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   CURRENT NUMBER OF:
     • Years Online: 24
    • Editorial Reviews: 1,959
   • Unique Albums Covered: 2,715
  • Reader Messages Posted: 442,517
 • Reader Votes Cast: 2,491,077


   CURRENT BEST-SELLING SCORES:
       1. Godzilla: King of the Monsters
      2. Romeo and Juliet
     3. The Monkey King
    4. John Williams in Vienna
   5. Space Battleship Yamato
  6. Willow
 7. Ready Player One
8. Ghostbusters
   CURRENT MOST POPULAR REVIEWS:
         1. How to Train Your Dragon
        2. Nightmare Before Christmas
       3. Gladiator
      4. Alice in Wonderland
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    6. Superman
   7. LOTR: Return of the King
  8. Titanic
 9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. Joker
1917
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Jumanji: The Next Level
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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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11/28/20 Cliffs of Freedom   (George Kallis)
All New Review
Buy it... if you appreciate ambitious scores for historical ethnic epics, George Kallis providing a wealth of symphonic force, thematic development, and exotic flavor for this doomed film.
Avoid it... if you become frustrated by scores that introduce so many themes that several of the best don't receive adequate development for you, this entry offering a wealth of riches almost too complicated for its own good.
11/22/20 Traumfabrik   (Philipp Noll)
All New Review
Buy it... if heartwarming romance scores with touching themes highlighted by piano and choir are your ticket to happiness, this work an impressive breakthrough for young German composer Philipp Noll.
Avoid it... if you loathe unpredictable interludes of over-the-top parody music, for this film required a unique collection of source-like score cues to represent the movies being produced on screen.
11/15/20 A Hidden Life   (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
Buy it... for the gorgeous, lyrical, and intimate romanticism of James Newton Howard's main theme for this otherwise understated but still accomplished score.
Avoid it... if the melodic portions of The Village and Defiance failed to capture your heart, for A Hidden Life matches their highlights, albeit briefly.
11/7/20 Terminator: Dark Fate   (Tom Holkenborg)
All New Review
Buy it... if you have a high tolerance for the flailing redundancy of this franchise and its music, Tom Holkenborg basically sufficing but not always excelling at resurrecting the concept's most famous thematic identities.
Avoid it... if you still await a composer who can provide the heartbreaking main theme for Sarah Connor with proper, authentic dramatism in the face of tired "slash, slur, and clang" techniques for each successive terminator foe.
10/28/20 Filmtracks endorses Joe Biden for American president
In his later years, comedian George Carlin intellectually postulated that humanity is beyond salvage (1996, 2007), but he took solace in the belief that the planet would eventually shake us off like a bad case of fleas. Looking at America in 2020, it's difficult not to agree.

Americans have Donald Trump as their president because a large portion of the country approves of white male property rights, minority rule, and authoritarian protectionism. People of all political sways share and retweet the garbage and propaganda they see on social media without critically thinking, hastening society's decline.

It is tempting to endorse Trump for president in 2020, because if you truly believe in the merits of the inevitable failure of the United States, then he accelerates that future. After all, Americans do love conflict and entropy, and as the fearful half of their society acquiesces to hate, let the more progressive portions coalesce and secede.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will not solve the country's incurable divisions, but they will allow America the time to breathe, ponder, and better prepare for the outcome of its demographic warfare. If the American experiment is destined to end by its own, ill-educated hands, then the demise Carlin predicted may as well be thoughtful and orderly.

Filmtracks endorses Biden for president because of a possibly misguided flicker of hope that younger, secular, and diverse generations will be elevated to guide the country to this better place. But don't expect that to happen until Americans on all sides learn how to ignore the manipulative algorithms of social media and shake their fear of unavoidable cultural shifts.

So vote, Americans! That is, if Trump allows you to.

-- Christian Clemmensen, Filmtracks owner and editor
10/21/20 Stargate   (David Arnold)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
Buy it... if you're ready for a triumphant return to the romantic, epic scores of Hollywood's Golden Age, a breakthrough effort from an upstart David Arnold that laid the foundation for his future success.
Avoid it... if you demand consistent quality from all corners of this score, its second half remaining a step behind the similarly rendered score for Independence Day and Arnold's other subsequent orchestral work.
10/14/20 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle   (Henry Jackman/Various)
All New Review
Buy it... if formulaic, workmanlike adventure/fantasy music for orchestra and choir suffices for the occasion, this entry taking more than a little inspiration from Alan Silvestri.
Avoid it... if you demand catchy themes and convincing depth to the fantasy element, for Henry Jackman and his team offer significant narrative development but little memorable appeal.
10/8/20 Jack the Bear   (James Horner)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
Buy it... only if you already have James Horner scores like Unlawful Entry and Once Around on your shelves, because Jack the Bear resides comfortably as a subdued cross between the two.
Avoid it... if you expect all your softly dramatic scores from Horner to pull at the heart strings, because the low volume and lack of spirit in this score fail to accomplish that task.
2005 FILMTRACKS NOMINEE: The Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm
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Return of the HYPE?
AhN - November 29, 2020, at 10:45 p.m.
1 message  (73 views)
Now Playing: Sunday, November 29
Vlkr42 - November 29, 2020, at 6:49 a.m.
1 message  (40 views)
Best Expanded Releases of 2020?   Expand
AhN - November 28, 2020, at 2:42 p.m.
21 messages  (333 views) - Newest: November 30, 2020, at 1:38 a.m. by Alejandro the Spaniard
I have three things to say   Expand
Mr. Jingle Jangles - November 28, 2020, at 12:41 p.m.
3 messages  (266 views) - Newest: November 28, 2020, at 3:56 p.m. by SolarisLem
La La Land Black Friday - 2020! [EDITED]   Expand
Lonestarr - November 28, 2020, at 11:44 a.m.
2 messages  (175 views) - Newest: November 28, 2020, at 12:04 p.m. by Owen
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Review and site status: first half of 2020
Christian Clemmensen - July 26, 2020, at 3:49 p.m.
1 update  (2452 views)
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