Archive
PRESENCE – Zack Ryan
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Presence is the latest film from the highly eclectic filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, whose efforts over the years have veered from the mainstream (Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Magic Mike), to the arthouse (Sex Lies and Videotape, Solaris), to the boldly experimental (The Girlfriend Experience). Presence sort of blurs the lines between all three; essentially a meditation on death and grief dressed up with horror/thriller overtones, the film is told from the point of view of ‘the presence,’ a spectral poltergeist-like figure that haunts a house that has just become the new home of a suburban family – mom Lucy Liu, dad Chris Sullivan, and their children Callina Liang and Eddy Maday. To reveal more about the plot would be an injustice, suffice to say that the film has been broadly praised for its technical elements, its performances, and for the philosophical undertones of writer David Koepp’s screenplay. Read more…
THE ROSE TATTOO – Alex North
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Renowned director Hal Wallis saw opportunity with the Broadway production of “The Rose Tattoo” by Tennessee Williams, which opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York on February 3, 1951, ran for 306 performances, and won four Tony Awards. He stated in his memoirs that he saw its premiere and “knew at once that I had to buy it. It was sure to be a great success. Audiences would identify with its earthiness, its sexuality, its deeply felt emotions and naturalistic dialogue.” He purchased the film rights, and sold his vision to Paramount Pictures, who placed him in charge of production. Daniel Mann was hired to direct, and author Tennessee Williams would write the screenplay. For the cast, Williams was insistent on Italian actress Anna Magnani playing Serafina Delle Rose, and this would be her first English speaking role. Joining her would be Burt Lancaster as Alvaro Mangiacavallo, Marissa Pava as Rosa Delle Rose, and Ben Cooper as Jack Hunter. Read more…
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD – Laura Karpman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT.
Somehow, over the course of some 17 years, we have now racked up an astonishing 35 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the enormously ambitious interlocking series of super-hero films that first began with Iron Man back in 2008. If you also include the 15 or so multi-season live action TV shows, plus the various animated shows and one-off specials, we are now at a point where viewers have to keep track of more than 100 hours of story in order to understand what is happening – and, to be frank, it’s starting to become a chore. Read more…
QUENTIN DURWARD – Bronislau Kaper
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1951 MGM sought to capitalize on the huge commercial success of Robert Taylor in “Ivanhoe” with him starring in another period piece. To that end they chose to adapt the 1823 novel “Quentin Durward” by Sir Walter Scott. Pandro S. Berman was again assigned production with a $2.47 million budget, Robert Ardey and George Frooeschel were hired to write the screenplay, and Richard Thorpe was tasked with directing. For the cast, Robert Taylor would star in the titular role as the hero Quentin Durward, with Kay Kendall as Isabelle, Countess of Macroy, Robert Morley as King Louis XI, George Cole as Hayraddin, Alec Clunes as Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and Duncan Lamont as Count Philip De Creville. Read more…
JUST CAUSE – James Newton Howard
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Just Cause is a psychological thriller based on the 1992 novel of the same name by John Katzenbach, directed by Arne Glimcher, starring Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Blair Underwood, and Ed Harris. The film follows Paul Armstrong (Connery), a Harvard professor and former lawyer, who is drawn back into the legal world when an elderly woman pleads with him to help her grandson, Bobby Earl Ferguson (Underwood), a black man convicted of the brutal murder of a young girl in a small Florida town. Initially reluctant, Armstrong is convinced of Bobby Earl’s innocence after the accused claims that he was coerced into confessing by a ruthless sheriff, Tanny Brown (Fishburne). As Armstrong investigates, he uncovers more inconsistencies in the case and follows leads that point to another suspect, serial killer Blair Sullivan (Harris), who is incarcerated for another crime. However, as the case unravels, Armstrong slowly realizes that not everything is as it seems. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2024, Part 7
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased 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, the seventh and last of 2024, is a massive bumper crop covering NINE scores from across the world, all of which deserve to be considered in people’s end-of-year best lists. The scores include a Spanish animated adventure film, an acclaimed WWII documentary, an Italian comedy-drama, a Hungarian historical epic film, an uplifting and life-affirming Norwegian documentary , a sultry Italian thriller TV mini-series, a Spanish Christmas-themed animated action-adventure comedy, a Spanish horror-thriller TV series for Netflix, and a Japanese drama television series! Read more…
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE – Leonard Rosenman
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Warner Brothers Pictures was looking for a vehicle to showcase their new, young contract actor James Dean. In 1954 they decided that they had finally found it with a 1944 novel by Robert M. Lindner, “Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath”. They purchased the film rights, David Weisbart was assigned production with a $1.5 million budget, Stewart Stern was hired to write the screenplay, and Nicholas Ray was tasked with directing. For the cast, James Dean would star as Jim Stark, and joining him would be Natalie Wood as Judy, Sal Mineo as John “Plato” Crawford, Jim Backus as Frank Stark, Ann Doran as Carol Stark, Corey Allen as Buzz Gunderson, and William Hopper as Judy’s father. Read more…
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD – Alan Silvestri
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Quick and the Dead is a Western action film written by Simon Moore, directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The story follows Ellen (Stone), also known as The Lady, a mysterious gunslinger who arrives in the frontier town of Redemption circa 1881. The town is controlled by the ruthless John Herod (Hackman), a powerful outlaw who has installed himself as the town mayor and who now hosts an annual quick-draw tournament where gunfighters compete to the death. Ellen enters the tournament with a secret motive – she seeks revenge on Herod for the death of her father, a marshal whom Herod had killed when she was a child. As the competition unfolds, Ellen encounters various colorful participants, including The Kid (DiCaprio), a cocky young gunslinger claiming to be Herod’s son, and Cort (Crowe), a former outlaw turned preacher who refuses to kill. Read more…
