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| 7/30/10
- | Tombstone: (Bruce Broughton)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek a more melodramatic, instrumentally diverse, and thematically worthy follow-up to
Bruce Broughton's famous score for Silverado.
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Avoid it... |
on the 2006 expanded edition if you are satisfied with the original 1993 album, because the
additional material and improvement in sound quality is appreciable but not significant enough
to replace the older product on your shelves.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 7/27/10
- | Philadelphia: (Howard Shore)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the song compilation album if you seek all of the powerful music you heard in the film, for
this is a rare case in which the original score by Howard Shore stood no chance of competing
with the song placements for the emotional heart of the picture.
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Avoid it... |
on the score album if you expect Shore's contribution to provide anything more than safely
conservative orchestral atmosphere of a surprisingly fluffy nature for this otherwise gripping
film.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 7/24/10
- | Extreme Close-Up (TV): (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
only if you seek to complete your collection of James Horner scores with this appropriately
introspective and depressing piano, woodwind, and synthesizer music.
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Avoid it... |
if you ever want to emerge from the foggy and dreary atmosphere of this sparsely respectful
and pretty score during its brief and arguably monotonous running time.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 7/22/10
- | House of Cards: (James Horner)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you have always loved the way James Horner employs solo flute performances atop a bed of
harmonic orchestral atmosphere to convey the imagination of a child.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear anything truly unique in this, a pretty little score that is saturated
with Horner techniques utilized in every case throughout the composer's career.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 7/19/10
- | Independence Day: (David Arnold)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
on either the outstanding 2010 2-CD set or any of the score's previously bootlegged forms if you seek a truly
balanced presentation of this spectacular action and science fiction achievement.
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Avoid it... |
if the blatantly patriotic tone of David Arnold's major action pieces is so outrageously and obnoxiously
heroic in every stereotypical sense that you cannot enjoy the score's arguably superior, softer, more
compelling parts.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 7/15/10
- | Iron Man 2: (John Debney)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you want to hear an adaptation of Ramin Djawadi's metal guitar sound from the previous
franchise score in a large symphonic and choral environment.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect John Debney to finally give the franchise an original and cohesive set of
musical identities, a task at which he surprisingly fails.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 7/13/10
- | Eraser: (Alan Silvestri)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you desire a set of strong, rhythmic action cues akin to Alan Silvestri's equally
boisterous Judge Dredd, as well as intelligent thematic development that was unfortunately
butchered in the ultimate film edit of the recording.
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Avoid it... |
on either the original 1996 or the expanded 2010 albums if you expect to find a comprehensive
treatment of the music you hear in the film, a circumstance created by the existence of many
alternate versions of cues or replacement music not presented in sum on any one product.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 7/11/10
- | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome: (Maurice Jarre)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the widely available song and score combination album if you seek a basic introduction to
this rowdy, fun score by Maurice Jarre and Tina Turner's popular songs for the film.
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Avoid it... |
on the 2010 Tadlow limited release of the complete score if you're not interested in hearing
Jarre's surprisingly over-thought, complicated score that defies the simplistic, primordial
nature of the film's plot with unconventional instrumental creativity and occasionally
confusing thematic attributions.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 7/9/10
- | Oceans: (Bruno Coulais)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek a competent, occasionally impressive compliment to George Fenton's popular music
of similar expansive scope for nature documentaries of the last ten years.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear either the exotic instrumental creativity of Bruno Coulais' Winged
Migration or a distinct thematic flow through a score that is instead carried by three or four
immensely superior cues of individual character.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 7/7/10
- | Speed 2: Cruise Control: (Mark Mancina)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you appreciated Mark Mancina's melodic sense for Speed but not its restricted,
cheap-sounding rendering, in which case the sequel score takes the same propulsive, thematic
demeanor and gives it resounding power with a larger ensemble.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect either for the popular pair of themes from the previous score to dominate the
sequel or for the dominant new themes and action material to be original in construct, perhaps
an invalid criticism given the superior overachievement in instrumental application of these
ideas throughout a film this awful.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 7/5/10
- | The Goonies: (Dave Grusin)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you love the logic-defying spirit of adventure in the film, a reflection of which is heard
in Dave Grusin's haphazard, genre-defying score.
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Avoid it... |
if a poorly conceived combination of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and Max Steiner
sensibilities in music that was butchered upon editing into the film doesn't appeal to your
quest for highly cohesive fantasy music of convincing depth.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 7/3/10
- | The Edge: (Jerry Goldsmith)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you collect Jerry Goldsmith's soaring and majestic title themes of uninhibited harmony for
bold horns and want to hear the composer creatively orchestrate most of his own material for
the first time in decades.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect Goldsmith's trademark strength for extended periods of time in action and
suspense sequences that reflect the mannerisms of The Ghost of the Darkness without capturing
the same intensity.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 7/1/10
- | RoboCop: (Basil Poledouris)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
on the 2004 or 2010 expanded and remastered pressings even if you're content with the original
1987 album, for Basil Poledouris' consistently robust action writing is presented in far
better light on the reissues.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear the composer's best merging of synthesizers and orchestra, in which case
his concurrent Cherry 2000 is far more accomplished in this area.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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