Archive
PRELUDE TO A KISS – Howard Shore
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A long-forgotten project for then A-list stars Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan, Prelude to a Kiss is a romantic comedy drama directed by the late Norman René, adapted from the acclaimed stage play by Craig Lucas. It’s essentially a more serious and thoughtful variation on the ‘body swap comedy’ genre, and sees Baldwin and Ryan playing about-to-be-married couple Peter and Rita. On their wedding day, Rita is approached by an elderly man named Julius, who requests a kiss with the bride; she obliges, but then she and the Julius magically switch places – his consciousness in her body, and vice versa. Before anyone else realizes what has happened Peter and ‘Rita’ jet off for their honeymoon, leaving the real Rita confused and disoriented in the Julius’s frail body. Eventually, Peter realizes what has happened, and brings Rita and Julius together in an effort to restore their souls to their correct places. What transpires thereafter touches on issues ranging from the nature of love, to living with regrets, and the inevitability of mortality, while also offering some thinly-veiled and (at the time) prescient commentary on the 1980s AIDS epidemic. Read more…
MR. MALCOLM’S LIST – Amelia Warner
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Mr. Malcolm’s List is a new British period comedy-drama directed by Emma Holly Jones and written by Suzanne Allain, based on her novel of the same name. It stars Freida Pinto, Sope Dirisu, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ashley Park, Zawe Ashton, and Theo James. It’s one of those typically genteel ‘comedy of manners’ stories, and in this instance follows a young woman in 1800s England named Selina Dalton (Pinto), who agrees to help her friend Julia Thistlewaite (Ashton) get revenge on a suitor – the titular Mr. Jeremiah Malcolm (Dirisu), London’s most eligible bachelor – who rejected her for failing a ‘requirement’ on his list of qualifications for a potential bride. The revenge comes by way of a long con, wherein Selina pretends to be his perfect woman… but then Selina begins to fall for Malcolm for real, leading her to wonder whether she should continue with the hoax. The story is all very much in the broadest Jane Austen tradition, with perhaps a little bit of influence from the more contemporary Bridgerton TV series, and has been a reasonable box office success on both sides of the Atlantic. Read more…
THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN – Max Steiner
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1941 Warner Brothers Studios decided that they wanted to bring to the big screen a biopic film, which explored the life of one of America’s most beloved writers, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The project was forced to reckon with Twain’s daughter Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, who was fiercely protective of her father’s legacy. Research into Twain’s life was meticulous and screenwriters Alan Le May and Harold M. Sherman eventually wrote a screenplay, which satisfied all stakeholders. Jesse L. Lasky was placed in charge of production with $1.623 million provided for the budget. Irving Rapper was tasked with directing, and an exceptional cast was assembled, including Fredric March in the titular role, Alexis Smith as Olivia Langdon Clemens, Donald Crisp as J.B. Pond, and Alan Hale as Steve Gillis. Read more…
HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KID – Bruce Broughton
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is the first sequel to the smash hit 1989 comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Garry Goodrow, Thom Eberhardt, and Peter Elbling, it finds the Szalinski family moved to Nevada where inventor dad Wayne has a new job at a hi-tech company, Sterling Labs, with his wife, two teenage children, and their new baby Adam. One day Wayne takes his kids to his office to see the prototype of his new invention – a derivative of the shrink ray that caused so much havoc in the first film, but which enlarges objects rather than making them smaller. Wayne tests the ray on Adam’s stuffed bunny, but then accidentally zaps Adam too, who immediately starts to grow to enormous proportions. The film again stars Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Amy O’Neill, and Robert Oliveri, plus franchise newcomers Lloyd Bridges, John Shea, and Keri Russell in her screen debut. It’s a fun, visually impressive family comedy, but was nowhere near as much of a hit as its predecessor, and more or less ended the franchise as a viable money-maker. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2022, Part 2B
Life has returned to world cinema in 2022 following the easing of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and at the end of the second quarter of the year I’m absolutely delighted to present the latest installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world. This article covers five more scores for projects from all over the globe, and includes a French drama, two Japanese animated action films, a German adventure set in the world of horse training, and a ballet-themed drama from Spain! Read more…
