Archive
THE PAINTED VEIL – Alexandre Desplat
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The winner of the Golden Globe for Best Score of 2006, The Painted Veil caps off a truly remarkable year for 45 year old French composer Alexandre Desplat. His other two major 2006 scores – Firewall and The Queen – were both met with general critical acclaim, and further cemented his position as one of the most exciting composers to emerge in Hollywood in recent years. It’s easy to forget that just three years ago he was a virtual unknown outside of his native country, and that his international stature has been built up over the course of just four or five scores. Read more…
WE ARE MARSHALL – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Marshall University, in Huntington, West Virginia, is a fairly unremarkable higher education establishment, famous for sciences, health studies, technology and engineering, and for Billy Crystal having attended one semester there in his youth on a baseball scholarship. Unfortunately, the school is also famous for the worst tragedy in American college sports history when, on 14 November 1970, virtually the entire squad of the ‘Marshall Thundering Herd’ varsity American football team were killed in a plane crash on their way back from a game in North Carolina. Read more…
CHARLOTTE’S WEB – Danny Elfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s a testament to how well-loved E.B. White’s classic children’s tale Charlotte’s Web is when Hollywood stars of the calibre of Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Garner, Kathy Bates, Dakota Fanning and Robert Redford agree to lend their voices to it. The simple tale of young girl named Fern who saves a pig named Wilbur from the chopping block, and who in turn makes friends with a wise a spider named Charlotte, has enchanted youngsters around the world since it was first published in 1952, and was previously made into an animated film in 1973 with songs by Richard and Robert Sherman. This new version, which mixes live action with Babe-like animal CGI, was directed by Gary Winick, and features a delightful score from Danny Elfman. Read more…
DREAMGIRLS – Henry Krieger, Stephen Trask
Original Review by Clark Douglas
In the wake of “Chicago” becoming a hit with audiences and Oscar voters, there has been something of a futile effort to revive movie musicals in recent years. We’ve seen one disappointment after another: the poorly-cast “Phantom of the Opera”, the entertaining but hollow remake of “The Producers”, and that simply atrocious theatrical version of “Rent”. Not only are movie going audiences not particularly receptive to musicals, it seems there aren’t many filmmakers who know how to make good ones. The latest stage-to-screen adaptation, Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen’s “Dreamgirls”, is an exception. The film may not be strong enough to give the genre a second wind, but it’s certainly an excellent piece of entertainment. Read more…
ERAGON – Patrick Doyle
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The back story of Eragon is an interesting one. It was written between 1998 and 2002 by teenage author Christopher Paolini, and is the first book in a projected three-book cycle called The Inheritance Trilogy. A sword and sorcery fantasy featuring dragons, warriors, elves, dwarves and noble quests, it has been criticized in some quarters for being little more than a mishmash of ideas from other, better sources – and not a very well-written one at that. However, such has been its enduring popularity with young adult readers that the story has been adapted into a multi-million dollar movie by 20th Century Fox and debutant director Stefen Fangmeier, who previously worked as a special effects technician, and received Oscar nominations for his work on Twister, A Perfect Storm, and Master and Commander. Read more…
Golden Globe Nominations 2006
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has announced the nominations for the 64th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2006.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for The Painted Veil
- CLINT MANSELL for The Fountain
- GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA for Babel
- CARLO SILIOTTO for Nomad
- HANS ZIMMER for The Da Vinci Code
These are the first nominations for Mansell and Silotto. It is the second nomination for Santaolalla, the third nomination for Desplat, and the seventh nomination for Zimmer. Zimmer previously won for The Lion King in 1994 and Gladiator in 2000.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- BRYAN ADAMS, ELIOT KENNEDY, and ANDREA REMANDA for “Never Gonna Break My Faith” from Bobby
- SHERYL CROW for “Try Not to Remember” from Home of the Brave
- BEYONCÉ KNOWLES, HENRY KRIEGER, SCOTT CUTLER, and ANNE PREVEN for “Listen” from Dreamgirls
- PRINCE ROGERS NELSON for “The Song of the Heart” from Happy Feet
- HENRY SAMUEL (SEAL) and CHRISTOPHER BRUCE for “A Father’s Way” from The Pursuit of Happyness
The winners of the 64th Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 15, 2007.
