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11/17/01 - The Mummy Returns: (Alan Silvestri) "I really
love Goldsmith's score from the original. It not only contained exciting
Egyptian action cues, but three great themes (the best being the
Jarre-esque romantic theme), and although Goldsmith himself despised it,
the film was pretty good too (and I'm a sucker for Rachel Weisz). The
sequel film didn't fair as well, but it still managed to provide nonstop
action and a few laughs for it's two hour running time. Alan Silvestri's
score, though, rises above the film in almost every respect. It has a
feeling of non-stop energy, excitement and fun which permeates throughout
all the music. This is action swashbuckling music at its best. There are
many themes utilized throughout the score, the primary ones being: Rick's
Theme, the Rick/Evy love/adventure theme and the Imhotep/Anck-su-namun
love theme. Rick's Theme is heard often and has a really fun, heroic feel
to it and is just as good, if not better than Goldsmith's equivalent
theme...." Read the entire
donated review.
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11/16/01 - Hook: (John Williams) "I've owned Hook for
about ten years, and it still continues to stun me with every listen. It
grows rich like a fine wine; its brilliance is inherent, steadfast, and
more evident with each listen. Its thematic richness is colossal. Its
command of orchestral texture is wondrous. Many music fans have enjoyed
this score enormously as a masterpiece that they'll treasure for the rest
of their lives. Yet, this gift to the music world from John Williams is
one that many have yet to experience. And that's a tragedy. There are
countless emotions displayed here: adventure, wonder, discovery, regret,
sadness, and so on. As is usual with a Williams score, the music grabs
the suggested emotions from the film and projects them into the auditory
world. It doesn't just compliment the emotions; it reveals and magnifies
them. But that's just the beginning of Williams' work, for here he has
written a vast number of themes (almost twenty themes and motifs
altogether; some not heard on the commercial album). Every new situation
of discovery seems to have a new theme, and some are just heard once and
then gone forever...." Read the entire donated
review.
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11/12/01 - Star Trek: Insurrection: (Jerry
Goldsmith) --Expanded/Complete Album-- "It's been three full years
since Star Trek: Insurrection hit the theatres, and the long delay
before the production of Star Trek X is proving that this could be
the longest gap between any of the Trek films. If anything, this extended
time, along with the end of both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and
Star Trek: Voyager on television, has given fans of the 24th
Century Trek franchises more time to reflect on Goldsmith's Star
Trek: Insurrection score. Whereas the music for Star Trek: First
Contact hit the fans at breakneck speed, immediately exploding in
popularity, the music for Star Trek: Insurrection took longer to
endear itself to the same audience. However, as the years have shown, a
growing respect has evolved for Insurrection. Both the last two
feature film score albums from GNP Crescendo, although making a strong
presentation of both scores, have lacked a few key cues from the
films...." **** Read the entire
review.
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11/11/01 - Marie Ward: (Elmer Bernstein) "One of the truly
forgotten films of the 1980's is this tale about Marie Ward, the real life
teacher who rebelled against her 17th Century role and established
religious schools around Europe for the education of girls. While that
story line may not catch your attention today, there are two elements in
the film Marie Ward that do warrant a second look. First, the
diverse and impressive settings of the film's shooting are not to be
ignored; the locations include some of the most holy locations in Europe,
as well as some areas that were demolished after the production of the
film. The second aspect of Marie Ward that will always come to mind
is Elmer Bernstein's superior score for the film. Its director and
screenwriter, Angelika Weber, insisted so strongly that the venerable
Elmer Bernstein compose the score for the film that she flew to Los
Angeles to make a personal pitch for the project (and in the process,
showing a kind of Marie Ward-like personality trait in doing
so)...." **** Read the entire
review.
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11/10/01 - Project X: (James Horner) "Horner was about to
hit his stride in 1987, with several high profiles scores already under
his belt and his most popular of his early career to emerge in the
following two years. The film Project X was a production that
Horner would not turn down, for it would be yet another opportunity to
spread his wings in the use of non-traditional instrumentation. It was an
odd film in many respects, for although it had all the makings of a family
film (with Broderick, Hunt, and a bunch of monkeys), but it also contained
a strong and dark political message that could easily frighten
children. For an average adult, it may seem just a tad too childish to
catch and hold your attention, and for the average kid, it had too many
scary scenes of nuclear radiation and death to satisfy their needs. Thus,
you get Project X, a film that could be mildly interesting at the
late night hour on a lonely night. What would make it an even more
attractive movie to see for film music enthusiasts is the complex score
offered by James Horner...." *** Read the entire
review.
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11/9/01 - Heartbeeps: (John Williams) "When a film music
collector, or an average movie-goer, thinks about John Williams
soundtracks of the early 1980's, Heartbeeps isn't exactly what
comes to mind. But as is the case with every established composer, a
successful collaboration with a director or producer for a major film will
often lead to a subsequent collaboration on a smaller, more personal
project. Such was the case with Heartbeeps. Williams had worked
with the producer, Michael Phillips, on Close Encounters of a Third
Kind, and when this new, lighthearted Phillips comedy was being
assembled in 1981, Williams accepted the scoring job. It was perhaps
awkward for such a score to be written and recorded from the maestro in
between The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
For the reason of a lack of interest from a distracted populus of fans,
Heartbeeps was never released onto the digital medium until long
after all of Williams' other post-Star Wars era scores had been
released on CD. With the resurrection of the once popular Varèse
Sarabande CD Club, the score is finally pressed onto CD as the new series
of limited CDs took flight in late 2001...." ** Read the entire
review.
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11/3/01 - Enemy at the Gates: (James Horner) "Now I don't
consider myself a huge James Horner fan, but when I consider that over 1/3
of my soundtrack collection at the moment is done by Horner, well, maybe I
am misjudging things... In any case, his latest effort for the WW2 drama,
Enemy at the Gates, is a good one, although probably lacking in a
touch of originality. This, of course, is not new for Horner, as there are
countless people willing to rip apart everyone of his scores for his
self-plagiarism. Unfortunately, many will see a John Williams influence
here as well, as the main romantic theme for Enemy at the Gates
bears a reasonable resemblance to the main theme for Schindler's
List. Having said that, I didn't even notice the similarities until I
read it somewhere, and I don't think it is that big an issue (and, yes, I
am very familiar with the Williams score)...." Read the entire
donated review.
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