|
|
3/31/06 - Music for a Darkened Theatre: Volume II: (Danny Elfman) --Expanded
Review-- "The early 1990's arguably represent the pinnacle of composer Danny Elfman's
achievements in film music. In the shadows of Batman, the rocker turned composer
cranked out scores that have either earned him millions (Edward Scissorhands and The
Nightmare Before Christmas) or have continued to earn the quiet respect of film music
critics across the board (Black Beauty and Sommersby). The first "Music for a
Darkened Theatre" compilation was released in 1990 just as Elfman fans were experiencing the
zeal of discovering a fantastic new talent in the genre, and the single album contained tracks
from his earliest days through Darkman, Nightbreed, and Dick Tracy. By
late 1996, Elfman had matured into a A-class composer in Hollywood and had already begun his
transition from his gothic, symphonic efforts to the more electronic and percussive sorts that
better reflected his pre-orchestral scoring days. Just as Mars Attacks! was hitting the
theatres..." ***** Read the entire review.
|
|
|
3/28/06 - Nightbreed: (Danny Elfman) --Expanded Review--
"Based on his novella titled "Cabal," horror writer Clive Barker teamed with
horror director David Cronenberg to make Nightbreed, though the film's
mortal mistake is the fact that Barker was directing his adaptation of his script
and Cronenberg was in a lifeless acting role in front of the camera. To try to
describe the plot of Nightbreed would do injustice to the metaphysical
division in the film between the living and the undead, though it should suffice
to say that Nightbreed is a significantly less gory and slightly more
romantic variation on Barker's Hellraiser ideas that were translated
to screen just a few years earlier. While the plot and acting of Nightbreed
was certainly not destined to win any awards, the visual effects and make-up were,
as usual, top notch... with monsters of all sorts existing in the nether regions
between Hell and the land of the living. The music for Barker's universe was
clearly defined with great success by Christopher Young for Hellraiser,
though Danny Elfman's take on the Barker universe..." *** Read the entire
review.
|
|
|
3/25/06 - Darkman: (Danny Elfman) --Expanded Review-- "Long before
composer Danny Elfman would team with director Sam Raimi for the highly successful first two
Spider-Man films, there came the very early Raimi film Darkman, the start of the
director/producer's fascination with comic book heroes. After the massive success of
Batman in 1989 --for both the fate of comic book characters on the big screen and for
Elfman in that genre-- a significant number of other adaptations began to flow into theatres
throughout the 1990's. Interestingly, Darkman was one of the few not to be based on a
historical character. Instead of adapting an existing character, Raimi and a host
of writers concocted the story of Dr. Peyton Westlake, a talented scientist experimenting with
synthetic skin who is left for dead (and badly mangled) after hitmen destroy his lab. In the
process, Westlake's nerves are altered by doctors and he achieves both superhuman strength and
uncontrollable rage. Obsessed with the destruction of his enemies, as well as the lost love of
his girlfriend, the Darkman goes about his revenge..." ** Read the entire review.
|
|
3/22/06 - Filmtracks has been forced to cancel its current Cue Clue
Contest because its sponsor has gone out of business. While the Family
Recordings label was chosen as the recipient of the publicity for this contest, the
contest was arranged for Craig Armstrong and that label by Studio Distribution, a
New York distributor for mainly electronic/dance music labels. Studio Distribution,
which distributed and publicized the release of Armstrong's recent "Film Works"
album, closed its doors on March 1st, leaving many contracts with labels and stores
in limbo. With these larger logistical problems looming, the trustees for Studio
Distribution have failed to pay on their advertising agreement at Filmtracks, and
have also failed to provide the means of compensating Filmtracks so that we can
mutually meet the needs of the Cue Clue Contest. The signing representative on the
contract between Studio Distribution and Filmtracks has been laid off, and all
attempts by Filmtracks to rectify the situation have been frustrated. Thus, it is
with great sadness that the January/February Filmtracks Cue Clue Contest has been
cancelled. The statistics and identities of the clips have been posted on the Cool Stuff
page. Filmtracks will endeavor to partner with only established sponsors (such
as Universal and Sony in past contests) for future Cue Clue Contests, as to avoid
unfortunate circumstances such as this one.
|
|
|
3/19/06 - Mission: Impossible: (Danny Elfman) --Expanded Review-- "In the
film that confirmed Tom Cruise as an international action star, director Brian De Palma
revises the classic Mission: Impossible television series and produces a hit on screen
that would spawn two sequels. In the world of techno-gadgets, the computer has revolutionized
the world of espionage, and the 1990's were the time to take advantage of that excitement in
De Palma fashion; the lives of super-agents and double-agents benefit well from De Palma's
sense of style-over-story, though despite the film's spectacular visual elements, the somewhat
incomprehensible story caused many movie-goers to scratch their heads. The labyrinth of
character relations, sub-plots, and technological ideas do thankfully yield in the end to
sensational chase sequences that saves the film. The emphasis on style over plot is one that
would seemingly have translated easily into the musical underscore for the film, but it
didn't. Originally writing and recording a score..." ** Read the entire review.
