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8/31/04 - Godzilla (1954): (Akira Ifukube) --Updated,
Expanded Review-- "To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the release
of the original Japanese Godzilla (Gojira) film directed by
Ishiro Honda, a remastered and expanded soundtrack CD is hitting the shelves
in the summer of 2004. Surviving the legacy of dozens of sequels, as well as
two notable American adaptations in 1956 and 1998, the original
Godzilla remains a cult classic around the world, but especially in
Japan, where the creature to this day stands as a historical relic of an age
during which post-war nuclear fears were their greatest. Japanese composer
Akira Ifukube's career will forever be remembered as one of massive creature
battles and other fantasy adventure, and remarkably, Ifukube was honored on
this Godzilla anniversary in 2004, just as the retired composer turns
90 years old. Ifukube was once again involved with the modern series of
Gojira films in the 1980's and 1990's, finishing with the death of the
original monster in 1995's Gojira vs. Desutoroia, a film which Ifukube
incredibly scored while in his 80's...." *****
Read the entire
review.
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8/29/04 - Born Free: (John Barry) --Updated, Expanded
Review-- "...Barry was never happy about the performance of the music in
the film (performances that included a considerable number of errors by the
players), but the album was of superior quality. The recording was made in
vibrant stereo, as many of Barry's scores were, and with some remastering,
the LP sounds just as dynamic today as a modern recording. The fate of the
original film recording is unknown (the tapes may be lost forever), but the
album masters survive, and in 2004, Film Score Monthly released 40 minutes of
the score from those album masters as part of the label's Silver Age Classics
series (but not a limited run production in this case). Interestingly, Barry
had recorded nearly an hour of music for the 95-minute film, so there is
material from the film that has never made it in original form onto an album.
The FSM album does have the Oscar-winning song performed vocally by Matt
Monro (the original version-- and while dated, especially with those dainty
flutes fluttering in the background, it's a good tune), and their album
package is strong as usual...." *** Read the entire
review.
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8/27/04 - Open Water: (Graeme Revell) --All New Review--
"Chalk up yet another movie in the "who the hell would want to pay to see
this?" category. With its gruesome plot line widely publicized, it's safe to
say that Open Water is based on the true story of Queensland's Great
Barrier Reef Tragedy. Vacationers Tom and Eileen Lonergan went on a diving
expedition with 26 others on a charter vessel owned by Outer Edge Dive
Company from Australia in January, 1998. While the Lonergans were still scuba
diving, the other 24 divers had quickly completed their dives and re-boarded
the vessel. The captain of the boat, Jack Nairn, neglected to do a head count
and just assumed that everyone had boarded (there are reports that he was in
a hurry to get back to a party at the port). With the Lonergans innocently
stranded at sea and with no discovery of their absence made for two days,
they were left to die in shark-infested waters. Nobody should be fooled about
the outcome of events in this film, but the intentionally low-budget
production of the picture..." * Read the entire
review.
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8/19/04 - For the second time in a month, a legandary composer has
passed away. Golden and Silver Age composer Elmer
Bernstein died at his home in Los Angeles at 2:00 p.m. on August
18th.
He was 82 years old, and had been active in 2003-2004 as a mentor for young
composers and served as spokesperson for the Turner Classic Movies Young Film
Composers Competition. Like Jerry Goldsmith, who passed away late last month,
Bernstein maintained a career that spanned six decades and included over 200
major scoring projects. While his quantity of scores in the 1990's and 2000's
had declined from his height of production in the 1950's and 1960's,
Bernstein continued to receive honors and awards, including a star on
Hollywood Boulevard in 1996. Bernstein was nominated fourteen times for
Academy Awards, winning in 1967 for Thoroughly Modern Millie. Other
notable nominations included The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a
Mockingbird, True Grit, The Age of Innocence, and Far From
Heaven, which stands as an outstanding finale to his magnificent
career. He also won two Golden Globes and an Emmy, and was nominated for five
Grammy awards and two Tony awards. Bernstein will be remembered not only as a
talented artist and a vital composer in several eras, but also admired for
his personality and his involvement during his later years of teaching and
inspiring of young composers. On August 9th, David Raksin, the composer of
Laura and The Bad and the Beautiful also passed away, making
the summer of 2004 a particularly difficult one for older generations of film
music collectors who became fans of this genre because of those composers'
early scores. Filmtracks and all fans of film music once again extend the
best of wishes to all of those who were close to Elmer Bernstein, Jerry
Goldsmith, and David Raksin, and you are encouraged to discuss their lives
and careers at the Filmtracks
Scoreboard.
