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7/31/03 - Golden Gate: (Elliot Goldenthal) --All New
Review-- "Experiencing his first taste of mainstream success by 1994,
Elliot Goldenthal began receiving offers for a wider variety of films with
both Alien 3 and Demolition Man under his belt. Most people
will recall Goldenthal's other efforts in his productive year of 1994,
including Cobb and the Academy Award nominated Interview with the
Vampire. His first project of that year, however, coming straight off of
Demolition Man, was the little know film Golden Gate. It would
be the only collaboration between Goldenthal and acclaimed director John
Madden, and the project would die in obscurity for both. Critically assaulted
and popularly ignored, Golden Gate told the story of a law school
graduate in the early 1960's who is assigned by the FBI to root out communist
elements in the Chinese community of San Francisco. The new agent (Matt
Dillon) becomes divided, however, when he falls in love with a Chinese
shopowner's daughter (Joan Chen). The struggle of loyalties leads the agent
down the road to his own destruction, with the film ending on an ultimate,
somber note...." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/30/03 - Othello (Ballet): (Elliot Goldenthal) --All New
Review-- "Many casual film music fans may still be unaware that there is
a reason for Elliot Goldenthal's rather sparse ten-year career in film score
composition. The lack of a prolific scoring career has been due largely to an
equally active career for commissioned projects such as concerts, chamber
pieces, and ballets. The mid-1990's were years that featured several
large-scale commissioned works from Goldenthal, with the huge symphonic piece
"Fire Water Paper" in 1996 leading to a handful of projects directed by his
wife, Julie Taymor. His theatrical writings have also led to recognition by
the Tony awards for "Juan Darien," and his small arthouse scores have been
performed during plays around the country. His chamber pieces, written
usually for a specific occasion, have been performed in countless venues as
well. While many of these concert works exists on album due a contract
between Goldenthal and the Sony Classical label, the composer's work for the
"Othello" ballet in 1998 was released on album by Varèse Sarabande at
the time of its opening...." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/29/03 - In Dreams: (Elliot Goldenthal) --All New
Review-- "One has to wonder what kind of music that composer Elliot
Goldenthal hears in his dreams. For listeners familiar with the music that
Goldenthal writes when he is awake, the consensus might be that In
Dreams could be the score to Goldenthal's dreams. For most other people,
of course, this kind of music would only accompany nightmares, and a
nightmare is exactly the plotline of In Dreams. The film was the
fourth collaboration between Goldenthal and director Neil Jordan, for whom
Goldenthal had written Interview with the Vampire, Michael
Collins, and The Butcher Boy. Performed by an impressive cast, the
story of In Dreams is a chilling and desperate tale of a woman who is
haunted by dream-like premonitions of a child's death at the hands of an
abductor/serial killer, and the hesitance of the police to believe her. As
the nightmares of the main character are realized, Goldenthal's score becomes
even more important is providing an excruciating sense of futility and
realism. It's not hard to imagine Goldenthal in this composing role..." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/28/03 - Robin and Marian: (John Barry) --All New
Review-- "In the early 1970's, the idea of producing a film about the
death of Robin Hood was kicked around between several studios until it was
picked up by producer Ray Stark, director Richard Lester, and a production
team experienced in the lightning-quick production of swashbuckling films.
For the novel script depicting the late years of the characters in the Robin
Hood tale, a magnificent cast of Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Richard
Harris, and Robert Shaw was collected. Despite the dynamic combination of
actors, Robin and Marian was a significantly depressing experience,
with the deaths of all of the major characters and a heartbreaking story of
lost love and endless battles with old foes. The score for the picture was
meant to be a lush, string-oriented affair from the very beginning, and
veteran French composer Michel Legrand was hired to add that spark of
romance. Legrand composed and recorded music for the entire film; his score
featured only a string section and offered solo performances by each of the
different string instruments for his thematic material...." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/27/03 - The Last Valley: (John Barry) --All New
Review-- "Despite being at the height of his popularity in the James Bond
franchise by 1970, composer John Barry was building an impressive list of
dark, dramatic scores for which he was receiving equal attention in the
industry. Having recently won the Academy Award for the eerie, powerful score
for The Lion in Winter, and also having worked with director James
Clavell on King Rat, Barry was hired to provide a score for the
heavily dramatic tale of The Last Valley. The film was heralded as a
magnificent piece of visual and aural storytelling, but the depressingly
bleak and sometimes horrifying treatment of its characters kept audiences
away. Set during the Thirty Years' War, the film offers the struggles of a
unravaged village (filmed in Austria) that deals with an occupation by forces
of a foreign army, and in so doing, the story blurs the lines of good and
evil in its characters. Lead actor Michael Caine asserts that it is among his
favorite personal works, although he, like the others involved with the
project, recognize that its blatant violence made it a difficult film to
stomach...." **** Read the entire
review.
