Archive
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING – Adam Gorgoni
Original Review by Clark Douglas:
“Do you think people will still be reading your work in 100 years?” “I wonder whether people will still be reading in 100 years.”
That statement represents the heart of “Starting Out in the Evening”, one of the saddest and most reflective films of 2007. It is being promoted as a must-see piece of Oscar bait (Frank Langella’s performance is getting some attention), it is being promoted as a May-December love story, it is being promoted as an interesting human drama. However, it is not really being promoted as what it is, which is a quiet meditation on writers and the world of literature. There is a sad irony that would suggest that the reason the film is being promoted this way has something to do with the fact that most people simply aren’t interested in literature anymore. Read more…
BEOWULF – Alan Silvestri
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The story of Beowulf is a classic of English literature, and the oldest single surviving work of Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, having been written roughly in the year 900 by an unknown author. It deals with a noble Scandinavian warrior, the Beowulf of the title, who ventures from his homeland to come to the aid of Danish King Hroðgar, whose kingdom is being threatened by repeated attacks from an evil beast named Grendel. This film version of the classic tale has been brought to the screen by director Robert Zemeckis, using the same rotoscoped motion capture technique he used on The Polar Express. The cast of actors providing the movements include Ray Winstone as Beowulf, Crispin Glover as Grendel, Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s mother, Anthony Hopkins as King Hroðgar, and Robin Wright Penn as Queen Wealtheow. Read more…
MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM – Alexandre Desplat, Aaron Zigman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most gratifying things in any industry is to have the respect of your peers; for Aaron Zigman, working on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium must be one of the most gratifying projects of his career to date. French composer Alexandre Desplat was the composer first hired to work on this film (he was brought in very early in the project to compose some brief thematic material to be performed on-screen). However, when his scoring duties on Lust Caution and The Golden Compass clashed with post-production on this film, Desplat found himself unable to finish the task – so he specifically requested that Aaron Zigman be brought in to work with his themes, and flesh them out into a final score. The finished product is truly magical – a perfect amalgam of the two composer’s styles, which stands as one of the most enjoyable and excellent fantasy scores of 2007. Read more…
FRED CLAUS – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Why are Christmas films always so dark and gloomy? Every year, I find myself asking this same question. Christmas is supposedly a time of cheer and goodwill and warmth and so on, but ever since Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol”, we’ve had holiday stories centered around very unpleasant people who only find redemption and happiness during the final moments. “Fred Claus” is another one of these dour Christmas tales, and one of the least effective ones I have ever seen. The movie is 45% gloom, 45% saccharine Hallmark material, and 10% worldly wisecracking. Not only is this a most unsuccessful mix of ingredients, there’s simply no humor to be found. Read more…
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN – Carter Burwell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I hesitate to write about “No Country for Old Men”, because I fear my words can’t do it justice. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a motion picture. It is a film that is frightening and breathtaking, crafted with enormous levels of skill by two very gifted filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen. The Coen Brothers have been making very good and sometimes great films for a couple of decades now, and in the past few years some began to wonder if they had lost their touch. “Intolerable Cruelty” and “The Ladykillers” seemed to be missing the magic that the Coens brought to their films. “No Country for Old Men” brings them back to the front of the battlefield with a mighty vengeance. This is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time, kids. Read more…
AMERICAN GANGSTER – Marc Streitenfeld
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2007, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is an intense look at the life of 1970s New York drug dealer Frank Lucas, and the determined New Jersey detective who finally brought him to justice. Headlining the cast are heavyweight actors Denzel Washington, who gives Frank Lucas a unnerving sense of gentlemanly charisma crossed with ruthless violence, and Russell Crowe, whose performance as detective Richie Roberts is simultaneously vulnerable and obsessive, almost mirror-imaging Washington’s polite and refined criminal. With a supporting cast that also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante and Carla Gugino, and with the critics hailing it as one of the potential main players as the 2007 Oscars, it is perhaps surprising to see such a high profile film being scored by a relative unknown: Marc Streitenfeld. Read more…
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD – Carter Burwell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
2007 has seemed like a bit of a dismal year at the movies for most of it’s duration, but during the final stretch, masterpieces continue to trickle in. One of the latest is director Sidney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”, a non-linear crime story. If the name Sidney Lumet sounds familiar, it should… he’s been directing high-quality dramatic films for some fifty years now, a remarkable feat. If you’re any kind of movie fan, surely you’ve seen some of his work… “Twelve Angry Men”, “Serpico”, “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Network” are among his achievements. However, his career was generally considered to be coming to a quiet close by many critics, as Lumet turned out decent but generally middling efforts like “Find Me Guilty”. The Academy Awards gave Lumet the Lifetime Achievement Award, speeches were made, and everyone moved on. Read more…
30 DAYS OF NIGHT – Brian Reitzell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
