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Buy it... |
for the ten minutes of the pretty, woodwind-performed theme of romance sprinkled throughout
this otherwise challenging listening experience.
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Avoid it... |
if Ennio Morricone's distinctly retro approach to handling the suspense of this story, with
awkward 1970's techniques and instrumentation throughout, sounds strangely dysfunctional to
you in this Digital Age context.
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Buy it... |
if you have always been impressed with Brian Tyler's ability to overachieve with immense
ruckus in the horror genre, in which case Darkness Falls is a well respected and dynamic
launching point.
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Avoid it... |
if you quickly lose interest in Tyler's dramatic, lyrical themes of a brooding variety when
they are surrounded by orchestral brutality of the most immense order.
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| 1/29/12
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Four Newly Expanded Reviews Debut |
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Recently revised versions of the following reviews are now available:
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• The Ring/The Ring Two (Hans Zimmer/Various)
• Thunderbirds (Hans Zimmer/Ramin Djawadi)
• Spanglish (Hans Zimmer)
• Madagascar (Hans Zimmer/Various)
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| 1/27/12
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Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you have always appreciated the hyperactive action romps and funny regional references that
Randy Newman provided for the first two films in this franchise, a combined technique that
dominates the third entry as well.
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Avoid it... |
if, conversely, you've been bothered by Newman's total inability to assign the concept some
memorable thematic attribution in his scores, because Toy Story 3 is, despite its predictable
affability, another disappointingly anonymous work.
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Buy it... |
if inoffensive, conservative holiday drama and a dash of occasional prancing comedy soothe
your spirit without risking boredom.
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Avoid it... |
if you figure you're going to hear vivacious enthusiasm from Michael Giacchino for this topic,
a personality mostly absent from the composition and drained completely by a muted, lifeless
recording.
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Buy it... |
if you have embraced Alberto Iglesias' previous and often understated scores for topics of
drama and intrigue, for this entry's extremely restrained atmosphere requires patience to
appreciate on its hour-long album.
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Avoid it... |
if you lament the fact that Iglesias did not adequately extend the intelligently layered
noir-like personality of his melody for the primary character into the remainder of the
otherwise dull score.
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| 1/24/12
- |
Batman Forever (Elliot Goldenthal)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you're open-minded about the wildly flashy direction that the franchise took with this film
and generally appreciate Elliot Goldenthal's extremely intelligent capabilities, even if he
badly overplays the comical aspect of this concept in the process.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect Goldenthal to have taken the franchise as seriously as Danny Elfman had, because
Batman Forever is an occasionally insufferable carnival ride of wildly inconsistent musical
personalities at war.
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Buy it... |
if heart-warming orchestral fantasy music for the holidays raises your spirits all year,
because Harry Gregson-Williams' last minute replacement score contains a steady stream of
engaging action and awe-inspired beauty.
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Avoid it... |
if you consider many rousing children's scores to be blandly tonal sonic wallpaper, in which
case this well executed music may not contain enough unique thematic structures or other
characteristics to distinguish itself.
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Buy it... |
if you have a high tolerance for challengingly manipulated and unpleasant exhibitions of sound
design in your film music, especially if they utilize noises so awkwardly weird at times that
they give you the giggles.
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Avoid it... |
if you have no wish to embrace arguably John Ottman's worst career score to this point, an
unfortunately lifeless accompaniment to the extreme sexual depravity that may have kept this
movie out of American cinemas.
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| 1/21/12
- |
Wolfen (James Horner)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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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 on the long-standing bootleg that contains
both Wolfen and Deadly Blessing, the latter overshadowing some decent pastoral writing with
harrowing and painfully obvious references to Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen.
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Buy it... |
only if you are completing your set of "Star Trek" feature film scores and you can forgive the
hopelessly upbeat tone, thematic incoherency, and badly dated elements of Leonard Rosenman's
wayward and stubborn entry.
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Avoid it... |
if the word lame isn't what you want to think of when hearing the albums for the otherwise
respectable collection of creative and robust film scores for this franchise.
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| 1/19/12
- |
Man to Man (Patrick Doyle)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you consistently appreciate Patrick Doyle's fully orchestral drama mode, his predictably
optimistic tone and instrumental techniques providing respect and glory to this tale of
intellectual exploration.
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Avoid it... |
if you have difficulty embracing the enthusiastic tone of Doyle's melodramatic lyricism and
bright fanfares, especially with the surprising absence of much native African influence in
this work.
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Buy it... |
if you seek a more focused and sophisticated version of John Powell's music for The Bourne
Identity, with fewer erratic and obnoxious synthetic sequences distracting from the narrative
flow.
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Avoid it... |
if you appreciate the raw, slashing action tone of the preceding score in the franchise and
find the hints of warmer character development in the sequel's music to distract from the mood
that you seek from Powell's otherwise harsh ostinato motifs.
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| 1/17/12
- |
In Time (Craig Armstrong)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are an established enthusiast of Craig Armstrong's standard methodology, in which case
you'll likely appreciate the compelling adaptation of his style into the science fiction
genre.
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Avoid it... |
despite the fact that his sound is perfectly suited for this concept if you expect him to make
meaningful use of his lyrical tendencies to develop an airtight narrative arc when one was
truly justified.
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Buy it... |
if you seek a well-conceived, refreshing resurrection of big band jazz and orchestral action
from 1960's capers that intelligently matures as the score progresses.
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Avoid it... |
if the music for vintage, snazzy spy thrillers or early James Bond films produces only
headaches for you, in which case the beefier version of that sound adapted here might give you
a migraine.
