Potter movie? Wait. Literally.
Warner had so much clout with this hit that it forced
movie theatres to show twice the number of trailers usually
shown before the movie. And theatres are loading up on
commercials before the feature starts, so after eight
or nine trailers and commercials, 15 minutes or more has
gone by before the movie begins.
Washington Post 11/25/01
WHO
CARES ABOUT THE CRITICS? When a blockbuster movie
like Harry Potter comes out, who cares about the
critics? Masses of people will go to it no matter what.
For that matter, what use are newspaper movie reviewers
anyway? "In these days of massive promotional campaigns
and instant Internet buzz, has the newspaper reviewer
gone the way of shepherds and 8-tracks? Does the consumer
really need yet another guide? In short, movie boy, rationalize
your existence, justify your salary."
The Globe & Mail
(Canada) 11/24/01
-
WHY
REVIEW MOVIES? "Reviewing is not grounded in
theory. We describe a movie as 'good' without bothering
to offer a definition of 'the Good,' but the discussion
is also about ethics and aesthetics. The strength of
movie reviewing is that it still deals in evaluation,
not just as consumer tips, but also in terms of these
matters. Though cultural relativism is indisputable,
generalizations are justified; film is as close to a
universal language as we possess." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/24/01
CENSORING
THE FAT GIRL: A French film Fat Girl has run
afoul of Ontario's censors. "Unless the distributors
cut the offending scenes of nudity and explicit sex, or
successfully overturn the board's decision in an Ontario
district court, Fat Girl will be barred from theatrical
release in Ontario. The chorus of protest has been vociferous.
The distributors, predictably, heaped abuse on the Dark
Age custom of censorship. Two dissenting board members
filed letters of objection, lauding the film. A cadre
of Canada's most prominent filmmakers and academics excoriated
the OFRB's decision, comparing it to the Taliban."
The Globe & Mail
(Canada) 11/24/01
GIVE
US THIS DAY OUR DAILY ELVIS: What becomes a classic?
Advertisers would like us to believe that anything we've
heard of a few times qualifies. A new TV program "takes
real things, but shows how we imbue them with meaning
which they never had and how that becomes an important
part of who we are as Americans," thereby making them
classics. Christian
Science Monitor 11/23/01
Thursday November
23
A
WAY WITH ART: Critics hated entertainer Rolf Harris's
show on art Rolf on Art last Sunday, deriding its
"patronising format and embarrassing, simplistic script".
Evidently the TV audience disagreed, though. More than 6.8
million people tuned into the show on BBC1, the most ever
for any cultural show on any channel.
The Guardian (UK) 11/23/01
-
UNDER
THE INFLUENCE: The show was seen by 6.8 million,
"compared to the 800,000 who watched Robert Hughes'
American Visions on the BBC in 1996. The Australian
artist and musician appeared to have done more to interest
the masses in art than any of the more lofty television
critics such as Hughes or Andrew Graham-Dixon."
The Age (Melbourne)
11/23/01
TOO
BIG TO COMPETE? With 1,200 radio stations in the US, Clear
Channel Communications is by far the largest radio company in
America. The company grew to its current size consolidating numerous
stations in the 1990s, and since "FCC rules limit companies
from owning too many stations in one broadcast market, the commission
approved many of those consolidations on the condition that the
ever-growing company divest itself of certain stations in some
cities. Now, voices are beginning to charge that Clear Channel
may have in fact retained control of some of those stations -
an unprecedented flouting of commission rules."
Salon 11/20/01
WHY
FILM SCHOOLS FAIL: "Film schools are flourishing, but
that their graduates seem rarely to realise their filmmaking ambitions,
despite shelling out the same fees as a medical or law student
- up to $100,000 - but with a roughly 5% chance of recouping a
cent. Film schools, are essentially factories whose primary product
is not film-makers per se, but rather the smelly little orthodoxies
of modern film-making." The Guardian
(UK) 11/23/0
REINVENTING
THE FILM BOARD: Canada's venerable National Film Board is
so...well...venerable. It's award-winning films were made well
in the past, and it's hard to imagine edgy new filmmakers embracing
the NFB. Now the board's new director wants to shake things up.
"I want to make sure the NFB will play its role as a talent scout
and incubator for emerging talent all across the country."
