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8/29/06 - | Major Filmtracks Revisions
Nearing Completion |
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Filmtracks is finishing the changes to its content, layout, and interactive
features that were scheduled for completion in 2006. The upgrades to the
interactive features and layouts throughout the site are the most significant
changes since 2002, and no further alterations are expected within the next few
years. The bugs in the software for the Scoreboard, as well as the comment areas
and voting booths on the reviews, have been ironed out. The "news" section has been
turned into a "site status" section.
The format of the home page, including teasers
of Scoreboard and site status posts, is also refreshed; On Cue entries will now
feature the "Filmtracks Recommends" statements from the reviews rather than a
portion of the reviews themselves. The Audio Library has been automated (with a new
layout as well), and the only remaining significant project for Filmtracks is the
transfer of all audio samples out of Real Audio (due to lack of continued Real
encoder support for Mac's OS X).
The updating/expanding of old Filmtracks reviews
will continue, however. All of the legacy reviews at the site (original 1996-1997
reviews that debuted with the site) are now revised, and the next oldest 400+
reviews are also in the process of revision. You'll see each of these announced "On
Cue" on the home page. Look for the emphasis of the site to continue to be on these
rewrites in the coming two years. Your feedback is always welcomed on the Scoreboard!
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8/25/06 - In the Army Now: (Robert Folk) --Expanded Review-- "For fans of
composer Robert Folk, films like In the Army Now are exactly the variety of trash to be
cursed... the trash for which Folk has seemingly become accustomed to writing overachieving
music. The 1994 embarrassment starred comedian Pauly Shore who, upon being bored and
unemployed, joins the Army Reserves and immediately gravitates towards other misfits who will
eventually make up a water purification team. When a crisis breaks out with Libya, these
buddies are put in harm's way, and, not surprisingly, nothing bad happens to them. The film,
written by no less than eight screenwriters, including director Daniel Petrie, Jr., seems to
have lost all individuality in the editing process, leaving the film as a tool with which to
connect stupid physical comedy by Pauly Shore himself. The film received its due thrashing by
critics and has since disappeared, much like its lead comedian. One interesting point about
In the Army Now were small protests by Arab communities..." ** Read the
entire review.
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8/22/06 - Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time: (Robert Folk) --Expanded
Review-- "You really have to wonder what original "Beastmaster" novelist Andre Norton
thinks of the wretched path this concept has taken through
theatres and cable television over a two-decade span. With the original Beastmaster
film (which was among the many fantasy adventure follow-ups to the surprising popularity of
Conan the Barbarian) enjoying a significant second life on cable television, it was
decided to haul a now aging Marc Singer into his title role on the big screen once again in
the early 1990's, hoping (successfully, as fate would have it), that the film would rake in
similar cash on cable. Halfway along that road to rebirth (not to mention another sequel after
this, and a television series), the film stayed in the theatres just long enough to receive an
appropriately brutal slashing from critics, who didn't need much intelligence to notice all
the ways in which corners were cut to meet a smaller production budget...." **** Read
the entire review.
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8/19/06 - Toy Soldiers: (Robert Folk) --Expanded Review-- "Among the
tragedies in modern film scoring has been the career of composer Robert Folk, whose work has
qualified him for assignments far better than those he has received. Composing and conducting
dozens of film scores since the early
1980's, Folk's career began to be noticed by film score collectors in the early 1990's, when
several of his better known scores began appearing on the Intrada Records label. In the public
eye, his longest-standing affiliation in film scoring has been with Police Academy and
its numerous sequels and spin-offs. His output continues past 2000 with more B-rate comedy and
action films, including Kung Pow: Enter the Fist and its sequel, with some his other
works confined by the small screens of television or video projects. A promotional compilation
of his usually overachieving orchestral scores has been a hot item for ten years. Meanwhile,
Folk also continues his writing for concert works, conducting several of the most famous
ensembles in the world...." **** Read the entire review.
