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   CURRENT NUMBER OF:
     • Years Online: 29
    • Editorial Reviews: 2,464
   • Unique Albums Covered: 3,631
  • Reader Messages Posted: 502,541
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   CURRENT BEST-SELLING SCORES:
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8. Willow (2-CD)
   CURRENT MOST POPULAR REVIEWS:
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Covering the best and worst of original film and television music from America's Big Sky Country since 1996, Filmtracks is your spirited home for comprehensive, humorous, and controversial soundtrack reviews. Join our community to support this niche music genre!
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5/10/26 The Golden Child   (John Barry/Michel Colombier)
All New Review
Buy it... on the one album containing the film's rejected and final scores to hear John Barry music that would sound at home in an average James Bond film of the early 1980's.
Avoid it... on that same product to save yourself the torture that will result from hearing Michel Colombier's tired synthetic emulation and absolutely wretched orchestral action.
5/8/26 Fandango   (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
Buy it... on its lone, rare album if you seek to complete your collection of early Alan Silvestri film scores of orchestral substance, even if it's not particularly memorable and was largely rejected from the film.
Avoid it... and seek the composer's later, better-developed evolution of the same ideas in comedy and action flicks over the subsequent decade.
5/6/26 The Package   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... for over twenty minutes of rousing, Jerry Goldsmith-inspired action from James Newton Howard, a very early transition to orchestral ensembles in feature soundtracks for the composer.
Avoid it... because of the entire central portion of the score, which is rooted in ambient electronic textures and highly dated pop-oriented infusions of unneeded contemporary coolness.
5/4/26 All is True   (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
Buy it... for a very understated, bare-bones Patrick Doyle drama that relies mostly upon the composer's own solo piano performances for its appeal.
Avoid it... if you expect any semblance of passion, intensity, or even much drama in this extremely sparse and thematically wayward music.
5/2/26 The Delta Force   (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
Buy it... only if you can forgive the embarrassingly dated and tone deaf personality that Alan Silvestri brought to this cinematic wet dream action fantasy.
Avoid it... on any of its various albums unless you seek evidence as to why synthetic pop-oriented scores of the 1980's can cause facepalms in retrospect.
4/30/26 Three Men and a Little Lady   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... for twenty minutes of charmingly likeable and effortless light drama and romance music early in James Newton Howard's shift to orchestral recordings.
Avoid it... if you demand any real substance to the listening experience, a pair of full-ensemble performances providing depth but the remainder largely restrained to pretty piano and woodwind solos.
4/28/26 Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero   (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
Buy it... for a moderately entertaining children's score from Patrick Doyle with a heartfelt character theme and a fantastic moment of tribute to his score for Henry V.
Avoid it... if you expect the majority of the themes, the occasional prancing heroism, and the bulk of the suspense and action material to maintain your interest for long.
4/26/26 Flight of the Navigator   (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
Buy it... for a less-developed, synthetic version of Alan Silvestri's similarly conceived score for Mac and Me two years later.
Avoid it... if you have no tolerance for Silvestri's attempts to utilize his early Synclavier tones to emulate orchestral tones when an organic touch was truly needed.
4/24/26 Grand Canyon   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... if you specifically approved of certain facets of James Newton Howard's score in context, because to find peace with this highly disjointed music on album, you have to embrace the reason for its schizophrenia.
Avoid it... on either album presentation if you value film music that intelligently connects highly disparate narrative elements into a common whole, Howard strategically missing the mark badly.
4/22/26 A United Kingdom   (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
Buy it... for a conservatively pretty Patrick Doyle character drama score with few highs and lows, the rather low-key orchestral ambience led by occasional hints of passion in the fullest performances of the two primary themes.
Avoid it... if you lament the significantly missed opportunity for this score to express multi-cultural instrumental complexity for the topic, Doyle instead playing the story as safely as possible.
4/20/26 Slumberland   (Pinar Toprak)
All New Review
Buy it... for a rousing adventure fantasy score of immense scope and a final third that is melodically and emotionally phenomenal.
Avoid it... if you cannot sit through the less resounding portions of the narrative to receive that payoff, or if you expect the score on album to match the more vibrant mix heard in the film version.
4/18/26 Overboard   (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
Buy it... for Alan Silvestri's heartwarming love theme for the main sparring couple of the tale, a preview of many similar pretty ideas to come for the composer.
Avoid it... on the score's sole, rare album if you seek undated quality from any of the other facets of the work.
4/16/26 Diggstown   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... only if you're an established apologist for (or even enthusiast of) the contemporary sports comedy stylings of the late 1980's and early 1990's.
Avoid it... if you have zero interest in hearing James Newton Howard whip up a blend of rock and blues enthusiasm at near-parody levels for a ridiculous boxing flick.
4/14/26 Whisky Galore!   (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
Buy it... for roughly ten minutes of lovely melodic material in Patrick Doyle's top Celtic mode, the highlights of the work heartwarmingly alluring despite their parody roots.
Avoid it... if you have no interest in brazenly Celtic comedy music, the ethnicity pervasively challenging in the many wild jigs that dance through this score.
4/12/26 Young Guns II   (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
Buy it... for a significant improvement over the prior film's music, Alan Silvestri intelligently balancing traditional Western elements with a flashy rock personality.
Avoid it... if Silvestri's typical mannerisms are what draw you to his music, very little in this score resembling his later mainstream works.
4/10/26 The Saint of Fort Washington   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... for a handful of distinctively pretty highlights that foreshadow popular James Newton Howard scores of subsequent decades.
Avoid it... if you expect to hear an engaging narrative outside of those singular highlights, most of this score depressingly drab in its demeanor.
4/8/26 Jig   (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
Buy it... for a more contemporary and less intense take on the same constructs and instrumentation as Patrick Doyle's impressive La Ligne Droite.
Avoid it... if cohesive narratives are your key to the success of the composer's lyricism, this work tending to meander to address the plethora of characters in the story.
4/6/26 Shattered   (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
Buy it... for Alan Silvestri's attractively contemporary and optimistic main theme in all its various romantic variations, over twenty minutes of such material existing on the longer album option.
Avoid it... if you demand the composer to be top form for his suspense portions, which utilize effective but mundane motifs and rely upon abrasive, metallic stingers and high-pitch whining to earn their pay.
4/4/26 Intersection   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... on its shorter, adequate album to enjoy one of James Newton Howard's most uniquely styled drama works, the highlighting blues personality of this score a breath of fresh air.
Avoid it... if you expect that distinct sound to make much sense for the location and content of the story, or if you demand consistent thematic clarity in your intimate tragedies.
2013 FILMTRACKS NOMINEE: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
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