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11/26/02 - Filmtracks has just moved to a new server! If you
are reading this On Cue entry, then that means you are being served from
Filmtracks' new, significantly faster Linux machine. Due to Filmtracks'
continuing expansion, the site has been outgrowing its servers every 18
months. The interactive sections of the site (the viewer comments, ratings,
ScoreBoard, etc) benefit the most from the server upgrade, and you are
encouraged to test them out if you have not already explored them. With this
new server, we hope to get through to 2005 before needing another upgrade. We
thank you for your patience during the momentary downtime that accompanied
this move over the past few days. And to all you Americans: happy
Thanksgiving! Eat, drink, and try not to kill any in-laws!
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10/30/02 - Sneakers: (James Horner) --All New
Review-- "One of James Horner's sleeper hits with his fans,
Sneakers is an enduring score of note in Horner's career. The film
is blessed with an extraordinary cast and a tightly woven script of
espionage and technology. It is a fast paced thriller of a project that
required a classy, urban suspense and charm. James Horner was at a point
in his career when he produced several blockbuster scores that, despite
immense popularity, had gained him little praise from critics and his
peers. The years 1992 and 1993 were a time when Horner produced
introverted scores more often than not. It was music that followed a
philosophy of less-is-more that led to some arguable successes
(Thunderheart) and some arguable disappointments (Patriot
Games) for those fans who were accustomed to Horner's grand
styles. Sneakers fell somewhere in the middle. It didn't re-use
substantial portions of Horner's other works, and introduced a whole new,
staggered form of theme-building that Horner fans had never heard
before. It may, indeed, have taken a page or two from the likes of
Bernstein and Goldsmith, but for Horner, it was still new
ground...." *** Read the entire
review.
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10/29/02 - Balto: (James Horner) --All New Review--
"Marking the substantial end to James Horner's string of successful scores
for children's films, it would be several years before Horner would
revisit the genre. After the large scale popularity of the orchestral
powerhouse scores for the live-action films Willow and
Glory, he had taken a curious assortment of assignments that often
included the scoring of animated childrens films --some of note and others
of box office obscurity. At the time, these full, energizing scores for
animated films were the beginning of the fuel for the fire as far as
negative Horner critics were concerned. The animated film scores, while
none so dynamic as The Land Before Time in 1988, were all similar
in style, orchestration, and theme. For the animated scene, he could get
away with this re-use (after all, kids and thankful parents couldn't care
less which musical motifs were repeated several times). An argument could
be made that the negativity that erupted around Horner's career in regards
to his self rip-offs began in the early 90's because he was producing more
scores like Pagemaster and Balto and less along the original
lines of Sneakers and Legends of the Fall...." **** Read the entire
review.
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10/15/02 - Twister: (Mark Mancina) --All New Review--
"The summer of 1996 was a bonanza for big budget action films, and it also
served as a formal introduction to the Media Ventures breakthrough in
scoring technology. Competing with the likes of Independence Day
and The Rock, Twister fared well. While the tornado flick
with stunning visual effects achieved mainstream success in both the short
and long term, the music for the film was equally attractive to
audiences. For the most part, this attraction led to the high sales of the
rock song compilation album. The film was heavy with rock song use, mixing
the songs and orchestral chase score in an often choppy moment to moment
set of transitions. The song compilation album immediately hit the charts
at the film's opening, while score fans were forced to wait several months
for Mark Mancina's work for the film. The previous year, Hans Zimmer had
introduced his electronic scoring mastery for the first time in its most
successful, male-driven action genre (Crimson Tide). The next
summer, both The Rock and Twister would extend that sound
into the mainstream for good...." *** Read the entire
review.
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10/5/02 - Filmtracks celebrates its 6th birthday with two
long-overdue updates. First, the Search Engine at the
site has been reworked for the first time since 1997. Needless to say,
that old search feature was a dinosaur by web standards. Starting today,
it finally produces a proper relevancy ranking so that it can identify
which score or composer you're looking for and run the search
appropriately. The results of every search also now provide a short
description of each page. Perhaps more importantly to long-time Filmtracks
fans, a third batch has now been added to the strangely popular Faux Pas
Page. With its URL featured in a nationally circulated adult
magazine this past year, the page is a growing carnival of bad behavior
and serves as testimony to how bizarre the web really is. A whopping 120
new faux pas e-mails are added in this third batch. Please be
aware: The Faux Pas Page is not for people who are timid or easily
offended!
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10/3/02 - Simone: (Carter Burwell) "Touted as one of the
year's potential hits on the big screen, Simone is the creative
tale of Hollywood's first computer-generated actress whose digital
genetics are unknown to the public and industry at large. The director,
played by Al Pacino, has to contend with this fraud when the actress turns
out to be a big hit as a last minute replacement in one of this
films. Along with the fear of discovery, the director has to deal with his
own sense of reality involving the digital actress. The real director of
Simone is Andrew Niccol, whose Gattaca ran along similar
themes of futuristic identity. The writer's credits also includes The
Truman Show, leading the way for Simone to be yet another
self-analyzing satire of Hollywood. Composer Carter Burwell, whose
technique at composing for a dry sense of humor (especially with so much
experience with the Coen Brothers' films) is well documented, provides a
similarly snazzy little score for a more futuristic tone. The film,
unfortunately, did not reach any of its expectations, and it disappeared
off the radar screens..." *** Read the entire
review.
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