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November - December 2023
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12/31/23
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you are unfamiliar with the feature Star Trek scores and seek Jerry Goldsmith's original classic of romance, adventure, and
suspense that influenced most of the subsequent music in the franchise.
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| Avoid it... |
on any album prior to the 2012 3-CD set, that nearly comprehensive presentation of the score and its early, rejected alternative by
Goldsmith offering the best sound quality available.
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12/27/23
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Tron: Legacy (Daft Punk)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you tire of convention and are prepared for one of the most original-sounding, distinctly rendered blends of orchestral force and
unique synthetic soundscapes to ever be combined in a film score.
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| Avoid it... |
on all albums prior to the 2020 "Complete Edition," because Disney had previously forced listeners to buy it in pieces from four
separate sources (some of which lossy) to assemble into a comprehensive presentation.
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12/23/23
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
(Daniel Pemberton)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
even if it means giving this concept's music a second chance, Daniel Pemberton discovering a
much better balance of accessible drama and contemporary attitude in this sequel score.
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| Avoid it... |
if the mere continued presence of heavy manipulation, record scratching, and wailing elephant
effects in this score's hip portions make you audit your inventory of pain pills.
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12/19/23
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Lorne Balfe/Various)
Updated Review, With Additional Albums
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| Buy it... |
if Celtic lyricism has a place for you in any genre, Lorne Balfe and his team supplying lovely melodic highlights in this otherwise
pedestrian action score.
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| Avoid it... |
if you need proof that nine ghostwriters and arrangers, five orchestrators, and six music editors might struggle to maintain a
satisfying personality and narrative in a film's music.
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12/13/23
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Magnolia (Jon Brion)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
only if you appreciated the muted but emotionally sensitive impact Jon Brion's orchestral score had on a film that was otherwise
dominated by its song placements.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect the Brion score to develop a satisfying narrative on its own, its highly propulsive atmospheres attractive at times but
its meandering melodies challenging to remember.
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12/8/23
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City Hall (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you were impressed by Jerry Goldsmith's application of resounding timpani in L.A. Confidential and seek an even more brutally
robust expression of similar percussive weight.
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| Avoid it... |
if you tire of Goldsmith's use of slight hints of jazz or blues to address the noir-like elements of a film, because such amicable
interludes in this otherwise oppressive score are not particularly engaging.
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12/2/23
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Deadly Blessing (James Horner)
All New Review, Separated From Dual Review
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| Buy it... |
if you can withstand some eye-rolling at a young James Horner's blatant emulation of Jerry Goldsmith in this religious horror entry.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect much pleasantry in either the score or its best available album quality, its dated and muted sound quality conveying
tiresome suspense more often than not.
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11/26/23
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Sabrina (John Williams)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you are nostalgic for the pleasantly romantic Golden Age style of meandering piano solos and conservative barroom jazz.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect that dated sound to provide a convincing expression of elegance for the otherwise modernized adaptation of the classic
story.
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11/19/23
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Scarface (Giorgio Moroder)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
only if you are an avid enthusiast of Giorgio Moroder's very dated style for the era or, more likely, you desire a faithful souvenir
of a gangster film you love.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect Moroder's fascinating ideas to coalesce into a truly functional film score, the muddy thematic handling a potentially
bigger issue than his tiring electronic mannerisms.
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11/13/23
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Mouse Hunt (Alan Silvestri)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you seek a transcendent slapstick comedy score that remains fondly remembered because of Alan Silvestri's unnecessary but
thankfully frenetic orchestral march for its titular character.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have little patience for spirited comedy music that tears through several genres and rarely stays rooted in any one sound long
enough to appreciate each individual facet.
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11/7/23
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There Will Be Blood (Jonny Greenwood)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you rejoice in bleak musical representations of despair, hopelessness, dejection, and anguish.
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| Avoid it... |
unless you have already established that you can survive Jonny Greenwood's most atonally unpleasant music without wanting to
slaughter someone.
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11/1/23
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The Time Machine (Klaus Badelt)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you don't care about how derivative a film score can be as long as the new rendering is both enthusiastically dynamic and
attractively diverse.
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| Avoid it... |
if you'd prefer not to make a long list of mental notes connecting a film score to the previous works of Jerry Goldsmith and others
while you're trying to appreciate it on its own merits.
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