Archive
WAR OF THE WORLDS – John Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
British author Herbert George Wells first published his alien invasion novel The War of the Worlds in 1898, and in so doing probably invented an entire genre of science fiction storytelling. When Orson Welles performed a live radio adaptation of the story on Halloween night in 1938, he famously scared half of the American public into thinking an actual alien invasion was taking place, such was the believability and sincerity in Welles’s performance. Director George Pal brought the story to life in 1953 in what is now regarded a landmark entry into cinematic science fiction. Composer Jeff Wayne wrote a popular and successful musical concept album in 1978, which featured a young George Fenton playing a variety of instruments. Now, director Steven Spielberg has brought the classic tale to the big screen once more in what promises to be the definitive cinematic retelling, with a starry cast and a budget to match. Read more…
LAND OF THE DEAD – Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
George A. Romero and zombies go together like peaches and cream, Tom and Jerry, or peanut butter and jelly. The 65-year old American director has built his career on movies such as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, up to the point where today his name is virtually synonymous with the shambling, moaning creatures of our nightmares. His latest horror effort is Land of the Dead, the fourth installment in the “Dead” series, which stars Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo and Asia Argento as some of the last surviving humans, battling to stay alive in their fortified walled city after the zombies have finally taken over the world. Although some of the previous “Dead” films have included cult-like scores by artists as varied as Italian pop group Goblin and composers Claudio Simonetti and John Harrison, I have never seen their appeal. Although they inarguably suit the bleak nature their films, and though I acknowledge the fact that many of them are extremely popular with devotees of the genre, they have always seemed to me to be too bizarre, too experimental, too much out in left field to be truly enjoyable listening experiences. Read more…
IN MY FATHER’S DEN – Simon Boswell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A searing, dramatically potent, quietly devastating film from New Zealand, In My Father’s Den is the debut feature by writer-director Brad McGann. Based on a novel by Maurice Gee, the film explores the tragic events that befall a small South Island community when one of its long-lost sons returns home. Paul Prior (Matthew McFadyen) is a celebrated but world-weary war photographer who, following the death of his father, returns to his childhood home to seek reconciliation with his brother Andrew (Colin Moy) and sister-in-law Penny (Miranda Otto) and sort out their estate. While exploring in the old house, Paul stumbles across a long forgotten escape: the den of the title, where he and his father once shared their love of life and literature, and where he and his old girlfriend Jax (Jodie Rimmer) explored teenage passions. Read more…
SHALLOW GROUND – Steve London
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Shallow Ground is the debut international feature from young director Sheldon Wilson, a low-budget independent horror movie with lots of good ideas, but a disappointing lack of sense and professionalism. It focuses on a small sheriff station in a remote California mountain town, staffed by three officers (Timothy V. Murphy, Stan Kirsch, Lindsey Stoddart), all of whom are packing up, ready to leave town following the completion of building work on a nearby dam. Their journey is halted, however, by the macabre appearance of a naked teenage boy (Rocky Marquette), covered from head to toe in blood, who refuses to speak, but who emits a palpable sense of malevolence and menace. Thus begins a terrible night for the Sheriff and his deputies, who try to piece together the mystery of who – or what – this boy is, and what his appearance has to do with the unsolved murder of a local girl a year previously. Read more…
BATMAN BEGINS – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The general consensus about the fifth modern Batman movie, Batman Begins, is that the franchise has finally been revitalised. Personally, I always considered Joel Schumacher, the director of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, to have completely undermined the effectiveness of the series, shattering the feelings of gothic grandeur Tim Burton initiated and replacing it with gaudy, neon-lit overkill. In the hands of director Christopher Nolan – whose previous films include the excellent thrillers Memento and Insomnia – Batman Begins is a more introspective film that tempers its large-scale action scenes with a thoughtful, serious edge that marks, for me at least, a step in the right direction. Read more…
