LAW ABIDING CITIZEN – Brian Tyler
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Taking its cue from 70s revenge movies like Charles Bronson’s Death Wish series, Law Abiding Citizen is the story of Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) an everyday joe whose life is turned upside down when his family is murdered in a home invasion. However, when district attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) plea bargains a deal to set the killers free, Clyde decides to take matters into his own hands and dispense his own kind of justice. The film is directed by F. Gary Gray, and features a new score from the absurdly busy Brian Tyler, his sixth score of 2009 following features like Dragonball Evolution, Fast & Furious and The Final Destination. Read more…
AN EDUCATION – Paul Englishby
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A coming-of-age drama set in England in the 1960s, An Education stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a precocious 16-year-old schoolgirl with a talent for playing the cello, who falls in with a crowd of socially privileged, upper class friends, who want to expose her to a richer, more fulfilling cultural life than her drab suburban life would otherwise allow. Gradually, and despite the misgivings of her staid father (Alfred Molina), Jenny falls for the suave and charismatic David (Peter Sarsgaard), who despite being twice her age, promises her a better life. However, the more Jenny finds out about David and his companions, and specifically how they make their money, the more she has to make difficult choices. Read more…
COUPLES RETREAT – A. R. Rahman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Couples Retreat is a comedy about three couples – Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis, Faizon Love and Kali Hawk – who, in order to help save the marriage of their friends Jason Bateman and Kristin Bell, agree to travel to a tropical-island resort for a vacation. Once on the island they meet the island’s patron, Sctanley (Peter Serafinowicz), who forces all the couples to engage in all manner of unusual “therapy sessions”… with hilarious results. The film is directed by Peter Billingsley, still best known for his performance as Ralphie in A Christmas Story when he was 12 years old, and has an original score by last year’s double Oscar-winner, Indian composer A.R. Rahman. Read more…
AGORA – Dario Marianelli
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Agora is a historical epic set in Roman Egypt at the very end of the classical antiquity period. It’s a story about religion, philosophy, the clash between modern civilization and ancient belief, and the life of Hypatia, a pagan mathematician and astronomer who is considered to be one of the first women in history to be held in such esteem, and who embarks on an illicit romance with her slave Davus, who is himself in a quandary: if he converts to Christianity he may gain his freedom, but in doing so will lose the woman he loves. The Agora of the title refers to the central square in the city of Alexandria where the film is set, and where Hypatia was murdered in the year 415 by a mob of newly-converted Christians, who felt she was responsible for the political and religious unrest plaguing their city. The film is directed by Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar, stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia, Max Minghella (son of director Anthony) as Davus, and features a new original score by Italian composer Dario Marianelli. Read more…
A SERIOUS MAN – Carter Burwell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A wry black comedy from the critically acclaimed Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, and set in 1967, A Serious Man tells the story of an ordinary Midwestern man named Larry Gopnik, who watches helplessly as his life unravels around him: his wife Judith has left him for one of his colleagues, his feckless brother Arthur is sleeping on his couch, his son Danny is flunking out of school, one of his students is blackmailing him, and his pretty neighbor is not helping matters by continually sunbathing in the nude. It’s a typically quirky look at life, relationships, and the extraordinary situations in which everyday folks sometimes find themselves, and has been heavily tipped to be a major player at the 2009 Oscars, with lead actors Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick and Fred Melamed all receiving a great deal of critical acclaim. Read more…
ZOMBIELAND – David Sardy
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A raucous comedy-horror with a significant splatter factor, Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin as the four human survivors of an apocalypse in which a Mad Cow-like disease has turned the majority of the world’s population into flesh-eating zombies. As the four brave heroes track across America, only their resourcefulness and their improvised weaponry stand between them and their being eaten by the walking undead… and hilarity ensues.