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
11/23/01
Wednesday November
22
NO
PAY, ADS INSTEAD: For months music and movie fans have been
waiting for big recording and movie companies to introduce pay-to-play
online music and movie services. But Vivendi, one of the world's
largest producers, has decided against paid subscriptions. "The
plan would radically alter the business landscape that online
entertainment companies have been gearing up for, namely, the
advent of subscription models. In its place would be a recycled
advertising-based model that would keep consumers from paying
for movies and music online." Wired
11/21/01
TIME
STEALER: A new machine that discreetly shortens live TV programs
by fractions, allowing stations to insert extra commercials has
irked producers of programs, who object that their content is
being altered. "The device, which sells for US$93,000, is
able to generate millions of dollars in extra advertising revenues
for the stations, but it comes at the expense of discreetly altering
the content that people tune in to see."
National Post (Canada) 11/21/01
ERRORS
EVEN WITH A $125 MILLION BUDGET: Harry Potter fans have spotted
at least 17 mistakes in the movie. They're minor things - like
a character sitting on one side in a shot, suddenly sitting on
the other in the next frame, or shadows that run the wrong way.
New York Post 11/21/01
Tuesday November
20
DIRECT
TO DISK: The Harry Potter movie just opened last weekend in
the US. But already by Tuesday in Chine, "video disc peddlers
were selling illegal copies of the smash movie, with Chinese subtitles,
for roughly $1.20 US. The packaging showed the boy wizard on a
flying broom and shots from the film."
National Post (AP) 11/20/01
THIRST
FOR MOVIES: Crowds packed a Kabul movie theatre Monday as
the theatre reopened with first movie to be shown in Afghanistan
in five years. The departed Taliban had banned entertainments
such as movies. "Hundreds of people were turned away from
the packed theater, which was showing the popular Afghan film
Ascension. Finally, soldiers with rifles intervened, pushing
the crowd away from the front gate."
Nando Times (AP) 11/19/01
BETTING
THE FRANCHISE: "In the 1930s, Hollywood's best movies
were musicals and screwball comedies. In the 1970s, films were
full of loners, losers and brooding antiheroes. But the movies
that exemplify the spirit of our time are part of a genre that
has more to do with corporate profits than content: the Franchise
Film. The Franchise Film is not so much a movie as a self-perpetuating
commodity, a carefully constructed cash cow designed to appeal
to the widest possible spectrum of moviegoers, fueling merchandising
tie-ins, DVD sales, theme park attractions and video game spinoffs,
all geared to keeping consumers occupied until the next movie
starts the cycle again." Los
Angeles Times 11/20/01
NOT
JUST THE POPCORN: A Toronto filmmaker is deconstructing the
movie-going experience in an attempt to find out how movies take
hold of an audience. He "believes movies have a direct conduit
to our emotions through our eyes. That's because humans rely on
subtle movements of facial muscles to tell them how others are
feeling, and a movie screen, of course, is like looking through
a magnifying glass at an actor's face. If the actor is convincing,
then it enables us to suspend our disbelief by plugging us directly
in to the emotional content of the film."
The Globe & Mail (Canada)
11/20/01
Monday November
19
HARRY
ON TOP: The Harry Potter movie breaks box office
records with a $93.5 million opening weekend. "We obviously
knew going in we were going to have a great opening. Nobody
anticipated such a staggering number that would shatter
every industry record." Dallas
Morning News (AP) 11/18/01
-
MAKING
A PITCH FOR HARRY'S DARK SIDE: As movie-goers in
Peterborough, Ontario were filing in to see Harry Potter
this weekend they were handed copies of a letter attributed
to the city's mayor, "warning of the 'satanic'
and 'evil' elements in the film. The letter charges
that more than 14 million children belong to the Church
of Satan, 'thanks largely to the unassuming boy wizard
from 4 Privet Drive'." The mayor says the letters were
fakes - she didn't write them. National
Post (Canada) 11/19/01
BOOSTING
RATINGS WITH THE ARTS: The UK's channel 5 is known for its
tacky lowbrow fare. But with ratings slipping and advertising
down, the channel is trying a surprising tactic - going up-market
with new arts programming. The
Independent 11/18/01
Sunday November
18
YOU
DON'T NEED TO TELL THEM TWICE: It raised quite a few
eyebrows last week when word leaked out that the U.S. government
had been prevailing upon Hollywood to get cracking on a new batch
of good old-fashioned, ass-kicking American Patriot movies, preferably
involving shady Afghan terrorists. But as critics are beginning
to point out, Hollywood really doesn't need any encouragement
to churn out such mind-numbing propaganda. The
Globe & Mail (Toronto) 11/17/01
HEY,
WE ALL LIKED 'RUN, LOLA, RUN': "German cinema has been
promoted with public funds for as long as anyone can remember;
in 1966, a law was even passed to govern how films are funded.
