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Star Wars
After much thought and deliberation, I have decided that, from now on, I will no longer be assigning star ratings to any of the reviews I write. The main reason for this is because, for too long now, I have had the feeling that many of my readers simply look at the star rating at the end of the review and use it as a quick and easy overview of my thought processes about a particular score, when in actual fact I want the meat of the review itself to convey my feelings. Slapping an arbitrary *** rating onto this score or that score really does nothing other than try to distill 2,000 words of prose into a single idea, whereas in reality the differences between three star, three-and-a-half star and four star ratings are subtle and can be swayed by all manner of different criteria.
So, here we go. I hope that the change in thinking will not be too radical for everyone. I do spend a lot of time crafting my thoughts and trying to put over intelligent arguments and detailed descriptions of each score I review, and hopefully the lack of an all-encompassing thumbs-up or thumbs-down will encourage people to really read what I write, (hopefully) understand my point of view about things, and stir up some interesting debate and discussion, both in the comments here and on the MMUK Discussion Board.
Thanks everyone!
— Jon
Passionata Film Scoring raising funds for Oklahoma Tornado Relief
The tornado which devastated parts of Oklahoma the other day has left many people dead and thousands homeless. My friend Phil Watkins, of Passionata Film Scoring, is currently running a silent auction to raise money for the American Red Cross and the Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund.
Please see the following message from Phil for further details on how to donate to this worthy cause. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2012
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 85th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.
In the Best Original Score category composer Mychael Danna won the award for his score for Life of Pi. In his acceptance speech, Danna said:
“I share this wondrous award with our visionary captain, Mr. Ang Lee – there he is! We’re playing this game again! – who guided a truly global cast and crew in the telling of this wondrous, beautiful story that transcends culture and race and religion. In the same spirit, musicians from around the globe came together to breathe life into this music, and I hold this award on their behalf. I want to thank my beautiful Fox family, my mom who’s in a balcony here watching, my father who’s also watching, and most of all my wife Apurna and our two beautiful boys who remind me every day why stories like this need to be told. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Academy. Thank you.”
The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, Thomas Newman for Skyfall, and John Williams for Lincoln.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall”, the title song from the James Bond film of the same name.
The other nominees were Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri for “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi; Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted; Joshua Ralph for “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice; and Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer for “Suddenly” from Les Misérables.
IFMCA Award Winners 2012
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION HONORS MULTIPLE FILMS; “LIFE OF PI” TAKES SCORE OF THE YEAR BUT DESPLAT, ELFMAN, GIACCHINO, NEWMAN, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS ALSO WIN
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. Unlike in previous years, where one score has taken multiple victories, the main film prizes are split equally between 11 different movies and composers, the greatest spread in IFMCA history.
The award for Score of the Year goes to Canadian composer MYCHAEL DANNA for his score for director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI. Danna’s dramatic and beautiful score made use of a large number of Indian musical elements in addition to a traditional western orchestra, capturing through music one the film’s key ideas, the collision of different cultures to form the large, ethnic melting pot from which the lead character, Pi Patel, originates. This is the first Score of the Year award from the IFMCA for Golden Globe winner and double-Oscar nominee Danna, who had never previously been nominated in this category, although he did receive five previous nominations in genre categories for scores such as BEING JULIA, THE NATIVITY STORY and THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS.
Hollywood A-lister DANNY ELFMAN was named Film Composer of the Year for his outstanding body of work in 2012, during which he composed music for such popular and successful films as DARK SHADOWS, FRANKENWEENIE, HITCHCOCK. MEN IN BLACK III, PROMISED LAND and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. Elfman’s music in 2012 ran the gamut of styles and genres, from the soft rock of Silver Linings Playbook to the Gothic atmospherics of Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie, to the subtle Bernard Herrmann echoes of Hitchcock, cementing his position as one of the most versatile and sought-after composers working today. This is the second Composer of the Year Award Elfman has received from the IFMCA, having previously been similarly honored for his work in 2008. Read more…
BAFTA Winners 2012
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 66th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.
In the Best Original Score category composer Thomas Newman won the award for his score for the smash hit James Bond movie Skyfall. In his acceptance speech, Newman said:
“Thank you so much BAFTA. A big shout-out to Monty Norman and the late John Barry for that iconic theme which always makes everyone get up and smile. Thank you to Michael and Greg Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, to my wife Anne-Marie, everyone at Abbey Road and Sam Mendes – brinksmanship! Thank you so much.”
The other nominees were Mychael Danna for Life of Pi, Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, and John Williams for Lincoln.
IFMCA Award Nominations 2012
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS AWARD NOMINATIONS REVEAL MOST OPEN RACE IN YEARS, WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS FOR DANNA, DESPLAT, VELÁZQUEZ, WILLIAMS
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of nominees for excellence in musical scoring in 2012. The largest numbers this year are, for the most part, split evenly between four composers, all of whom received four nominations: MYCHAEL DANNA, ALEXANDRE DESPLAT, FERNANDO VELÁZQUEZ and veteran composer JOHN WILLIAMS.
