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| 1/30/09
- | Anastasia: (Stephen Flaherty/David Newman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you became disillusioned with the later 1990's musicals by Disney and Alan
Menken and your love of the genre sends you in search of an intelligent and
entertaining alternative.
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Avoid it... |
if you are interested in the commercial album for Anastasia solely for David
Newman's score, which is relegated to a small corner of the product amongst an
abundance of unnecessary pop song recordings.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 1/28/09
- | Amistad: (John Williams)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are drawn towards John Williams' more intelligent exercises in restraint, with themes
that won't sweep you off your feet but rather entertain with their cultural adeptness.
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Avoid it... |
if a comparatively short Williams score defined by its multi-cultural title theme doesn't
offer enough overwhelming melody or robust action to sustain your interest.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/27/09
- | Amazon (IMAX): (Alan Williams)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you can't get enough of that huge IMAX sound to go along with the visuals, with fully
symphonic and choral passages accentuated by brilliantly mixed ethnic percussion and woodwind
solos.
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Avoid it... |
if, as is the case with Alan Williams' subsequent IMAX score for Island of the Sharks, you
simply can't get beyond the temp track adaptations that will be obvious to any film music
collector.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/26/09
- | Addicted to Love: (Rachel Portman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you fell in love with the whimsical, hopeless romanticism of Rachel Portman's music for
Only You and enjoy her sense of humor when conjuring prancing comedy rhythms.
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Avoid it... |
if Portman's fluffy romance writing consistently leaves you retching in the aisles.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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1/22/09 - | The 2008 Academy Award
Nominations |
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Nominated for 'Best Score' are Alexandre Desplat for The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button, James Newton Howard for Defiance, Danny Elfman for Milk, Allah Rakha Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire, and
Thomas Newman for WALL·E. This
nomination is the first for A. R. Rahman. Like last year, this field of nominated scores features a
clear favorite (Rahman, already winner of the Golden Globe). The absence of Hans Zimmer from the
nominations is perhaps the biggest surprise of the category. The lack of nomination for John
Williams' Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of
the Crystal Skull makes 2008 the first year since 1992 (and only second since 1986) in
which Williams has failed to receive a nomination during a year of film score activity. Tell
us what you think of the nominations
at the Filmtracks Scoreboard!
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| 1/21/09
- | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (TV):
(Mark Snow)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you ever wondered what Mark Snow's music for The X-Files would sound like if
expanded in scope to a full-fledged fantasy score with the assistance of a small
orchestra and choral effects.
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Avoid it... |
if nothing about this cheap and freaky television adaptation can escape the
misfortunes of its budget, for Snow's rendering of the music occasionally fails in
its ambitious attempt to mirror a fully symphonic score.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 1/20/09
- | Mark McKenzie: Orchestral Film Music, Volume 1:
(Compilation)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you own little or none of Mark McKenzie's music from the early 1990's or, conversely, if
you're interested in his unreleased music for Mi Familia and Down Periscope.
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Avoid it... |
if you already own Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Frank and Jesse, and McKenzie's later 'Con
Passione' compilation, for there's not much else to make this previous collection worth the
search.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/19/09
- | Warriors of Virtue: (Don Davis)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you have a loyal collection of James Horner's children's fantasy scores of the early 1990's
and seek his regular orchestrator's extension of the same sound in an early solo venture.
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Avoid it... |
if you demand significant portions of the kind of instrumental and dissonant creativity that
Don Davis would show later in his career.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/17/09
- | The Rock: (Nick Glennie-Smith/Various)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek the official origin of the collaborative Media Ventures sound made famous by the
many electronic imitation scores that have accompanied blockbusters in the following decade.
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Avoid it... |
if you prefer hearing Hans Zimmer's solo writing talents and loathe the simplistic and
bombastic synthetic style of action score to emerge from his numerous pupils and assistants
since.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 1/15/09
- | The English Patient: (Gabriel Yared)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you were emotionally touched by the depictions of sorrow, alienation, and fate in the film
and seek its appropriately somber and understated score.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the story's tragic romanticism to have any coherent organization on album, for
Gabriel Yared's aimlessly wandering score and the plethora of source material causes a
significantly disjointed listening experience.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 1/13/09
- | Dragonheart: (Randy Edelman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you buy soundtracks with your heart instead of your brain, for there is an intangible magic
in Randy Edelman's score that rises above its frightfully simplistic constructs.
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Avoid it... |
if you've never been able to buy into Edelman's incongruous merging of diminished orchestras
and his array of bass-heavy electronics for the historical drama or fantasy genres.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 1/11/09
- | Murder in the First: (Christopher Young)
- All New Filmtracks Review, Replacing a Donated Review |
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Buy it... |
if all you know of Christopher Young is his plethora of horror and suspense scores, for Murder
in the First is a superior and memorable venture into the historical drama genre.
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Avoid it... |
if quiet elegies performed by strings and choir (and virtually nothing else) defy your need
for more dynamic and extroverted music from the horror master.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/10/09
- | Now and Then: (Cliff Eidelman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're not sure which of Cliff Eidelman's light dramatic scores of the middle to late
1990's to sample, for the title theme from Now and Then is as beautiful as the composer's
efforts in the genre would get.
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Avoid it... |
if you need more than simply a pretty Rachel Portman-inspired title theme to justify your
purchase of an otherwise conservative, piano-dominated effort.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 1/8/09
- | First Knight: (Jerry Goldsmith)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you maintain at least a moderate collection of Jerry Goldsmith's action scores, because
First Knight connects the styles of his 1970's classics with the bombast of his best scores of
the late 1990's.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect either the intellect or creativity of the related (but superior) music from
Goldsmith for The 13th Warrior.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/5/09
- | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: (John
Williams)
- Updated Review |
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Buy it... |
on the inadequate 1989 album if you are willing to tolerate substandard sound quality and only
half of the impressive, but not overwhelming music written by John Williams for the film.
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Avoid it... |
even on the 2008 expanded, remastered edition if you absolutely demand the complete score for
the film, because that set is missing more than 20 minutes of material.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 1/2/09
- | Raiders of the Lost Ark: (John Williams)
- Expanded, Updated Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're looking to start a collection of John Williams' classic scores from the height of
the Bronze Age, for Raiders of the Lost Ark is among both the best and most influential
adventure works from that era.
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Avoid it... |
on the 1995 CD album if you absolutely require more complete releases of the score, which just
happen to exist on the concurrent double-LP set or the 2008 franchise CD set.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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