Archive
RAMBLING ROSE – Elmer Bernstein
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Rambling Rose is a romantic drama period film directed by Martha Coolidge, based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Calder Willingham. The film is told in flashback by Buddy Hillyer (John Heard), who returns to his childhood home in Georgia and remembers his life growing up there during the Great Depression. Young Buddy (Lukas Haas) lives comfortably in a big house with his parents (Robert Duvall and Diane Ladd); however, everything is thrown into turmoil following the arrival of Rose (Laura Dern), an orphaned young woman who comes to work for the family. Rose is happy and free-spirited, but exceptionally promiscuous, and her sexual dalliances with several members of the family, as well as other people in town, brings all manner of troubles to the Hillyer family door. The film was a critical success that year, culminating in both Dern and Ladd – daughter and mother in real life – being nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, the first ever mother-daughter duo to be nominated for Oscars for the same film. Read more…
OF MICE AND MEN – Aaron Copland
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1938 producer Lewis Milestone saw opportunity after witnessing John Steinbeck’s play Of Mice and Men achieve a milestone of 207 Broadway theatrical performances, and win the prestigious New York Drama Critics’ Circle award in 1938. He convinced Hal Roach Studios and United Artists Studios to fund and distribute the film. Milestone would also direct the and tasked screenwriter Eugene Solow in adapting the play and original novella for the big screen. A fine cast was assembled, which included Burgess Meredith as George, Betty Field as Mae, Lon Chaney Jr. as Lennie, Charles Bickford as Slim, Noah Beery Jr. as Whit, and Bob Steele as Curley. Read more…
Celebrating the Online Film Music Critic – an IFMCA YouTube Livestream Event!
25 years ago, when the internet was in its infancy, a handful of film music review websites were established, pioneering online film music criticism with a new generation of writers and broadcasters who were taking advantage of this new medium for the first time.
Now, a quarter of a century later, the International Film Music Critics Association is delighted to announce a special event celebrating the dedication and longevity of five of these critics, with an anniversary round table looking back at the history of online film music criticism.
Moderated by IFMCA member Tim Burden, the event will feature a live and interactive conversation between five of these forerunners: Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK, Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks, Christopher Coleman of Tracksounds, James Southall of Movie Wave, and Erik Woods of Cinematic Sound Radio.
Join us on Sunday October 3rd 2021 at 1:00pm EST (10:00am PST, 6:00pm BST) via the live stream on the IFMCA Youtube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/InternationalFilmMusicCriticsAssociation, where you can watch the celebration, post questions to the panel, and more!
THE MAN IN THE MOON – James Newton Howard
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Man in the Moon is an emotional coming-of-age drama, written by Jenny Wingfield, and directed by Robert Mulligan – the final film of the man behind such classics as To Kill a Mockingbird and Summer of ‘42. The film stars Reese Witherspoon in her big-screen debut as Dani Trant, a teenage girl growing up in rural Louisiana in the 1950s. The film plots her life over the course of a summer, as she deals with her relationship with her parents and her siblings, her emerging sexuality, family tragedies, and especially her feelings for an older boy named Court who moves into the farm next door. The film co-stars Sam Waterston, Tess Harper, Gail Strickland, and Jason London, and was one of the most acclaimed films of its type in 1991; Roger Ebert called it “a wonderful movie … a victory of tone and mood, like a poem,” and praised Witherspoon’s breakout performance. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2021, Part 3B
2021 is already more than half way done and, as the world of mainstream blockbuster cinema and film music continues to recover from the COVID-19 Coronavirus, we must again look to smaller international features not as reliant on massive theatrical releases to discover the best new soundtracks. As such I am very pleased to present the second part of my third installment (for this calendar year) in my ongoing series of articles looking at the best “under the radar” scores from around the world.