EMILIA PÉREZ – Clément Ducol and Camille Dalmais
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most acclaimed films of 2024, and the recipient of 13 Oscar nominations, is Emilia Pérez. Directed by the French auteur Jacques Audiard and filmed almost entirely in Spanish, it is a genre-bending mix of ideas: it explores themes involving Mexican drug cartels, political corruption, and transgender issues; it is about redemption and forgiveness; tonally, it veers from heavy drama to absurd comedy, and even includes some action sequences; and, most importantly from the point of view of this review, it is also a fully sung musical containing almost twenty originals songs, each performed by different members of the cast. Read more…
OKLAHOMA! – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Adolph Deutsch, Robert Russell Bennett, and Jay Blackton
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1943 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Oklahoma!” opened on Broadway and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances. Studios began a bidding war to acquire the film rights in hope of capitalizing on the play’s phenomenal success. Eventually Magna Theatre Corporation prevailed, purchasing the rights for an astounding $1 million. It would take eleven years to get the project off the ground as the company insisted on using a new widescreen filming process called “Todd-AO”. Arthur Hornblow Jr. was assigned production with a $6.8 million budget, Sonya Levien and William Ludwig were hired to write the screenplay, Agnes de Mille would stage the choreography, and Fred Zinneman would direct his first, and only musical of his career. A fine cast was assembled, which included Gordon MacRae as Curly McLain, Shirley Jones as Laurey Williams, Gloria Grahame as Ado Annie Carnes, Charlotte Greenwood as Aunt Eller, Rod Steiger as Jud Fry, Gene Nelson as Will Parker, and Eddie Albert as Ali Hakim. Read more…
FAR FROM HOME: THE ADVENTURES OF YELLOW DOG – John Scott
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog is a family-friendly adventure-drama written and directed by Philip Borsos. The film follows the journey of a teenage boy named Angus, played by Jesse Bradford, who is spending the summer with his family in a remote part of British Columbia. While there, Angus befriends a stray dog named Yellow, who has a mysterious past. After a series of unfortunate events, Angus and Yellow become stranded together in the wilderness when a storm hits. As the two navigate the challenges of the wild, they face dangers such as wild animals, the elements, and the need to find food and shelter, and must work together to find their way back to safety. It was a moderate success upon its release in the early months of 1995, and many found it to be a nostalgic throwback to the popular Walt Disney ‘wilderness adventure’ films of the 1950s and 60s. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2024, Part 6
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased 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, the sixth of 2024, covers another five scores from a wide array of genres and countries, including a spectacular documentary score about dinosaurs, a Japanese action thriller based on a popular TV series, and three scores for a trio of acclaimed short films: one from France, one from the Netherlands, and one from the United States, several of which are on the shortlists to receive Short Film Academy Award nominations. Read more…
THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY – Bernard Herrmann
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Director Alfred Hitchcock took a liking to the 1950 black comedy novel “The Trouble With Harry” by Jack Trevor Story and purchased the film rights for $11,000. Hitchcock used his own production company to finance the film, with him overseeing production with a $1.2 million budget. He would also direct and hired John Michael Hayes to write the screenplay. For casting, Hitchcock embarked on an experiment – not hiring any established stars as he believed that many times a big star can hinder the narrative flow of his movie. As such, the cast included; Edmund Gwenn as Captain Albert Weiss, John Forsythe as Sam Marlowe, Shirley MacLaine in her acting debut as Jennifer Rogers, Mildred Natwick as Miss Ivy Gravely, Mildred Dunnock as Mrs. Wiggs, James Mathers as Arnie Rogers, and Royal Dano as Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs. Read more…
SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD – Hugo Friedhofer
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1951 the New York Times declared the novel “The Nine Days of Father Sierra” (1951) by Isabelle Gibson Ziegler a “brief, tender and impressive novel”. Sensing opportunity to 20th Century Fox Studios purchased the film rights and prepared for production in 1952. The project however stalled and in 1955 was reassigned for production to Robert D. Webb and his wife Barbara McLean with a $1.5 million budget. Webb would also take on directing duties, and he hired Richard L. Breen to write the screenplay. Webb brought in a fine cast, which included Richard Egan as Lieutenant José Mendoza, Anthony Quinn as Captain Gaspar de Portolà, Michael Rennie as Father Junipero Serra, Jeffrey Hunter as Matuwir, and Rita Moreno as Ula. Read more…
MURDER IN THE FIRST – Christopher Young
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Every person who develops a liking for film music has a score, or group of scores, which are special to them on a personal level. They are the ones which first piqued their interest, first caught their attention, maybe inspired them to go out and buy a physical album for the first time, and eventually led them down the path to full-blown film music fandom. I have a few of them myself: Star Wars, of course, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. by John Williams. Dances With Wolves, and the James Bond scores of John Barry. Several James Horner scores, including the significant mid-1990s trio comprising Legends of the Fall, Braveheart, and Apollo 13. However, perhaps my most unexpected ‘keystone score’ is this one: Murder in the First by Christopher Young. The film opened in cinemas in England in December 1995, almost a year after it premiered in the United States, and I went to see it at the old Warner Village Cinema in Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield. I have a vivid memory of coming out of the cinema, meeting up with my mum in the foyer, and barely being able to speak because I had been so emotionally overwhelmed by the film, and especially its music. Read more…
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