THE ADVENTURES OF SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL – Robert Rodriguez, John Debney, Graeme Revell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Director Robert Rodriguez’s career continues to confound me: having wowed the world with his ultra low budget thriller El Mariachi in 1992, and subsequently risen to be a “darling of the cool independent set” with films such as Desperado, From Dusk Til Dawn and The Faculty, he has simultaneously developed a sideline in action-adventure children’s movies, notably the Spy Kids series. Rodriguez’s bizarre duel life had arguably reached its nadir in 2005 with the release of the ultra-slick, ultra-violent Sin City, and this polar opposite film: The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Co-written by Rodriguez’s 7-year-old son Racer, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl is an unashamedly juvenile action adventure starring young actors Taylor Dooley (female) and Taylor Lautner (male) as the titular Sharkboy and Lavagirl, the imaginary creations of a young kid named Max (Cayden Boyd), who spends most of his time daydreaming up adventures for his super-heroes to have. However, one day, Sharkboy and Lavagirl appear in real life, and bring Max to their home of Planet Drool, which is apparently being destroyed, and only he can save it… It’s a perfect childhood fantasy, and wholesome entertainment for younger kids, but much has been made of the fact that Rodriguez has filmed significant portions of it in rather shoddy 3-D, a cinematic technology that should have been consigned to history a decade ago. Nevertheless, I won’t personally be venturing to the cinema to confirm or deny this for myself, having suffered enough during Spy Kids 3. Read more…
MR. & MRS. SMITH – John Powell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the kind of high-concept action movies that Hollywood often unleashes during the summer months, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a knockabout action-comedy from director Doug Liman. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie star as happily married couple John and Jane Smith who, unbeknownst to each other, work as assassins for rival firms. For a while, and with the exception of the occasional trip to a marriage guidance counsellor, all is rosy in the suburban Smith household – until, one day, two different clients hire them to eliminate the same target, and the pair discover the truth about each other. With their covers blown, all hell breaks loose, initiating the mother of all domestics… Read more…
CINDERELLA MAN – Thomas Newman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Cinderella Man is a wonderful example of everything that is great and everything that is so frustrating about Thomas Newman’s music. As he has proved in the past through scores such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Meet Joe Black and others, there are few finer composers than Newman when it comes to delivering a big emotional pay-off. The problem is that he does it so rarely that, with each new score, you are never sure whether the right buttons are going to be pressed the first time you slip the CD into the player. Tedious scores such as White Oleander, The Salton Sea and In the Bedroom showed plenty of innovation, but very little “enjoyment”, despite having the potential to sit atop his impressive filmography. Fortunately Cinderella Man falls in the camp of the former scores, although it does lack the thematic beauty and emotional impact of some of his better-known works. Read more…
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS – Cliff Eidelman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Every time I see Cliff Eidelman’s name on a poster or a press release for a new film, I hope beyond hope that, finally, this could be film which rekindles the embers of a career which shone so brightly in the early 1990s, but which have in recent years been little more than a dim glow. Since his magnificent entrance into the film music world, Eidelman has gradually been slipping beneath the film music radar, ignored by the Hollywood mainstream and having to be content with scraps from the big league table, and the faith of independent directors who recognize – or remember – his immense talent. Of late he has fallen foul of that terrible composers’ curse, being pigeonholed as a “chick flick” man, whose remit is to write variations on the dreaded “sensitive piano theme”. Such is the case with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Read more…
THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN’S APOCALYPSE – Joby Talbot
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Regular readers of Movie Music UK will know by now that I am a huge fan of the BBC TV series The League of Gentlemen, an unremittingly twisted comedy creation which follows the lives of the inhabitants of fictional English town of Royston Vasey. Having built up something of a cult following since its debut in 1999, it was to be expected that a cinematic spin-off would follow – and so we have The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, a deliciously dark satire with hints of Hammer horror and even time travel! Directed by regular TV helmsman Steve Bendelack, Apocalypse begins when the inhabitants of Royston Vasey discover that they are fictional creations, dreamed up by the twisted imaginations of writers Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reese Shearsmith. Read more…
STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH – John Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
After 28 years, six movies, and almost $2 billion in combined grosses, the Star Wars saga has finally come full circle with the release of the third installment of director George Lucas’s “prequel” trilogy, Revenge of the Sith. Essentially acting as a bridge between the last film, Attack of the Clones, and the events of the original 1977 classic Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith tells the story of the Empire’s rise to power: how the Imperial Senate becomes the sole domain of Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), how the last of the old Jedi Knights are driven from power and vanquished in battle, how Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) betrays his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and is turned to the dark side of the force by Darth Sidious, eventually becoming the evil and feared Darth Vader; and how Padme (Natalie Portman), Anakin’s wife, secretly gives birth to twin children – named Luke and Leia – who will ultimately become the only hope for a galaxy in the iron grip of its new, ruthless rulers. Read more…
