VAN HELSING – Alan Silvestri
Original Review by Peter Simons
We’ve said it several times now: 2004 was the year of big drums. Large percussion has dominated most of this year’s blockbusters, from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to King Arthur. Never one to buck a trend, Alan Silvestri was all too happy to jump on the bandwagon and deliver what may be the loudest score of the year: Van Helsing. Brass fanfares, chanting choruses and thundering drums dominate the score and its movie. What separates Silvestri from his lesser contemporaries is that, in spite of everything, he makes this kind of music sound good. As loud and overblown as it may be, the composer infuses the score with a textural richness and compositional quality that is quite rare these days. Read more…
BOBBY JONES: STROKE OF GENIUS – James Horner
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
American golfer Bobby Jones was one of the pioneers of the game; the winner of thirteen major tournaments, including the 1923 US Open at Inwood, the 1926 British Open, the 1926 US Open at Scioto, the 1927 British Open, the 1929 US Open at Winged Foot, and the “grand slam”– all four majors in a season – in 1930, he is regarded as one of the all-time greats, and stands in second place behind Jack Nicklaus in the list of champions. Jones retired from golf after this incredible feat to concentrate on a career in law, but not before helping design the world famous Augusta gold course in his home state of Georgia. Jones died in 1971 aged 69. Rowdy Herrington’s film Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius is a straightforward biopic starring Jim Caviezel (hot from The Passion of the Christ) as Jones, Claire Forlani as his wife Mary, Jeremy Northam as fellow golfer Walter Hagen, and Malcolm McDowell as O.B. Keeler, the man who would eventually go on to write Jones’s biography. Read more…
STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION – John Morgan, William Stromberg
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
John Morgan and William Stromberg need a break. For many years, the duo have been working hard in the film music background – Stromberg has recently been orchestrating and conducting for Rolfe Kent, while Morgan has been in and around the industry since the 1970s, having worked with everyone from John Williams to Alex North to Bruce Broughton. Together, they have overseen the restoration and re-recording of dozens of Golden Age scores for the Marco Polo label, and received critical acclaim for their work on the nuclear war themed documentaries “Trinity and Beyond” (1995) and “Atomic Journeys” (1999). By anyone’s reckoning, they deserved their shot at scoring a fairly major feature. It’s such a shame, therefore, that their score for Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation is such a massive disappointment. Read more…
13 GOING ON 30 – Theodore Shapiro
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A delightfully nostalgic throwback to the 1980s, 13 Going on 30 is a charming fantasy-comedy that plays like the female version of the classic Tom Hanks movie Big. Teenager Jenna Rink (Christa Allen) wants nothing more than to be popular and date one of the cutest boys in school, but when her birthday party turns into a disaster, and she had an argument with her friend Matt (Jack Salvatore Jr.), she retreats to a closet. Wishing she could be 30 years old, Jenna knocks over “pixie dust” from the dolls house Matt makes for her… and awakens the next morning in the year 2004, looking like Jennifer Garner. She’s has a power-house job as an editor for Poise magazine, and is friends with Lucy (Judy Greer), the girl for whose companionship she craved all those years ago. However, Jenna’s mind is still stuck in 1987: not knowing what to do, and adrift in a world she doesn’t know or understand, she tracks down the only one she believes she can trust: 30-year old Matt, now a hip New York photographer who looks like Mark Ruffalo. Read more…
MAN ON FIRE – Harry Gregson-Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A dark thriller about murder, kidnap and revenge – and a remake of a 1987 film of the same name, which was directed by Elie Chouraqui, starred Scott Glenn in the Denzel Washington role, and featured a score by John Scott – Man on Fire is directed by Tony Scott and stars Denzel Washington as John Creasy, a former US Government operative whose life in the military has driven him to drink, and the brink of suicide. Tempted to come to Mexico by his old comrade Rayburn (Christopher Walken), Creasy takes the job as the bodyguard to a wealthy Ramos family – father Samuel (Marc Anthony), mother Lisa (Radha Mitchell), but specifically their precocious young daughter Pita (Dakota Fanning). Seeing a chance for redemption in the eyes of a young girl, Creasy grows to be a part of the family unit – until young Pita is kidnapped by a gang of ruthless criminals. Thinking the young girl is dead, and seeking retribution, Creasy embarks on a personal vendetta to seek out, and get even with, the perpetrators of the crime, whoever they may be. Read more…
HOME ON THE RANGE – Alan Menken, Glenn Slater
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken has been away from film music since 1997, after the Disney animated film Hercules crashed and burned both critically and commercially. The announcement that he would finally be returning to the fray with Home on the Range was met with almost universal praise. The man is far too talented, and far too well respected to be consigned to film music history just yet. But, what does he give us as a welcome back gift…? Singing cows and yodeling. Billed as “Chicken Run with cows”, Home on the Range features the voices of Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly as a trio of precocious cows who go off to collect the bounty on the head of the infamous yodeling cattle rustler, Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid), in an attempt to save their ranch from falling into the clutches of an unscrupulous developer. Read more…
