JOHN WILLIAMS:
THE MAN BEHIND YOUR FAVORITE FILM SCORESJohn Williams is one of film’s most prolific composers, providing the music that set the mood to some of the most beloved and highest-grossing movies of all time. Williams is nominated for an Oscar this year for his work on The Book Thief, and in honor of the film’s Blu-ray and DVD release on March 11th, we’re taking a look at some of his most iconic work.
JAWS
Two notes have never caused as much terror as those that open the theme to Jaws. They caused an entire generation to think twice before taking a dip.
STAR WARS
You’d be hard-pressed to find a song more closely associated with evil than the Imperial March from Episode IV.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
“The Raiders March” isn’t just a theme song for Indiana Jones, it’s a ballad for heroes everywhere.
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
We dare you not to tear up when Williams’ main theme from the film begins to swell as E.T. and Elliott soar to safety through the night sky atop a bicycle.
JURASSIC PARK
There are few tunes that better evoke a sense of amazement and beauty than the theme song from Jurassic Park. Even the most callous viewer will have to fight off goose bumps when it plays over the characters’ first encounter with the park’s dino inhabitants.
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE
How does someone encapsulate a world as vast and magical as that of the much beloved Potter in one song. Somehow Williams managed to do just that in “Hedwig’s Theme” from The Sorcerer’s Stone. Eight movies and countless licensing opportunities later, it’s still the tune that children around the world instantly associate with the boy wizard.
THE BOOK THIEF
Williams’ score for the Book Thief has earned him a nomination at this year’s Academy Awards. His compositions for the film manage to convey a tone of childlike wonder, while still hinting at the sadness and oppression surrounding the main characters in Nazi Germany.
Enjoy John Williams’ masterful work in The Book Thief, available on Blu-ray and DVD March 11th.
Based on the beloved best-selling book comes an “extremely moving” (Leonard Maltin, Indiewire) story of a girl who transforms the lives of those around her during World War II, Germany. When her mother can no longer care for her, Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) is adopted by a German couple (OSCAR® Winner Geoffrey Rush* and OSCAR® Nominee Emily Watson**). Although she arrives illiterate, Liesel is encouraged to learn to read by her adoptive father. When the couple then takes in Max (Ben Schnetzer), a Jew hiding from Hitler’s army, Liesel befriends him. Ultimately, words and imagination provide the friends with an escape from the events unfolding around them in this extraordinary, acclaimed film directed by Brian Percival (Downton Abbey).
*Actor, Shine, 1996 **Actress, Hilary and Jackie, 1998; Breaking the Waves, 1996
And now for the giveaway details… Thanks to the folks at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment we’ve got a copy of the The Book Thief Blu-ray to give away to one lucky NoReruns.net reader!
The widget below will step you through the various ways you can enter:
In a couple weeks, we will randomly pick the winner and contact him or her for their mailing info to forward on to the folks at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, who will mail out the Blu-ray directly. The prizes can only be shipped to an addresses within the United States and Canada, and cannot be shipped to P.O. Boxes.
