THE LEGO MOVIE – Mark Mothersbaugh
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Possibly the most unexpected box office smash of the last several years, The Lego Movie took cinemas by storm in the early months of 2014 with its combination of wild and wacky animation, knowingly self-referential pseudo-adult comedy, and some unexpected pathos towards the end which touches on themes of individuality and self-expression. The film is set in a fictionalized Lego universe, and follows the adventures of Emmett, an ordinary Lego mini figure who is mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary Master Builder, and is recruited by the sassy and spunky Wyldestyle and the blind wizard Vitrivius to help them in their quest to stop the evil tyrant Lord Business from destroying the universe. The film is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller – the directors of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – and features an astonishing voice cast that includes Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Channing Tatum, and even Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams as Lego versions of C-3PO and Lando Calrissian from Star Wars. It’s an anarchic, chaotic mess of a movie that works as pure entertainment in spite of itself by throwing as many rapid fire verbal jokes and visual gags at you as it possibly can, in the hope that if at least half of them stick they’ll have a decent ratio of laughs to groans. Read more…
POMPEII – Clinton Shorter
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Roman city of Pompeii, near Naples in what is now Italy, was almost entirely destroyed in the year 79 AD following the volcanic eruption of the nearby Mount Vesuvius. The city was drowned in up to 20 feet of rock and ash, which killed a large portion of its 20,000 inhabitants, but also preserved many of the objects it buried, leaving an archeological treasure trove which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The movie Pompeii is a fictionalized re-telling of the story of the city’s destruction, told through the eyes of a slave named Milo, a Celtic tribesman who was captured in ancient Britain as a child and brought back to Rome to train as a gladiator. When Milo begins to catch the eye of Cassia, the daughter of a Roman senator, their forbidden love affair begins to cause ripples in the hierarchical circles in which Cassia moves, but before long they begin to have even more pressing problems when Mount Vesuvius begins to show signs of life… The movie stars Kit Harington from Game of Thrones, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Kiefer Sutherland, and is directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2013
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 86th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2013.
In the Best Original Score category British composer Steven Price won the award for his score for the critically acclaimed action/science fiction/drama Gravity. In his acceptance speech, Price said:
“Thank you, thank you Academy, thank you so very much. Alfonso [Cuarón], I share this with you, you inspired every frame of this film, and certainly every note that I ever wrote. Thank you for this remarkable opportunity. To all the musicians and friends who lent their talents to this score, thank you. I get to stand here but this really belongs to all of us. Thank you to all at Warner Brothers, thank you to GSA, everyone on this film for their incredible support. One of the most amazing things about working on this film is that, in telling the story of Ryan Stone, we got to ultimately bring her home and celebrate life, and this is dedicated to the people with whom I share my life – my family. Thank you Mum, Dad, Jenny, sorry I made so much noise when I was growing up. My wife Gemma, our lovely children Amy and Eva, thank you so much, everyone.”
The other nominees were William Butler and Owen Pallett for Her, Alexandre Desplat for Philomena, Thomas Newman for Saving Mr. Banks, and John Williams for The Book Thief.
In the Best Original Song category, the winners were Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for the massively popular “Let It Go” from the hit Disney animated film Frozen, performed by Idina Menzel.
The other nominees were Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (The Edge), Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. for “Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom; Karen Orzolek and Spike Jonze for “Moon Song” from Her; and Pharrell Williams for “Happy” from Despicable Me 2.