HELLBOY – Marco Beltrami
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Comic books seem to be Hollywood’s most fertile breeding grounds for new stories these days; after exhausting the Batman, Spider-Man and Superman franchises, some lesser-known works have been adapted recently – and so hot on the heels of Daredevil and The Punisher comes Hellboy, adapted from the work of Mike Mignola by my old drinking buddy Pete Briggs, and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Hellboy is the story of a demon (Ron Perlman), conjured up by a team of Nazi scientists to help their failing cause at the end of World War II. Rescued, while still a baby, by the kindly Professor Bruttenholm (John Hurt), Hellboy grows up to be a member of the FBI Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, whose motto is “There are things that go bump in the night – we are the ones who bump back”. Hellboy is called into action when the Russian mad monk Rasputin (Karel Roden) – who originally summoned Hellboy all those years ago – is resurrected, and attempts to open a portal between Earth and the Netherworld, which will allow all manner of unspeakable evil to pass through. Accompanied by rookie FBI agent Myers (Rupert Evans) and fellow BPRD “freaks” Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), Hellboy sets off to track down Rasputin and his minions, unaware that he has a larger part to play in the scheme of things… Read more…
Fred Karlin, 1936-2004
Composer, arranger and trumpeter Fred Karlin died in Culver City, California, on March 26, 2004, at the age of 67, following a battle with cancer.
An exceptionally versatile musician, Karlin wrote more than 130 scores for films and television productions, won both an Academy Award and an Emmy, and became particularly admired for his ability to move effortlessly between jazz, folk, rock, classical and electronic music.
Frederick James Karlin was born in Chicago on June 16, 1936. He began playing trumpet and studying jazz while still a teenager, learning composition with William Russo before attending Amherst College, where his honors thesis was a string quartet. After moving to New York in 1958 he worked as a composer and arranger for musicians including Benny Goodman and Harry James, while also writing for documentaries, commercials and Radio City Music Hall.
Karlin entered feature films with Robert Mulligan’s Up the Down Staircase (1967), starring Sandy Dennis. He quickly became a sought-after composer, following it with Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), Robert Mulligan’s western The Stalking Moon (1968), and Alan J. Pakula’s The Sterile Cuckoo (1969). The latter featured “Come Saturday Morning,” with music by Karlin and lyrics by Dory Previn; the song became a hit for the Sandpipers and earned an Academy Award nomination. Read more…
NED KELLY – Klaus Badelt
Original Review by Peter Simons
Now here’s a composer who has shot to stardom at rocket speed: Klaus Badelt. Whether or not he really deserved all the projects he’s worked on remains a hot issue on many a forum. I, for one, have yet to hear a soundtrack by Badelt that is not remarkably derivative of other scores. That is not to say his albums aren’t enjoyable, no siree! His music for The Time Machine, albeit severely “inspired” by many other scores, was one of last year’s highlights. Badelt’s latest, Ned Kelly, is no exception. It too shares so many similarities with other scores that I’ve had to look at the cover to remember which CD I put on. Not that the score isn’t enjoyable, though. It is in fact quite beautiful, if you can get past the obvious influences. Read more…
STARSKY & HUTCH – Theodore Shapiro
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
It is de rigueur in Hollywood at the moment to re-make classic TV shows of the 70s and 80s as big-budget cinema outings: we’ve already had Charlie’s Angels and SWAT, and there are rumors of A-Team and Knight Rider movies in the pipeline. Starsky & Hutch was one of the comedy successes of the min-genre, paying loving homage to the well-loved original series while gently lampooning the fashions and morals of the decade. Directed by Todd Phillips, the film starred Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller as the eponymous Bay City detectives, the roles made famous by David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser. Here, they find themselves on the trail of shady businessman Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughan), who they believe is a drug dealer; along the way they are helped by their flamboyant jive-talking snitch Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), and hindered by their cantankerous boss Captain Doby (Fred Williamson). Plot is, of course, secondary in a film like this, which revels instead in the comedy set pieces, and the sense of nostalgia in the production: everything, from the classic Ford Torino, to the costumes and hairstyles, and the sexual attitudes, are a prefect recreation of the original setting. It’s a blast. Read more…
TRAFFIC: THE MINISERIES – Jeff Rona
Original Review by Peter Simons
A mini series based on a film which itself was based on a mini series, Traffic shows the public a glimpse of the grim world of drug trafficking. The show, directed by Eric Bross and Stephen Hopkins, is a three-part event starring Elias Koteas, Balthazar Getty and Martin Donovan. In the first episode, Mike McKay (Koteas) is sent to Afghanistan to dismantle its drug export operation. In the second episode, Ben Edmonds (Getty) deals with illegal aliens that are being transported from China to the US in cargo containers. Finally, Adam Kadyrov (Donovan) is an illegal immigrant in the US awaiting the arrival of his wife and child. Soon he learns that the ship carrying his family has sunk. As he starts his personal investigation he discovers a grim truth. Read more…
Academy Award Winners 2003
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the winners of the 76th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2003.
