Archive
ROBOCOP – Pedro Bromfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One thing I really love to see is when a young, new composer gets his first chance at the big time, scoring a major movie with huge box-office potential. Brazilian composer Pedro Bromfman is the composer getting that chance in the early months of 2014, having been hired to score the big-budget reboot of one of the great classic 1980s action movies, Robocop. 38-year old Bromfman is best known internationally for his scores for the popular Brazilian action movies in the Tropa de Elite series, which were directed by his old friend José Padilha; when Padilha was hired to helm the new Robocop, he brought Bromfman with him, and – shockingly – the executives at Sony Pictures gave the green light to allow this absolutely unknown composer to score their $130 million investment. This is the stuff that dreams are made of, where careers are launched and great new talents emerge – except, that in this case, the dream turns into a nightmare once you actually hear the music. Read more…
QUA TIM MÁU/VENGEFUL HEART – Christopher Wong, Garrett Crosby
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Vengeful Heart is a Vietnamese supernatural thriller directed by Victor Vu, starring Phuong Nha, Hoang Bach, and Thai Hoa, one of Vietnam’s most popular and successful comedians. It tells the story of Linh, a young woman who, after almost being killed in a car accident, survives after receiving a heart transplant. During her recovery Linh begins to have nightmares and hallucinations about a mysterious house in a forest. Tortured by her dreams, Linh eventually finds the house, which she finds inhabited by a very unusual Addams-esque family; worse still, it starts to become apparent that the recently deceased daughter of the family is Linh’s heart donor, and the family is becoming more and more attached to Linh. The film was massively successful in its home country, taking in more than 90 billion đồng, making it the all-time highest grossing domestic film in Vietnamese box office history. Read more…
THE MONUMENTS MEN – Alexandre Desplat
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Monuments Men is a World War II action-drama-comedy, directed by George Clooney, based on the real-life escapades of a group of art history scholars who were assigned to find and protect the priceless artworks of central Europe, and stop it from falling into the hands of the Nazis. With an all-star supporting cast that includes Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban and Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville, the film certainly has pedigree, but many people have complained about the unusual tone the film adopts, veering from comedy to serious drama and back again, often within the same scene. The deliberate pacing and intentionally old-fashioned style of the film has also been criticized for being out of touch with modern audiences, but these were some of the reasons I felt the film succeeded: the film is less about moving from one action sequence to another and is more about the camaraderie between the men at the center of the story, and about the importance of the art they are tasked with protecting. Read more…
STAR TREK: NEMESIS – Jerry Goldsmith
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Sadly, the beloved Star Trek franchise took its final voyage with this tenth installment. For the storyline we are presented with yet another morality play, which explores the interplay of upbringing, fate and self-realization in seeking one’s destiny. Following a wedding between Will Riker and Deanna Troi, Picard receives startling orders from Star Fleet Command to proceed to Romulus as the Federation’s peace emissary. Evidently a coup d’état had ushered in a new leadership that wished to reset relations after centuries of unremitting animosity. Upon their arrival Picard discovers that the new leader Shinzon is not a Romulan, but instead a human, a clone of himself. Eventually he realizes a sinister deception as Shinzon’s true motives manifest. Shinzon desires to gain glory first by killing his genetic progenitor, Picard, and then by destroying Earth, a final repudiation of his humanity. Thus from a shared genetic template we see a duality, the polarity of goodness embodied in Picard and the polarity evil with Shinzon. What unfolds is a classic battle between light and darkness, a contest of wills with both Picard and Shinzon using their knowledge of the other and themselves to prevail. In the fateful final encounter, the Enterprise joined by Romulan loyalist ships battle Shinzon’s Scimitar, a cloaked mega vessel with superior shields and weapons of mass destruction. We witness Picard and Shnizon match wits with the most impressive battle scenes of the franchise. The film, while not embraced by critics, performed well and was profitable. The decision to end the franchise was very disappointing. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2013, Part 4
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the fourth installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the fourth of 2013, explores seven outstanding scores from recent months, including a raucous horror-comedy about a pair of bumbling bank robbers who run afoul of a coven of cannibalistic witches in the Basque country, an ingenious thriller about a concert pianist who discovers that a sniper will kill him if he plays a wrong note during his comeback performance, an epic historical television series chronicling the life and reign of Queen Isabella I of Castile, a bittersweet drama about a soldier and the mule he adopts during the Spanish Civil War, a sweeping television drama about a Madrid seamstress whose life is transformed by war, espionage, and political intrigue, an apocalyptic science-fiction thriller in which a mysterious epidemic leaves humanity terrified of venturing outdoors, and a boisterous family adventure about mischievous twin brothers who form a secret gang at summer camp and embark on a hunt for hidden treasure. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2013, Part 3
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the third installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the third of 2013, explores eight outstanding scores from recent months, including a Polish science fiction comedy about a young couple who discover a time-travelling elevator and find themselves face-to-face with Adolf Hitler, a biographical drama about celebrated Polish poet and wartime resistance fighter Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, a hugely popular Polish television series following a group of friends struggling to survive in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, a Russian biographical drama telling the story of pioneering cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and his historic journey into space, a nature documentary about brown bears living in the Carpathian Mountains, a Polish family drama about two teenage girls who discover that they are twin sisters separated at birth, an epic historical drama about a Polish family deported to Siberia during World War II, and Roman Polanski’s French-Polish adaptation of Venus in Fur, an erotic comedy-drama about the shifting balance of power between a theater director and an actress during an unusual audition.