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8/18/04 - The Ring: (Hans Zimmer/Jim Dooley/Henning Lohner)
--All New Review-- "It all began with Koji Suzuki's popular novel in
Japan, featuring a metaphorical horror story that involves a cursed video
tape that, upon being viewed, begins a seven-day countdown to that viewer's
death. It's one of those classic urban legend concepts, and one that involves
more of a supernatural menace rather that than the usual slasher-related
horror tales. In Japan, the story was translated to the big screen in the
1998 hit film Ringu, and its popularity led to a subsequent series of
novels, three movies, and a TV series. The interpretation of the legend in
American cinema was inevitable, and Fear Dot Com somewhat borrowed the
same concept while The Ring finally adapted the original idea in 2002.
Followers of the Japanese originals criticized director Gore Verbinski's
American version, stating that its plot had been incoherent because of
attempts to condense the best ideas from the growing legend into one film.
For susceptible American viewers, however..." **
Read the entire
review.
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8/16/04 - The August/September, 2004 Cue Clue Contest is now
under way! Filmtracks and Hollywood Records are proud to offer four winners a free
copy of Hans Zimmer's new score for King Arthur.
If you haven't already done so, visit the Filmtracks Cool Stuff page and enjoy the
three mystery clips. Remember, you only need to identify at least one of the
three clips correctly in order to be entered, but you can double or triple
your chances of winning by identifying multiple clips. Also, to celebrate
Hans Zimmer's continuing success this summer, Filmtracks will debut new, updated,
and expanded reviews of the composer's scores from the 1990's and 2000's. In the
next three weeks, check back every few days for a new Zimmer review!
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8/10/04 - Innerspace: (Jerry Goldsmith) --All New
Review-- "A film that has fallen off the radar screen since its release
in 1986, Innerspace was comical remake of Fantastic Voyage by
director Joe Dante, with Dennis Quaid meeting an equally young Meg Ryan,
getting shrunk to the size of a few microns, and inserted into Martin Short.
The idea was inventive and the film works to a basic level as a romantic,
silly comedy film, with decent special effects paving the way for an active
orchestral score provided by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith. The composer
and director had collaborated two times previously, with the most recent
pairing leading to an adventurous and creative score for Explorers. In
many regards, the Innerspace project would offer Goldsmith a canvas
very similar to that of Explorers, and the composer would approach the
new film with nearly an identical treatment of orchestral and electronic
elements. The resulting effort would be a serviceable action score, sustained
by Goldsmith's usual, strong adventure rhythms and bold instrumentation...."
*** Read the entire
review.
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8/1/04 - The Clearing: (Craig Armstrong) --All New
Review-- "Appearances by actor Robert Redford on the big screen have been
becoming a rare event in the 2000's, with two full years of non-activity
before leading the cast of The Clearing. The directorial debut of film
producer Pieter Jan Brugge, The Clearing has an the all-star cast
rounded out by Willem Dafoe and Helen Mirren, and the film relies solely upon
their performances of the twist-filled plot to maintain audience interest in
it. For much of its running time, The Clearing is your standard
kidnapping film, although it attempts to distinguish itself by using its own
sudden surprises rather than being a psychological conversational piece.
Audiences and critics have been largely unswayed by the film, typically
finding the characters too remote to care about and remaining emotionally
distanced from them. Thus, what had once been considered one of the sure,
Oscar favorites of the year has been largely forgotten just a few weeks after
its awkward summer release...." ** Read the entire
review.
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