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7/25/03 - Lost in Space: (Bruce Broughton) --Updated
Review-- "Although the 1998 large-scale studio adaptation of Irwin
Allen's famous Lost in Space tale performed considerably well at the
time of its release, the film failed to become enough of a success to sustain
a franchise based on the Robinson family. The production schedule was nearly
out of control, even within a week of the film's release, due to the endless
tinkering with the CGI special effects featured throughout the picture. Thus,
the score by Bruce Broughton became an adventure in and of itself. Replacing
legend Jerry Goldsmith and given only two weeks to provide a large action
score with a fully orchestral ensemble, the expectation of Broughton's task
was to create the adventure of his famous modern Western scores (and namely,
Silverado) in space. Every time Broughton thought he was done with the
score, he was continuously called back to rescore scenes that were altered
due to special effects additions or the complete rearrangement of scenes. The
result of Broughton's effort is an underachieving score that presents a
watered-down title theme and little fright to represent Spider Smith..."
** Read the entire
review.
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7/23/03 - XXX: (Randy Edelman) --All New Review-- "In an
era when ridiculous, franchise-imitating films are reigning supreme in
Hollywood, it's amazing to realize just how well XXX fared in 2002. By
no means trying to mask itself as something else, the film is a blatant
rip-off of the James Bond formula of films, a formula that lacks much
intelligence to begin with. Replacing the classy Bond persona in this case is
an extreme sports fanatic and brute portrayed by Vin Diesel, whose appearance
in the role was an attempt to put a badguy muscle-man into a Bond role. The
shameless production nevertheless succeeded beyond the wildest expectations,
and has sequel opportunities written all over it. The film was directed by
Rob Cohen, and thus the score became the assignment of his long-time
collaborator, Randy Edelman. While Edelman wouldn't be the first composer to
come to mind in this case, the composer and director teamed up for a strong
year in 1996 alone, with Daylight and Dragonheart establishing
themselves as an adequate, if not entertaining duo. The seedy nature of
project, not to mention the lacking of sophistication, would seemed to have
suggested that a Media Ventures hack job of a score would be called for...."
** Read the entire
review.
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7/22/03 - Indochine: (Patrick Doyle) --All New Review--
"In 1992, theatres around the world were buzzing with the French film
Indochine, a love story set during the dangerous final years of the
French occupation of Vietnam. The film won the Academy Award for "Best
Foreign Language Film," gaining a substantial audience in America as well.
Director RZ˙gis Wargnier's vision for the film was one of immense visual and
aural beauty, with the drama of the story serving alongside an overwhelming
artistic canvas for the senses. He had heard Patrick Doyle's grand score for
Henry V and was interested in a similar sound for Indochine.
When Wargnier showed up at Doyle's door to hear a sample of what Doyle could
provide for the film, the funny circumstances of the day had required Doyle
to record his ideas on a Fisher Price children's cassette recorder; despite
Doyle's embarrassment over the situation, Wargnier and the producers were
impressed and Doyle was set to go (see the notes at the bottom of this review
page for the full story). Wargnier and the studio were so concerned about the
appropriate sound for the film that they had set aside one of the largest
music budgets ever for a French film...." ****
Read the entire
review.
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7/21/03 - FernGully: The Last Rainforest: (Alan Silvestri)
--All New Review-- "Few films are so blatantly motivated by politics
as this animated adventure in the rainforests. To be honest, FernGully:
The Last Rainforest is one of those children's films that masks itself in
the feel-good genre of filmmaking while pushing the real agenda at
children... an agenda that causes the film have a feel-bad message (that
message being: we're destroying the lungs of the Earth!). Essentially, the
film takes cool characters from the rain forests and shows us how they
overcome the hideous actions of "those humans." A portion of the proceeds
from the 1992 picture was sent to the Smithsonian Institute to manage in
favor of causes around the world that save rain forests (and the Amazon in
particular). Perhaps it was the pseudo feel-bad message that caused the film
to slip away from the public eye after a year of hype and publicity
surrounding the reasons for its existence. To the credit of the filmmakers,
they did everything right to mask the feel-bad message in a pretty package.