The five titles included here are again a mixed bag of styles, genres, and national origins, and include quirky comedy from Finland, a children’s fantasy-comedy from Germany, a serious religious drama from Greece scored by a Pole, a Japanese animated adventure, and a French comedy-drama about the creation of the first modern restaurant! Read more…
OUR TOWN – Aaron Copland
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Renowned producer Sol Lester was impressed by the run of 338 Broadway theatrical performances of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize winning play Our Town by Thornton Wilder. He believed its poignant story could be successfully adapted to the big screen and decided to oversee production with his company Sol Lester Productions. Screenwriters Harry Chandlee and Frank Craven were hired to collaborate with author Thornton Wilder in adapting the play, which presented challenges given that it was performed on a nearly empty stage, and the main character dies. To adapt the play, they made the creative decision to add indoor and outdoor scenery, narration, and the third Act was altered to have a dream sequence, which would allow the main character Emily to live. Sam Wood was tasked with directing and a fine cast was assembled, which included William Holden as George Gibbs, Martha Scott as Emily Webb, Thomas Mitchell as Dr. Frank Gibbs, and Fay Bainter as Mrs. Julia Gibbs. Read more…
SCHMIGADOON – Cinco Paul and Christopher Willis
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
If, like me, you grew up watching Hollywood movie musicals, then Schmigadoon is the show for you. Of course, everyone knows that musicals are completely ludicrous. No-one bursts into song every ten minutes to sing about what they are thinking or feeling. Random strangers don’t join you in complicated choreographed dance sequences to accompany the songs. The world doesn’t exist in a fairytale environment of pastels and primary colors. But, despite this, movie musicals are magic. They are prime escapism. They are the epitome of Hollywood Golden Age glamor. Gene Kelly splashing down the street in Singin’ in the Rain. Rita Moreno flipping her skirt in West Side Story. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers tripping the light fantastic. Julie Andrews making us fall in love with her twice, in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. And Schmigadoon acknowledges both those realities by presenting the story through the eyes of a couple, one of whom loves musicals, and one of whom hates them, which allows it to appeal to people in both camps. Read more…
BLACK ROBE – Georges Delerue
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Black Robe is a historical drama-adventure directed by Bruce Beresford, adapted from the novel of the same name by Brian Moore. The film is set in Canada in the mid-1600s and stars Lothaire Bluteau as Father Paul LaForgue, a Jesuit priest tasked with founding a mission in New France – the precursor to modern-day Quebec. Faced with traversing a harsh wilderness, dealing with warring local tribes, the weather, and the wildlife, LaForgue enlists the help of a group of Algonquin natives, and together they set off across the vast Canadian interior, where all manner of adventures await them. The film co-stars Sandrine Holt, August Schellenberg, and Tantoo Cardinal, and was one of the most popular and successful Canadian films of the early 1990s. It went in to win six Genie Awards, including one for its spectacular cinematography, and drew favorable comparisons with similarly-themed films like Dances With Wolves and The Mission. Read more…
GODZILLA SINGULAR POINT – Kan Sawada
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Godzilla Singular Point is the 287th television series and/or film based on the popular Japanese kaiju lizard character to be released since he first appeared in 1955. Actually, that’s not true; it just feels like it sometimes. It’s actually an animated TV series directed by Atsushi Takahashi, produced in Japan for Netflix, which debuted on the streaming platform in April 2021. The setting is Nigashio City in the year 2030. Engineer Yun Arikawa (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch in English) investigates happenings in a Western-style house, long thought abandoned. Meanwhile Mei Kamino (Erika Harlacher), a graduate student studying imaginary creatures, investigates a series of mysterious signals emanating from a different abandoned building. These two strangers, visiting completely different places as part of completely different investigations, eventually contact one other when they realize they are hearing the same song, and once they become united they are led into a battle against a new group of kaiju monsters – and one very old, very famous one. Read more…
NOTORIOUS – Roy Webb
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The genesis of the film arose in 1944 from renown producer David O. Selznick and director Alfred Hitchcock who conceived a story of a woman sold into sexual enslavement for political purposes, which was based on the short story “The Song of the Dragon” (1921) by John Traintor Foote. William Dozier an RKO executive was also interested in bringing the story to the big screen and saw opportunity when he learned that Selznick’s production of “Duel in the Sun” (1946) was significantly over budget. He negotiated a purchase deal for $800,000 and 50% of the profits, which specified that Alfred Hitchcock would be the director, Ben Hecht the screenwriter, with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman as the starring actors. Alfred Hitchcock took on the reins to also produce the film with RKO Pictures providing a $1.0 million budget. Hitchcock assembled a cast for the ages with Cary Grant as agent T. R. Devlin, Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman, Claude Rains as Alexander Alex, Louis Calhern as Captain Paul Prescott, and Leopoldine Konstantin as Madame Anna Alex. Read more…
PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY – Dominic Lewis
Original Review by Christopher Garner
