10 Best John Williams Themes

John Williams has written some of the best musical themes of all time. I personally believe his name should be synonymous with Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven...his art, his music making is that genius! Williams' music is timeless. His scores of the 70s and 80s don't feel like music of that age. It's like he knew it would be listened to and loved by people today. Ranking his 10 best themes is a hard thing to do. I'm not judging the soundtrack as a whole, but the theme(s) he created for that movie. Here goes:

10)  Superman- I understand he came up with this theme in just a couple days because he was taking over for Jerry Goldsmith. Wow! "Main Title March" and "The Flying Sequence" are favorite themes.

9)  Schindler's List- How do you create music for something as haunting as Schindler's List? Get John Williams to write the theme. Using Itzhak Perlman for the violin solos was brilliant. It saddens you just listening to it.

8) Harry Potter- "Hedwig's Theme." Take some of the most beloved books ever and try and turn them into great films--almost impossible. Throw in John Williams' genius--done.

7) Jurassic Park- "Welcome to Jurassic Park." A line from the movie and the title of it's best theme. Love it.

6)  Hook- This is my all time favorite Williams' soundtrack as a whole. I love the Pan theme, Hook, theme, Lost Boy theme...all of them wonderful.

5) Jaws- You only really remember the "Main Title" theme from Jaws (as well you should), but the soundtrack as a whole is SO good. Every October I read a book called School Spirits to my students and play "The Indianapolis Theme" while I read the scary parts. It has them jumping out of their seats!

4) Home Alone- I know, I know...I'm going with Home Alone for number 4, but I could listen to this music around the clock. "Somewhere In My Memory" and "Star of Bethlehem" were inspired by Christmas angels.

3) Raiders of the Lost Ark/Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom/Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade--I guess I could have just written Raiders Trilogy. That might have been better.- I don't know if it would be easier or harder to write music over a series of films. You create an absolutely brilliant set of themes for the first film: "Indy's Theme," "Marion's Theme," "The Well of Souls." And then you have to create something similar, but altogether different for the following films. If you think Raiders would be hard, look at my number 2!

2) Stars Wars Saga- "Main Title," "Princess Leia's Theme," "End Title," "The Imperial March," "Yoda's Theme," "Luke and Leia," "End Title" again, "Duel of the Fates" (the single best thing about the new trilogy), "Across the Stars," "Battle of the Heroes," and now he has signed on to compose music for J.J. Abrams new Star Wars movie. The themes speak for themselves. Absolutely unreal!

1) E.T.- "Over the Moon." "Toys." The story goes that John Williams wrote the music for "Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye" from reading the script only. It didn't fit the first cut of the film. Most composers will now go in and fix it. Instead Spielberg kept the music as is, and went back and cut the film to fit. I don't know if that's Hollywood legend or truth, but it's pretty freaking awesome! I love the themes in E.T.

Aladdin, Jr.

We just finished our summer 2013 run of Aladdin, Jr. It was a great success and so much fun working with these kids. Repeat customers tell us that the shows just keep getting better and better! I'm happy to know that we are always pushing things to a new level.

Tanner and Kassie. They found every opportunity they could to kiss in this show.

Timmy, Morgan and the guards.

Trying to direct these buggers.

Halle and Ardon. So funny.

Our lovely cast.

On a workout boost!

I have been going to the gym now every weekday for the past month. Each day I run on the treadmill--at first I was just running 20 minutes, not really looking for any kind of numbers. Just time. Then I started seeing that I was running 2.5 miles each day. I started clocking my times and noticed that I'm running an average of 8.5 minute miles. I'm now up to 3 miles each day. I never thought I would like running, but I have been loving this. I sweat enough to sink a small dingy and I feel really good about my workouts. After running I will work various muscles for another half hour. Thanks to Daft Punk and Rockstar for your assistance in all of this. I'm looking for a good pre-workout supplement. However, I tweaked a muscle in my back shoulder yesterday and I am in SO much friggin' pain. My range of motion is greatly limited at this time. I'm mostly upset because it's going to ruin this great boost I'm on right now. Here's hoping to keep with it!!

My 100 Favorite Films-TOP 10

Alright, like it or hate it, these are the Top 10 of my 100 Favorite Films of all time. As I said when I started this list of 100, these are movies that I love to watch. Movies that I can watch over and over and ones that have had an impact on me for one reason or another. Therefore, it's not surprising that most of my Top 10 are movies that come from my childhood/teenage years.

This was fun to do! I hope you enjoyed reading this list as much as I enjoyed making it.

