Archive
THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU – Ludwig Göransson
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT.
Following the conclusion of the 9-movie saga, which ended in 2019 with The Rise of Skywalker, the Star Wars universe found a new home on television. Shows such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and Skeleton Crew all deepened the lore of the Star Wars world, but arguably the most successful of the TV shows was The Mandalorian, which debuted in 2019. The show is set five years after the events of the 1983 film Return of the Jedi and focuses on Din Djarin, a Mandalorian warrior and bounty hunter who is hired by what is left of the Galactic Empire to retrieve a “package,” which turns out to be a Force-sensitive baby belonging to the same species as Jedi Master Yoda. Instead of turning the child – whose name is eventually revealed to be Grogu – over to Imperial forces, Djarin goes on the run to protect the infant, getting into adventures, and eventually becoming his surrogate father. Read more…
TWISTER – Mark Mancina
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The summer of 1996 contained some of the best and most crowd-pleasing blockbuster movies of the entire decade, and the one that kick-started the trend was Twister. Directed by Jan de Bont and written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, it stars Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as Jo Harding and her estranged husband Bill, both meteorologists and tornado researchers, who reunite during a massive storm outbreak in Oklahoma. Along with a ragtag team of eccentric storm chasers – played by character actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Jeremy Davies, and Oscar-nominated director Todd Field – and with Bill’s entirely unprepared new fiancée Melissa (Jami Gertz) along for the ride, they race to deploy “Dorothy,” an experimental device designed to collect data from inside a tornado, while facing competition from a rival group of storm chasers led by the smarmy Jonas (Cary Elwes). As increasingly powerful tornadoes form, Jo and Bill must confront both the dangers of the storms and the unresolved tensions in their relationship. Read more…
THE SHEEP DETECTIVES – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Sheep Detectives is a comedy murder mystery with a twist, directed by Kyle Balda and adapted by Craig Mazin from the 2005 German-language novel Glennkill: Ein Schafskrimi, published in English as Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann. Set in a small rural English village, the story follows a flock of sheep attempting to solve the murder of their shepherd. The film features a live-action ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman as shepherd George Hardy, Nicholas Braun as local police constable Tim, and Emma Thompson as George’s lawyer Lydia, alongside a stellar voice cast including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, and Brett Goldstein as the various ovine sleuths. This is Balda’s first live-action film – his previous work comprises various instalments in the animated Despicable Me and Minions franchises – and it also represents a significant tonal shift for Mazin, who recently received multiple Emmy nominations for his much more serious work on the television series Chernobyl and The Last of Us. Read more…
3:10 TO YUMA – George Duning
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The original story for 3:10 to Yuma was the brainchild of writer-producer David Heilweil, who adapted the 1953 short story of the same name written by crime author Elmore Leonard. He offered it to producer Robert Aldrich and his production company, who liked it enough to commission a screenplay by Halsted Welles. Yet the company was in need of cash, and so Aldrich sold the screenplay and film rights to Columbia Pictures for $100,000. Heilweil was assigned as producer, and Delmer Daves was tasked with directing. A creative decision was made to shoot the film in black and white using red filters on the camera lens, which afforded the picture a more arid and parched appearance. A fine cast was recruited, including Glenn Ford as Ben Wade, Van Heflin as Dan Evans, Leora Dana as Alice Evans, Felicia Farr as Emmy, Robert Emhardt as Mr. Butterfield, Henry Jones as Alex Potter, and Richard Jaeckel as Charlie Prince. Read more…
NIGHT PASSAGE – Dimitri Tiomkin
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Producer Aaron Rosenberg decided that he wanted to cast the stars of Universal Pictures’ recent hits – “The Glenn Miller Story” (James Stewart) and “To Hell and Back” (Audie Murphy) – together in a Western. He saw an opportunity in the 1956 novel “Night Passage” by Norman A. Fox. Universal gave the green light; Rosenberg would manage production, Anthony Mann was tasked with directing, and Borden Chase was hired to write the screenplay. For the cast, James Stewart would star as Grant McLain, and Audie Murphy would co-star as the Utica Kid (Lee McLain). Joining them were Dan Duryea as Whitey Harbin, Diane Foster as Charlotte “Charlie” Drew, Elaine Stewart as Verna Kimball, Brandon de Wilde as Joey Adams, and Jay C. Flippen as Ben Kimball. Production went off the rails quickly when Mann left the project, believing that Audie Murphy was miscast and that the screenplay was weak. To his credit, his opinion was later validated by critics and the box office. Consequently, James Neilson was brought in to direct. Read more…
Mark Smythe, 1972-2026
Composer Mark Smythe died on May 9, 2026, after suffering a heart attack while hiking with friends on Mount Wilson near Los Angeles, California. He was 53 years old.
Mark Cyprian Ward Smythe was born in Nelson, New Zealand, in October 1972. He was a chorister at Nelson Cathedral, played violin and clarinet in the Nelson Symphony Orchestra, and performed in several rock bands on New Zealand’s South Island before pursuing a career in screen composition. Smythe moved to Australia in 2004, where he completed his MA in Screen Music at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. He eventually relocated to Los Angeles in 2013 to further his career as a film composer.
He received SCL Award and World Soundtrack Award nominations for his score to the shark thriller “The Reef: Stalked” (2022) — helped by his innovative “Vote Mark, Vote Shark!” campaign. His other notable works included the horror films “Daddy’s Little Girl” (2012), “Charlie’s Farm” (2015), “Boar” (2017), and “The Possessed” (2021), as well as the war drama “Unfallen” (2017) and the romantic comedy “Love You Like That” (2021).
In addition to his film work, Smythe was also a composer of concert and choral music. His most notable classical works included the orchestral suite “Flying South,” adapted from his score for a Natural History New Zealand documentary and conducted by Smythe in Bulgaria in 2017, and “Song of the Sea,” a work for choir and electric guitar that premiered at the 2024 Choral Arts Initiative Project Festival in Los Angeles. He collaborated with the LA Choral Lab on several projects and also produced new music for strings and electric guitar at The Night Temple. Read more…
THE SEVENTH SIN – Miklós Rózsa
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
MGM decided to remake the 1934 film “The Painted Veil,” updating the story’s 1930s setting to 1949 to showcase studio star Ava Gardner. David Lewis was assigned as producer with a $1.577 million budget, Ronald Neame was tasked with directing, and Arthur Laurents was engaged to adapt W. Somerset Maugham’s 1925 novel “The Painted Veil” for the screenplay, retitled The Seventh Sin. Things went south quickly, with Neame rejecting Laurents’ script and hiring Karl Tunberg to rewrite it. Producer Lewis soon lost faith in Neame, believing the film was pedestrian and insufficiently updated. He fired Neame mid-production, and Vincente Minnelli was brought in to complete the film. For the cast, Ava Gardner, for reasons unknown, was replaced by Eleanor Parker, who would star as Carol Carwin. She was joined by Bill Travers as Walter Carwin and George Sanders as Tim Waddington. Read more…
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