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway sees the titular rabbit leave his rural home for the big city, fall in with the wrong animal crowd, begin a life of crime, get all of his animal friends and family captured by a pet store (that apparently just takes whatever animals it can find and sells them), and then save all his friends from their new owners with the help of his human caretakers, Bea and Thomas. The computer animated animal characters in the film are allegedly based on the classic children’s books by Beatrix Potter, though I doubt the plot and tone of this film are anything like those books. The film is directed by Will Gluck, who also helmed the first film, stars Rose Byrne and Domhnall Gleeson as the human characters, and has James Corden, Margot Robbie, Elizabeth Debicki, Hayley Atwell, David Wenham, and Sam Neill voicing the animal characters. It received mixed reviews from critics, but has made over $150 million, which is very respectable given its release during the pandemic. Read more…
THE FISHER KING – George Fenton
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Fisher King is a redemption drama with a fantasy edge, written by Richard La Gravenese and directed by Terry Gilliam. Jeff Bridges stars as Jack Lucas, a New York radio shock jock who inadvertently provokes a listener to commit a mass murder in a restaurant. Years later, his career in tatters, Jack is about to commit suicide by jumping into the Hudson River when he is saved by Parry (Robin Williams), a mentally ill homeless man whose life was destroyed when his wife was killed in that very murder spree years previously. Parry is obsessed with the the Arthurian legend of the Fisher King, and he convinces Jack to help him find ‘the holy grail’; Jack sees this as a chance for personal redemption, and hopes that – by helping Parry get his life back – he will be able to bury his own demons, just as the fisher king of legend was able to have his injuries healed by helping others. The film co-stars Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Ruehl, and Michael Jeter, and was a critical success, ultimately receiving five Oscar nominations, with Ruehl winning for Best Supporting Actress. Read more…
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS – Joel P. West
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
There have now been 25 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it’s getting to the point where they are making films about superheroes that are incredibly niche, from way deep down in comic book lore. Such is the case with their latest film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. The film stars Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu as the eponymous Shang-Chi; Shang is the son of Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung), a fearsome warrior who has been granted immortality due to his possession of the legendary Ten Rings, and now controls a powerful army of assassins and fighters who have been loyal to him for centuries. However, Shang has been estranged from his father for years, and now lives now an intentionally uneventful life in San Francisco’s Chinatown, working as a parking valet, and hanging out with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina). Everything changes for Shang when his father’s minions come looking for him, and he is reluctantly drawn back into his old life when he learns that his father is searching for the gateway to the mythical realm of Ta Lo – and that, if he finds it, the entire Earth could be in jeopardy. Read more…
SINBAD THE SAILOR – Roy Webb
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In March of 1944 RKO Studios producer William Pereira proposed to studio executives to follow-up on the success of their swashbuckler film The Spanish Main (1945) with a new effort in the genre. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who had just returned from a five-year WWII stint in the US Navy, would star in the titular role. Stephen Ames who produced “The Spanish Main” was assigned to produce the film, and he hired John Twist and George Worthing Yates to write an original screenplay based on the eighth voyage of Sinbad. A budget of $2.5 million dollars was provided and Richard Wallace was tasked with directing. A fine cast was assembled to join Fairbanks including Maureen O’Hara as Shireen, Walter Slezak as the villain Melik, Anthony Quinn as the Emir of Daibul, George Tobias as Abbu, and Mike Mazurki as Yusuf. The story draws inspiration from the 8th Voyage of Sinbad, which is set in the early 9th century C.E. and involves the search for the lost treasure of Alexander the Great. Sinbad secures a ship but must forge an uneasy alliance of convenience with villainous Melik who stole his map, memorized it, and then burnt it. After many adventures and overcoming Melik’s tracheary, Sinbad succeeds with his quest to secure the treasure, and wins the hand of the beautiful Shireen. The film was a modest success earning a profit of $300,000. critical success was tepid and it secured no Academy Award nominations. The film’s poor performance pretty much ended the viability of the swashbuckling genre. Read more…
CANDYMAN – Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The 1992 horror film Candyman, directed by Bernard Rose and based on a short story by Clive Barker, was an interesting exploration of urban legends, societal decay, and racism, dressed up with plenty of blood and gore, and featuring an iconic lead performance by Tony Todd as the hook-handed monster seeking revenge on his murderers from beyond the grave. It spawned a fairly decent first sequel – Farewell to the Flesh from 1995 – and a rather risible second sequel in 1999, but this new film is essentially a direct sequel to the original. The film is directed by Nia DaCosta and stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris as Anthony and Brianna, a wealthy young couple, both serious artists, who live in the newly-gentrified Cabrini Green neighborhood of Chicago, formerly the site of the ‘projects’ where the first film took place. Seeking inspiration for his latest collection, Anthony ventures into a dilapidated part of the neighborhood, where he learns of the urban legend where, if somebody says the name “Candyman” five times while looking into a mirror, a spirit will appear and kill the summoner. However, as Anthony digs deeper into Candyman lore, and creates art based on what he finds, he discovers some terrible truths about his own past. Read more…
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