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| 6/29/10
- | Untraceable: (Christopher Young)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you want to add yet another creepy but undeniably attractive Christopher Young thriller
theme of cold beauty to your collection of the composer's many similar ideas.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the rest of the score for Untraceable to exhibit the kind of instrumental
creativity heard in Young's other suspense and horror scores of the late 2000's.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/27/10
- | The Uninvited: (Christopher Young)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if eight minutes of Christopher Young's usual dose of harmonic suspense material of solemn
beauty, this time in the form of eerily layered female vocals, merits the exploration of the
entire score.
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Avoid it... |
if you have difficulty appreciating Young's accomplished horror writing despite its
intelligence, because The Uninvited is dominated by highly troubled vocal atmosphere with
smart constructs that are extremely hard to casually enjoy.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 6/25/10
- | Love Happens: (Christopher Young)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek a 180-degree turn from horror master Christopher Young, despite this score's
rather anonymous extension of light drama techniques employed across the industry.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect any part of this otherwise innocuous score, outside of one bonus track
concluding the album, to really step forward and engage you.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/23/10
- | Tootsie: (Dave Grusin)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are specifically an enthusiast of this classic comedy film and have lingering affection
for the contemporary jazz of the era that Dave Grusin's score and songs thoroughly embody.
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Avoid it... |
if you mock and loathe this undeniably dated sound as the worst of elevator music stereotypes,
regardless of its effective application in the film.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/21/10
- | Outland: (Jerry Goldsmith)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you appreciate even Jerry Goldsmith's most challenging, atmospheric, and grueling listening
experiences, an adequate but not spectacular accompaniment to a far better film than most
recall.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the score on its own to be as entertaining as the film, for Goldsmith answers
the plot's suspense with extremely harsh tones in the lowest registers and troubled, ambiguous
themes that only develop into a tonal payoff for one great finale cue.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 6/19/10
- | Star Trek: (Michael Giacchino)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you like your adventure bold, your themes obvious, and the tone of your franchises
musically refreshed
periodically.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear any satisfying semblance of fantasy or tradition in a "Star Trek" score,
or if you desire an
album release that represents what you hear in the film.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 6/16/10
- | The Karate Kid (1984): (Bill Conti)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
on the comprehensive 2007 set with all four of Bill Conti's scores for the popular franchise
if you are a devoted enthusiast of either the films or Conti's distinctive blend of symphonic
and contemporary tones typical to the era.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the ethnic influence on these scores to shake the stylistic habits and
overarching tone that equally define the composer's Rocky scores as dated and repetitious.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/13/10
- | The Losers: (John Ottman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you appreciated John Ottman's heavy metal and grungy industrial score in the context of the
equally abrasive revenge flick, emulating the style of Marco Beltrami in similar situations of
stylish schlock.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear the complexity of layers and instrumental subtlety that you usually
encounter in Ottman's lower budget scores, replaced here by generally straight forward
smash-mouth attitude and only occasional contemplative interludes of smooth harmony.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/10/10
- | Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: (James
Horner)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you have already established an affinity for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and seek a
thematically faithful extension of that sound with a little more instrumental spice,
primordial hysteria, and exotic mysticism.
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Avoid it... |
if your favorite parts of Star Trek II are the relentlessly brutal, driving action cues, for
their disappointingly anonymous replacements are a new, obnoxiously pitch-defying Klingon
theme and vaguely atmospheric Vulcan material.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/7/10
- | I Am Legend: (James Newton Howard)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you value James Newton Howard's accomplished melodramatic fantasy sound, one that addresses
both the solitude and monumental sense of loss with orchestral and choral beauty in this
score.
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Avoid it... |
if you desire no surprises after hearing what little music was actually emphasized in the
film, for the majority of compelling material that Howard wrote for the project (including its
alternate ending) will be heard for the first time on the album release.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 6/4/10
- | Valentine's Day: (John Debney)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are a hopeless romantic at heart and can never get enough pretty, conservative,
orchestral and contemporary light drama music despite its inherent similarity to the genre's
long history.
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Avoid it... |
if you appreciate this style of music but seek a truly memorable, heartbreaking variation on
its general sound, in which case Craig Armstrong's Love Actually remains a superior
alternative.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 6/1/10
- | The Dark Knight: (Hans Zimmer/James Newton
Howard)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you never grow tired of Hans Zimmer's predictable action and drama scoring methods of the
2000's, for The Dark Knight is, despite the composer's unusual handling of the Joker,
extremely consistent with his previous works.
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Avoid it... |
if you already own the album for Batman Begins and haven't listened to it for a year or two,
especially in the case of the sequel score's ridiculously priced and underachieving 2-CD
special edition.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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