STORMY WEATHER – Cyril J. Mockridge and Alfred Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1942 Wendell Wilkie, the 1940 Republican candidate for president visited 20th Century Fox Studio executives as an advocate for the Black Movement. He successfully obtained a commitment from the studio to “Regard the Negro as an integral part of American Life”. The studio affirmed that commitment in 1943 with the production of its first musical with an all-Black cast. It purchased the story’s film rights from authors Jerry Horwin and Seymour B Robinson, hired H.S. Kraft to write the screenplay, William LeBaron was assigned production, and Andrew L. Stone was tasked with directing. For the cast, Lena Horne would star as Salina Rogers and Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson as Bill Williamson, as well as Cab Calloway and his Cotton Club Orchestra, Fats Waller, The Nichols Brothers, Ada Brown, Dooley Wilson, and Katherine Dunham as themselves. Read more…
OBI-WAN KENOBI – Natalie Holt, William Ross, John Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The expansion of the Star Wars universe into live action episodic television began in 2019 with The Mandalorian – which introduced the world to the now ubiquitous ‘baby Yoda’ character – and continued in late 2021 with The Book of Boba Fett, a spin-off series focusing on the bounty hunter character originally introduced in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. This third standalone series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, follows the adventures of the titular character in the chronological period between the events of Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars, after the fall of the Jedi and the rise of the Galactic Empire, when he is in exile on the planet Tatooine watching over young Luke Skywalker, the son of his former apprentice Anakin, now Darth Vader. The plot kicks into high gear when Kenobi is contacted by Bail Organa, the adoptive father of Luke’s sister Leia, after she is kidnapped by sinister forces related to the Inquisitors, Jedi hunters working for Vader. Read more…
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN – Hans Zimmer
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most popular comedy-drama films of 1992 was A League of Their Own, a film about baseball and how there is no crying in said sport. Set in 1943, the film tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which was established when the outbreak of World War II shut down Major League Baseball and the men all went off to fight the Nazis in Europe. With sexism and misogyny rampant in American society at the time, the women who sign up to play are faced with obstacles at every turn – one of whom is Jimmy Dugan, the old ball player who is reluctantly hired to coach them – but though tenacity and friendship, the women of the Rockford Peaches get to live out their sporting dreams. The film was directed by Penny Marshall from a screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and had a fantastic cast including Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall, and Bill Pullman; it was also a great hit, grossing more than $130 million at the box office, and spawning a popular soundtrack album that included two successful singles. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2022, Part 2A
Life has returned to world cinema in 2022 following the easing of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and at the end of the second quarter of the year I’m absolutely delighted to present the latest installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world. This article covers five scores for projects from all over the globe, and includes two French comedy dramas, an animated fantasy from Germany, a Filipino revenge thriller, and a Dutch adventure for children! Read more…
RANDOM HARVEST – Herbert Stothart
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
The genesis of the film arose in 1940 when MGM Head Story Editor Kenneth MacKenna was advised to evaluate renown novelist James Hilton’s latest book, “Random Harvest” for a possible film adaptation. The story resonated with MGM executives as the Battle of Britain raged and the studio purchased the film rights in November 1940 for $65,000. Sidney Franklin was placed in charge of production with a $1.21 million budget, Mervyn LeRoy was tasked with directing, and screenwriters Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel and Claudine West were hired to adapt the novel. A fine cast was assembled, which included Ronald Coleman as Charles Rainier (Smithy), Greer Garson as Paula Ridgeway/Margaret Hanson, Philip Dorn as Dr. Jonathan Benet, and Susan Peters as Kitty Chilcet. Read more…
FIRST LOVE – George Kallis
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