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| 1/15/12
- |
Tower Heist (Christophe Beck)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if Christophe Beck's snazzy main theme caught your attention in the film and you would be
content with five or six engaging performances of that slightly retro, funky identity on
album.
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Avoid it... |
if you place high hopes in the mass of the underscore surrounding the main theme, most of
which sounds familiar to Beck's previous applications of contemporary suspense and
enthusiastic comedy in an orchestral setting.
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Buy it... |
if you desire an occasionally triumphant but usually solemn and ultimately defeated score that
closely resembles the turbulent mental issues of Howard Hughes.
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Avoid it... |
if you are expecting the melodic fluidity and grandiose bravado of The Lord of the Rings, an
influence of high-class 1930's and 1940's romance, or an album with the full selection of
classical pieces tracked into the film.
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Buy it... |
if you are whisked into a dreamland by the bright, repetitive rhythms, consistently fluffy
innocence, and major-key melodic grace of Rachel Portman, James Horner, and Stephen Warbeck's
equivalent dramatic fantasy modes.
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Avoid it... |
if you are among the crowd who cannot long tolerate the ceaselessly positive, prancing
attitude of the music described above, especially considering the relatively few dramatic
interludes of genuine weight to break that mood in this score.
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| 1/12/12
- |
Anonymous (Thomas Wanker/Harald Kloser)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if the prior film music of Harald Kloser and Thomas Wanker has somehow managed to appeal to
you in its often respectfully understated forms, because the composers do offer their
conservative techniques in a palatable package here.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you expect the orchestral, choral, and solo cello expressions of this score's several
themes to ever congeal into a convincing narrative, the composers' tendency to aimlessly
meander once again evident.
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| 1/11/12
- |
Immortals (Trevor Morris)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if nothing cranks up your testosterone levels like a beefy variation on the modern Hans Zimmer
action sound, for Trevor Morris works surprisingly well within those boundaries to infuse some
basic intelligence into an otherwise derivative formula.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you were bothered by the lack of a clear narrative arc in the film's script, a failure
reflected in totality by the absence of satisfying thematic attributions and storytelling
capability in Morris' appropriately stylish music.
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Buy it... |
if you desire either the highly varied selection of songs from the film or five to ten minutes
of engaging John Powell score material to add to your favorite passages from his contribution
to the previous film.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear Powell do anything significant with the existing franchise themes
(outside of the obvious, varied choral usage) or conjure a distinct new set of identities for
the sequel.
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Buy it... |
if you have fond memories of Henry Mancini's iconic theme for this franchise and desire an
effortless extension of that idea into the 2000's reboot of the concept.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you are looking for the Beyonce Knowles songs from the film or are a Mancini loyalist to
such a degree that some contemporary adaptations of his theme could be offensive.
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|
| 1/8/12
- |
Over the Hedge (Rupert Gregson-Williams/Ben Folds)
- All New Review |
| |
| |
Buy it... |
if you're a Ben Folds enthusiast and thus seek his five characteristic songs (three of which
original) for the comedic, feel-good passages in the film.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you expect more than just typical, functional, and forgettable orchestral underscore from
Rupert Gregson-Williams, yet another voice for generic animation music from Hans Zimmer's film
score production house.
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|
| |
Buy it... |
if you can immerse yourself in shamelessly high-flying, patriotic orchestral adventure scores
no matter their general simplicity or relentless level of bombast and tempo.
| |
Avoid it... |
if that genre's music becomes tedious and repetitive for you when it is clearly derived from
other superhero scores, especially ones as obvious as those by John Williams and James Horner.
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| 1/6/12
- |
Alexander (Vangelis)
- Expanded Review |
| |
| |
Buy it... |
if you seek to hear Vangelis' wildly popular music for 1492: Conquest of Paradise developed to
an even more mature, symphonically magnificent level of grandiose and monumental harmony.
| |
Avoid it... |
if the rhythmically repetitive and thematically simplistic nature of Vangelis' music cannot be
compensated for you by the sheer power of the overwhelming immensity with which it is
expressed.
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|
|
| |
Buy it... |
if you appreciate John Williams' propulsive rhythmic figures of this era and his high
standards of complexity no matter the level of atonality or dissonance prevalent at nearly
every moment of this score.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you prefer your Williams scores to be easily digestible and feature strong, pleasant lines
of thematic cohesion and an obvious concert arrangement.
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|
|
|
| |
Buy it... |
if you desire one of the most robust and crystal clear concert performances of Jerry Goldsmith
music, conducted by the composer himself, ever to exist on album.
| |
Avoid it... |
only if you are disappointed by the lack of representation for some of the composer's
strongest works of the 1980's on this otherwise solid presentation.
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|
|
|
| |
Buy it... |
if you are an unreserved enthusiast of John Barry's lush and occasionally soaring romance
themes and rhythmic action motifs, no matter their relatively stagnant foundations.
| |
Avoid it... |
if you expect an ounce of originality from Barry in this score, for what you receive is a
clear cross between Raise the Titanic and Out of Africa.
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|
|
| 1/2/12
- |
Wind (Basil Poledouris)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
| |
| |
Buy it... |
if you appreciate Basil Poledouris' uniquely creative merging of synthesizers and orchestra to
capture the essence of the ocean, especially in this score's closest sibling, Free Willy.
| |
Avoid it... |
if the ambient sounds of wind and sails in a largely new-age score with only a handful of
orchestral cues doesn't carry over your interest from Poledouris' muscular, epic alternatives.
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