In the Best Original Score category, Canadian composer Howard Shore won the Academy Award for his score for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the third film in Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy trilogy based on the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. In his acceptance speech Shore said:
It’s incredible. Just breathe a bit. Many thanks to the Academy. I’d like to share this Oscar with all of the amazing musicians and great vocal artists who played on this piece. Special note to Annie Lennox, Renee Fleming, Sir James Galway, Ben del Maestro. I was incredibly inspired by Tolkien’s great work, Peter Jackson’s visionary filmmaking, the great writing of Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens. Elizabeth, my darling, I love you. Thank you for your love and support. Mae, for your wonderful encouragement. All the people who have helped us through this making of these films: Bob and Michael, Paul and Lori, Barrie Osborne, Rick Porras, Sam and Mike, Ronald, Jean-Jacques, I thank you, Robby Kearns, Mark Willsher and, of course, Stephen Einhorn. Thanks so much. Thank you, Academy.
The other nominees for Best Original Score were Danny Elfman for Big Fish, Gabriel Yared for Cold Mountain, Thomas Newman for Finding Nemo, and James Horner for House of Sand and Fog.
In the Best Original Song category, Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox won the Academy Award for “Into the West,” also from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
The other nominees for Best Original Song were Sylvain Chomet and Benoît Charest for “Belleville Rendez-vous” from The Triplets of Belleville; Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole for “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” from A Mighty Wind; T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello for “The Scarlet Tide” from Cold Mountain; and Sting for “You Will Be My Ain True Love,” also from Cold Mountain.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST – John Debney
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The furore surrounding Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ began almost before a shot was filmed, and continued unabated through principal photography, post-production, and the publicity process. In a nutshell, the crux of the matter was that several prominent Jewish groups accused the cast and crew, and especially Gibson, of intentionally inciting anti-Semitic feelings by portraying the Pharisees of the Jewish Temple in old Jerusalem as the ones who were ultimately responsible for causing the death of Christ (something made worse following some rather off the wall comments from Gibson’s father). As this is a soundtrack review, I’m not going to go into a great deal of detail as to why this film has become one of the most controversial in recent memory, but I do want to say this in regard to my own faith, and my view of the film: Read more…
THE WEEPING MEADOW – Eleni Karaindrou
Original Review by Peter Simons
Sometimes you would almost forget that films are not only produced in Hollywood. The Weeping Meadow, for example, is the latest film from Greek director Theo Angelopoulos. It is the first in an intended trilogy and tells a bitterly dramatic story of Eleni, a Greek immigrant from Russia, who is raising her two children alone while her husband is off to America in search of a better life for his family. This personal story unfolds against the backdrop of major 20th century events. Read more…
Academy Award Nominations 2003
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have announced the nominations for the 76th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film in 2003.
In the Best Original Score category, the nominees are:
- DANNY ELFMAN for Big Fish
- JAMES HORNER for House of Sand and Fog
- THOMAS NEWMAN for Finding Nemo
- HOWARD SHORE The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- GABRIEL YARED for Cold Mountain
This is the 3rd Oscar nomination for Elfman, the 7th nomination for Horner, the 7th nomination for Newman, the 2nd nomination for Shore, and the 3rd nomination for Yared. Horner previously won for Titanic in 1997. Shore previously won for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001.
In the Best Original Song category, the nominees are:
- T-BONE BURNETT and ELVIS COSTELLO for “Scarlet Tide” from Cold Mountain
- BENOÎT CHAREST and SYLVAIN CHOMET for “Belleville Rendezvous” from The Triplets of Belleville
- MICHAEL McKEAN and ANNETTE O’TOOLE for “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” from A Mighty Wind
- ANNIE LENNOX, HOWARD SHORE, and FRAN WALSH for “Into the West” from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- GORDON SUMNER (STING) for “You Will Be My Ain True Love” from Cold Mountain
The winners of the 76th Academy Awards will be announced on February 29, 2004.
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