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2013, Part 2
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the second installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the second of 2013, explores five outstanding scores from recent months, including a provocative French drama about a teenage girl exploring her sexuality through a secret life as a prostitute, a psychological drama about a French psychoanalyst treating a traumatized Native American veteran in the aftermath of World War II, an animated family film about a six-year-old boy who invents elaborate stories about his absent mother’s adventures around the world, a satirical political comedy about the chaotic inner workings of the French Foreign Ministry, and an international television thriller about an ornithologist whose attempt to follow the migration of storks from Europe to Africa draws him into a deadly conspiracy.
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2013, Part 1
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the first installment in what will become an on-going series of articles looking at some of the best under-the-radar scores from around the world – music from films and television projects which, for one reason or another, may not receive the international attention they deserve.
This first article looks at eleven scores from 2013, primarily drawn from the German and wider European film music scene. They include an epic German historical drama about dreams of emigration to America, a Czech Holocaust romance, a bittersweet comedy-drama about a young woman living with cancer, a German western about settlers in 19th-century America, a lyrical Turkish period drama about two poets in love, an intellectual journey into the dark history of Portugal’s Salazar dictatorship, a spectacular nature documentary exploring the North Sea, a family drama about the bond between a rebellious teenager and a horse, an orchestral fantasy adventure involving time travel, an ambitious World War II television drama following five young German friends, and an intimate documentary examining one family’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease. The composers featured include Michael Riessler, Atli Örvarsson, Johan Hoogewijs, Karim Sebastian Elias, Rahman Altin, Annette Focks, Oliver Heuss, Philipp F. Kölmel, Fabian Römer, and Jessica de Rooij.
GUNSHI KANBEE – Yugo Kanno
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The annual NHK Taiga drama is a year-long television series broadcast on Japan’s main television network, NHK, and has been a staple of Japanese television since the first one was broadcast in 1963. It is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious television events of the Japanese calendar, attracting the dream of Japan’s dramatic talent, actors, writers, directors and composers – recent previous Taiga dramas have included Clouds on the Slope scored by Joe Hisaishi, Yae No Sakura scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Ryōmaden scored by Naoki Sato. The 2014 NHK Taiga drama is Gunshi Kanbee, an epic story of a young man finding his way through the war-like and feudal Japanese society of the 16th century. Directed by Kenji Yanaka, it stars Junichi Okada in the title role, and has an original score by 37-year-old Japanese composer Yugo Kanno. Read more…
WYATT EARP – James Newton Howard
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Kevin Costner’s original vision for a biopic on Wyatt Earp was a six-part TV mini series. Director Lawrence Kasdan, who had previously directed Costner in Silverado, convinced him that his story was best presented on the big screen. Costner trusted Kasdan and so gave him the reigns to bring forth his vision. Kasdan rewrote much of the Dan Gordon’s original screenplay and fashioned it into an epic American journey of a complex man, an anti-hero whose love of family and kin defined his life and kept him true as he struggled to find his destiny. Set in the years following the Civil War through the Alaskan gold rush, we see Earp in many guises; as a family man, outlaw, U.S. Marshall and finally a prospector. Western folklore reveals Earp to be one of the most iconic men of the old American West, a man who fully embodied its fierce independence and nobility, but also its cruelty, violence and brutality. For the film Kasdan assembled a stellar cast, which included Costner in the title role, Dennis Quaid (Doc Holliday) and Gene Hackman (Nicholas Earp). Regretfully an earlier release of “Tombstone”, a very similar film, diminished “Wyatt Earp’s” impact. The overly long and plodding pace of the film failed to resonate with the public, which viewed it as a bloated “copy cat”, that resulted in both a much-derided critical and commercial failure. Read more…
12 YEARS A SLAVE – Hans Zimmer
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most important and acclaimed films of 2013, 12 Years a Slave tells the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York in the pre-Civil War United States, who is tricked, abducted and sold into slavery. Arriving in the South, the story chronicles the next twelve years of his life as he faces cruelty after cruelty, indignity after indignity, relentlessly barbaric treatment at the hands of a malevolent slave owner, and his struggle to maintain some semblance of dignity and humanity as he strives to find a way back home to his family. The film is directed by British filmmaker Steve McQueen, stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Northup, and features an outstanding supporting cast including Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Alfre Woodard, Brad Pitt, and newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, who is destined for an Academy Award nomination for her soulful performance as Solomon’s fellow slave, Patsey. A brutal, difficult, and at times excruciatingly raw film, 12 Years a Slave is clearly one of the year’s best films, in that it examines in unflinching detail one of the most heinous periods in American history, and features a powerhouse central performance from Ejiofor as the man who refuses to be beaten down by the wrongs done to him. Read more…
