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| 9/28/09
- | 300: (Tyler Bates)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you accept generic blends of orchestral, vocal, and industrial metal that pander to the
lowest common denominator of blockbuster action music for topics set in times long past.
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Avoid it... |
if you have respect for the music of Elliot Goldenthal, Hans Zimmer, Gabriel Yared, James
Horner, Vangelis, and Paul Haslinger, as well as Macedonian folk music and garbage can lids,
all of which abused by Tyler Bates in this, the most famous acknowledged case of plagiarism in
modern film music history.
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| Rating: | *
Read the entire review
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| 9/27/09 - |
The remaining modern classics are coming to Filmtracks |
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| Starting tomorrow, Filmtracks will begin debuting a series
of reviews aimed at filling most of the notable holes in the site's coverage of popular scores
of the past 30 years. These scores were chosen for review based upon the cumulative
statistical logs of Filmtracks' internal search engine queries. In other words, these were the
scores that the most Filmtracks visitors were looking for since 1997 but never found. They
will likely number between 35 and 40 in quantity and be revealed in random order over the next
few months. For more information on how these scores were selected, read more...
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| 9/25/09
- | The Legend of Butch & Sundance: (Basil
Poledouris)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you've always shared Basil Poledouris' love of spirited folk rhythms, for his final score
is a tribute to his minor-key themes performed with great energy by acoustic guitar, mandolin,
accordion, and fiddle.
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Avoid it... |
if you prefer Poledouris' muscular, fully symphonic Western style, a mode not available for
this cheeky but often intimate score of sincere character.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 9/24/09
- | The Invasion: (John Ottman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you are confident in your curiosity about John Ottman's most avant garde score to this
point in his career, a challenging blend of carefully rendered electronics and dissonant
orchestral textures.
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Avoid it... |
if you are typically lured to Ottman's scores by his lyrical tendencies or his ability to
narrate the story of the film through his music, for nether trait is utilized whatsoever in
The Invasion.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 9/23/09
- | Igor: (Patrick Doyle)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are attracted to Patrick Doyle's unyielding sense of lyricism, evident here in tones
ranging from lovely solo piano to grandiose gothic harmony.
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Avoid it... |
if you are not interested in editing out or otherwise rearranging the numerous slapstick cues
in this score to assemble fifteen to twenty minutes of affable and surprisingly impressive
music.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 9/22/09
- | The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2: (Rachel
Portman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you have no qualms about the immense amount of redundancy in Rachel Portman's career work
for similar dramatic assignments of a warm, cuddly nature.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear either anything new from Portman or, unfortunately, any of the thematic
or vocal elements from Cliff Eidelman's score for the first film in the franchise.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/20/09
- | Standard Operating Procedure: (Danny Elfman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek an intelligent but often difficult cross between Danny Elfman's own "Serenade
Schizophrana" concert piece and the contemplative, hazy churning of Philip Glass' most
commonly associated film music tendencies.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to leave this listening experience with anything other than a disheartening,
somber mood, for Elfman uses both the lightly devious and heavy brooding of his familiar style
to coldly underline the sickness on screen.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/18/09
- | Wanted: (Danny Elfman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you've heard too many stereotypical, summer blockbuster action scores and want a variation
on that genre
that, despite its ills, provides a fascinating set of twists on those familiar sounds.
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Avoid it... |
if you don't like to reprogram or rearrange your soundtracks into custom listening
experiences, because
Wanted will likely benefit the various types of Danny Elfman collectors in only parts of the
work.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 9/17/09
- | Aliens in the Attic: (John Debney)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are easily swept up in the robust, hyperactive environment of John Debney's typically
strong, but ultimately somewhat anonymous children's adventure music.
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Avoid it... |
if wild wails of the ondes martenot, electric guitar rhythms, cooing choirs over harmonic
orchestral crescendos, and highly derivative themes are a recipe for your eye-rolling
indifference.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/14/09
- | An American Tail: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek the strong children's score that launched James Horner's fruitful production in
the genre and gained him his first widespread awards consideration.
