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| 2/29/08
- | Heaven & Earth: (Kitaro)
- All New Filmtracks Review, Replacing a Donated Review |
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Buy it... |
if you enjoy the few truly beautiful and successful merging of Western orchestral power and
Eastern instrumental and vocal authenticity.
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Avoid it... |
if an Oriental variant on the basic dramatic structures of the likes of John Barry, in
conjunction with Kitaro's synthetic experimentation, override the appeal of simplistic
harmony.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 2/27/08
- | Patriot Games: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you are an established fan of James Horner's more introverted, synthetic scores for
light rhythms and specialty instruments.
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Avoid it... |
if the lack of a theme or other true identity for the Clancy/Ryan film franchise is only the
beginning of your problems with Horner's seemingly underplayed approach to it.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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2/24/08 - | Dario Marianelli has won the Academy
Award... |
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...for "Best Score" at the 2008 Oscar ceremonies for Atonement. This is
Marianelli's second nomination and first win. Also nominated for 2007 were Alberto Iglesias
for The Kite Runner, James
Newton Howard for Michael Clayton,
Michael Giacchino for Ratatouille, and Marco
Beltrami for 3:10 to Yuma. Composer Bill
Conti served as the orchestra pit conductor. In an upset, Alan Menken failed to win another
Oscar in the "Best Song" category. Music from Randy Edelman's Dragonheart was used
during the tribute to the first 79 winners for "Best Picture." Share your thoughts on Marianelli's Oscar win at the ScoreBoard
Forum...
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| 2/20/08
- | JFK: (John Williams)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
only if the beautiful title theme heard over the prologue of the film is worth the price of an
album littered with questionable source music and highly synthetic, turbulent suspense cues.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect any consistency in the listening experience, free of intentional, synthetic
dissonance at the conclusion of the majority of thematic performances.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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2/14/08 - | Filmtracks 2007 Awards
Announced |
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For its "Best of 2007" awards, Filmtracks is proud to announce the most diverse set
of nominees in its history. In ranked order, Filmtracks' choices are:
• Angel (Philippe Rombi)
(winner)
• Nomad: The Warrior
(Carlo Siliotto)
• Island of Lost
Souls (Jane
Antonia Cornish)
• Partition (Brian
Tyler)
• 3:10 to Yuma (Marco
Beltrami)
In recent years, Filmtracks has chosen a runner-up, occasionally as a sixth
nominee, and the honorable mention in 2007 goes to Alexandre Desplat's The Golden
Compass. The five top scores this year represent productions from France,
Kazakhstan, Denmark, India, and America, and most of them come from the talents of
European composers. These nominations are the first at Filmtracks for all of the
nominees and the runner-up. While 2007 did not provide a typical set of
unquestionable five-star scores, it did offer a plethora of strong four-star
ones, many of which are serving as the more popular nominees by other film music
reviewers and awards groups. Filmtracks' nomination of 3:10 to Yuma marks
the first time since Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King that a Filmtracks nomination has overlapped with an AMPAS Oscar
nomination. Last year's Filmtracks winner was James Newton Howard's Lady in the Water.
You can view archives of
Filmtracks' awards through the last two decades. Tell us what you think of the
choices at the Filmtracks
Scoreboard!
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| 2/10/08
- | Island of Lost Souls: (Jane Antonia Cornish)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you love the great adventure scores of John Williams and David Arnold in the 1980's and
1990's and seek an intelligent, challenging extension of that sound for a large-scale Danish
fantasy production.
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Avoid it... |
if fantasy/horror scores featuring unrelentingly powerful and monumental orchestral and choral
performances are simply too overwhelming for your tastes.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 2/7/08
- | Partition: (Brian Tyler)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are easily entranced by the intelligent balancing of flowing romanticism
from an orchestra with the exotic flavor of authentic specialty instruments from the
various corners of the world.
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Avoid it... |
if you balk at the prospect of hearing John Barry's thematic structures resurrected
or, more prevalently, a reprise of ideas from Brian Tyler's own Children of Dune.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 2/4/08
- | Nomad: The Warrior: (Carlo Siliotto)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you want your epic scores to be huge, diverse, refined, and heavily melodic.
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Avoid it... |
if the romantic lyricism inherent in Carlo Siliotto's thematic writing is too incongruous when
combined with the variety of localized specialty instruments representing Kazakhstan.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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