21 – David Sardy
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A volatile thriller about the surprisingly dangerous world of counting cards in Vegas, 21 is the latest film from director Robert Luketic. Based on a true story, the film stars Jim Sturgess as MIT math genius Ben Campbell, who is recruited into an elite team of card-counting blackjack players by his professor, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey). Ben, Micky and his team travel to Vegas each weekend and make thousands of dollars with consummate ease; however, despite having been seduced by his new decadent lifestyle, and despite his budding relationship with fellow card counter Jill (Kate Bosworth), Jim finds that the life of a Vegas card shark can be dangerous – especially when he crosses paths with ruthless casino ‘loss prevention’ officer Laurence Fishburne. Read more…
STOP-LOSS – John Powell
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
In US military terminology, a stop-loss is the involuntary extension of a soldier’s active duty beyond their initial end of term of service date – in other words, the powers-that-be force them to return to active duty once their tour is up. Director Kimberly Pierce’s film is an examination of this controversial policy from the point of view of Iraq War veteran Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe), who deserts his comrades and refuses to return to the front lines following the end of his deployment in the Gulf. The film, which also stars Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is an effective anti-war drama, exposing the US government’s apparent disregard for its servicemen. Read more…
SHUTTER – Nathan Barr
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Yet another entry into the annals of the “American remake of an Asian horror”, Shutter is the Hollywood studio version of a 2004 Thai film of the same name. Directed by Masayuki Ochiai, it stars Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor as Ben and Jane Shaw, a newlywed American couple who relocate to Japan when Ben lands a well-paid job as a corporate photographer. Soon after they arrive, while driving down a dark forest road, hit and apparently kill a young girl with their car; later, Ben begins noticing strange white blurs in his photographs, leading Jane to believe that dead girl is haunting them through spirit photography, and may be seeking vengeance. Read more…
BAJO LA MISMA LUNA/UNDER THE SAME MOON – Carlo Siliotto
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Under the Same Moon – also known in its native Spanish as La Misma Luna – is a road movie with a twist, about a young Mexican boy named Carlitos who, following the death of his grandmother, must find a way to cross the US-Mexican border to find his mother, Rosario, who has been living and working illegally in the United States. The film is directed by Patricia Riggen, stars Kate Del Castillo and Adrian Alonso, and features an original score by Italian composer Carlo Siliotto.
Despite having gained a little bit of international fame following his scores for The Punisher and Nomad, Siliotto remains a little bit of a peripheral figure in the film music world, but I sincerely hope that this changes soon, because Under the Same Moon is gorgeous Read more…
DOOMSDAY – Tyler Bates
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Doomsday is a very peculiar, genre-bending British action movie – part Mad Max, part Night of the Living Dead, part Escape from New York – directed by Neil Marshall, who previously made the hugely entertaining Dog Soldiers and The Descent. The film is set in a post-apocalyptic Britain, some years after Scotland has been quarantined due to the onset of a deadly virus. When the virus emerges in London, the corrupt political leaders send Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to Scotland to find a cure, only to find that the country has become a lawless wasteland overrun by vicious punk rock marauders and armor-clad medieval warriors. The film also stars Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowall, and I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it on a mindless, purely visceral level.
Read more…
HORTON HEARS A WHO! – John Powell
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Though far from being a classic family film, “Horton Hears a Who” is far and away the most successful feature-length Dr. Seuss adaptation to date, easily topping the horrid “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Cat and the Hat” theatrical films. The film features the voice talent of Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Carol Burnett, Will Arnett, and Seth Rogan. 20th Century Fox’s go-to guy for animated features in recent years has been the talented John Powell, who returns with yet another energetic effort here.
Powell supplies his trademark blend of zippy themes and slick orchestration, creating a rather entertaining if somewhat familiar listening experience. The themes are engaging enough, but Powell grabs the listener’s attention with the steady stream of eclectic curveballs he throws into the mix Read more…
SLEEPWALKING – Christopher Young
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
2007 was one of the best years of Christopher Young’s career in terms of his international profile, when he scored two of the highest grossing films of his career, Spider-Man 3 and Ghost Rider. Sleepwalking is a return to his indie roots; a coming-of-age drama directed by William Maher, the film stars Anna Sophia Robb as Tara, an 11 year old girl struggling to come to terms with her abandonment by her dropout mother Joleen (Charlize Theron), and the subsequent impact on Tara’s older brother James (Nick Stahl), who is left to pick up the pieces. As befits the film, Young’s score is small and intimate, making use of a reduced orchestra, augmented by solo guitar, solo piano, and ambient synth tones. Young has always been better than a lot of his contemporaries at making this kind of understated music interesting, and this is again the case here. Read more…
10,000 B.C. – Harald Kloser, Thomas Wander
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Director Roland Emmerich has a reputation for helming preposterously silly cinematic epics. Films such as “Stargate”, “Independence Day”, and “Godzilla” are the highlights of his resume. Despite the goofiness of all of these movies, it could be argued that they provided a small measure of carefree fun. Take that away, and the films are completely worthless. Guess what? Emmerich decided to start taking himself seriously with “10,000 BC”, and the result is the worst film the director has ever made.