10)  The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King-  My family comes over every Christmas break for three days in a row to watch this incredible trilogy. I have seen these movies so many times, but they do not get old for me. The musical themes, the visuals, the emotion and depth of characters is so amazing. Every couple of years I have to watch the Behind the Scenes discs (I watched them earlier this year with Max before his bedtime) to fully appreciate everything what went into these movies. I wish I were an actor in the Fellowship more than any other film. I want to be Frodo--but then they wouldn't be any good, because Elijah Wood was perfect.

9)  Swiss Family Robinson-  I'm a kid again! I wanted to live in the tree house and have a waterfall in my backyard. We show this movie to our sixth graders at the end of the school year (most of them have not seen it) and they think it is the coolest thing. It still holds up really well.

8)  Toy Story 2-  This is my favorite sequel of all time. It is perfection in writing. It's such a funny movie! Our kids will watch it on roadtrips and I ask them to take off their headphones and listen to it through the system so I can laugh. Sequels most always add new characters, with mixed results--Jessie, Bullseye, Stinky Pete, Al, Barbie...greatness. I love Toy Story 3, but this one remains my favorite.

7)  Jaws-  I think I was 11 or 12 when I first saw Jaws. I don't know what my parents were thinking! It, of course, scared the crap out of me (I even had a hard time in swimming pools), but I became obsessed with it. I read the book by Peter Benchley, I watched it daily when I would come home from school for probably a month. Today I view it differently. It is such a well made horror story--surprising with everything that went wrong with the making of it. If you have not seen this movie since it's Blu-ray transfer, you've got to see it. Beautiful.

6)  Mary Poppins-  My favorite Disney classic. I am excited for the movie Saving Mr. Banks coming out this year that tells the story about P.L. Travers and her story of this book going to a movie. I know that Walt considers this his masterpiece and it's hard not to agree with him. Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and the children are so wonderful, but to me it's David Tomlinson, who plays the father, who steals the show. He is brilliant.

5)  Some Like it Hot-  My mom started watching this one day when I was in 7th grade and I wandered into the room. She asked me to sit down and watch it with her. My life was forever changed! I started an obsession with Marilyn Monroe and had posters covering my walls. This is her best movie and one of the best movie's ever made. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon? So, so funny! "Well, nobody's perfect." And yet this movie, just about is.

4)  A Christmas Story-  "Not a finger!" I could write a whole essay about this movie. Love.

3)  Die Hard-  I was obsessed (that happened a lot during my teenage years) with Die Hard. I watched this movie so many times that I wrote down the entire script without using the movie as a reference. I counted the number of swear words. I could link any movie back to it in less than 7 steps (like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, but cooler). It's considered by most to be the best action movie ever made. I knew it first.

2)  Field of Dreams-  This film combines two of my favorite things: baseball and my dad. The best soundtrack ever made. Kevin Costner (too many haters) gives a beautiful, simple performance. "Dad? You wanna have a catch?" Makes me cry every time.

1)  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring-  There's so much I want to say about this movie. Howard Shore's brilliant score, the Fellowship and the perfection of their casting and acting, the production team and everything they created, Peter Jackson and his writing team, Peter Jackson and his directing. I will never tire of watching this movie. To me, it's the perfect film.

My 100 Favorite Films (20-11)

It's the TOP 20, baby! TOP 20!

20)  Return to Me-  I'm a sucker for "chick flicks," and this is one of the best ones ever. I love David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. Their chemistry was spot on. Bonnie Hunt (who wrote and directed this gem) and Jim Belushi are extremely relatable and hilarious! But the best part of the film is the restaurant of old men and their improvisation! I laugh so hard every time I watch this movie.

19)  Forrest Gump-  There are a few Tom Hanks movies on my list (Cast Away was so close to being in my top 100--I'm still upset it's not here). He is truly an incredible actor. I love the scope of this movie. So many great moments and experiences that make their way into this story.

18)  Collateral-  My favorite Tom Cruise movie. He is brilliant as a cold hearted hit man. Jamie Fox is so good in this. They develop an awesome "relationship" throughout the movie. Definitely my favorite portrayal of Los Angeles. Michael Mann's cinematography is perfectly done.

17)  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2-  I have posted many times on this blog my love for Harry Potter. The books are are my all-time favorite series and I just love the movies so much. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are perfectly cast as Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Each director over the series added their own vision and captured beautifully, certain moments from the books. It was hard to narrow down my favorite from the last 4 films, but I have to go with the final one. Alan Rickman... It gets better and better every time I watch it.

16)  Raiders of the Lost Ark-  How can this not be in the Top 20?

15)  The Goonies-  I looked exactly like Sean Astin when this movie came out. I lived an envious life for years. I used to dream that my cousins and I would find a map that would lead us through Mount Timpanogos. There are many movies that I wish I were in--this is near the top of the list.

