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January/February 2026
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2/27/26
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Anaconda (David Fleming)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for its infectiously brilliant set of themes, David Fleming applying parody techniques to this franchise with extremely
effective instrumental personality.
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| Avoid it... |
because you have no sense of humor whatsoever and have no interest in music that doesn't take itself seriously despite its
inherent coolness.
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2/24/26
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Descalzos (Òscar Martìn Leanizbarrutia)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for continued melodramatic mastery from Òscar Martìn Leanizbarrutia, whose techniques for soloists over an
orchestral ensemble remained highly enticing through the early 2020's.
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| Avoid it... |
if you cannot tolerate the basic fact that this score exists as part of a hybrid adaptation of previously existing,
faith-based youth group songs that mingle with the score extensively.
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2/21/26
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Three Kingdoms: Starlit Heroes (Neal Acree)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
because you cannot resist well-executed, epic Chinese fantasy scores that competently blend Eastern and Western musical
conventions to massive ends.
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| Avoid it... |
if you demand only the most cohesive thematic narratives, for the attractive identities in this engaging recording are not
always applied with satisfying clarity.
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2/18/26
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Long Distance (Steven Price)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for a highly intelligent blend of synthetic and organic fantasy elements expressing an impressive thematic core in the one
of 2025's most surprising, quality scores.
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| Avoid it... |
if you have no interest in hearing Steven Price execute aggressively rough science fiction music that sounds remarkably
similar in design to Andrew Lockington's Atlas.
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2/16/26
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Death Becomes Her (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for a technically intriguing fantasy score of comedic tumult, its representation of zombie romance built with all the right
ingredients to succeed even if the end result seems rather shallow.
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| Avoid it... |
and seek The Witches instead to hear Alan Silvestri truly capture the devious humor and convincing action associated with the same
general concept.
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2/14/26
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Primal Fear (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for a carefully introspective blend of contemporary thriller and despairing noir styles, James Newton Howard very careful to
execute his character strategy with restraint.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect the score to smartly address the major plot twist through clever foreshadowing, the approach by Howard instead
underplaying such potential via ineffective themes.
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2/12/26
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Nouvelle-France (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for melodramatic Patrick Doyle lyricism at its most extroverted, his love theme for this score an enduring favorite of the
composer's enthusiasts.
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| Avoid it... |
if there is no tolerance in your heart for scores that slap you across the face with their bloated, dramatic intent from
start to finish.
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2/10/26
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The Lost Bus (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
only for an extension of the mind-numbing mood of suspense and dread that you appreciated within the movie itself.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect this score to convey any emotional sincerity, James Newton Howard returning from a two-year absence to
provide a substantial amount of droning ambience.
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2/8/26
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The Bodyguard (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
on the Alan Silvestri score album for the main character's trumpet-led noir theme and the pretty orchestral material for the story's Lake Tahoe sequence.
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| Avoid it... |
for everything else in the score, because the composer's love theme, villain material, and slew of secondary suspense and action motifs are about as unexciting as Kevin Costner's
acting in the film.
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2/6/26
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1492: Conquest of Paradise (Vangelis)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if, obviously, you consider yourself any kind of Vangelis enthusiast or if you're a fan of early 1990's choral blend new age albums in the
style of the group Engima.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect to be convinced in any way that Vangelis' style is true to the settings of the 15th Century, the score frequently inappropriate
in context.
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2/4/26
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The English Patient (Gabriel Yared)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you were emotionally touched by the depictions of sorrow, alienation, and fate in the film and seek its appropriately somber and
understated score.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect the story's tragic romanticism to have any coherent organization on album, for Gabriel Yared's aimlessly wandering score and
the plethora of source material causes a significantly disjointed listening experience.
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2/2/26
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Space Jam (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for an intelligent, albeit wacky combination of Carl Stalling orchestral madness and James Newton Howard's own rock and fantasy
sensibilities.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect that combination of genres to function well enough in the absence of a truly coherent thematic narrative, which exists but
struggles until the final third of the score.
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1/31/26
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Judgment Night (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for only about ten combined minutes of leftover action material from Alan Silvestri's Predator 2, the recording mix of these portions
impressively resounding.
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| Avoid it... |
for everything else in the score, the composer uncharacteristically anonymous in this largely muted and ambient work of suspense.
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1/29/26
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Timeline (Jerry Goldsmith/Brian Tyler)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
on the rare Jerry Goldsmith album if you consider yourself any collector of his works whatsoever, and on the Brian Tyler album if you
seek an extension of the propulsive action material you heard in his music for Children of Dune.