Interestingly enough, the screenplay was co-written by Emmerich and composer Harold Kloser. The film tells the story of a young mammoth hunter who is forced to go to battle with some bad guys Read more…
Leonard Rosenman, 1924-2008
Composer Leonard Rosenman died on March 4, 2008, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He had been suffering with dementia for many years, and died of a heart attack. He was 83.
Leonard Rosenman was born in September 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants from Poland. After service in the Pacific with the United States Army Air Forces in World War II he studied piano and composition at Brooklyn College, and later at the University of California, Berkeley. Among his most influential teachers were Arnold Schoenberg and Roger Sessions – figures whose serialist and atonal techniques deeply informed Rosenman’s own compositional voice.
Rosenman’s entranc into the film world came through his friendship with actor James Dean; the two had met at a party for the cast of a Broadway play, and two weeks later Dean appeared at Rosenman’s doorstep wanting to take piano lessons. Dean later personally recommended him to director Elia Kazan for East of Eden in 1955, which proved to be a major breakthrough for the composer. Rosenman followed it later that year with Rebel Without a Cause, further establishing his reputation as a composer capable of capturing psychological intensity through unconventional harmonic language. These early scores were groundbreaking in their integration of dissonance and modernist techniques into mainstream Hollywood cinema. Read more…
BONNEVILLE – Jeff Cardoni
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Bonneville” stars Jessica Lange as a middle-aged woman taking a road trip with her friends (Kathy Bates and Joan Allen) in order to deliver the ashes of her dead husband to her estranged daughter (Christine Baranski). The soundtrack album kicks off with eight pop/rocks, which are predictably a mixed bag. Donovan does his very best Bob Dylan impression in “Catch the Wind”, and King Floyd’s “I Feel Like Dynamite” is a cool R&B number.
I kind of liked some of the instrumental choices in Lazlo Bane’s cover of “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)”… but sadly, the meaning of this song seems to get further and further away from the intention of Randy Newman’s original with each new cover Read more…
CIDADE DOS HOMENS/CITY OF MEN – Antônio Pinto
Original Review by Clark Douglas
A follow-up to the popular Brazilian television series of the same title, “City of Men” is a film about the troubled friendship of two young men in Rio (Douglas Silvo and Darlan Cunha). The two friends each discover secrets from their past, and attempt to deal with their violent future as gang members. Over time, a great deal of strain is put on their friendship. The film is well-liked by those who have seen it, but it seems to have pretty much slipped under the radar of just about everyone.
Music is provided by composer Antônio Pinto, who was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. In fact, Pinto has spent the first decade or so of his career scoring Brazilian film and television efforts, including the “City of Men” television show Read more…
THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL – Paul Cantelon
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The life of Anne Boleyn has fascinated British historical scholars for centuries. As the second wife of King Henry VIII, she was made Queen of England in 1533, and gave birth to a daughter who would later go on to be Queen Elizabeth I, but was the accused of adultery, incest, and high treason, and subsequently beheaded in 1536. Not only that, she was indirectly responsible for the creation of the Church of England. Director Justin Chadwick’s sumptuous film, The Other Boleyn Girl, is based on the novel by Philippa Gregory, and explores the life of Anne and her sister, Mary, and the political and sexual machinations that led to them becoming rivals in the court of Henry VIII. The film stars Natalie Portman as Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary, Eric Bana as Henry, and David Morrissey, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Benedict Cumberbatch in supporting roles. Read more…
PENELOPE – Joby Talbot
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Penelope” stars Christina Ricci as a girl who is cursed with the nose of a pig. Everyone makes fun of her, but handsome young James McAvoy is able to see past Penelope’s outer flaws and see her inner beauty. Hmmm. I wonder what the film’s message could possibly be? The movie also stars such funny people as Catherine O’Hara, Richard E. Grant, Reese Witherspoon, and Peter Dinklage. The film has gotten generally positive notices, and sounds like a perfectly likable effort (despite the fact that it sat on a shelf for two years awaiting a release).
The film’s score is provided by Joby Talbot, a composer who is probably best known to film score fans for his entertaining work on the 2005 feature film version of “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” Read more…
BE KIND REWIND – Jean-Michel Bernard
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Be Kind Rewind is a very unusual comedy from director Michel Gondry, whose previous credits include the cult hit Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The film stars Mos Def as Mike, a video rental store clerk in suburban New Jersey who is obsessed with the life and work of Fats Waller. One day Mike’s best friend Jerry (Jack Black) – who lives very close to a nuclear power plant – comes into the store, having received an electric shock while attempting to sabotage the plant, and as a result of his ‘magnetism’, accidentally wipes every VHS tape in the store. In attempt to cover up their tracks, the duo comes up with an idea: they will remake every movie themselves on a handheld camcorder. Read more…
CHARLIE BARTLETT – Christophe Beck
Original Review by Clark Douglas
“Charlie Bartlett” is a film about a high school kid (played by Anton Yelchin) who becomes something of a “psychiatrist” for the kids in the school. He gives them the occasional advice, shoulder to lean on, and prescription drugs. From the dialogue clips that are included on this soundtrack album, he also gives them a peculiar monologue about a girl experiencing her first period. Despite the presence of the wonderful Robert Downey Jr., I never had too much interest in seeing the film. What little desire that may have remained was effectively killed by this soundtrack album. Read more…
Shop at the Movie Music UK Store
Member of the
MOVIE MUSIC UK 