14)  It's a Wonderful Life-  I weep every time. Weep.

13)  When Harry Met Sally-  My favorite romantic comedy. Billy Crystal is a genius. Meg Ryan is who I would want if Lindsay did not exist. A perfect script.

12)  The Bourne Supremacy-  The Bourne trilogy might be my second favorite trilogy (it's not hard to guess my favorite). I love the emotion and vengeance driven plot of Supremacy--track down who killed Marie. Add Karl Urban to the mix and you've got a great movie.

11)  Saving Private Ryan-  This was the beginning of my love of World War II. When I first saw this, it messed me up. Bad. Lindsay and I came home from the theater and I cried and cried. I couldn't get it out of my head for weeks. I watched it this past week and it's still so affecting. Tom Hanks gives my favorite performance of his. Steven Spielberg created something incredibly profound and personal with this movie. It's just so good.

My Favorite Films (30-21)

Getting closer to the Top 20! It's just so exciting!

30)  Peter Pan-  This was a very hard choice to make. Walt Disney and his team created such a wonderful group of classic feature-length cartoons. Which one to choose? Sleeping Beauty? Alice in Wonderland? 101 Dalmations? I had to go with Peter Pan. It is of course my link to my childhood, Disneyland, and a choir tour during my junior year of high school.

29)  Schindler’s List-  It's not easy to watch this movie, but I don't know if any movie (other than Saving Private Ryan) has ever affected me so deeply. Your life is changed after watching a movie like this. That's real power in art.

28)  Terminator 2: Judgment Day-  I collected Terminator 2 trading cards. Yeah. I know.

27)  Point Break-  The all-time best guilty pleasure ever! Patrick Swayze is so freaking cool. His name is Bohdi for freaking sake!

26)  White Christmas-  "The best things, happen while you're dancing..."

25)  E.T.-  This was my first favorite movie! Every time I watch it, or even think about it, my childhood comes rushing back. I love, love, love this movie.

24)  Home Alone-  I know this is a strange movie to be so high up on my list of all-time favorites. But this is my go to "feel-good" movie. I will watch it in the middle of the summer if I'm feeling stressed or blue. It's Christmas. Pure Christmas.

23)  Inception-  The hallway battle scene is one of the best things ever put on film. Christopher Nolan's best movie and one of Leonardo DiCaprio's best, as well.

22)  Aliens-  James Cameron knows how to make a sequel (Terminator 2). This movie took a totally different direction from the small, claustrophobic feel of the original and gave it a huge, claustrophobic feel. So crazy and creepy! "Game over, man! Game over!"

21)  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers-  Great musical themes, introduction of Gollum, Helm's Deep, King Theoden, Faramir...Brilliance in film making.

My Favorite Films (40-31)

40)  A League of Their Own-  "There's no crying in baseball!"

39)  The Three Amigos-  Absolutely one of the funniest movies of all time! Martin (a talent in so many art forms), Chase, and Short have such great chemistry. Some of my favorite quotable lines. We show about 45 minutes of this to our sixth graders each year on Cinco de Mayo.

38)  Raising Arizona-  Many think that Nicolas Cage sold out after his early years in acting. I still love him, but I agree that he had a different approach when he was younger. The Coen Brother's best film. "I'll be taking these Huggies, and whatever cash ya got."

37)  Hook-  This movie is grossly misjudged. I think it's one of the best family films ever made. I love Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Smith, the lost boys. In my opinion this is the best music John Williams ever created.

36)  The Little Mermaid-  The last film Walt Disney personally oversaw before his death was 1967's The Jungle Book. Over the next 20 years, Disney's feature length cartoon department almost disappeared with some pretty horrible outings. Then The Little Mermaid opened and changed modern cartoons as we know them today. I can still remember sitting in the Scera Theater seeing this movie over and over. Life changing.

35)  The Sting-  Newman and Redford at their best. I love this movie! It reminds me of my friends in high school. Great revenge.

34)  Moulin Rouge-  I was absolutely blown away by this film when it was released--still am. If I'm not mistaken, it kick started the wave of movie musicals from recent years. Ewan McGregor is incredible. The "Elephant Love Medley" is brilliant.

33)  Sleepless in Seattle-  If you don't like this movie, there is something wrong with you. I'm sorry, there is.

32)  Ghostbusters-  "The flowers... are still... standing!" Everything about this movie is just so good. What a fantastic idea with such great talent. Who would have thought it would work?!

31)  Out of Sight-  "Fake legs?!" This is George Clooney's first great movie. If you watch him in anything earlier, he really is not a very good actor. I think Steven Soderbergh made him into the talent he is now. The scene between Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in the trunk is so sexy. And then...the hotel scene!--sexiest scene on film.