KANO – Naoki Sato
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Kano is a Taiwanese sports drama movie, about the Kano baseball team from southern Taiwan, which comprised of Japanese, Taiwanese and aboriginal players, and overcame extreme odds to represent the island in the 1931 Japanese High School Baseball Championship, at a time when Taiwan was still under Japanese rule. It’s an important and famous story in Taiwanese sporting culture – a classic example of an overachieving underdog – with a similar sense of ‘triumph over adversity’ to American films like Rudy, The Natural or Miracle. The film is directed by Umin Boya, and has a score by the popular and acclaimed Japanese composer Naoki Sato. Read more…
HER – William Butler, Owen Pallett
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s difficult to describe Her without it sounding stupid because, basically, it’s about a man who falls in love with his computer – but it’s actually about much more than that. It’s about how loneliness can drive people to great lengths in order to find companionship. It’s about how technology is changing the way humans connect with each other. It’s about many things – but, ultimately, it’s about love. Set in Los Angeles in the near future, it stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, who is in a deep depression after the ending of a long relationship, but who displays a sensitive side in his job, writing emotional personal letters for other people. When a new computer operating system comes onto the market, Theodore is intrigued – it advertises itself as an intuitive entity in its own right, individual to each user, capable of learning. Upon initiating it, he meets Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an upbeat and curiously sexy female voice, who immediately begins organizing his life for the better. Quickly, Samantha displays an insatiable desire for knowledge and to understand human emotion, and as Theodore starts to fulfill those needs, the unlikely pair begins to fall in love. Read more…
A PASSAGE TO INDIA – Maurice Jarre
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
A Passage to India is a novel by English author E. M. Forster, which unfolds against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. David Lean became enamored after watching the stage presentation of the story and immediately sought and obtained the movie rights. He adapted the screenplay himself and secured a stellar cast, which included; Judy Davis (Adela), Alec Guiness (Godbole), James Fox (Fielding), Peggy Ashcroft (Mrs. Moore) and Victor Bannerjee (Dr. Aziz). The story revolves a fateful trip to the Marabar Caves where a recently engaged Adela finds herself captivated and aroused by the beauty and sensuality of Indian culture. One day on a day trek and while alone with Dr. Aziz in one of the caves, she experiences conflicting emotions towards Dr. Aziz, panics and flees. It is assumed that Dr. Aziz had attempted to assault her and he is brought up to trial for charges of rape. The trial serves as both a commentary and a volatile catalyst that unleashes the pent up racial tensions long simmering between the indigenous Indians and the British colonialists who rule India. When Adela finally relents and withdraws her charges, Aziz is set free, but friendships are ruptured and Aziz seems irreparably harmed. Years later Aziz and his dear friend James reconcile, which brings the sad tale to a pleasing closure. The film was both a critical and commercial success, earning eleven Academy Award nominations, which included a Best Score Oscar for Maurice Jarre. Read more…
Under-the-Radar Round Up 2013, Part 5
IFMCA Award Winners 2013
INTERNATIONAL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS; COMPOSERS FROM POLAND, SPAIN, DOMINATE
The International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) announces its list of winners for excellence in musical scoring in 2013. This year’s awards have a real international flavor, with the top awards going to composers primarily from Poland and Spain, but also from France, Japan and Argentina.
The award for Score of the Year goes to Polish composer ABEL KORZENIOWSKI for his beautiful score for director Carlo Carlei’s new cinematic version of the classic Shakespeare story of tragically doomed love, ROMEO AND JULIET. IFMCA member Christian Clemmensen called the score an “epic romance”, and felt that the film “inspired greatness out of the right composer”, while IFMCA member Jon Broxton said that Korzeniowski “is a composer who is not afraid to bring out the deeper sentiments in a film through his music, and it’s so refreshing to hear music from a man who so clearly understands what good film music can achieve”. Read more…
SUNFLOWER – Henry Mancini
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Renowned producer Carlo Ponti and acclaimed actor-director Vittorio de Sica hired screenwriter Cesare Zavattini to create, in the finest traditions of Italian cinema, a tragic love story. For this grand effort they recruited the two iconic Italian actors of the day to play the principles; Sophia Loren (Giovanna) and Marcello Mastroianni (Antonio). After many incarnations and disputes between Ponti and De Sica, a final screenplay was finally achieved. It reveals the story of two lovers caught up and swept away by the unforeseeable and irresistible currents of history. Sunflower, known in its original Italian as I Girasoli, is set in a small town in the southern Calabria region of Italy in the waning months of World War II. Read more…
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…
BAFTA Winners 2013
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) have announced the winners of the 67th British Academy Film Awards, honoring the best in film in 2013.
In the Best Original Score category composer Steven Price won the award for his score for the acclaimed sci-fi action movie Gravity. In his acceptance speech, Price said:
“Thank you, thank you so much BAFTA. My daughters once told me if I was incredibly nervous and terrified at any point I should say their names, so I’m going to do that first. Thank you Amy, thank you Eva. I share this with Alfonso [Cuaron], you inspired every second of this, and its been a huge honor to tell this story with you. I want to thank all of the musicians who played on this score and gave the music it’s heartbeat. Everyone at Warner Brothers, everyone at GSA, all the people on this film who’ve been so supportive. Thank you to my mum and dad for having such a great record collection when I was a kid and starting this whole thing off. But most of all thank you Gemma, my wife.”
The other nominees were Henry Jackman for Captain Phillips, Thomas Newman for Saving Mr. Banks, John Williams for The Book Thief, and Hans Zimmer for 12 Years a Slave.
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
Shop at the Movie Music UK Store
Member of the
MOVIE MUSIC UK 