The film, which has been called the American answer to Shaun of the Dead, is directed by Ruben Fleischer, and has an original score by composer and former record producer David Sardy, who first came to prominence with his Vegas jazz score for the film 21 in 2008. Read more…
MAO’S LAST DANCER – Christopher Gordon
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
An acclaimed Australian film directed by Bruce Beresford, Mao’s Last Dancer tells the true life story of Li Cunxin who, having been born in poverty in rural China in the 1960s, was selected to attend the famed Beijing Dance Academy to study ballet. During a trip to the United States in the 1970s, Cunxin began to question his Communist upbringing, and ultimately defected to the United States, where he went on to become one of the most acclaimed male ballet dancers in the world, dancing with the Houston Ballet for 16 years. The film stars Bruce Greenwood, Kyle McLachlan, Amanda Schull, Joan Chen, and Chi Cao as Cunxin, and features a superb original score by Aussie composer Christopher Gordon. Read more…
TRICK ‘R TREAT – Douglas Pipes
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It’s taken almost two years for Michael Dougherty’s horror film Trick ‘r Treat to see the light of day. Originally filmed in 2007 and intended to be released in October of that year, the film was pulled from the release schedules after the executives at Warner Brothers got cold feet about some of the film’s more graphically violent content, some of which involved children. As a result, the film sat in ‘distribution hell’ for almost two years, unable to find a way onto screens: it played at the 2008 Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, and has had a few scattered showings at other festivals here and there in the meantime, but never made it to multiplex screens, despite the film garnering glowing reviews from all who saw it. It will be released straight-to-DVD in October 2009, just in time for Halloween. Read more…
COCO AVANT CHANEL/COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Alexandre Desplat
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In the world of French high fashion and haute couture, no name commanded, and continues to command, as much respect and admiration as that of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. The film Coco Avant Chanel, directed by Anne Fontaine and starring Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde and Alessandro Nivola, charts the formative years of Chanel before she became a household name, from her early life in the poorhouses and orphanages of rural France, to her first faltering efforts at establishing a clothing business in Brittany, and her love affairs with playboys Étienne Balsan and Boy Capel, until her eventual success in pre-war Paris, out of which would grow into one of the premier fashion houses in the world. Read more…
BAARÌA – Ennio Morricone
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Baarìa may well be the first instance of a director – in this case Giuseppe Tornatore – making a film about what is effectively his own life story. The film is a reflection and love letter to the island of Sicily, and depicts two childhood friends, Peppino and Mannina, who grow up to be lovers. The story spans three generations, from the 1920s to the present day, and is set in the town of Bagheria (known as Baarìa in Sicilian dialect), where Tornatore grew up. The film stars Francesco Scianna and Margareth Madè, and has an original score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, who has been Tornatore’s musical muse for over 25 years, through films such as Cinema Paradiso, Stanno Tutti Bene, The Starmaker, The Legend of 1900 and the Oscar-nominated Malèna. Read more…
PANDORUM – Michl Britsch
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The latest ‘haunted house in space’ film to play on cinema screens, after the genre was set in motion by the likes of Alien and, later, Event Horizon, Pandorum stars Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster star as a pair of astronauts who wake up from suspended animation with no memory of who they are, where they are, or what happened to the other 60, 000 passengers on their enormous space ship. Exploring the passageways of their industrial vessel, the pair quickly realizes that they are not alone on the ship, and are soon engaged in a desperate battle for survival against a deadly foe.
Well received as an effective sci-fi horror, the film marks the first English-language film of German director Christian Alvart, as well as that of his regular collaborator, composer Michl Britsch, whose debut mainstream work this is. Read more…
SURROGATES – Richard Marvin
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Surrogates is a high-concept science fiction action thriller set in a world where the human race has retreated to live in isolation from each other, and only interact through ‘surrogates’ – robots built to look identical to their hosts, and which are controlled by humans from the safety of their own homes. Bruce Willis stars as cop Tom Greer, who must venture out into the ‘real world’ for the first time in years when he gets involved in a murder mystery where surrogates and their owners are being killed. The film co-stars Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Cromwell and Ving Rhames, is directed by Jonathan Mostow, and features a new original score by Richard Marvin.
It’s been nine years since Marvin’s last major theatrical score – the submarine thriller U-571 back in 2000 – but he has nevertheless remained very busy in the TV world Read more…
BRIGHT STAR – Mark Bradshaw
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A lush, but ultimately tragic costume drama based on the life of 19th century romantic poet John Keats, Bright Star tells the story of the passionate but ill-fated relationship between Keats and a flirtatious, forward-thinking fashion designer Fanny Brawne, which would be cut short by Keats’ death in 1821 at the age of just 25. Directed by Jane Campion and starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish as Keats and Brawne, Bright Star has received a great deal of critical acclaim for its lead performances, with Cornish especially tipped for Oscar recognition.
The music for Bright Star is by young Australian composer Mark Bradshaw, who collaborated with director Campion on several short films, and wrote music for several Australian theater productions prior to working on this, his first major feature film. Read more…
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS – Mark Mothersbaugh
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When I first heard about Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs I assumed it was one of those beloved American pre-school children’s books of which I have never heard, like pretty much everything by Dr. Seuss or Where the Wild Things are, and it turns out I was right. Written by Judi Barrett, illustrated by her husband Ron Barrett, and first published in 1978, it tells the story of an young inventor named Flint Lockwood who builds a machine which converts rain water into food, making him and his town internationally famous… until, unexpectedly, the food that falls from the sky starts to grow to enormous size, and threatens to destroy everything. It’s basically an animated comedy that spoofs disaster movies like Armageddon, albeit replacing asteroids with cheeseburgers; it’s directed by Darcy MacIsaac and Christopher Miller, and has an all-star voice cast featuring the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Faris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, and even Mr. T! Read more…
THE INFORMANT! – Marvin Hamlisch
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The last time Marvin Hamlisch had a movie in theaters – ANY movie – was in 1996, when he scored the Barbra Streisand vehicle The Mirror Has Two Faces, almost 13 years ago. The younger generation of film music fans who grew up listening to scores from the 2000s might be forgiven for not knowing that Hamlisch, in the 1970s, was one of the bonafide stars of the soundtrack world. He was the youngest student ever accepted at the acclaimed Juilliard School of music in 1951 when aged just seven, and worked on a slew of hit movies in the 1970s, scoring the likes of “The Sting”, “The Way We Were”, “Save the Tiger” and even a Bond movie, “The Spy Who Loved Me”, while simultaneously writing hit songs like “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”, “Nobody Does It Better”, “Life Is What You Make It”, and of course “The Way We Were” for Streisand herself. He won three Oscars, and was nominated for nine more, before effectively disappearing off the film music map. Now, after a decade away (during which he wrote the hit Broadway musicals The Goodbye Girl and The Sweet Smell of Success), he’s back with a brand new score for The Informant!, the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh. Read more…
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