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| 5/8/13
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Filmtracks migration to a new server complete |
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After residing on a series of dedicated servers since 2000, Filmtracks has migrated to a
cloud-based server that is at least 20% slower than the most recent (2010) dedicated server.
This downgrade was necessary due to the site's financial insolvency. The move could save
Filmtracks $150 or more per month in costs, depending on outgoing bandwidth (traffic)
levels.
The configuration of this server has been more challenging than prior builds for Filmtracks,
in part because of the different server behaviors and properties of cloud-based hosting and
the extremely bare build of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 available to this particular cloud. If
you discover a feature of the site that is not behaving properly, please report the bug so
that I can squash it promptly. A few minor issues (Amazon pricing on the reviews, the counter
on the Scoreboard, etc.) have already been fixed.
Hopefully, this lesser hosting solution will be a temporary measure and within a few years
Filmtracks can move up to the dedicated resources (namely, faster processors) that have always
kept the site extremely responsive and easy to maintain over the past 13 years. In the
meantime, this was the only option other than the closure of the site.
While donations to Filmtracks will likely no longer be necessary to fund the site's basic
costs, they are always appreciated, and I plan to put all future donated money towards
continued development of the site.
-- Christian Clemmensen, Filmtracks owner and editor
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Buy it... |
only if you desire a likable and faithful souvenir of the film's musical numbers and the jazzy
and snazzy original jingles written for source applications.
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Avoid it... |
if only twelve minutes of immense and entertaining orchestral score from Joel McNeely near the
end of the soundtrack cannot justify the entire product for you.
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| 4/28/13
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Quills (Stephen Warbeck)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you want a touch of class to go with your serving of insanity, Stephen Warbeck's music for
this film a roller coaster ride of mostly insufferable, challenging ideas meant to represent
madness and sexual deviancy.
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Avoid it... |
if you have small children in your home and wish to remain lucid and cognizant until they
reach adulthood, at which point you can pray that they will never love this score.
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Buy it... |
if you have enjoyed the many similar blends of muscular Western orchestra, varied choir, and
intoxicating Eastern specialty instruments in the numerous equivalents from other offshoots of
the Hans Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams sound.
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Avoid it... |
if no amount of awesome melodic beauty in the melodramatic portions of this score can
compensate for its rather sterile and inelegant posture in the action cues.
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Buy it... |
if you're a sucker for high-quality, orchestral fantasy and adventure scores, always in search
of the genre's hidden gems.
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Avoid it... |
if the genre of 1980's spin-off fantasy music sounds tired, derivative, and badly dated to
you, especially when it attempts to borrow frequently from James Horner's vintage techniques.
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Buy it... |
if you appreciated the conservative sound of Dennis McCarthy's music for the concept's
episodes on television, for Star Trek: Generations is largely a simple expansion of that
sound.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the memorable themes or dramatic majesty of the superior film scores that came
before and after this comparatively dull entry in the franchise.
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Buy it... |
if you noted the superior combination of Russian folk and classical waltz techniques in the
context of the film and have less interest in hearing Dario Marianelli's faintly functional
romance writing.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect your heart to be moved by the melodrama of this tragic tale of societal
asininity, the lack of depth in the romantic element of the music causing this score to rotate
between grim, cold undertones and source-like applications.
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| 4/3/13
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Godzilla (David Arnold)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
on any of the limited albums for this score (ranging from the original 1999 promo to the
official 2007 and 2012 sets) if you have any affinity for David Arnold's large-scale style of
patriotic action and drama.
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Avoid it... |
on the original Sony product of 1998, even at its dismally perpetual sale price of $0.01 on
the used market.
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| 3/29/13
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The Fury (John Williams)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you seek a relatively obscure gem in the ranks of John Williams' fully symphonic
expressions of brute force, not to mention some very keen adaptations of Bernard Herrmann's
most challenging styles into a more accessible form.
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Avoid it... |
on the 2013 La-La Land album if you are content with the sound quality and presentation of the
2002 Varese product, for the additional remastering and supplemental bonus cues on the later
set are not significant improvements to this melodramatic listening experience.
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