An angry, vicious beast of a horror film, 30 Days of Night is a vampire movie with a difference. Based on the popular graphic novel by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, and directed by David Slade, the film stars Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Mark Boone Junior as inhabitants of a small Alaskan fishing town who, each year, must endure ‘thirty days of night’ when the sun dips below the Arctic horizon and doesn’t re-appear for a month. Usually, life goes on as normal – but during this particular period of perpetual twilight, things go horribly wrong when the town is attacked by a gang of shrieking, brutal vampires led by the mysterious Stranger (Ben Foster) and the ghastly Marlow (Danny Huston), who seem intent on turning a once-peaceful community into a blood-soaked human buffet with an orgy of death and violence. Read more…
THE COMEBACKS – Christopher Lennertz
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A comedy that spoofs the inspirational sports movies like Rudy and Miracle, The Comebacks tells the story of an out-of-luck coach named Lambeau Fields (David Koechner), who takes a rag-tag bunch of college misfits and drives them towards the football championships – and, in the process, discovers that he is a winner after all by redeeming himself, and saving his relationship with his family and friends. The film is directed by Tom Brady (no, not the New England Patriots quarterback – although that would have been funny!) and co-stars Carl Weathers, Melora Hardin and Matthew Lawrence. Read more…
GONE BABY GONE – Harry Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In the beginning, around the time of Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck was seen to be one of the brightest young stars in Hollywood. He put in a scintillating supporting performance in that film, won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay with his childhood friend Matt Damon, and looked to be well on his way to becoming one of the young leading lights of the film industry. However, while the box office takings remained high, the critical acclaim for Affleck quickly vanished: his unfortunate performances in movies like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil and Gigli made people forget just what a talented individual he really is. It’s interesting that, with Gone Baby Gone, he’s gone some way to getting some of that acclaim back. Read more…
O JERUSALEM – Stephen Endelman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
An ambitious, expansive drama about the creation of the modern Israeli nation in 1948, O Jerusalem attempts to condense decades of political turmoil, ethnic tension and social upheaval into a workable feature movie by using it as a backdrop for an allegorical tale of two American friends – one Jewish, one Arab – whose lives are forever altered by the political ramifications of the time. Directed by Elie Chouraqui and starring JJ Field, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ian Holm as Ben Gurion, and Tovah Feldshuh as Golda Meir, the film somewhat surprisingly slipped below the cinematic radar, despite its talented cast and important subject matter. Read more…
RESERVATION ROAD – Mark Isham
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One thing I’ve never been fond of is Mark Isham’s synth writing. Give him an orchestra, and I’m putty in his hands; let him loose with electronics – like they did on scores like Blade and Timecop and Crash – and I generally loose interest pretty quickly. Such was the case with Reservation Road, the latest film from Irish director Terry George. Based on the book of the same title by John Burnham Schwartz, the film deals with the aftermath of a tragic car accident on the titular highway, in which two fathers – Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo – are forced to deal with the death of a 10-year-old boy. The film also stars Oscar winning actresses Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino. Read more…
THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE – Johan Söderqvist, Gustavo Santaolalla
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s been a popular pastime, of late, amongst film music aficionados, to engage in the new sport of Santaolalla-bashing. Ever since the Argentinean won back-to-back Best Score Oscars, for Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Babel in 2006, fans of the traditional orchestral score have been up in arms, decrying his popularity and success as both inexplicable and downright appalling. I have to admit, my voice has often joined those criticizing Santaolalla’s scoring techniques. So, let me step back for a moment, and consider things with a more level head. He is an excellent guitarist, of that there is no doubt, bringing a level of delicacy and intimacy to his performances which is quite lovely. He can write a decent enough tune, and he does have enough basic dramatic sense to understand what his films need, and how to provide it. Read more…
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE – Craig Armstrong, A. R. Rahman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The first Elizabeth movie, released in 1998, was a critical and a commercial success, receiving glowing reviews from the mainstream media, and being honored with Oscar nominations in numerous categories, including one for its composer David Hirschfelder. The first Elizabeth movie told the story of the early years following young Elizabeth’s coronation as the Queen of England, concluding with her betrayal by her lover Robert Dudley and her assumption of the iconic “Virgin Queen” persona. This “sequel” tells the story of what happened during the next years of her reign. Read more…
WE OWN THE NIGHT – Wojciech Kilar
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I want to watch “Mad Dog and Glory” again. Sure, I’ve seen it a couple times before, but it’s worth seeing again. There’s this one moment that I love to pieces. Robert De Niro is a cop, and he’s investigating a crime scene, inspecting a dead body. As he does the inspection, a flurry of whimsy overtakes him, and he lip-synchs to Louis Prima’s classic “I Ain’t Got Nobody”. It doesn’t really fit with the tone of the rest of the film, but it’s such a wonderful moment, I’m quite glad it’s there. But why am I talking about that? It’s because the new soundtrack album for the thriller “We Own the Night” contains that song, and it made me think of that, and I wanted to mention it. Go rent that movie if you haven’t seen it, it’s a little gem. Read more…
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