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November/December 2025
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11/12/25
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Flatliners (James Newton Howard)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
only if you are prepared to suffer through James Newton Howard's mass of generic, synthetically
dominated suspense and horror cues to appreciate the score's absolutely lovely redemption theme.
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| Avoid it... |
if a mere ten minutes of tonal salvation of immense stature cannot alone save this whole listening
experience, even on the long overdue official 2025 album that replaced years of substandard bootlegs.
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11/10/25
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Alien: Romulus (Benjamin Wallfisch)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you continue to appreciate Benjamin Wallfisch's tendency to approach franchise scores with
intelligence, this entry adapting old and new ideas into one of the concept's more compelling film
scores.
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| Avoid it... |
if you cannot accept any dose of the composer's highly grating electronic manipulation for horror
applications, the chasing and confrontation moments in this work completely unlistenable.
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11/8/25
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Crimson Tide (Hans Zimmer)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you seek the superior power anthem and brilliantly-paced suspense that inspired the revolution of the
synthetic blockbuster score concept in the late 1990's.
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| Avoid it... |
if you're part of the mutiny among score fans that has rejected Hans Zimmer's revolution on a matter of
principle, regardless of the strengths of his initially successful redefinition of the genre.
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11/6/25
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Jaws (John Williams)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the impressive 2025 3-CD set if you seek to conduct a definitive study of one of the most effective
film scores of all time, or on the immense 2000 re-recording if you want to hear that classic music
translated decently into contemporary sound quality.
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| Avoid it... |
on all the albums if you recognize, like many John Williams collectors do, that this remains a great
score only truly appreciable in the context of the film, a challenging listening experience on album for
merely casual entertainment.
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11/4/25
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Thelma & Louise (Hans Zimmer)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on any of the various score-only album releases if you desire the defiantly beautiful, gospel-laced finale cue to go with the more commonly
available presentation of the famous "Thunderbird" suite from the score.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect to hear more than eight to ten minutes of truly meaningful material in this work, because outside of the stylish guitar
performances and that finale, there isn't much to impress on any full presentation of the short score.
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11/2/25
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The Secret of N.I.M.H. (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on especially the 2025 Intrada Records product for an impressively complete survey of a compelling score that previewed Jerry Goldsmith's future
wealth of strong, consistent music for children's fantasy and animated films.
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| Avoid it... |
on any of the prior products if a more outwardly dynamic and powerful spirit uninhibited by archival sound quality is what you seek in your
Goldsmith material of lyrical romanticism and grand fantasy scope.
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