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4/30/05 - Terminal Velocity: (Joel McNeely) --All New
Review-- "Ranking relatively low on the overall list of films by their
intelligence level, Terminal Velocity is a rather mundane, though
adequately interesting 1994 film about a normal guy who gets caught up in a
Soviet spy plot and a whole lot of gold. This unsuspecting skydiving
instructor (Charlie Sheen) rescues a beautiful female student (Nastassja
Kinski), escapes from impossible mid-air situations, blah, blah... Audience
reactions to Terminal Velocity were similar to those you'd receive for
a typical straight-to-video flick or B-rate cable film. For action junkies,
the film is a nice distraction in the middle of the night when insomnia and
indigestion strike, and the same could be said of Joel McNeely's score. Once
hailed as the successor for composing legend John Williams, McNeely has spent
the better part of the last ten years providing effective, though not
overwhelming scores for a series of less-than-stellar films. As with the
fates of the films..." *** Read the
entire review.
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4/24/05 - Hide and Seek: (John Ottman) --All New
Review-- "There are several films like Hide and Seek in composer
John Ottman's young career... sub-par horror flicks that seem to suit the
composer well, but sadly lacking in ingenuity and evaporating from the
collective public memory within just a few years. For the John Polson film
based on Ari Schlossberg screenplay, Ottman replaces originally assigned
horror master Christopher Young, although for much of the score you wouldn't
notice the difference. On the film's part, Hide and Seek was both a
critical and popular failure, released just after the new year, which isn't a
good sign of confidence from the studio for any horror film. In it, Robert De
Niro is a psychiatrist and child star Dakota Fanning is his pre-adolescent
daughter. The mother commits suicide in their apartment and the father does
what nobody in his right mind should do: move the two out to a big old
deserted mansion where the neighbors are a bit weird and the local sheriff
has the keys to everyone's door...." *** Read the entire
review.
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4/19/05 - The Batman Trilogy: (Compilation) --All New
Review-- "With the franchise at its financial peak in the mid-1990's, it
wasn't foreseen that the fourth film would dig the grave of the franchise so
thoroughly. Danny Elfman had burst onto all-time sales charts for soundtrack
albums with his magnificently constructed original Batman and had
provided an even darker second chapter for Batman Returns that remains
a favorite of his equally minded fans. Amid disgust and protests, Elfman
walked away from Batman Forever and Elliot Goldenthal's work for
Demolition Man netted him the responsibility of taking the franchise's
music forward. Goldenthal's adaptation of Elfman's theme, as well as his less
Gothic, jazzy approach to the series suffered from the same dismissal from
mainstream fans (especially with Tim Burton/Danny Elfman fans continuing
their assault against Goldenthal for several years). Goldenthal's music never
flew off the shelves in album form the way Elfman's music did, and by the
time Batman & Robin hit the theatres..." ** Read the entire
review.
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4/13/05 - Hamlet (2000): (Carter Burwell) --All New
Review-- "In classic Hollywood, the film versions of Shakespearean plays
were often presented in their original time and location, and actor/director
Kenneth Branagh is still endeavoring to do the same. But a younger generation
of audiences and filmmakers has begun embracing and producing adaptations of
the original Shakespeare stories in contemporary, urban settings. From
Romeo & Juliet to Othello, sparkling, modern representations of
these classic tales are playing to split audiences, with some adoring the new
visions and others believing that Shakespeare himself is rolling in his
grave. Perhaps none of the stories has been translated onto the big screen as
many times as Hamlet, with several entries in the last 15 years alone.
After the 1990 and 1996 versions remained somewhat true to a historical
setting, the 2000 version directed by Michael Almereyda throws the story into
modern-day New York, complete with the Guggenheim Museum and fax machines. If
you could accept Bill Murray as Polonius..." **
Read the entire
review.
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4/7/05 - Men of Honor: (Mark Isham) --All New Review--
"The historically accurate story of an American Navy diver and his difficult
and rebellious commanding officer, Men of Honor was a reasonably
successful venture of the year 2000. The true tale is an interesting one, a
glimpse into the face of adversity and discipline. With determination at
heart, the story's central character overcomes enormous pressures --from the
job and from cultural mores-- and becomes an acknowledged and accomplished
enlisted leader in the Navy. Composer Mark Isham was best known at the time
(and still is) for his light-footed scores for such pleasant projects as A
River Runs Through It, Fly Away Home, and At First Sight.
After providing a fan favorite score for October Sky the previous
year, Isham dabbled in greater depth with the action-drama genre with
Rules of Engagement. Despite the solo trumpet performances he is so
well known for, Rules of Engagement was a critical and popular
disappointment for Isham..." **** Read the entire
review.
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4/2/05 - Unlikely Heroes: (Lee Holdridge) --All New
Review-- "One of the most underrated careers in composing for television
and film in the digital era is that of Lee Holdridge, who, despite rarely
receiving the recognition deserved for his mass of work for television,
continues to produce outstanding music while under the radar. You won't have
heard a Holdridge score on the big screens at your local cineplex anytime in
the last several years, but you'll likely have caught a snippet of it while
you're channel searching through the biographies and documentaries that many
people skip over when surfing the tube. His output for television is
outstanding given the usual standard of quality that he often provides for
films that don't always deserve such music. Two of Holdridge's more recent
television scores include 10.5, a mini in which a massive earthquake
drops much of the West Coast of America into the ocean, and See Arnold
Run, an intriguing bio-pic following two eras in Arnold Schwarzenegger's
life. Over the past eight years, however, Holdridge has become associated
with high-quality documentary and television films about the Holocaust...."
**** Read the entire
review.
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