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March/April 2016
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4/29/16
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Total Recall (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you continue to admire Jerry Goldsmith's top-notch, energetic, cohesive action and fantasy
material that is saturated with his trademark rhythmic and instrumental flair of the 1980's
and 1990's.
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| Avoid it... |
if you prefer an earlier generation of Goldsmith action that didn't rely as heavily on such
considerable synthetic accompaniment to the orchestra, the electronics a pivotal component of
the fantasy atmosphere in this entry.
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4/24/16
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The Pagemaster (James Horner)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the improved 2015 album if there is no limit to your patience with James Horner in his
tendency to regurgitate material in his children's scores of the late 1980's and early 1990's.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have already tested the waters in Horner's ventures into the animated genre and you
found nothing of interest in superior highlights like An American Tail and The Land Before
Time.
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4/19/16
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Home Alone (John Williams)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on any of its albums if you seek one of the most memorable, purely innocent Christmas scores
in the history of film music.
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| Avoid it... |
if the hopelessly optimistic, spiritually seasonal nature of John Williams' first cheery
children's score reduces it to a once-a-year kind of listening experience.
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4/14/16
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Dances With Wolves (John Barry)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the definitive 2015 2-CD set if you are one of the few in a generation to have never before
owned the classic symphonic score, John Barry's triumphant crowning achievement while nearing
the end of his career.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have grown tired of Barry's trademark stylistic simplicity of the 1980's and 1990's,
because despite this score's perfect emotional tone for the film, its instrumentation and
themes are extremely derivative of the composer's prior work.
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4/9/16
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Braveheart (James Horner)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the outstanding 2015 La-La Land set if part of the attraction to this score is your
affinity for the film, because the music, despite its derivative nature, is an integral and
beautiful piece of the Braveheart tapestry.
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| Avoid it... |
if you are a studious and pragmatic collector of James Horner's works and are expecting a
unique and powerful experience on the same level of the superior Legends of the Fall and
Apollo 13.
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4/3/16
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The River Wild (Jerry Goldsmith/Maurice
Jarre)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the 2015 2-CD set containing both Jerry Goldsmith and Maurice Jarre's average adventure
scores for this film, a fascinating experience of two different, moderately engaging takes on
the same picture.
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| Avoid it... |
on any album if you are a Goldsmith collector interesting in hearing the most mature versions
of all the ideas conveyed by the composer in this score, in which case The Edge is a safer
bet.
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3/20/16
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Filmtracks announces its 2015 award nominees and winners
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Filmtracks celebrates the best film music of 2015 with its annual nominees and winners in the
categories of "Top Film Scores," "Top Composers," and "Top Film Cues." The nominees for "Top
Film Scores" in 2015 are:
Visit the 2015 awards section to view
the winners (and other categories). For more information about these awards or to view
the results from previous years, browse the Filmtracks Awards index page.
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3/16/16
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Muhammad: The Messenger of God (A.R.
Rahman)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you demand your epic religious scores to stomp, wail, coo, and soar with maximum
Westernized influence, though the regional ethnic instrumentation remains superior in this
otherwise stereotypical romp.
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| Avoid it... |
if you are prepared to issue your own fatwa against shamelessly bombastic, mystically loving
music that relies upon overwhelming execution values rather than intellectual prowess to
bolster what essentially serves as a propaganda venture.
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3/12/16
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The 33 (James Horner)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you cannot resist a sentimental conclusion to James Horner's career that almost
appropriately summarizes motific and instrumental ideas from throughout his years.
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| Avoid it... |
if no measure of heart and nostalgia will triumph over your analytical inclination to label
this score as nothing more than yet another tedious Horner self-referencing exercise.
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