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May/June 2023
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6/29/23
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Freeheld (Hans Zimmer/Johnny Marr)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you regularly zone out to Hans Zimmer's more atmospherically muted film scores, Freeheld rarely unpleasant but providing
consistently stoic and subdued minimalism.
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| Avoid it... |
if you believe that this story has an abundance of heart, which it really does, as Zimmer and his team offer surprisingly
passionless music for its characters.
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6/25/23
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The Fly (Howard Shore)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you desire one of Howard Shore's best pre-The Lord of the Rings career achievements, a massively melodramatic horror score of
operatic constructs and overwhelmingly morbid romanticism.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect the listening experience of The Fly to be as accessibly fluid as Christopher Young's mostly unrelated music for the
inferior sequel.
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6/20/23
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Rebuilding Paradise (Lorne Balfe/Hans Zimmer)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you want to feel the misery of total loss in your music, Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer providing hazy atmospheres and drab
thematic constructs that set a consistently somber mood.
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| Avoid it... |
if you demand more than static and lifeless performances for a topic of human suffering, this recording so careful to avoid
overstatement that it achieves very little emotional connection.
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6/16/23
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Amistad (John Williams)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you are drawn towards John Williams' more intelligent exercises in restraint, with themes that won't sweep you off your feet but
rather engross with their cultural adeptness.
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| Avoid it... |
if a comparatively muted Williams score ultimately defined by its multi-cultural main theme doesn't offer enough overwhelming
melody or robust action to sustain your interest.
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6/11/23
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Hillbilly Elegy (Hans Zimmer/David Fleming)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you value the intimate personality of Hans Zimmer's early career dramas, Hillbilly Elegy a somber but motivational atmosphere
for its tonally satisfying themes.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have no interest in hearing a slide guitar substitute for Zimmer's usual electric cello, the slight regional flavor offering
more twang than some of the composer's listeners might accept.
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6/7/23
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Red Sonja (Ennio Morricone)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on any album only if you are an Ennio Morricone completist or seek one of the quirkier but still effective scores to grace the
sword and sorcery age in the early 1980's.
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| Avoid it... |
if you never cared much for Basil Poledouris' music for the Hyborian Age and wouldn't want to hear it romanticized in sometimes
awkward fashion, especially as it caters to 1980's pop culture at its conclusion.
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6/2/23
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Friday the 13th (Harry Manfredini)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
on the 2012 album if you want the best representation of this score's film mix; otherwise, the 2021 product is a more fascinating
re-mix from superior sources that takes some liberty to retroactively improve the work.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect Harry Manfredini's music to be as iconic as that of other slasher franchises, his techniques replacing cool
catchiness with intellectual intimacy and dissonant derivatives from Bernard Herrmann.
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5/29/23
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Mimic (Marco Beltrami)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the expanded albums of 2011 and beyond if you seek excellent treatment, including improved sound quality, of one
of Marco Beltrami's most accessible horror efforts.
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| Avoid it... |
if even ten minutes of the composer's more alluring lyricism in this genre cannot sustain your interest beyond the
somewhat standard but well executed stingers, dissonant challenges, and varied percussive usage in this dynamically
organic recording.
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5/24/23
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The Emoji Movie (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you can admire the immensely positive energy that Patrick Doyle brings to his smart electronic and symphonic balance for this
otherwise wretched film.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have no idea why a poop emoji is funny, because you have to appreciate the diversity of emojis generally before you can wrap
your brain around this frantically wild music.
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5/20/23
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The Godfather (Nino Rota)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you have fond memories of the classic Nino Rota themes that enamored and impressed audiences with their ability to merge Sicilian
tradition with symphonic romanticism for this influential production.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear a truly well-rounded score outside of its primary three themes, especially on the common, shorter album
releases.
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5/15/23
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Rocky IV (Vince DiCola)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
on the relatively obscure 2010 score-only album to experience the full but rather brief score by Vince DiCola, a decent,
electronically-defined deviation from the franchise's musical norm.
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| Avoid it... |
on that score-only product if you expect most of its material to be as inspirational as the famous "Training Montage" cue released on
the popular song compilation album.
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5/11/23
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L.A. Confidential (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you admire the tension of Jerry Goldsmith's highly rhythmic and brutally percussive scores of the 1970's, L.A. Confidential adding
the composer's stock 1990's electronics to that mix.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect any significant dose of seductive noir elements or a reprise of Goldsmith's Chinatown, because this short score is
designed to be even more bleak and dispiriting in tone.
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5/5/23
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Babe (Nigel Westlake)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you forgive blatant and overwhelming infusions of classical music in your film scores, Babe an exercise in substantial editing and rearrangement
to yield a somewhat effective standalone score.
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| Avoid it... |
if your tolerance of cute classical pomposity equals your disdain for talking pigs, Nigel Westlake finding the appropriately overwrought tone but
assembling a stylish narrative mess for the story.
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5/1/23
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The Ring/The Ring Two (Hans Zimmer/Various)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the adequate 2005 combination album for a decent summary presentation of the largely subdued, ambient ideas from both The Ring and The Ring
Two.
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| Avoid it... |
if the rather mundane suspense music for the original film didn't float your boat and you have no need to hear a modern band, led by electric
guitar, define the new material written for the sequel score.
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