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Avoid it... |
if you are consistently bothered by Horner's references to Eastern European classical music
and other sources of inspiration, despite the fact that they are effectively appropriate here.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 9/13/09
- | Jade: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the short bootleg only if you want to experience the horror that James Horner must have
felt when actually trying to write 20 minutes of mundane, mostly synthetic filler material for
this unbelievably awful film.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect Horner to have written anything as compelling or interesting as the beautiful
Loreena McKennitt song so prominently featured throughout the film, with the possible
exception of a wickedly pounding percussion and brass theme that is easily the most irritating
single motif he has ever conjured.
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| Rating: | *
Read the entire review
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| 9/12/09
- | Something Wicked This Way Comes: (Georges
Delerue/James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on Intrada Records' 2009 release of James Horner's competent replacement score if you desire
the adequately whimsical, often unconventional choral and symphonic blend heard in the film.
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Avoid it... |
on that album if you seek the better primary theme for the boys in the film, in which case
Georges Delerue's rejected score will more effectively appeal to your romantic sensibilities
(though only the composer's 1989 re-recording of 12 minutes from this work is recommended).
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| Rating: | ****/***
Read the entire review
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| 9/11/09
- | The Name of the Rose: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you have specifically appreciated James Horner's mostly electronic and somber score in
context and would be satisfied with only a few late performances of the composer's somewhat
pretty (though still morbid), synth-string primary theme.
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Avoid it... |
if you find a synthetic and very understated approach to a murder mystery in a 14th Century
Italian monastery to be not only incredibly dull, but curiously misdirected as well.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 9/10/09
- | Gorky Park: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you groove to James Horner's style of drums, guitar, and synthetic rhythms in Commando and
could tolerate an earlier, more dissonant and brutally raw variation on that distinctive
sound.
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Avoid it... |
if extended performances of the alluring orchestral love theme in this score are your primary
target, for they occupy only a quarter of the album's running time.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/9/09
- | Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are absolutely prepared for a wacky tone of exuberant children's music clearly inspired
by Raymond Scott, Carl Stalling, Danny Elfman, and James Horner's own familiar styles.
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Avoid it... |
if you have little patience for scores that fail to combine their many disparate parts into a
cohesive listening experience on album.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 9/8/09
- | Wolfen/Deadly Blessing: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are curious about the origins of James Horner's most familiar structures and
techniques, many of which evident in Wolfen and culminating in an interesting (if not
marginally entertaining) listening experience.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear much of anything original in Deadly Blessing, a score that overshadows
some decent pastoral writing with harrowing and painfully obvious references to Jerry
Goldsmith's The Omen.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/7/09
- | *batteries not included: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you desire a foreshadowing of the balance of vintage jazz and orchestral sensitivity of
James Horner's Cocoon: The Return and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect Horner to treat the cute, mechanized alien visitors in this film with the kind
of truly unique instrumental tones that Jerry Goldsmith might have afforded them.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/6/09
- | Brainstorm: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're tired of being bombarded with James Horner's easy, repetitive, melodramatic works
for the mainstream and desire a score that may not be completely unique in construct but
remains as menacing and raw as anything else in his career.
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Avoid it... |
if you are adverse to scores that utilize "organized chaos" and a snarling, truly frightening
tone of choral and symphonic brutality to balance their ethereal fantasy elements.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 9/5/09
- | Where the River Runs Black: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you seek a more cerebral variation on the synthetic environment of James Horner's
score for Vibes, the pan pipes and electronic choir providing pretty ambience for this score
but not much more.
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Avoid it... |
if you require more engagement from your listening experiences than a purely atmospheric
collection of soft, jungle-inspired rhythms and free-floating Latin melodies.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 9/4/09
- | Cocoon: The Return: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you are absolutely in love with the music from Cocoon, because this sequel score is
largely a regurgitation of nearly every moment from that strong work.
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Avoid it... |
if you're expecting to hear James Horner take the franchise's sound in a fresh new direction,
despite the extensive infusion of more vintage jazz into the equation.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 9/3/09
- | The Journey of Natty Gann: (Elmer Bernstein/James
Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the album featuring James Horner's score if you seek the warmer, more lyrical approach to
the film, despite the music's significant similarities in structure to the composer's later
classic, The Land Before Time.
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Avoid it... |
on the album featuring Elmer Bernstein's rejected score unless you are a devoted collector of
the composer's works and desire a far more robust, Western-style representation of the great
outdoors for this film.
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| Rating: | ***/****
Read the entire review
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