The musical approach was one that was very strongly rooted in the psyche of
children. A series of songs by popular artists, ranging from Robin Williams
to Elton John..." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/20/03 - Titus: (Elliot Goldenthal) "There is absolutely no
more creative voice in modern film scoring than Elliot Goldenthal. It's
orchestral writing like this that makes me wonder what in the world anyone
can have against him. The man can skillfully combine so many
genres so well that is just makes my mind boggle. And the scary thing is that
he writes music of the highest quality for each genre that he dabbles in. If
you're looking for an incredibly eclectic, yet extremely listenable score for
fans of all types of music, then look no further than Titus. What
makes this score so great is not the simple fact that there are so many
styles, it's the fact that the composer fuses them together so well. Some of
the different styles are traditional orchestral, swing, techno grunge, hard
rock, and Goldenthal's usual atonal writing (my personal favorite). "Pickled
Heads" is easily the most eclectic track of all, and is the second most
interesting. It starts out with the rather noisy techno grunge and rock but
becomes a terrific jazz piece with a really weird use of sax and accordion.
The most interesting track has to be "Mad Ole Titus" which contains
saxophones playing some of the most atonal music ever..." ***** Read the entire donated
review.
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7/19/03 - Shadow Conspiracy: (Bruce Broughton) --Expanded
Review-- "The middle to late 1990's were a time rich with presidential
scandals in Hollywood. The plotline of the 1996 film Shadow Conspiracy
held many parallels with films such as Murder at 1600 and Absolute
Power, and suffered from overkill of the subject at the box office. The
intrigue involving the White House in this film revolves around a plot to
overthrow the American government. Bringing the thriller to the big screen
was director George Cosmatos (of Rambo movie fame), and composer Bruce
Broughton had collaborated with Cosmatos for the successful project of
Tombstone a few years earlier. For Shadow Conspiracy, Broughton
would be able to raise a similarly noble theme, though he wouldn't be able to
hold on to it for very long. Cosmatos had a very specific idea in mind when
he hired Broughton for the project; he wanted the score for Shadow
Conspiracy to be performed by a symphony orchestra with a massive
percussion section (and, more specifically, extra drums). Broughton responded
by not only employing an extra percussionist for drums, but went over the top
with a wide range of percussion instruments..." *** Read the
entire review.
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7/16/03 - Pocahontas: (Alan Menken) --All New Review--
"By the mid-1990's, the Disney animated film franchise was once again a
powerhouse in Hollywood, and some critics would argue that the studio's
animation was at its historic peak during that era. After the first trilogy
of films scored by Alan Menken proved more successful with each entry, Disney
scored another major success with The Lion King. With The Little
Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin on his resume,
Menken wasn't yet to lose his position atop the musical pillar of strength
for Disney's animated features. In 1995, Pocahontas received the same
critical success as Menken's previous projects, winning Academy Awards for
both the score and the main song, a feat that had become somewhat normal for
the franchise. But The Lion King had opened a new door in Disney's
mind, allowing for major Hollywood composers to collaborate with pop artists
for the music in the films. Only two years later, Alan Menken's reign over
the musical scene at Disney would fizzle to an inglorious end, and the studio
would consistently rotate between big name composers for their animated
features. Some critics would argue that Pocahontas represented the
beginning of the end for Menken..." **** Read the entire
review.
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7/14/03 - Titus: (Elliot Goldenthal) --All New Review--
"If you think artists today have a hard time breaking onto the scene in
mainstream entertainment, just think how difficult it must have been for
Shakespeare, who conjured "Titus Andronicus" early in his career to help make
a name for himself. The gruesome tragedy, which is so disgusting in its lack
of mores or hero that it becomes a laugh-fest, is a story that revels in
every element of gore and excess. It's best known for its themes of body
mutilation and how humor that can arise from rape and severed body parts.
Julie Taymor's adaptation of the story is set in ancient Rome, but not a
historically accurate one. She builds upon the vast swings of tragedy and
comedy by also blurring the time period in which the story is taking place,
leaving the opportunity to insert modern tanks, radios, pool tables, and even
the Popemobile. It's a sort of mockery of the kind of timelessness that
fantasy films like Batman attempt to achieve, but in this case, the
out of place elements are inserted with grandiose, in-your-face intentions.