None of this helped. Funds are flowing, but the movie industry
has faltered. As the number of German productions goes up, their
international reputation goes down." Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung 11/16/01
Friday November
16
THE
SELLING OF HARRY: Is all the merchandising hype going to ruin
Harry Potter? "Some fans of the book say all this Potter
paraphernalia is ruining a wonderful tale. But pundits of popular
storytelling suggest that this charge may sell everybody short:
Books differ from movies, which differ from video games or Legos
or stuffed animals. Each medium can have something to contribute
to experiencing a great story, they say." Christian
Science Monitor 11/16/01
ONTARIO
CENSORS FAT GIRL: "French film director Catherine
Breillat says she is 'stupefied' by the Ontario Film Review Board's
decision to demand cuts from her movie Fat Girl,and has written
to the board to request it rescind its 'unique' decision. The
film is playing uncut in Europe, and has passed Britain's severe
film-classification procedure without cuts as well."
The Globe & Mail (Toronto)
11/16/01
WHEN
COLLABORATORS TAKE OVER: When the writer of Billy Elliot
went to make his next film, he assumed he'd have more creative
say in the script. "Any screenwriter knows that a screenplay
is more like a recipe than a sonnet, and much of the fun and best
creative discoveries are gained by getting your hands dirty with
your collaborators as you make the pudding." But by the time
the movie came out, it was unrecognizeable.
The Guardian (UK) 11/16/01
AMERICANS LOOK TO BRITAIN FOR NEWS:
"Americans in search of news and opinion on world events
since Sept. 11 are looking across the Atlantic to broaden their
perspective. Websites for British papers like The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph
are seeing increased traffic from the US. And more public TV stations
in America are offering world news from the BBC and ITN - programs
that are also drawing larger audiences." Christian Science Monitor 11/15/01
Thursday November
15
9-11,
THE MOVIE: Maybe it's too soon to talk about yet, and it'll
probably take a year or two. "However, scholars and critics
have no doubt: theatrical films dealing exclusively with the terrorist
attacks [of Sepetmber 11] are just around the corner.
Nando Times (Scripps Howard) 11/14/01
Wednesday November
14
MUDDLING
MOVIES AND THE REALITY OF WAR: So the White House is asking
Hollywood to supply ideas for the war on terrorism. There's a
problem here. The movies already have too much influence on the
imaginations of American leaders. Just because they've seen it
in the movies doesn't mean it ought to happen.
The Guardian (UK) 11/14/01
RECONSIDERING
AUSTRALIAN CONTENT: Australian regulators are going to review
regulations mandating the amount of Australian content that must
be shown. The last time regulations were changed, it was decided
that New Zealand programs could count as homegrown. But with most
station showing more Aussie shows than required, some tweaking
of the rules may be in order. The
Age (Melbourne) 11/014/01
BEAUTIFUL
NEWS: Why must the people who read us the news be "beautiful
people?" "Hiring attractive people is certainly nothing
new in television, but the premium on Barbie-doll looks seems
more pronounced than ever, with newswomen overtly trading on their
sexuality as a come-on to viewers."
Los Angeles Times 11/14/01
BUYING
AUSTRALIAN: A weak Australian dollar brought foreign movie
makers to shoot their films Down Under. Foreign producers spent
"a record $191 million in Australia in the 2000-1 financial
year," and the movie industry increased expenditures to $808
million. The Age (Melbourne) 11/14/01
Tuesday November
13
CULTURE
WARS TRUCE: It wasn't so long ago that Washington was attacking
Hollywood "to score points in the arguments over violence,
sexuality and blasphemy in films, pop music, museum shows, video
games and television shows — part of a larger set of issues known
collectively as the 'culture wars,' which has become in recent
years a flashpoint for political partisanship. Now, although people
on each side say they remain vigilant about transgressions by
their opponents, the mood in the great, unified mainstream seems
decidedly different." A truce has been called.
The New York Times 11/13/01
(one-time registration required for access)
DOWN
WITH THE ARTS: Has the BBC, once an exemplar of arts programming,
failed the arts? "High culture, alas, is something in which
the mainstream BBC has lost practically all interest. Curiously
this notion that 'the arts' is simply a highbrow ghetto rather
than something that ought to be part of all our individual lives
rises above the current cultural landscape like a kind of mantra."
The Times (UK) 11/13/01
THE
MERCHANDISING OF HARRY: The new Harry Potter movie figures
to be the most-hyped film in history. Can the story survive the
merchandising? "Much has been made of Joanne Rowling's insistence
on probity in the merchandising, but the reality is frankly horrific.