The nominations for Danna, Velázquez and Williams were each for a single score – director Ang Lee’s vivid shipwreck drama LIFE OF PI, director Juan Antonio Bayona’s harrowing tsunami drama THE IMPOSSIBLE [LO IMPOSIBLE] and director Steven Spielberg’s look at the last months of life of Abraham LINCOLN, respectively.
Desplat’s nominations were for his body of work in 2012 which included writing IFMCA Award-nominated music for the quirky comedy MOONRISE KINGDOM, the storybook animation RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, and the contemporary war thriller ZERO DARK THIRTY, as well as for the 1970s espionage thriller ARGO, the realistic French romantic drama RUST AND BONE [DE ROUILLE ET D’OS], the Italian satirical comedy REALITY, and the French-language biopic CLOCLO.
The other nominees for Film Score of the Year are the ambitious sci-fi drama CLOUD ATLAS by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil (2 nominations), and director Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy prequel THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY by Howard Shore (2 nominations). Read more…
Movie Music UK Awards 2012
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Golden Globe Winners 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the winners of the 70th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2012.
In the Best Original Score category composer Mychael Danna won the award for his score for the fantastical drama Life of Pi. In his acceptance speech, Danna said:
“Thank you Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Well, I felt very very blessed, even before this, and I speak for the whole cast and crew, to be part of the whole Life of Pi experience. A beautiful, special film, a film of a lifetime, and I want to say thank you to Fox for being crazy enough to make this movie. I want to share this award with my director, Ang Lee – there you are! Ang, I will always treasure this voyage we made together. Thank you for guiding us to shore so safely. I want to shout out to my music crew, Rob and Doc, the musicians and singers all over the world that we recorded for this. My mom and dad, the gift of music that you gave me, thank you so much. Everyone at Fox, it’s like working with family, thank you so much. And my agents, Robert Messinger and Vasi Vangelos, my buddies back in Toronto watching, my kids back in Toronto watching, and most of all, in a room full of starlets, the most beautiful woman here, my wife Apurna. Thank you for your years of support and patience and love, it gets me through every day. Thank you. ”
The other nominees were Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil for Cloud Atlas, and John Williams for Lincoln.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Adele Atkins and Paul Epworth for “Skyfall”, the title song from the James Bond film of the same name.
The other nominees were Jon Bon Jovi for “Not Running Anymore” from Stand-Up Guys; Monty Powell and Keith Urban for “For You” from Act of Valor; Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer for “Suddenly” from Les Miserables; and Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams and T-Bone Burnett for “Safe and Sound” from The Hunger Games.
Academy Award Nominations 2012
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- MYCHAEL DANNA for Life of Pi
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Argo
- DARIO MARIANELLI for Anna Karenina
- THOMAS NEWMAN for Skyfall
- JOHN WILLIAMS for Lincoln
This is the first Oscar nomination for Danna, who also picked up Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Life of Pi. This is the 5th Oscar nomination for Desplat,the 3rdOscar nomination for Marianelli, who won the Award in 2007 for Atonement, the 11th Oscar nomination for Newman, and the 48th Oscar nomination for Williams, who previously won in 1971 for Fiddler on the Roof, 1975 for Jaws, 1977 for Star Wars, 1982 for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and 1993 for Schindler’s List.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- ADELE ATKINS and PAUL EPWORTH for “Skyfall” from Skyfall
- MYCHAEL DANNA and BOMBAY JAYASHRI for “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi
- WALTER MURPHY and SETH MACFARLANE for “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from Ted
- JOSHUA RALPH for “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice
- CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHÖNBERG, ALAIN BOUBLIL and HERBERT KRETZMER for “Suddenly” from Les Misérables
The winners of the 85th Academy Awards will be announced on February 24, 2013.
BAFTA Nominations 2012
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for the 66th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2012.
In the Best Original Music category, which is named in memory of the film director Anthony Asquith, the nominees are:
- MYCHAEL DANNA for Life of Pi
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Argo
- DARIO MARIANELLI for Anna Karenina
- THOMAS NEWMAN for Skyfall
- JOHN WILLIAMS for Lincoln
This is the first BAFTA nomination for Danna. It is the 6th BAFTA nomination for Desplat, who won the award in 2011 for his score for The King’s Speech, and the 2nd BAFTA nomination for Marianelli. It is the 3rd BAFTA nomination for Newman, who won the award in 2000 for American Beauty, and is the 14th nomination for Williams, who has won on seven previous occasions: for Jaws in 1975, Star Wars in 1977, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in 1983, Empire of the Sun in 1987, Schindler’s List in 1993, and Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006.
The winners of the 66th BAFTA Awards will be announced on February 10, 2013.