Critical response to the film was mostly positive, with Taymor's creativity
winning the hearts of critics who had thought that they had seen it all...."
** Read the entire
review.
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7/12/03 - The Road to Wellville: (Rachel Portman) --All New
Review-- "'Here at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, the spirits soar, the
mind is educated, and bowels... the bowels are born again!' Saturated with
quotes like that, it's not hard to imagine why the film The Road to
Wellville attracted only a small, specific crowd in 1994. Directed by the
talented and respected Alan Parker, the film featured a blockbuster cast,
with Anthony Hopkins as the deranged Kellogg cereal inventor in a leading
performance worthy of merit. His Sanitarium, meant to cleanse the body and
put people of the 1920's into unnatural health, was highlighted by its
extensive use of enemas and bizarre rituals to cleanse the bowels. A young
couple (Matthew Broderick and Bridget Fonda) visits the clinic of sorts for a
vacation of healthy relaxation, with Mr. Lightbody (Broderick) in for much
more than he bargained for. The film is disgusting in every way possible,
forcing its actors into scenes and discussions of feces, farts, fornication,
masturbation, orifices, nudity, chewing, and, of course, those dreaded 15
gallons of yogurt. So filthy the film is in its protrayal of carnal subject
matter that many people may not view it as the black comedy it was meant to
be...." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/11/03 - Hoosiers: (Jerry Goldsmith) --All New Review--
"One of the definitive sports movies in the history of Hollywood,
Hoosiers is an essential piece of Americana film-making. Directed by
David Anspaugh, who would continue on to direct another similarly themed film
in 1993's Rudy, the film captures a piece of Indiana life with an
authenticity that few accomplished. A disgraced, out of town basketball
coach, performed brilliantly by Gene Hackman, arrives to guide an underdog
high school basketball team, the Hickory Huskers, to an improbable title. It
is, like Rudy, the ultimate film about motivation, faith,
self-confidence, and achievement against the odds. The small-town spirit is
religious in its power, and the film's heart and loyalty to character depth
required a score that could help motivate those characters onto their path to
rewarding success. Jerry Goldsmith was coming off of the most successful
period of his career to date, with several of his most dynamic scores
produced in the early 1980's. He had branched out from his usual
science-fiction, horror, and war drama assignments to compose for children's
films, fantasy, and animation. Also a pioneer in the use of synthesized
elements in unison with a symphony orchestra, Goldsmith..." ***** Read the entire
review.
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7/9/03 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: (Leonard Rosenman)
--All New Review-- "When you examine the first ten Star Trek
films, it's interesting to realize that Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
was the franchise's most prolific fiscal blockbuster of its era. Despite your
opinion of the film's merits, it came at a time when the series was heading
down a dark soap-opera path that was partially corrected by the previous
installment. With Leonard Nimoy at the controls, the film gave in to pop
culture comedy and provided a circus-like atmosphere for our otherwise heroic
science-fiction crew. Part of the film's popularity also stemmed from its
nonstop insults of primitive 20th Century human behavior. To provide a more
classical approach to the comedy score, Nimoy would chose the
classically-inclined composer Leonard Rosenman for the project. The
lighthearted orchestral score would achieve the series' final Academy Award
nomination, seemingly proving that audiences prefer their science-fiction to
border on the mainstream by utilizing more friendly scripting and scoring
approaches. In the context of the other nine franchise scores, Rosenman's
composition is the weak link, often residing near the bottom of film music
collectors' rankings of Star Trek scores. And rightfully so...." ** Read the entire
review.