A trip to Hamley's ("the biggest toyshop in the
world") reveals something far darker."
Irish Times 11/12/01
HOLLYWOOD
ON NORMAL: "Like the news media and Madison Avenue—in
fact, like the country itself—the movie industry has been wrestling
with a tangle of conflicting currents and mixed messages. People
go to movies to escape! Patriotism sells! Go have fun! Be alert
for terrorists! Nothing has changed! Everything has changed! Even
studio marketing experts, who make a living out of figuring out
audience tastes, have had a hard time reading the national mood."
Los Angeles Times 11/12/01
THE FRENCH ARE COMING.
AGAIN: "Record numbers of French moviegoers stormed cinemas
to see a rich variety of films produced by a domestic film industry
that has reinvented itself as both a substitute for, and an alternative
to, American films. Heads aren't rolling in Hollywood studio offices
just yet - but the French film industry is taking on Hollywood
at its own game." Christian Science Monitor 11/09/01
Monday November
12
THERE
GOES PUBLIC BROADCASTING: Canada's culture minister suggests
that the publicly-owned CBC ought to make a partnership with rival
commercial network CTV. "Sheila Copps told MPs the multi-channel
universe has left CBC-TV and private broadcasters struggling against
one another for shrinking audiences."
CBC 11/10/01
LA'S
NEW THEATRE FOR A STATUE: Los Angeles has a new opera house.
OK, it was designed for the Academy Awards, and it's located in
a shopping mall. It was also designed "with blind eye and
tin ear." It's designed for TV and it's an "ungracious
building" for a human audience. "Inside the theater,
the assault never ceases." And the acoustics? A mess.
Los Angeles Times 11/12/01
Sunday November
11
THE
SOUND OF PUBLIC RADIO: In recent months, protests over program
changes at public radio stations around the country have been
successfully fought. The protests trace back to David Giovannoni.
"A brilliant analyst of public radio's audience — who it
is, how much it listens, when it listens, what it listens to,
when and why it donates money — he is quite possibly the most
influential figure in shaping the sound of National Public Radio
today, the sound heard by upward of 20 million Americans weekly."
The New York Times 11/11/01
(one-time registration
required for access)
FANTASY
THINKING: Hollywood hopes that in troubled times America is
into fantasy. Numerous fantasy movies are due to be released in
the next few weeks, and "in a coincidence remarkable even
by Hollywood standards, at a moment when Americans are understandably
enthusiastic about psychological escape, two widely popular epics
of 20th century fantasy literature are coming to the screen to
anchor the holiday movie schedule."
Los Angeles Times 11/11/01
HARRY
VS HOBBIT: Which will do better at the box office this winter
- Harry Potter or the first Lord of the Rings movie?
If you feel strongly about it, you can bet. Oddsmakers are taking
a variety of wagers on the box office: will Harry Potter tie or
break the "first-five-days-of-release gross" record of $100-million
set by George Lucas's The Phantom Menace in 1999? "The
odds are 1 to 2 that it will tie or break, 3 to 2 that it will
not." The
Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/10/01
NO
FUN FAT: Plus-size advocates are protesting the new Shallow
Hal movie: "Thin stars wearing fat suits to performing
in blackface, now considered offensive and demeaning to blacks.
If we wanted white actors to play black people, would we paint
their faces black? No way." Hartford
Courant 11/11/01
Friday November
9
TWO
MINUTE WARNING: Artist Jonty Semper has spent two years collecting
every surviving recording of the two minutes of silence marking
Armistice and Remembrance Days since 1929. In the 1988 ceremony
a baby cried. It's a double-cd. He'd like you to listen. "I
really don't think people will find it boring. All the silences
are quite distinctive. What is remarkable is how different they
are." The Guardian (UK) 11/09/01
MEDIA ART
FROM - LITERALLY - THE DUSTBIN: In the early years, TV programmes
on BBC often were not recorded, or the recordings were lost or
destroyed. A recent public appeal has turned up more than a hundred
such "lost" shows. Among the recovered gems, a 1963
appearance by the Beatles on a TV chart show (they evaluated an
Elvis recording), and a 1962 Benny Hill show. CNN 11/08/01
FILE-SHARING
GOES TO WAR: "The Pentagon is taking a friendlier view
of Napster's file-sharing concept than are America's big entertainment
companies. Rather than trying to shut down the new computer networks
that allow people to directly connect other personal computers,
the military wants to enlist their creators in the war against
terrorism." Washington Post
11/08/01
Thursday November
8
WHITE HOUSE
WANTS HOLLYWOOD TO HELP: "Several dozen top executives
in the film and television industry plan to meet on Sunday morning
with Karl Rove, a senior White House adviser, to discuss what
Hollywood can do to aid the war effort. 'The gathering is to brief
studio executives on the war on terrorism and to discuss with
them future projects that may be undertaken by the industry,'
a White House spokesman said. 'The White House has great respect
for the creativity of the industry and recognizes its impact and
ability to educate at home and abroad.' Several executives emphasized
today that they were not interested in making propaganda films."