|
|
|
3/16/06 - Mars Attacks!: (Danny Elfman) --Expanded Review-- "It's hard to
really figure out if Tim Burton was trying to make a film better or worse than Mars
Attacks!, for in either case, the picture would have succeeded better. Never receiving a
glowing response from critics and blown off in the end by viewers, Burton's tribute to the
schlocky B-minus films of Ed Wood and others in the 1950's sci-fi genre (as well as being
inspired by a series of old Topps bubble gum cards) tried just a little too hard to actually
be good... to be above its own material. And therein lies the main reason for the film's
downfall: the combination of a spectacular cast, magnificent special effects, overdone gore,
and a refusal by Burton to allow the film to take flight with its parody lines cause Mars
Attacks! to be nothing more than a bizarre spectacle. It's intriguing, but completely
defocused and lacking in genuine character development that is still necessary for even films
like this to make you care...." ** Read the entire review.
|
|
|
3/13/06 - Nine Months: (Hans Zimmer) --Expanded Review-- "Would anybody
really have paid attention to Nine Months in the summer of 1995 (when theatres were
full of many outstanding films that season) if its heartthrob star, Hugh Grant, wasn't caught
in a car with a Hollywood hooker of dubious gender? In the process of experiencing thousands
of young and middle-aged women standing in streets with big sandwich-board signs saying "I
would have done it for free, Hugh!," the movie turned out to be a moderate success at the box
office. Director Chris Columbus adapted Nine Months himself from the French screenplay
"Neuf Mois" and attempted to once again use individually hilarious scenes to float his newest
film the same way both Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire had captured immense
audience interest. The problem with Nine Months, however, was that Columbus attempted
to combine the slapstick comedy common in his films with a dramatic look at issues involving
pregnancy. The stellar supporting cast stole the show..." *** Read the entire review.
|
|
|
3/10/06 - Deep Blue: (George Fenton) --Updated Review-- "At the start of
the 2000's, the BBC television series The Blue Planet took the world by storm,
featuring IMAX-sized visuals of the oceans' wonders and selling in great numbers once
available. Richard Attenborough's narration and George Fenton's score for The Blue
Planet, along with the wondrous vistas, made that film the success it was. For the 2004
expansion of the The Blue Planet concept, a major documentary feature film from BBC
Worldwide and Greenlight Media entitled Deep Blue was made as a normal cinema
counterpart for the television series. The film has slowly been debuting across the globe and
Miramax has reportedly acquired Deep Blue for North American release in early 2005. It
is a $5 million production which used twenty specialized camera teams, shooting more than
7,000 hours of footage at over 200 locations around the world and descending as far as 5,000
meters in the most powerful submersible craft available. Sporadically used narration by Sir
Michael Gambon replaces Attenborough's voice..." ***** Read the entire review.
|
|
|
3/4/06 - Henry V: (Patrick Doyle) --Expanded Review-- "Through both luck
and talent, Patrick Doyle shed his acting career in 1989 and became a full-time composer. The
vehicle for this transition was Henry V, a project that proved to be equally important
for Kenneth Branagh and the subsequent revival of the works of Shakespeare on the big screen
in he 1990's. While in retrospect, the Henry V score exposes some of the simplicities
that will be evident in any composer's first major recording for film, it also exists as early
evidence of Doyle's vast potential in the composing field. Based on the "Non nobis Domine"
theme, the score would culminate in the choral rendition of that theme, led by Doyle in the
film himself, and immediately launching the novice composer to his first awards recognition.
The score may not be as interesting in complexity of layers or instrumentation that film score
collectors would hear from Doyle in the decades thereafter, but Henry V still commands
respect today from both his fans and more casual collectors of film music. It remains as one
of Doyle's better execution of brass..." **** Read the entire review.
|
|
|
3/1/06 - Shipwrecked: (Patrick Doyle) --Expanded Review-- "It's not often
that a composer storms the mainstream of moviegoers' attention with the gusto of Patrick
Doyle; in 1989, his score for Henry V was a pleasant surprise from out of nowhere, and
immediate fans of the composer would look to Shipwrecked about a year later, Doyle's
second feature film work, for a continuation of that quality. The project was produced in Norway
under the name of O.V. Falck-Ytter's original book, Haakon Haakonsen, and hit the
theatres there in 1990. Disney purchased the film for distribution in America, where it
debuted in March of 1991 without much fanfare. Despite the misconception that this children's
film was an animated venture, the film was the unfortunate live-action offering alongside
Beauty and the Beast at the time, and it's no wonder why Shipwrecked (the
American name for the film) slipped by unnoticed. Despite receiving warm reviews from
critics, Shipwrecked has even been neglected fifteen years later in the larger DVD
realm..." *** Read the entire review.
|
|