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8/15/06 - Red Sonja/Bloodline: (Ennio Morricone) --Expanded Review-- "It
was with great fortune that composer Basil Poledouris was able avoid an assignment on Dino de
Laurentiis' Red Sonja in 1985, though Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't as fortunate. The
actor was contractually bound to appear in three Conan films, but by 1985,
Schwarzenegger's career was headed elsewhere and the stunningly poor quality of Conan the
Destroyer was enough of a deterrent for anyone. Amazingly, director Richard Fleischer from
the failed sequel was brought back for a third installment of adventure from Robert E.
Howard's Hyborian Age, and to satisfy the reluctant Schwarzenegger, the
contract for another Conan film was dissolved in return for the Austrian appearing in a
supporting role in Red Sonja. While the Red Sonja character never appeared in Howard's
novels, she was a spin-off character written by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney in their
six Red Sonja novels "based on Howard's Hyborian Age" in the early 1980's..." *** Read the
entire review.
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8/12/06 - Wolf: (Ennio Morricone) --Expanded Review-- "With a $70 million
budget that would reunite director Mike Nichols with actor Jack Nicholson and cinematographer
Giuseppe Rotunno, Wolf explored the intriguing idea of inserting a classic monster
movie fable into the world of corporate politics. After being bitten by a werewolf, a senior
editor of a publishing company (good old Jack, of course) exacts his revenge against the rich
investor that fires him from his post and the yuppie rat-like replacement who taunts him.
Pairing up with the daughter of the investor who will befriend any enemy of her father,
Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer present a "beauty and the beast" scenario of convenient
romance despite the looming suspense of Nicholson's transformation. The film succeeded in its
first half, when animal instincts provide the title character with an uncanny ability to stir
up trouble in the human world, though the film devolved considerably..." ** Read the entire
review.
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8/9/06 - Samantha: (Joel McNeely) --Expanded Review-- "Among the plethora of other suburban
family-related films of the late 1980's and early 1990's that attempted the delicate balance between insightful drama and
wicked comedy, Samantha remains an anonymous entry. The heroine of the story discovers on her 21st birthday that she
was left on the doorstep of her adopted parents' home as an infant. She had been the terror of the neighborhood all her life,
enacting stunts that would drive any parent or neighbor insane, and she becomes worse after she makes her major discovery. The
girl (Samantha, of course) launches a search for her biological parents, and in unlikely circumstances, finally confronts them
in an awkwardly bizarre scene. Relevant to film music fans is the fact that girl is phenom on the violin, and a young neighbor
is an aspiring cellist, allowing for several performance scenes in the film that required classical source music to be
applied. The problem with the overall equation..." ** Read the entire
review.
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8/6/06 - Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire: (Joel McNeely) --Expanded
Review-- "There was a time in the early 1990's when die-hard Star Wars fans had
gotten wind of a second trilogy of films in the franchise, and
enough time had passed since Return of the Jedi that they were practically frothing at
the mouth in anticipation. With The Phantom Menace still several years away, fans were
treated at the time to the first novels authorized to take place in the Star Wars
universe, and as their popularity continued to grow, Lucas and his creative teams decided on
an unprecedented event to take place in 1996. They chose one of the novels to adapt into a
video game and commissioned a fully orchestral score to accompany it. Their choice was
Shadows of the Empire, a story that takes place in between The Empire Strikes
Back and Return of the Jedi, with the rebels on the run, Han Solo lost, and Luke
attempting to come to grips with his newfound family member...." **** Read the entire review.
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8/1/06 - Filmtracks has expanded its Scoreboard Forum to include several new
features and layout options. Its default display still exists in the old-fashioned threaded,
single-message form, however you can change its display to mirror the look of more current
"boxy" message boards you typically see on the web. Messages at the old forum (from 2000 to
2006) have been archived and all post counts have been reset. Your profiles and avatars will
carry over to the new board, and any user of the previous Scoreboard should have no trouble
learning the features of the new board. The comment areas on each of Filmtracks' reviews will
soon be adapted to a similar format, though the existing threads and messages in those forums
will remain active. If you haven't visited the Scoreboard in a while, now's the time to check it out!
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