Richard Rodney Bennett, 1936-2012
Composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett died on December 24, 2012, in New York, where he had lived since 1979. He was 76.
Bennett was born in Broadstairs, Kent, in March 1936, the son of novelist and lyricist Rodney Bennett, and singer/pianist Joan Bennett. His mother had trained with Gustav Holst and sang in the first professional performance of The Planets. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Howard Ferguson and Lennox Berkeley, and later in Paris with the avant-garde composer Pierre Boulez.
Bennett was best known to international audiences for his work in film and television, having composed more than fifty scores over the course of his career. He earned Academy Award nominations for Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), and Murder on the Orient Express (1974), the latter of which contained a lavish orchestral suite evoking 1930s glamour and intrigue, and which remains one of his most celebrated. Other notable works include Lady Caroline Lamb (1973), Equus (1977), Enchanted April (1991), the smash hit comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and the score for prestige BBC production of Gormenghast in 2000, which was one of his last major media commissions. Read more…
Golden Globe Nominations 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) have announced the nominations for the 70th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2012.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- MYCHAEL DANNA for Life of Pi
- ALEXANDRE DESPLAT for Argo
- DARIO MARIANELLI for Anna Karenina
- TOM TYKWER, JOHNNY KLIMEK and REINHOLD HEIL for Cloud Atlas
- JOHN WILLIAMS for Lincoln
These are the first major film music award nominations for both Danna and the Cloud Atlas Pale 3 team, although Danna has been nominated for both a Grammy and and Emmy. This is the 6th nomination for Desplat, who won the award in 2006 for The Painted Veil, the 2nd nomination for Marianelli, who won both the Golden Globe and Oscar in 2007 for Atonement, and the 23rd nomination for Williams, who previously won Globes in 1975 for Jaws, 1977 for Star Wars, 1982 for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and 2005 for Memoirs of a Geisha.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- ADELE ATKINS and PAUL EPWORTH for “Skyfall” from Skyfall
- JON BON JOVI for “Not Running Anymore” from Stand-Up Guys
- MONTY POWELL and KEITH URBAN for “For You” from Act of Valor
- CLAUDE-MICHEL SCHÖNBERG, ALAIN BOUBLIL and HERBERT KRETZMER for “Suddenly” from Les Miserables
- TAYLOR SWIFT, JOHN PAUL WHITE, JOY WILLIAMS and T-BONE BURNETT for “Safe and Sound” from The Hunger Games
The winners of the 70th Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 13, 2013.
Richard Robbins, 1940-2012
Composer Richard Robbins died on November 7, 2012, at his home in Rhinebeck, New York. He was 71, and had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for many years.
Robbins was born in South Weymouth, Massachusetts, in December 1940, and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and later later received a fellowship through a fund established by the philanthropist Frank Huntington Beebe to continue his studies in Vienna, Austria. He joined the film production company Merchant Ivory – co-owned by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory – as a musical advisor in the early 1970s and went on to score over a dozen of the company’s films, with his work becoming an integral part of their cinematic identity.
Robbins crafted elegant, emotionally nuanced scores for the overwhelming majority of Merchant Ivory’s most celebrated films, including The Europeans (1979), Heat and Dust (1983), The Bostonians (1984), A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987), Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), Jefferson in Paris (1995), and Surviving Picasso (1996); he received Academy Award nominations for Howards End and The Remains of the Day, and a BAFTA nomination for A Room with a View. Read more…
Marvin Hamlisch, 1944-2012
Composer Marvin Hamlisch died on August 6, 2012, at his home in Los Angeles, California, after a brief illness. He was 68.
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch was born in June 1944 in New York City to Austrian Jewish parents. He was a child prodigy who entered Juilliard at age seven, and then attended Queens College, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967.
A rare winner of the EGOT – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards – Hamlisch was one of the most decorated and versatile musicians of his generation. His work ranged from heartfelt ballads to rousing film scores, from Broadway showstoppers to pop hits, all marked by his melodic gift and deep emotional accessibility. He began his career as a rehearsal pianist for Barbra Streisand early in his career, later becoming her musical director and collaborator. His songs became hits for numerous artists, and his work as a conductor with major orchestras further expanded his artistic reach; his popular songs include “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” and “California Nights” for Lesley Gore, and “The Travelin’ Life” for Liza Minnelli.
His first film score was for 1968’s The Swimmer. He also wrote music for several early Woody Allen films, including Take the Money and Run (1969) and Bananas (1971). Hamlisch’s film work brought him three Academy Awards, all in 1974: two for The Way We Were (Best Original Score and Best Song, shared with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman), and one for his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s ragtime music for The Sting. Other notable film and TV scores in his career include Kotch in 1971, Save the Tiger in 1973, the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977, Ice Castles in 1978, Ordinary People in 1980, Sophies Choice in 1982, Shirley Valentine in 1989, and The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996. Read more…
Movie Music UK Awards 2011
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