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG – Howard Shore
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The second film in Peter Jackson’s new Middle Earth trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is The Desolation of Smaug; it picks up immediately where the first film in the trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, left off last year, with the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) journeying to the ancient dwarf stronghold of Erebor in the company of the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), dwarfish king-in-waiting Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), and his band of adventurers, to take back their homeland from the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). Along way, however, the heroic company must traverse any number of dangers, including vicious orcs, unfriendly elves, a treacherous forest, and the inhabitants of an impoverished lake town in the shadow of the lonely mountain. Meanwhile, much to Gandalf’s consternation, the shadowy threat of a mysterious necromancer continues to grow, looming large over all of Middle Earth, and threatening its long-lasting peace. The film is a significant improvement over the first installment, eschewing some of its comic action material and embracing a more serious tone that befits a story that touches on much more adult themes involving obsession and corruption. It’s visually spectacular, of course (although the orc leader Azog still looks like a bad video game rendering), has a wonderful supporting cast that includes Stephen Fry, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans and a returning Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and – most importantly from this website’s point of view – sees Howard Shore returning to Middle Earth for the fifth time as composer. Read more…
SAVING MR. BANKS – Thomas Newman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The much-loved Disney feature Mary Poppins celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014. It’s hard to believe that it’s been that long since the world first learned the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, or were first able to hear the worst Cockney accent in cinematic history courtesy of Dick Van Dyke, but it’s true, and the legacy and popularity of the film remains as strong today as it was in 1964. The new film Saving Mr. Banks, directed by John Lee Hancock, tells two parallel stories. Firstly, it charts how the film Mary Poppins was made, with the irascible English spinster P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) traveling from her home in London to Los Angeles, where she is wooed mercilessly by no lesser figure that Walt Disney himself (Tom Hanks), in an attempt to secure the rights to her book, which she is loathe to give up. Secondly, and possibly most importantly, it explores in flashback Travers’ childhood in rural Australia, and how her relationship with her loving, caring, but hopelessly drunk and irresponsible father (Colin Farrell) helped inspired her work, and her famous umbrella-wielding nanny. Read more…
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE – James Newton Howard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Catching Fire is the second film based on the bestselling Hunger Games trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, following on from the smash hit Hunger Games movie last year. Jennifer Lawrence returns to the starring role as Katniss Everdeen, a young woman from a post-apocalyptic America who, along with her compatriot Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), survived their participation in the eponymous games – a gladiatorial-style combat tournament involving children from various impoverished ‘districts’, who fight to the death for the entertainment of the wealthy and decadent inhabitants of the Capital, organized as penance for a popular uprising generations previously. In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta have drawn the ire of the corrupt and sadistic President Snow (Donald Sutherland) for defying the Government and for possibly inciting a potential second uprising within the districts; in response, Snow orders a second, special games called the “quarter quell” in which former winners of the games must compete again, in a nightmarish new battle arena designed to look like the jungle. Read more…
FROZEN – Christophe Beck, Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Frozen is the 53rd official animated feature in the Walt Disney canon. Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Disney veterans who previously worked on The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas and Tarzan, the film is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale The Snow Queen, albeit significantly ‘Disneyfied” and turned into a full-fledged musical. The story involves two princess sisters from the kingdom of Arendelle, Elsa and Anna, voiced by Kristin Bell and Idina Menzel. As she grows up, Elsa begins to manifest powers that allow her to manipulate snow and ice, culminating in an incident at her coronation as Queen that leaves Arendelle under a blanket of eternal winter. Elsa flees from her home, distraught, but Anna resolves to reconcile with her sister. Teaming up with Kristoff (voiced by Jonathan Groff), a gruff mountain man, and Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad), an anthropomorphic snowman, Anna sets off into the frozen wilderness to find the Snow Queen with the fate of the kingdom in her hands. Read more…
Shop at the Movie Music UK Store
Member of the