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| Avoid it... |
if you're hoping to hear a Goldsmith score that isn't highly derivative of his previous works or, alternately, if you're desiring a
Tyler score that refines its promising themes into a meaningful narrative.
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1/27/26
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Medicine Man (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you appreciate both Jerry Goldsmith's unique library of synthetic sounds and his ability to counter them with stunningly gorgeous
romance themes on high strings.
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| Avoid it... |
only if you have no interest in hearing the composer venture into ultra-positive folk and calypso territory for his infectious
acoustic-guitar and pan pipe theme for the location of the story.
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1/25/26
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Donnie Brasco (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if even the gloomiest and most conservative dramatic expressions from Patrick Doyle can retain your attention, this score quietly
stewing in soft, occasionally troubled orchestral tones throughout.
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| Avoid it... |
if the attraction of a Doyle score for you is its memorable lyricism, the two entangled themes here highly elusive and only marginally
engaging.
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1/19/26
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Freedomland (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
if a few, fleeting and depressing lyrical highlights can sustain an otherwise indecisive, largely atmospheric score of understatement.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect James Newton Howard to address either the story's characters or the underlying racial tensions adequately, neither aspect satisfying in the end.
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1/17/26
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Mrs. Winterbourne (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
to appreciate the two distinct personalities guiding the same general thematic construct through a soft environment of
dramatic ease.
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| Avoid it... |
if you appreciate your Patrick Doyle scores for their consistency, this one meandering into source-like jazz and blues
material with distracting results.
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1/15/26
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Blown Away (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
to assemble ten or so minutes of militaristic highlights and several passages of melodic grace, some of which not original to
Alan Silvestri but still gorgeous, especially in their choral element.
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| Avoid it... |
if satisfyingly developed narratives are your interest, because Silvestri's two primary themes battle endlessly, repetitively,
and often unpleasantly in an oppressive suspense environment.
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1/13/26
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The Lookout (James Newton Howard)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for the warmth and occasional attitude of James Newton Howard's guitar-driven themes for the main character, the highlights of this work worth
bypassing the bulk of suspense material.
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| Avoid it... |
if ten minutes of emotive and inspiring highlights from those contemporary stylings cannot merit an otherwise dull and forgettable remainder.
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1/11/26
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A Little Princess (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for Patrick Doyle's lovely lyricism conveyed through orchestral beauty and girls' vocals, this work embodying the composer's romantic
inclinations well.
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| Avoid it... |
if you've never been able to truly reconcile the strong influence of Indian instrumentation in this fairy tale musical environment, the mix of
cultures in the soundscape not as comfortable as it could have been.
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1/9/26
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The Sum of All Fears (Jerry Goldsmith)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
if you seek Jerry Goldsmith's last robust action score along with an unusually prominent contribution of original and source songs heard in the
film.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect more than fifteen minutes of truly unique, choral and solo vocal music from Goldsmith in a score otherwise defined by its
occasional bursts of the composer's trademark action and predictable suspense material.
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1/7/26
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The Hunt for Red October (Basil Poledouris)
Updated Review, With Additional Album
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| Buy it... |
only on the 2025 expanded set to hear this score in satisfying sound quality, Basil Poledouris' intelligent blend of orchestra, synthetics, and
choir yielding a uniquely dynamic sonic environment.
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| Avoid it... |
if you expect the full score to match its memorable highlights due to the studio's withholding of the money needed to record pivotal cues with
an orchestra.
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1/5/26
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Richie Rich (Alan Silvestri)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for its brief moments of dramatic redemption late, the remainder perfectly functional but tending to dwell on repetitive statements of the main
theme for the entitled little shit of a main character.
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| Avoid it... |
if you always value Alan Silvestri's action music, even in the children's genre, because that mode is disappointingly emasculated in this
unyieldingly chipper score.
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1/3/26
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The Great Debaters (James Newton Howard/Peter Golub)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for the respectfully conservative mood this score generates, its pleasantly anonymous demeanor serving the story well without striving for any
melodrama.
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| Avoid it... |
if you want to remember any of it after it's done playing, the tandem of composers instructed to restrain the gravity of the music to an extent
that it could be considered lifeless.
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1/1/26
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Une Femme Française (Patrick Doyle)
All New Review
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| Buy it... |
for predictably pretty Patrick Doyle drama on strings and woodwinds, the melodies of this work somber but serving the story well.
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| Avoid it... |
if you demand passion and resonance in your scores of this genre, this music's performances sometimes mechanical and lacking any true romantic
spark.
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