APOCALYPTO – James Horner
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
What with all the furore surrounding Mel Gibson, his DUI arrest on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and his subsequent drunken anti-Semitic rant to the highway patrol officers, it’s easy to forget that he remains a truly tremendous filmmaker. Apocalypto is Gibson’s fourth film as director, after The Man Without a Face, Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ. Filmed entirely in the Yukatek language of the ancient Mayans, who inhabited what is now Mexico, Belize and Guatemala for millennia prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the late 1400s, Apocalypto is a detailed look at the lives, cultures and traditions of that ancient civilisation, dressed up as an exciting chase-fuelled action movie. Read more…
THE NATIVITY STORY – Mychael Danna
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
With the festive season almost upon us, what better time is there to look at the history behind Christmas? Director Catherine Hardwicke’s film chronicles the events which form one of the cornerstones of the Christian faith – the story known as The Nativity – and covers all the main elements of the story: the early life of Mary and Joseph in Nazareth, the young couple’s betrothal, Mary’s immaculate conception, Joseph’s visitation by angels, the couple’s arduous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a census, their desperate search for shelter and being told there is “no room at the inn”, Jesus’s birth in a stable and the adoration by shepherds and magi, and the desperate family’s subsequent flight to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod, who fears for his throne following the birth of the ‘King of the Jews’ and orders a mass cull of all baby boys under his reign. Whale Rider actress Keisha Castle-Hughes plays Mary, Oscar Isaac plays Joseph, Ciaran Hinds plays King Herod, and there are significant supporting roles for Shohreh Aghdashloo, Alexander Siddig, Hiam Abbass and Nadim Sawalha. Read more…
Shirley Walker, 1945-2006
Composer Shirley Walker died on November 30, 2006, in Reno, Nevada, from complications following a stroke. She was 61.
Born Shirley Anne Rogers in April 1945, in Napa, California, Walker was a musical prodigy. She had an early start performing as a teenager at various hotels, jazz and art bands in tje 1960s, and later attended both San Francisco State University and Berkeley. She began her professional music career in the late 1970s, and for several years she wrote jingles and composed for industrial films.
Her career in film began in 1979, when she was hired to play the synthesizers on Carmine Coppola’s score for Apocalypse Now, and she quickly established herself as one of the most in-demand arrangers, conductors, and orchestrators in Hollywood, working notably with composers such as Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, and Brad Fiedel. Notably, she is credited for being a major influence on the symphonic style Elfman adopted on scores like Scrooged, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands.
Walker was one of the few female film score composers working in Hollywood during her career, and became one of the first female composers to earn a solo score credit on a major Hollywood motion picture when she was hired to score John Carpenter’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man in 1992. Her work on the animated super-hero film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) remains a standout achievement, praised for its operatic intensity and emotional complexity; this film also initiated her long-standing relationship with DC Animation, as over the course of the next decade she would write music for shows such as Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The Flash, The New Batman Adventures, and Batman Beyond, among many others. Read more…
DÉJÀ VU – Harry Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I’ve always wondered why so many critics and media personalities have tried to pin everything that is bad about Hollywood on Tony Scott. There are plenty of no-talent hacks working in the world of film today, but Scott simply isn’t one of them. He is a director who, without fail, turns in a reasonably intriguing popcorn film with slick production values and a high watchability factor. Has he inspired the so-called “MTV Movie” style of filmmaking, full of innumerable cuts and jerky camera work? Possibly, but when Scott himself is at the helm, it works. However, his recent films have simply been too much for some people, with all the insanely wild visual ideas he lathered over “Man on Fire” and “Domino”. Many people felt Scott needed to be reigned in a bit, to return to a slightly less hyper form. Who is the man to help guide Scott in this matter? Why, none other than Jerry Bruckheimer, of course! Laugh if you want, but it seems that Bruckheimer has helped Scott shape a reasonably-paced, smarter, sharper, more intelligent film than we’ve been seeing in recent years with “Déjà Vu”. Does it have the remarkable energy of “Domino” or the violent-religious-parable intrigue of “Man of Fire”? No, but it’s a better film than both of those, easily his strongest work since “Crimson Tide”. Read more…