MINDHUNTERS – Tuomas Kantelinen
Original Review by Peter Simons
After David Julyan was relieved of his scoring duties on Renny Harlin’s psychological thriller Mindhunters, Finnish composer Tuomas Kantelinen was brought in for what appeared to be a last-minute replacement job. Within three weeks he wrote and recorded an 80-minute orchestral score. It’s hardly ever a pretty sight to see a composer’s work getting rejected, especially when it’s a young and promising composer like Julyan. The redeeming factor here is that Kantelinen himself is a marvelous but unknown composer who really deserves his big break. However, Renny Harlin’s career today isn’t what it used to be. The days of Cliffhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight have long since passed. Though I personally found his Cutthroat Island to be a superbly entertaining movie, most of the world didn’t care for a female pirate roaming the high seas. The movie bankrupted Carolco and ruined Harlin’s career. Unfortunately for Harlin, his latest thriller doesn’t appear to be the solid pic he’d need for the audience to restore their faith in him. Mindhunters was supposed to be released in the fall of 2003, but currently holds an uncertain release date for September 2004, having been bumped at least three times. With each time the film is delayed, it gets less likely the movie will ever play in theatres at all. This is particularly unfortunate for Kantelinen, whose complex and exciting score for this potential blockbuster could’ve been his ticket out of Finland. Read more…
CRASH – Mark Isham
Original Review by Peter Simons
The first film directed by Paul Haggis, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Million Dollar Baby, is Crash, a dramatically potent contemporary ensemble piece about life, love and racism in Los Angeles. The film’s stellar cast includes such famous names as Matt Dillon as a veteran LAPD cop, Don Cheadle as a detective investigating a seemingly racially-motivated murder, Brendan Fraser as the local District Attorney, Sandra Bullock as the DA’s wife, and Thandie Newton as an innocent bystander whose accusations of racial and sexual harassment sets of a chain reaction which has repercussions for all. Crash has become one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2005, having been lauded for its intricate storyline, convincing performances, and bravery in tackling a difficult and controversial subject with a mixture of sensitivity and power. Read more…
HOUSE OF WAX – John Ottman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
I realize the statement I’m about to make is a very sweeping generalization, but I’m finding that I don’t “get” John Ottman. When he first burst onto the scene back in 1995 with his score for The Usual Suspects, I was one among many who considered him to be a truly fresh and original talent in film music. Subsequent scores such as Incognito, Snow White, Apt Pupil and Goodbye Lover maintained the high standards, but recently I have been finding myself growing more and more disinterested in his music, and I can’t quite out my finger on the reason why. X-Men 2 was OK, and Gothika and Hide and Seek were competent but little more, but his music of late has been developing a disturbing “samey” quality that continues from project to project. While it’s important to have a voice of your own, it’s also important to have the compositional ability to switch genres effectively, and I still find it amazing how Ottman continues get himself attached to massive franchises like X-Men, Fantastic Four and the upcoming Superman Returns without really (in my opinion) showing himself to have a great deal of range. Read more…
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN – Harry Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
As the first “major” epic of 2005, much was expected of director Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven, a would-be sweeping tale of love and honor during the time of the Crusades. Orlando Bloom plays Balian, a young blacksmith in 11th century France who is in mourning having recently buried his wife and child. Into his life during this dark period comes Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), Balian’s estranged father, who has decided to make himself known to his only son. Having agreed to make a journey to Jerusalem to atone for his sins, and having finally made his peace with his with father, a battle on the road to Messina leaves Godfrey mortally wounded. As the new Baron of Ibelin, Balian arrives in Jerusalem allied to the leper king, Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), and the Lord Marshall, Tiberias (Jeremy Irons), and quickly makes an enemy in the shape of Templar knight Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) – a rift made greater when Balian has an affair with Guy’s wife, Sibylla (Eva Green). Meanwhile, in the lands surrounding the Holy City, the Arab leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) is massing an army of 200,000 men to take back Jerusalem from the Christians who have occupied it for 100 years. Read more…
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