|
|
4/30/04 - The Joy Luck Club: (Rachel Portman) --All New
Review-- "Vaulting to great heights immediately upon its release, Amy
Tan's best-selling 1989 novel was destined for similar success in the
arthouse film industry. With extraordinary care given to the authenticity of
Chinese culture, The Joy Luck Club is, on the surface, a tender tale
of a group of Chinese-American women in San Francisco who get together once a
week and play mah jong. These gatherings, though, are an opportunity for
their children and grandchildren, as well as the audience, to hear
fascinating stories about the histories of their families. In flashbacks,
their lifestyles in China come alive and awaken the audience to the intricate
social structures of China and how those lifestyles have evolved in America.
It is a film with a heart that is saturated with women's issues, and thus,
it wasn't surprising to see director Wayne Wang allow Rachel Portman into
this delicate process. At the time of the film's release in 1993, Portman
was not yet recognized internationally as a foremost female composer..."
**** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
4/24/04 - Miracle: (Mark Isham) --All New Review-- "'Do
you believe in miracles? Yes!' With these words in 1980, viewers of the
Olympics in Lake Placid were treated to the event that Sports Illustrated
magazine deemed the single greatest sporting event of the 20th Century. With
the United States seemingly on the decline in world power, suffering from
scandals at home and a hostage crisis in Iran, the U.S.S.R. seemed on the
surge with its invasion of Afghanistan and continued control over the Eastern
Bloc. The Soviets had dominated Olympic hockey in the 1960's and 1970's,
winning four consecutive gold medals leading up to the 1980 games in America.
Under the determined coaching of Herb Brooks, a collection of American mutts
averaging 21 years of age trained for and won the gold in 1980 (there's not
much suspense in the film...). The punctuation of that year's tournament was
a spectacular win over the Soviets that was seen, politically, as the turning
point of the Cold War. Director Gavin O'Connor, still a newcomer in the
industry, took the story of first time screenwriter Eric Guggenheim..." *** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
4/21/04 - The Godfather Trilogy: (Compilation) --All
New Review-- "As much as John Williams fans would argue with the
claim, no trilogy of film music has had a more significant influence on
world-wide audiences than the scores by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola
for the three parts of The Godfather saga. Rota only lived less than
ten years beyond his involvement with the first two films for The
Godfather, and he recalled in those late years how astonished he was to
hear the love theme from the original film performed on so many street
corners as he would travel about the city. Indeed, the themes from Rota's
two scores are infamous in such a way that the music has touched a grand
array of people beyond the usual film music enthusiasts. It also helps that
the first two films are also considered among the best of all time, with
devoted fans ranging from the saga's own actors to the deposed Saddam
Hussein of Iraq. The quality of the music for the films is difficult to
qualify from an American perspective...." **** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
4/13/04 - Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox (Limited
Edition): (Jerry Goldsmith) --All New Review-- "In one of the most
comprehensive compilation sets ever to be released in the genre of film
music, the Varèse Sarabande label has built a 6-CD set based on the
vast collection of material written by composer Jerry Goldsmith for films of
the studio 20th Century Fox. According to the label, the set is kicking off a
year-long celebration of Goldsmith's 75th birthday by Varèse Sarabande
(which already announced in late 2003 that they will be releasing an SACD of
Goldsmith's rejected Timeline score). Before diving into the debate
about the concept of the 6-CD set itself, as well as the circumstances of its
release, a summary of its contents may help you decide if it is worth the
enormous expense. The set does not include all of Goldsmith's work for Fox
(there are six exclusions, with Capricorn One and Sleeping with the
Enemy most notable in their absence), but does offer at least one cue
(and often many more) from Goldsmith's 39 other projects for Fox to date...."
*** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
4/10/04 - Battlestar Galactica (2003): (Richard Gibbs) --All
New Review-- "When the original Battlestar Galactica was shown for
one doomed season in 1978-1979, it was a clear reaction to biblical space
opera that had so overwhelmingly impressed audiences in Star Wars the
year before. The show was cancelled partly because of its own cheesiness,
partly because of high production costs per episode, and partly for half a
dozen other various reasons, and die-hard fans of that series have hoped for
years of a reintroduction of Battlestar Galactica in the same way that
Star Trek was similarly resurrected on television. Even original
production and cast members lobbied for years to give the show a second
chance. Finally, in 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel, with a few impressive films
under its belt (including resounding successes for their Dune
adaptations) took on the challenge of bringing Battlestar Galactica
back to life in a three-hour miniseries and subsequent series. This new
series comes at the 25th anniversary of the original show..." *** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
4/5/04 - The Big Bounce: (George S. Clinton) --All New
Review-- "The stories of writer Elmore Leonard have inspired over 30
feature films over several decades, and it seems that each of those films
does its best to capture and extend Leonard's distinct voice onto the big
screen. Sadly, most of them are unsuccessful in providing movie-goers with
the same delight that the original written stories do, with the film
director's own voice (such as Barry Sonnenfeld for Get Shorty, Quentin
Tarantino for Jackie Brown, and Steven Soderbergh for Out of
Sight, just to mention some recent Leonard adaptations) often pushing the
original flavor to a distant corner where only the elaborately designed
characters themselves can sometimes project that Leonard genious. Few will
argue that Leonard's plots, however, are as attractive as his characters, and
The Big Bounce falls into that same description. This remake of a
forgotten 1969 adaptation did attract some high acting talent for its often
outrageous characters, but outside of a casual 2:00 a.m. television
viewing..." **** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
4/3/04 - Traffic: The Miniseries: (Jeff Rona) --All New
Review-- "Based on the Academy Award-winning movie of the same name,
Traffic: The Miniseries was a three-night cable television film that
first aired on January 26th, 2004 on the USA Network. It followed the same
structure as the feature film, delving into the lives of seemingly
unconnected characters and using the overwhelming power of the drug industry
to create ties between them. The television version of the concept, however,
did not carry over the powerful acting ensemble or other high-priced talent
from the feature film. The series tackles the approach to the drug industry
by filming it in a sort of documentary style, offering a news-like glimpse
into drug and other trades all around the world. While the central focus of
the film continues to be on drug trafficking, Traffic: The Miniseries
branches off into weapons and human smuggling as well, stretching in location
from Seattle to Afghanistan. The success of the television series is yet to
be determined..." *** Read the entire
review.
|
|