THE FOUNTAIN – Clint Mansell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Fountain is the latest film from director Darren Aronofsky, whose debut film Pi was a cult success in 1998, and whose 2000 follow up Requiem for a Dream earned massive critical acclaim, as well as an Oscar nomination for actress Ellen Burstyn. The Fountain, in terms of scope, is his most ambitious effort yet. It stars Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn (again) and is about nothing less than quest for immortality. Jackman stars as pharmaceutical drug developer Tommy Creo, who is desperately trying to save his wife Izzy (Weisz), who is afflicted with an inoperable brain tumour. Izzy is a writer, and has been researching a book about a medieval quest to find the fabled Fountain of Youth, with Queen Isabel (Weisz) sending a Conquistador (Jackman) to New Spain to find it. Intercut with these two stories is a third timeline which takes place in the 26th century, and focuses on a man named Tom (Jackman), who is taking a space trip in the company of a giant tree. Yes, you did read that last sentence correctly. Read more…
BOBBY – Mark Isham
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Hey, good evening ladies and gents, it’s time for a great big exciting night of entertainment, with all your favorite stars! Along the way, you’ll have some laughs, shed a couple tears, maybe learn a couple of things, and most of all, see a lot of the beautiful faces you know and love! We now take you live to the Ambassador Hotel for a great evening of entertainment! Oh, and you’ll also see Robert Kennedy get killed.”
Is it just me, or does “Bobby” feel way too much like “Grand Hotel 1968”, or perhaps an Irwin Allen movie? I’m not criticizing the fact that a politically-charged film dealing with a serious event in American history has a huge, star-studded cast, but I am criticizing the way the movie uses them. Emilio Estevez’s “Bobby” is, at it’s best, a vivid snapshot of a particular time in America. At it’s worst, it’s a cheap love letter to all things Kennedy, paired with some silly soap operas as dramatic filler. Read more…
CASINO ROYALE – David Arnold
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When you think about it in terms of numbers, the James Bond franchise is pretty damn impressive. 007’s screen history reaches back 40 years, comprises 21 movies, and has a combined box-office gross of over $1.3 billion (or $3.3 billion if you adjust it for inflation). No wonder the franchise is considered to be amongst the most successful and important in all of cinema. We’ve had ten directors, nine composers, and now we’re on to our sixth leading actor: Daniel Craig, stepping into the sharp tuxedo vacated by Pierce Brosnan at the end of Die Another Day, and ordering the vodka martini with a broader, brusquer accent than heard in many years. Read more…
HAPPY FEET – John Powell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Australian film maker George Miller has never failed to impress me. His films are somewhat few and far between, but they’re all so brilliant. The “Mad Max” trilogy set the standard for post-apocalyptic thrillers. The “Babe” films are the best family movies of the past decade. “The Witches of Eastwick” is a wickedly funny comedy, “Lorenzo’s Oil” is a tremendously moving medical drama. His segment of the “Twilight Zone” movie blew away those made by Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, and John Landis. He’s found amazing success in every genre he’s touched, so I was greatly anticipating “Happy Feet”, his first attempt at making an animated film. It is a success, but perhaps not quite the masterpiece I expected. Read more…
HARSH TIMES – Graeme Revell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
At one point in “Harsh Times”, one character tells another, “You look like a turd dressed up in a fancy suit”. If you can accept the metaphor of a performance by Christian Bale being the equivalent of a fancy suit, then the same statement can be applied to this movie. It’s second-rate, warmed-over, run-of-the-mill material. It sure is galvanizing, though.
Bale plays Jim Davis, a troubled ex-Army Ranger looking to settle down. He’s applied for a job with the LAPD, has a lover in Mexico waiting to be taken across the border, and despite a taste for the wild side of life, he’s genuinely interested in making a decent life for himself. So is his best friend Mike (Freddie Rodriguez), who has been mooching off his wife’s (Eva Longoria) money for years. So, they go off job-hunting together, but things don’t work out so well for Jim. He’s rejected for psychological reasons, which simply sends him into an even deeper mental meltdown. Read more…
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