The
New York Times 11/08/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
HOLLYWOOD
HELPS ITSELF: "While denying any attempt to exploit the
mood of the country, two major Hollywood studios have moved patriotic
war movies to this year from 2002. John Moore's Behind Enemy
Lines has been moved from Jan. 18 to Nov. 30 by 20th Century
Fox. Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, from Sony Pictures,
will open Dec. 28." New
York Daily News 11/08/01
Wednesday November
7
DOWNSIZING
PBS: Commercial broadcasting isn't the only sector laying
off employees in the economic downturn. PBS is cutting its staff
by more than 10%, (59 jobs). "The cuts, to be made through
a combination of 27 layoffs and the rest in unfilled positions,
follow a 9% staffing reduction, or 60 positions, in March, and
will bring PBS' total number of employees to just over 500."
Los Angeles Times 11/06/01
Tuesday November
6
CBS,
FOX IN POST-EMMY PISSING MATCH: So the Emmy Awards, desperate
to get their ceremony in before the winners were too old to make
it to the stage, scheduled the telecast against Game 7 of the
World Series. So Emmy host Ellen DeGeneres promised to announce
the score of the game repeatedly during the show. So Fox decided
to list the Emmy winners in a screen crawl during the game. So
West Coast viewers knew the winners several hours before the broadcast
aired in their time zone. Ain't television a blast? Washington
Post 11/06/01
Monday November
5
THIRD
TIME'S A CHARM: After being canceled twice, the Emmy Awards
finally go off when planned. West Wing wins most statues,
while Sex in the City becomes the first cable comedy series
to win best comedy series. Ten of the 27 winners were not in attendance.
Los Angeles Times 11/05/01
Friday November
2
DEATH
FOR "MIS-USING" ART? Tahmineh Milani is one of Iran's
top movie directors, "thanks largely to her consistent focus
on the plight of Iranian women." But now she faces execution
, "charged with 'supporting factions waging war against God'
and misusing the arts in support of counterrevolutionary and armed
opposition groups." Hollywood has taken up her cause. The
Guardian (UK) 11/02/01
DVD COPYING, FOR
NOW, IS STILL LEGAL: The movie industry has been encrypting
dvd's so they can't be copied. Trouble is, they can be, and movie
producers want courts to ban distribution of the software that
cracks the code. The court (so far) says no. The software, the
court says, is protected free speech. Business 2.0 11/02/02
...BUT
IT'S NOT EXACTLY LIKE THE BOOK: Pre-release reviews of the
Harry Potter film are in. Are they good? Not Really. Are they
bad? Not really. Will the vast audience of true Harry Potter believers
care either way? Not really. The Guardian (UK) 11/02/01
Thursday November
1
SURVEY
DOWN, BOX OFFICE UP: A new survey says 60 percent of adults
over 35 don't want to go to movies right now. So then what accounts
for the increased box office every week since one but September
11? Fall receipts are 9 percent ahead of last year.
MSNBC (Variety) 10/30/01
AUSSIE
MOVIE RENTAL BATTLE: Australia's movie rental stores are fighting
with movie studios. "Warner simultaneously releases DVDs
to the retail and rental market. They are color coded - silver
for retail at a wholesale price of $24, and blue for rental, wholesaling
at $55. When Warner threatened to sue video shops caught renting
the retail-designated DVD, the association - representing 55 per
cent of Australian video shops - took the offensive. It argues
that under the Copyright Act, Warner cannot restrict the rental
of DVD movies." The
Age (Melbourne) 11/01/01
GET
READY TO HUM: Okay, so the Harry Potter soundtrack
may not be John Williams's greatest work ever. (You try following
up Star Wars and Schindler's List.) But the fact
that it's one of a dwindling number of big-budget films to even
bother with a full orchestral soundtrack says something about
Williams's ability to draw us into fictional worlds, and at least
one of the pieces in the score is almost guaranteed to stick in
your head for days. Philadelphia Inquirer
11/01/01
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