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| 12/30/13
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The Matrix Reloaded (Don Davis/Ben
Watkins/Rob Dougan)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you were never satisfied with the favoring of harsh dissonance and metallic sound effects
over the glimpses of redemptive harmony in The Matrix, a balance that is better resolved in
both sequel scores.
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Avoid it... |
on the original 2003 set if you have any interest in appreciating the more nuanced sequences
in Don Davis' score, in which case the 2013 alternative is clearly superior.
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| 12/27/13
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Wyatt Earp (James Newton Howard)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you appreciate the spirit of Bruce Broughton and Basil Poledouris' expansive and highly
motific music for the 1980's and 1990's resurrection of the Western genre, for James Newton
Howard offers a worthy entry in this group of big sky adventure works.
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Avoid it... |
only if you have clearly defined the Western genre as one that you cannot appreciate under any
circumstances, even if it is approached from a direction of easily digestible romantic
melodrama with clearly developed themes.
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| 12/24/13
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Cocoon (James Horner)
- Updated Review, With Additional Album |
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Buy it... |
if you have always relaxed to James Horner's more lushly fluid dramatic themes but have never
ventured back to his first official entry in that genre, one that has remained affably
accessible in demeanor through time.
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Avoid it... |
if even Intrada Records' expanded and remastered 2013 album for the score, which finally
solves its lingering sound quality issues, is not worth hearing music that was largely
regurgitated many times in the subsequent ten years by Horner.
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Buy it... |
on either of the albums representing the film's soundtrack if you witnessed the movie and
appreciated the performances of the leads, an outcome not guaranteed given the absolutely
wretched singing of the badly cast actors when compared to their stage counterparts.
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Avoid it... |
in its film adaptation completely and continue to enjoy the many far superior performances of
the popular musical from its stage renditions, the 1995 10th anniversary concert version
remaining the best all-around representation of this classic work.
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Buy it... |
if you seek a highly entertaining extension of Andrew Lockington's engaging action romanticism
as heard in the Journey to the Center of the Earth franchise.
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Avoid it... |
if you've never been able to connect with Lockington's fantasy writing because of its
sometimes awkward thematic formations and a nagging familiarity to David Arnold's vintage
sound.
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Buy it... |
if you allow yourself to become absorbed in Danny Elfman's small, introspective dramatic
scores, this one mundane in many parts but featuring a few engaging cues of rhythmic urgency
and wholesome piano.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect this score to evoke any true sense of Americana spirit, its drama tightly
contained in a somber, lightly developed package without obvious themes.
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Buy it... |
on the 2012 expanded album only if you are prepared for a mind-numbingly long and arduous
listening experience despite the fact that this product necessarily replaced the hideously awful
1995 album, neither of which offering an easy presentation of the recordings made by Michael
Kamen for this film.
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Avoid it... |
if you're hoping that Kamen could exceed the quality of Die Hard 2 by providing significantly
fresh original themes and structures for a score-crucifying director who basically refused to
allow such evolution.
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