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March/April 2024
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4/28/24
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Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Tyler Bates)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you require brutally nasty and cacophonous dissonance to disturb your family, friends, and therapist.
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| Avoid it... |
if you value experimentation and distinctive character in your horror scores, Tyler Bates applying rather conservative industrial
techniques as he tested the waters in this genre.
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4/24/24
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Battle Beyond the Stars (James Horner)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you want to know where it all essentially started for James Horner, not to mention that Battle Beyond the Stars is an
impressively engaging science-fiction score by any standard.
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| Avoid it... |
if enduring the inspiration for Horner's eventual self-regurgitation is as disturbing to you as hearing the composer blatantly pull
material from Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek: The Motion Picture for this score.
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4/19/24
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October Sky (Mark Isham)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you take solace in Mark Isham's softer, understated dramatic writing for smaller orchestras, this score achieving a sensitive
country demeanor without any unnecessary dramatic extroversion.
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| Avoid it... |
if sparsely rendered, slowly enunciated themes cannot sustain the emotional punch you demand for a story of this interpersonal
gravity and stargazing whimsy.
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4/15/24
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Cliffhanger (Trevor Jones)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you, like most film score fans, are mesmerized by Trevor Jones' most majestic title themes of noble brass and high strings and
seek a robust action score to go with that identity.
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| Avoid it... |
if you found nothing attractive in Jones' dominant title theme for Last of the Mohicans, a very close cousin to that of
Cliffhanger, and be careful to steer clear of the 2011 Intrada album's awkward re-mixing of the score.
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4/10/24
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Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) (Brian May)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you could never embrace the raw, brazen attitude of Brian May's music Mad Max and seek a more linear and dramatic take in a
toned-back variation on the same thriller atmosphere.
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| Avoid it... |
if you desire thematic continuity as strong as the quadriceps of Lord Humungus, May pushing his identities in divergent, less
impactful directions in the sequel.
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4/6/24
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The Beautician and the Beast (Cliff Eidelman)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the longer album if you typically appreciate Cliff Eidelman's affably soothing character scores of the 1990's.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have no patience for predictable orchestral romance scores despite this one's attempt to infuse some unique Eastern European
character into its constructs.
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4/1/24
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Mad Max (Brian May)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you love the edgy personality of the film itself, Brian May's music and nicely developed thematic narrative contributing
immensely to the face-slapping flamboyance of the story.
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| Avoid it... |
if you can't fathom hearing Bernard Herrmann's style of orchestral suspense and horror applied with cartoonish malevolence.
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3/27/24
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The Rock (Nick Glennie-Smith/Hans Zimmer/Harry Gregson-Williams)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you seek the official origin of the collaborative Media Ventures/Remote Control sound made famous by the many masculine
and synthetic-sounding imitation scores that have accompanied blockbusters ever since.
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| Avoid it... |
if you prefer hearing Hans Zimmer's solo writing talents and loathe the abrasively simplistic and bombastic staccato style
of action music to emerge from his numerous pupils and assistants since this score.
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3/22/24
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Apocalypse Now (Carmine Coppola/David Shire/Various)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
on the earliest, longest album presentations if your interest in the film's music is casual, as they represent the closest
match to what you hear in context.
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| Avoid it... |
on either of the dedicated albums for Carmine Coppola and David Shire's distinctly unpleasant but intellectually
fascinating scores if you expect any semblance of narrative development or readily accessible synthetic applications.
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3/17/24
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Humanoids From the Deep (James Horner)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the 2001 album that pairs this score with Battle Beyond the Stars, for its sparse, mundane, and derivative suspense
really doesn't merit its own album.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have no need to hear James Horner shamelessly emulate Jerry Goldsmith in yet another of his early scores for B-rate
films, though the similarities here are not quite as obnoxious.
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3/11/24
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Filmtracks announces its 2023 Awards
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Filmtracks celebrates the best film music of 2023 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 2023 are:
Visit the 2023 Awards section to view the winners (and other categories). Also
available is an official page for the 2023 Filmtracks Community Awards.
For more information about these awards or to view the results from previous years, browse the Filmtracks Awards index.
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3/6/24
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Supercell (Corey Wallace)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you still yearn for the sound of John Williams' dramatic adventure music of the 1980's and 1990's, Corey Wallace
perfectly executing a nostalgic score of considerable intelligence for a most unlikely film.
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| Avoid it... |
if there is no place in your heart for shameless emulation, because the structural and instrumental mannerisms of Williams
absolutely permeate this work.
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3/1/24
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In Love and Deep Water (Takatsugu Muramatsu)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if you can turn off your brain for a healthy dose of simplistic but highly affable luxury cruise-inspired bravado and
several cues of utterly gorgeous romance.
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| Avoid it... |
if style and attitude cannot alone carry a score that suffers from a wayward narrative and merely proficient techniques in
mystery and suspense.
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