First Love is a romantic drama film, written and directed by A. J. Edwards, starring young heartthrob actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin (nephew of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes). The film tells parallel stories of two relationships within the Albright family, initially following son Jim (Tiffin) a senior in high school, who experiences the highs and lows of his first love with Ann (Sydney Park) prior their respective departures to college. Meanwhile Jim’s parents Kay (Kruger) and Glenn (Jeffrey Donovan) are dealing with the fallout of the 2008 financial collapse, as Glenn has been fired from his job and struggles to find work. These two stories intertwine and mirror each other, offering an interesting juxtaposition between teenage infatuation, and the realities of what it takes to make an adult relationship survive under immense stress. The film has been generally well-received, despite it being very much aimed at the ‘teen romance’ market, with all the familiar beats and story conceits that entails. Read more…
DAMAGE – Zbigniew Preisner
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Damage was one of the most critically acclaimed dramas of 1992. Directed by the great French filmmaker Louis Malle, and adapted from a popular novel by Josephine Hart, it starred Jeremy Irons as Stephen Fleming, a doctor and a British member of Parliament, who falls passionately in love with Anna, his son’s fiancée. Despite the dangers of discovery, and their age difference, Stephen and Anna’s affair continues over many months, until eventually it threatens to tear both their lives and his career apart. The film co-starred Juliet Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves, and the great Leslie Caron, and quickly became notorious for its uninhibited sex scenes, thematic allusions to taboo topics such as incest and suicide, and the deeply committed performances from the cast. Miranda Richardson was especially lauded, received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Stephen’s scorned wife Ingrid, and took home the BAFTA in the same category. Read more…
LIGHTYEAR – Michael Giacchino
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In November 1995 the upstart studio Pixar released the film Toy Story, and kick-started a revolution in animated filmmaking. Within years most of the main studios had their own animation departments and were churning out massive amounts of content for kids, but the origins of the boom all traced back to a simple story of a little boy, his toy cowboy, and his toy astronaut. That astronaut was, of course, named Buzz Lightyear, and the in-movie conceit was that he was an action figure from a movie in that universe that none us of had seen: we just had to accept that it was real. Well, now Pixar have actually made that movie – the Buzz Lightyear origin story that the toy in Toy Story is based on! It’s a classic sci-fi adventure in which Buzz, a hotshot Space Ranger astronaut in Star Command, becomes marooned on an apparently hostile alien planet after suffering the effects of time dilation on his space craft, and has to find a way back home – all while confronting a threat in the form of the evil Emperor Zurg. The film is directed by Angus MacLane and has a voice cast that includes Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, and Taika Waititi, with Evans replacing Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz. Read more…
THE BLACK SWAN – Alfred Newman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Following the massive success of Warner Brothers The Sea Hawk in 1940, 20th Century Fox Studios decided to cash in on the 1932 Rafael Sabatini novel The Black Swan. Production chief Darryl F. Zanuck purchased the film rights as the perfect new adventure for the studio’s star actor Tyrone Power. Robert Bassler was placed in charge of production and provided a budget of $1.494 million. Henry King was tasked with directing, and Ben Hecht and Seton I. Miller hired to adapt the novel and write the screenplay. A stellar cast was assembled, which included Tyrone Power as Jaime Waring, Maureen O’Hara as Lady Margaret Denby, Laird Cregar as Henry Morgan, Thomas Mitchell as Tom Blue, George Sanders as Billy Leech, Anthony Quinn as Wogan and Edward Ashley as Roger Ingram. Read more…
PATRIOT GAMES – James Horner
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Patriot Games was the second film to feature the character Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst and protagonist of a series of novels by Tom Clancy. He first appeared on screen in 1990 in The Hunt for Red October, played by Alec Baldwin, and returns in this second installment played by Harrison Ford. The film is directed by Philip Noyce and is, in my opinion, one of the best political action-thrillers of the 1990s. The story begins with Ryan on vacation in London with his family, where he inadvertently foils a plot to assassinate a member of the British royal family by an Irish paramilitary group, the ULA, a radical offshoot of the IRA Irish Republican Army. With the ringleader dead and the other terrorists in custody, Ryan is given an honorary knighthood by the Queen, and returns home a hero – but things become much more serious when Sean Miller, the brother of the killed ULA leader, is broken out of prison, and vows to exact revenge on Ryan. The film co-stars Anne Archer, Patrick Bergin, James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, and a young Sean Bean, and is a terrific tale that offers an overview of Irish republican politics in the 1980s and 90s, a high level examination of ‘the troubles,’ combined with some excellent action and suspense. Read more…
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