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7/8/03 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: (James Horner)
--All New Review-- "Shock and dismay had overwhelmed the nucleus of
Star Trek fans in 1982; Spock was dead, and a beloved fixture of the
television show and first two films was gone. Before even Star Trek II
could be finished, the potential uproar of such an outcome was realized by
the series' producers, and the bulk of the third film was devoted to bringing
the character back to life. The film also re-introduced the hated Klingons
into the mix and gave life to the cloaking Bird of Prey, which would become
the most recognizable class of ship outside of the Federation for mainstream
audiences. With Leonard Nimoy at the helm of this film, he made the wise
choice to maintain continuity between the second and third films by utilizing
James Horner's services once again for Star Trek III: The Search for
Spock. Horner's score for the previous film had been a stunning success
for the newcomer, a harsh, but bold sea-faring score worthy of adventures in
space. Horner had also integrated a Spock-specific theme into the second film
that could be elaborated upon as a central theme in the third film. As a
story, Star Trek III achieved its main goals..." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/7/03 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: (James Horner)
--All New Review-- "After the hit television series was finally
brought to big screen in 1979 to critical and popular acclaim, director
Nicholas Meyer would take the series in an entirely new direction. Whereas
Star Trek: The Motion Picture had wowed audiences with its majestic
fantasy elements, many of which drawn out into lengthy sequences to
accentuate their mere brilliance of color and sound, Meyer's approach for
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan would be one of brutal power, surprise
attacks, emotional turmoil, and, most of all, primal revenge. The wild
success of Star Trek II in providing a thriller in space would
solidify the franchise for at least another eight films. The story introduced
the concept of the star villain challenging the intellectual and
technological capabilities of the Enterprise crew, and also made a crucial
link back to an episode of the original television show. The picture is
arguably the best of the series, and established a new dramatic standard for
its musical scores. Jerry Goldsmith had adapted Alexander Courage's
television theme into the first film's score and had composed an elegant,
orchestrally sweeping theme for the heroic crew...." ***** Read the entire
review.
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7/4/03 - Win a copy of Terminator 3 in the July, 2003, Cue Clue
Contest! It's Independence Day in America, and Filmtracks and
Varèse Sarabande are proud to offer a hot new blockbuster prize for
the July, 2003 contest. There are three unidentified film score audio clips
in the contest, and the more clips you identify, the better your chances of
winning a prize. This month, three winners of the contest will receive Marco
Beltrami's orchestral score album for the 2003 summer hit Terminator 3:
Rise of the Machines. The album features over 40 minutes of
Beltrami's score, a re-recording of the original Brad Fiedel theme, and two
softer companion songs. All you have to do is listen to the three Cue Clue
Clips on the Filmtracks Cool Stuff page and do your
best to identify the clips. The contest ends on July 30th. Remember, you only
need to guess one of the three clips correctly to qualify. Good luck!
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7/3/03 - Rob Roy: (Carter Burwell) --All New Review--
"Within the span of a year, audiences were treated to several Highland epics,
with Rob Roy followed by Braveheart and then
Dragonheart. While Dragonheart would range into a different
genre, Rob Roy matched Braveheart in its brutality and the
expression of graphically realistic force. As a film, Rob Roy would
suffer from the worst audience reactions of the three, with most viewers
eagerly seeking the other two Highland films with an almost cultish fever.
The same exact reaction would be experienced by the score for Rob Roy.
The James Horner and Randy Edelman scores --light years away in tone-- would
share monumental success while Carter Burwell's Rob Roy fell by
wayside early in the race. Burwell isn't immediately known for his lush and
romantic scoring for grand vistas. At times, he could provide large-scale
themes for scenery (who could forget 1999's Hi-Lo Country?), but
Burwell's career inclination points towards the more off-color projects of
darker shades. Landing Rob Roy allowed Burwell to collaborate with
several specialty musicians, including those of his own hiring and those
belonging to the Gaelic group Capercaillie. Burwell would also interpret
traditional Gaelic tunes with the help of that group and integrate them into
his own heavily ethnic score...." *** Read the entire
review.
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7/1/03 - Ghost Ship: (John Frizzell) --All New Review--
"Following a series of sub-standard scores for regrettable films, John
Frizzell showed signs of creative promise in the horror flick Thirteen
Ghosts. By late 2002, the composer would produce a massive score for
Ghost Ship in the same genre and then surprise audiences with a
magnificent effort for Gods and Generals in early 2003. Collaborating
once again with director Steve Beck, Frizzell would pull out all the stops
for Ghost Ship. The film, featuring an average cast, took the same old
story of a ghost ship, lost at sea, with a treasure (perhaps the Antonia
Graza name is a rip-off of the real-life, sunken Andrea Doria?), and twisted
it into a story that attempted to inject more style and drama into its
horror. Ultimately, the film would suffer from the same problems as the score
(or vice versa), because too many different emotional avenues were tested in
one film. The musical offering in the film would waver between the prominent
use of songs and a large-scale orchestral score by Frizzell. While most
audience members remembered the songs from the film, Frizzell's effort was
enormous in quantity and scope. He would tap dance around some old genre
cliches and dive head first into others..." **
Read the entire
review.
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